Forgiving You: A Bluebell Valley Novel (2 page)

Austin

Austin’s tie was too tight for him. When the elevator doors closed, he pushed a finger in between his neck and the fabric, giving himself some room to breathe. Even if he had gotten used to those fine suits over the years, he had a hard time with ties. Austin looked down at it and wondered why he was even bothering with wearing one. When he caught his reflection in the closed door of the elevator, he understood why. He looked a lot better with a tie on.

A minute later, the door opened and Austin stepped out into the hallway leading to his office.

“Good morning, Mr. Cole,” Lisa said. She was his secretary, waiting for him with a fresh coffee.

“Thank you, Lisa,” Austin said as he sat down at his desk. She followed him into the office, a stack of papers in her hand.

“You have a meeting in an hour with Mr. Jones from the finance department. He left this for you this morning. He said you should look at it before you meet with him.”

Lisa handed him the papers and he put them on his desk. He knew exactly what they were, but didn’t want to look at them just yet.

Austin was about to start reading his e-mails instead when he noticed that the blonde woman was still standing in front of him.

“Is there anything else, Lisa?” he asked. He could see in her face that there was something else she wanted to say, but she remained silent. “What is it?”

“Mr. Campbell is supposed to stop by today. He said he… had a surprise for you, but didn’t want me to tell you,” Lisa admitted. Austin could feel that the woman didn’t like keeping a secret from her boss, but that she also felt bad about promising something she wasn’t going to do. It wasn’t such a big problem for Austin—William Campbell was the closest thing he had to a best friend. He also happened to be the one taking care of Austin’s public relations. If William had a surprise for Austin, it was probably just a beer that they would share tonight since they hadn’t been able to spend any time together last weekend.

“Thank you, Lisa,” Austin replied, hoping she would understand that it was time for her to leave. He had a lot of work waiting for him after all.

Lisa nodded and turned around, finally leaving her boss’ office. Austin watched her close the door, his eyes staying on her a bit longer than they should have. He wondered why he didn’t appreciate his secretary’s presence more. Lisa was a hard worker, but it stopped there. She wasn’t a very interesting person, and if he was being honest, Austin knew nothing about her personal life. She never shared her interests or what movies she went to see. Maybe that was the reason why he didn’t find her attractive, even if she was beautiful.

Since leaving Bluebell Valley, Austin had never been with a woman for more than a week. There was always something wrong with them—not enough heart, they cared more about his money than him, they didn’t have a passion that was driving them. He was around a lot of women on a daily basis, but they were all too bland. They never surprised him. He wanted a woman who would turn his world upside down, and he had yet to find one.

Because of his status of a wealthy bachelor, it was even harder to find the right woman for him. They all wanted his thick wallet, and he couldn’t blame them from that. Since he had moved out of Bluebell Valley, ten years ago, it had changed something in him. The man he was back then had disappeared and the pressure had turned him into not just a competitive asshole, but a shallow one, as well. The careless guy who just wanted to have fun and enjoy life had turned into a greedy, corporate slave with no personal life.

Austin remembered when he’d gone back to Bluebell Valley after his first year at MIT. He thought it would be a good idea to see the people he had stopped talking to because of his workload, but he found himself regretting that decision. That was when he’d realized how much he changed in a year. He didn’t fit in anymore in a town that used to be his.

Finally understanding the damage he’d done to Sam, he had decided to avoid her. He hadn’t had the courage to confront her. When he had to go in town, he always made sure their paths wouldn’t cross. He didn’t want her judging him for what he had become. They had been supposed to stay friends, but Austin had to break his ties with Bluebell Valley to survive in Boston. It had been so hard on him to lose his best friend, but he knew it was the only way to get through his college program and get to where he was right now.

Austin still felt guilty about all of it, especially now that he was on top of the world and had accomplished more than he ever expected to. He didn’t even have anybody in his life to share this burden with. He was alone and lonely.

