Retreat (35 page)

    
“At that art place?” Marcy asked, confused.

    
“No. I was planning to start a liquidation
firm in Tulsa
after the wedding. I thought you might want to get in on the ground floor.”

    
Marcy stared into the fire. “Are you still
going to do it?” she asked.

    
“I’d like to, maybe after I get Spritzer
& Spritzer through this expansion. I know I don’t want to work for my
parents forever.”

    
“Keep me in mind,” Marcy said. “If you
decide to go through with it I’ll be on board. I’m tired of watching so much
more of the money go into Freedman’s pocket instead of mine.”

    
Clara stood as she saw flashlights sweeping
across the trail in the distance.

    
“Looks like we have company,” she said.

    
As the men approached their voices grew
louder.

    
“Your dad threatened to make Manhattans for
everyone earlier,” Marcy said. “By the sound of them they’ve had several.”

    
“What are you two doing here?” her father
bellowed as the men stumbled toward the fire.

    
“We wanted to start a fire for you,” Clara
said sweetly. She didn’t often see her father tipsy. It was funny to see him as
one of the boys. “We’re going to head back to Firelight Falls
now.”

    
“Good idea,” he said. “We can’t have any
mixing of the sexes up here. Karen will have our heads!” her father slapped
Patrick on the back.

    
Clara smiled as Jon caught her eye. She was
glad it was dark because she was sure she was blushing. As she and Marcy walked
by he touched her arm.

    
“Meet me for breakfast in the morning,” he
said.

    
“Where?” Clara asked.

    
“I’ll come to get you,” he said. “Just be
ready.”

    
“What time?” she asked.

    
“
7:30
.”

    
“Get over here, Griffin!” her father called from the porch.
“You’ve stole enough of her time for one day.”

    
Jon winked at her. “See you in the morning,”
he said, leaning down and catching a quick peck. She squeezed his arm and then
caught up with Marcy to walk back to their cabin.

    
When they got there, Rebecca still wasn’t
back. Clara could tell Josie was dangling between worry and anger. She was sitting
stoically on the couch, her legs tucked up underneath her, staring at a
painting of Foster’s Folly hanging on the cabin wall.

    
“What did you and Dad decide?” Clara asked
gently as she grabbed a beer from the refrigerator.

    
“We decided that if Rebecca doesn’t come
back we will get remarried and raise Elizabeth
ourselves,” her mother replied, as if still trying to digest the plan herself.

    
“Mom, are you sure you want to do that?
Things are so good right now,” Clara said, sitting down beside her and putting
an arm around her shoulder. She was surprised by how frail she seemed.

    
“I know. Things have never been better,”
Josie sighed. “But your dad feels like if we’re going to raise Elizabeth we need to give her some
stability.”

    
That sounded like her father. She’d be
forever grateful to him for doing the same for her. She thought for a moment.
“But, Mom, wait a minute. Elizabeth
does have a father somewhere. Don’t forget that. And it’s entirely possible –
and maybe even probable – that he’s not the devil Rebecca made him out to be.”

    
“I considered that,” she said. “And your
father and I will find him before we do anything. But we wanted to make sure we
knew what our plan is just in case Rebecca was telling the truth about him or
he and his wife don’t want to raise Elizabeth
after all.”

    
“This will all work out, Mom,” Clara said,
giving her mother a little squeeze. “You know it will.”

    
“One way or another, it always does,” Josie
said, smiling weakly. “I’m exhausted. I’m going to go in and sleep with Elizabeth so she doesn’t
get scared.”

    
Clara watched her mother sulk toward the
bedroom. She looked tired, which was so unusual for Josie. She was always so
full of zest.

    
“I feel bad for her,” Marcy whispered after
Josie closed the bedroom door. “After all this time to have a baby dropped in
your lap. I know Elizabeth
is two, but she may as well be a baby. It’s a whole lifetime for your parents
to raise her now.”

    
“It’s not fair to them,” Clara said. “It
took them so long to get here. But they’ll figure it out. My father will make
sure of it.”

    
“I hope you’re right,” Marcy said, getting
up to grab a beer for herself out of the refrigerator. “So what’s on the agenda
for tomorrow?”

    
“Not a clue,” Clara said. “I think I may
actually have to participate now, though.”

    
“Me, too,” Marcy said, plopping down across
from her in the chair. “Especially since your sister decided to take off.
You’ll be a man down.”

    
Clara pulled herself up from the couch and
walked over to the kitchen table. She picked up two baby blue note cards and
handed one to Marcy.
  

    
“Here, this will tell us,” she said.

Spritzer &
Spritzer, Inc.

Corporate Retreat

Sunday

AGENDA

6:00
a.m.

Rise and shine

7:00
a.m.

Breakfast

7:30
a.m.

Morning Dialoguing

8:00
a.m.

Taking Ownership: Resource
Accountability
(2 persons per team)

10:00
a.m.