He had the kind of life that everyone envied, but there was something missing. He didn’t have anyone to share his secrets with, to share his life with. Even William, the closest thing he had to a best friend, wasn’t really a friend. If all of his money disappeared one day, Austin doubted the man would still stand by his side.

Austin was on the top of the world right now, but he didn’t know how steady it was. He could fall at any minute, even if the business he had been working on for years was one of the most promising.

Since he was a teenager, Austin had wanted to find something useful to do with his life, and he had the chance to learn how to do it while at MIT. On the side, he’d started playing with a prototype, which had helped him figure out a way to give solar panels the efficiency that they were lacking. Quickly, he was able to develop a product at a low enough cost to finally be profitable. After finishing his degree and getting a patent, he’d done a lot of marketing and built Cole Technologies, the company he was now the CEO of. His solar panels were sold worldwide, particularly in Asia and Africa. He hadn’t turned global warming upside down yet, but Cole Technologies was responsible for the reduction of worldwide greenhouse gas.

By the age of twenty-five, Austin was already sitting on top of a fortune bigger than he had ever imagined. Since then, his teams had been working on an electrical car engine that would compete with the market and bring the prices down. It was still something that needed a lot of work, but he knew they could do it.

A knock on the door brought him back to reality. Austin closed the tabs he was working on, wondering why Lisa hadn’t announced the person who was coming in. The door opened before he could say anything.

“William, what can I do for you?” Austin asked, focusing his attention on his friend.

“Hey, Austin. Well, there’s something I need to talk to you about,” William said as he came closer to Austin’s desk and sat in front of him. “Hear me out, please, before you reject what I’m going to say.”

Austin frowned, not understanding where his friend was going. Was this the surprise Lisa was talking about? It wasn’t a good one. He was expecting a beer and he didn't see any.

“Can you get to the point?” Austin asked. He hadn’t finished his first cup of coffee yet, so he happened to be a bit cranky. He didn’t want to play games with William.

“There’s this new TV show that’s going to start this fall. It’s called ‘Billionaire’s Secrets,’ or something similar. They want to interview successful people and show how they got there, starting from their childhood.”

Austin was listening very carefully, dreading where it was going.

“They want you to be the star of their first episode,” William finally admitted.

“Absolutely not.”

“Come on, Austin! I told you to hear me out. I think it’d be great for your career. People love you already and they want to learn more about you. You could go back to your hometown for a few days, let the camera crew follow you around and answer a couple questions, that’s all.”

“I said no.”

William sighed and stood up. Whatever he was planning to say next, Austin was determined not to flinch. He didn’t want to go back to Bluebell Valley, and he especially didn’t mean to do that with a camera crew following his every move. It was already bad enough to have paparazzi in New York City, where his headquarters was located, but he didn’t want to bring them to his hometown.

“Are those Jones’ papers?” William said, pointing to the stack on Austin’s desk that Lisa had brought a few minutes ago. “Have you taken a look at them yet? Apparently, after the accident in Mumbai, a lot of people have lost faith in you. They don’t trust you as much as they did, and they don’t trust your products.”

Austin stared at William, knowing the man was right, but he was still mad at him for bringing that up. What had happened in Mumbai truly was an accident, but it had killed ten local workers and now those deaths were on his conscience. The headlines had been horrible: “Cole Technologies is Failing: 10 Deaths in India Due to Faulty Solar Panels.” His investors had big trust issues with him now and sales were going down. Even if Cole Technologies had made solar energy cheap and accessible, customers also wanted to know it was safe. He had to gain people’s trust again, and that wasn’t going to be easy.

“Come on, there must be a better way than having a TV crew follow me everywhere,” he pleaded. “Maybe like spending time fixing those panels?”

“People need to trust you, Austin. You need to fix your image and you can’t do that by hiding in your labs. Trust me. You need to get out there and show you care. Your customers, as well as your investors, need to know you have their back. You have to get personal with them.”

“That’s why you want me to go back to Bluebell Valley?”

“Is that your hometown? Bluebell Valley? I wasn’t sure what it was called. But yes. And I’ll come with you to make sure you only show them your best side.”

“Do I even have a choice?” Austin asked, leaning back in his chair. He crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes still on William. His friend was standing in front of the window, looking down at Central Park.

“Not really, no.”

“Let’s get that done as soon as possible, then,” Austin replied, massaging his forehead. If he was going to spend a weekend in his hometown followed around by strangers, he wanted to get it out of the way quickly.

“We leave Friday,” William replied.

“What? This Friday?” Austin asked. He wanted it to happen soon, but he didn’t know William could get everything arranged so quickly. It was possible everything had been arranged beforehand, though, and they only needed a yes from Austin.

“Yes, this Friday. I’ll go call the TV company and make sure everything is all right. I’ll send you an email with the details when I have them. Can you remind me which state Bluebell Valley is in?”

“Oregon,” Austin sighed. He hadn’t been back in Bluebell Valley for years already, but that didn’t seem to count when it came to public image.

William grabbed his cellphone and started typing as he walked past his friend’s desk. “Great, great,” he mumbled as he left.

Austin was finally alone again. The silence was suddenly too heavy for him. He looked at the papers. He knew exactly what they said and why Mr. Jones wanted him to look at them. The numbers were plummeting and they had to do something about it. Could William’s idea really help?

He stood up and walked toward the window, where William had been a few minutes before. The view was exquisite from Austin’s office. He could see all of Central Park lying at his feet, people walking to and from their houses, going to work. Austin had built a life here in New York City, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave it, even for just a weekend.

Maybe this is my chance to make things right?
he thought to himself.
Who knows, maybe I can even fix things with Sam…

A plan was starting to form in his head. If the future of his company depended on his image, he could definitely make sure the community of Bluebell Valley would accept him. He could play the part like he’d been doing for most of his life.

But there was Sam. For reasons he didn’t understand, he needed to make things right with her. It was his first step to feeling at home again in Bluebell Valley. Austin didn’t want to admit it to himself, but deep down, he knew the truth. Even though he liked New York, it was also eating him alive. He needed his hometown again, more than ever.

Maybe William’s idea wasn’t such a bad one, after all…

Sam

The week was finally coming to an end. Sam wiped her hands on her apron as she looked over the counter at the bakery. There was a couple sitting at a table near the window, drinking coffee, but that was all. Untying her apron, she folded it and hung it on the wall behind her, then grabbed her phone. She quickly dialed the number she knew by heart.

“Hey, April,” Sam said as her friend picked up.

“Sam! What’s up?”

“I was thinking… I’ll be done in ten minutes. How do you feel about a glass of wine and a movie tonight? My place?”

“That sounds great. I’ve had one of those days.” Sam could hear other voices on the phone and wondered if April was alone. “I’ve got to go. Customers. I’ll call you back later, okay?”

“Don’t worry. Give me a call when you’re free,” Sam said and they both hung up.

There was nobody else in the world Sam wanted to spend her Friday night with more than her best friend. She and April had known each other since elementary school, but they had only gotten close in eleventh grade. Sam had been alone after Austin had left for college, and even if she knew a lot of kids around school, she had still needed a best friend she could gossip with. April had been a breath of fresh air and they had stuck together since then. When Sam had realized Austin was abandoning her, April had been there to pick her up and put her back on her feet.

After high school, most of the people they knew had left Bluebell Valley. Sam had been one of them. Her dreams of moving to the East Coast were far behind her at that time. She knew Seattle was a better choice for her, especially since she could come back to Bluebell Valley often. She had made herself a promise to never lose touch with April and they both had survived the two years Sam had been away, until her father’s death.

April had stayed in Bluebell Valley, working in her parents’ flower shop. Now she owned it and her parents were happily retiring.

Sam grabbed a pastry from under the counter, allowing herself a guilty pleasure on that Friday afternoon. She bit into the sweet apple strudel her mother had just taken out of the oven.

She was going to hide in her office to eat it when she heard the bell ring over the door.

“Abby, hi,” she said. “Is everything okay?”

The woman in front of Sam was one of her mother’s friends. Abby was the same age as Gemma and they had been friends for as long as Sam could remember. Abby was like an aunt to her.

Today, though, the woman who usually looked so calm and poised was out of breath like she had just run from her hotel halfway across town to the bakery. Sam wondered what could have been so important.

“He’s back, Sam!”

“Who’s back?”

Abby leaned forward and grabbed Sam’s shoulder. “It’s Austin. He’s back. I saw him with the group that just checked in at the hotel. He didn’t get a room, so I imagine he’s staying on the Cole orchard, but he was with them.”

Sam’s heart stopped beating. Even if he had broken her heart ten years ago, she still thought about him. What kind of man was he now? What kind of life was he living? But even if he was on her mind from time to time, she still wasn’t ready to see him. Confronting him wasn’t something she was prepared to do. He had made her a promise, and he had broken it.

I’m too busy, Sam. I’ve got so many things to work on right now. Can I call you back?
Austin would say, and Sam always let him go, knowing he wouldn’t call her back. Being rejected like that had hurt even more than seeing him leave.

“From what I’ve heard, they’re making a TV show on his life,” Abby added, snapping Sam back to reality. She had missed part of the conversation, but it didn’t seem to matter to Abby.

“Good for him,” she replied coldly. She knew Abby cared about her and that was why she was giving Sam the heads-up, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know more about Austin. It was better if she went on with her life without thinking about him. She had been fine without him for years, and that wasn’t about to change.

“I think you should go see him,” Abby finally admitted. Sam knew she usually gave good advice to people, but she wasn’t ready to follow that piece. She didn’t want to get hurt again.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Sam mumbled.

“You need to give yourself a chance, honey,” Abby replied, grabbing her hand. She squeezed it for a few seconds before sitting down at her usual table where she would grab a coffee with Gemma.

Sam looked at her watch. It was time for her to leave. Her mother wasn’t there yet, but she would be coming soon. In the meantime, Sam grabbed all her stuff, making sure that everything was in order. When she was finally done checking on the oven, her mother was behind her sitting with Abby.

“See you tomorrow,” Sam said to Gemma, giving her a quick kiss on the cheeks.

“Have fun,” her mother replied. It was unusual for Gemma to say such a thing, but Sam chalked it up to the fact that Abby and she had been talking for a while. Her mother was probably thinking that Sam and Austin would be friends again when really, it was very far from that.

Once she was out of the bakery, Sam could finally breathe. What was she going to do about Austin? She knew he was around town,
somewhere
. She could hide in her tiny apartment, but it was too small to stay in there for a whole weekend.

Today, she only wanted to ignore anything that had to do with Austin, even though every time she tried to forget about him, his memory came back stronger. She wasn’t able to get him out of her brain. What did he look like? Did he change as much as people said? How would he react when he saw her? All those questions came back to her and she wasn’t strong enough to fight them. She would have to spend the rest of the day with them in her head.

Sam sighed as she headed for the liquor store. Tonight, she could share the news with April―if her friend didn’t know yet. They could talk about it and maybe it would help Sam. A good bottle of wine was definitely going to help, too.

She pushed the door open and was happy for the air-conditioning. The sun was still high in the sky and the streets were hot. She took her time walking down the aisles. After all, she didn’t have anyone waiting for her at home. April was going to join her, but that was still a few hours away.

Sam started by looking at the white wine, reading the labels and examining the bottles. She was so caught up in the descriptions and thinking about what she was going to pair it with that she didn’t even realize someone was standing right next to her.

“It’s been a long time,” the voice said, approaching. She would have dropped the bottle she had in her hand if he hadn’t caught it.

It was Austin.