Free time

10:30
a.m.

Navigating the
Competitive Landscape (provisions required)

3:00
p.m.

Competitive
Landscape Debrief

4:00
p.m.

Awards and
Recognition Ceremony

5:00
p.m.

Adjournment

    
Marcy shook her head. “This doesn’t tell us
shit,” she said laughing. “What planet is that Karen woman from, anyway? I’ve
never seen anything like this. We need a translator.”

    
“We’re going on a hike at some point, I
know that,” Clara said. “We’re going to see the waterfalls along Foster’s
Folly.”

    
“It looks like you’ll miss at least the
first little bit of the day,” Marcy said, scanning the card. “Since you’re
going to breakfast with Jon.”

    
“I guess you heard that,” Clara said.

    
“I’ll cover for you, don’t worry,” Marcy
said, leaning back against the cushion. “You deserve a chance to see where it
goes with him. You were cheated out of that chance before and I think you owe
it to yourself to explore the possibilities a little bit.”

    
“Oh, we’re exploring them,” Clara said,
biting her bottom lip.

    
“You didn’t!” Marcy whispered, slapping her
hand against her leg. “I knew it. Oh man, Clara, you’re in for it now.”

    
“What do you mean?” Clara asked.

    
“You’ll never be able to keep him away from
you now that you’ve slept with him,” she said. “He could barely wait until the
retreat to fly up here. Now that he knows he has a fighting chance he’s going
to be on you like glue.”

    
“That might not be such a bad thing,” Clara
said, “to have him in my corner.”

    
“This is true,” Marcy said. “I wouldn’t
mind having someone like him in my corner, that’s for sure. I just wish I had
time to go out looking for someone.”

    
“You’ll find someone,” Clara said. “But
probably not until you’re done working for Freedman.”

    
Marcy nodded, pushing her glasses into the
proper position on her slender nose. “You’re probably right. But, hell, I can
have some fun while I’m here, right? Tell me something about that Patrick guy.
I wouldn’t mind partnering up with him for this little hike tomorrow.”

    
“I don’t know much about him. You’ve spent
more time with him tonight than I have since I got back,” Clara said. “He’s an
IT guy, which you already know, and in the little bit of time I’ve spent with
him I think he’s a good guy.”

    
“I’ll case him tomorrow and then fill you
in on any juicy details,” Marcy said, taking a long drink of her beer. “God,
this feels good.”

    
“What does?” Clara asked.

    
“Relaxing. Getting away from everything for
a little bit. The past year is just a blur. I haven’t seen my family in months.
I didn’t even go home for Christmas!”

    
“You didn’t?” Clara asked. “Marcy, you have
to stand up for yourself.”

    
“I couldn’t get away. Freedman had me
working double-time on some deal. I forget which one.”

    
“I hope they’re paying you for all the work
you’ve been doing,” Clara said.

    
“They are,” she said. “Not nearly what
Freedman’s pocketing, but enough. Money is one thing I have plenty of. Now if
only I had some time to spend it!”

    
They sat catching up until nearly
midnight
, when Marcy picked up Meg’s
watch from the coffee table and yawned widely. She stretched out on the couch,
said goodnight, and closed her eyes as Clara headed off to bed.

    
Clara quietly pulled the bedroom door
closed behind her, then slipped on her pajamas and headed into the bathroom to
wash her face. It felt good to catch up with Marcy. Somehow, even with
everything that happened with David, she’d ended up here, surrounded by all the
people she cared about most. It was comforting and a little frightening at the
same time. She determined the best thing she could do was focus on the moment
and not worry about what it all meant. Tonight things were good.

    
When she was finished brushing her teeth
she clicked off the large overhead light and turned on a small lamp on the
bedside table.

    
She was updating her journal when she heard
a gentle knock against the door that led outside.

    
Clara slowly set down her journal and
stared at the door for a moment before she crawled out of bed.

    
Her hands were shaking as she carefully
pulled back the curtain on the door to see who was there.

    
She let out a breath of great relief when
she saw it was Jon.

    
She pulled the door open and whispered, “My
God, you scared me half to death! What are you doing here?”

    
Jon backed her into the room and closed the
door behind him, keeping his eyes on her. She was suddenly very aware of the
thin blue cotton of her pajamas, of her bare legs. His eyes followed the line
of her body, stopping momentarily to take in her breasts, where her nipples had
hardened and were now brushed up against the soft fabric.

    
“I couldn’t stay away,” he said thickly.
“Not when I knew you were so close.” He reached for her and she willingly fell
into his arms. He bent his head low to pull her into a hungry kiss. She kissed
him back, almost forgetting where she was as her body warmed to his touch. As
he moved from her lips to her neck she opened her eyes, suddenly remembering
the house full of women around her.

    
“Jon!” she whispered breathlessly, breaking
away from him. “They’ll hear us!”

    
He pulled her close again and gave her that
devilish grin. “Are you afraid I’ll make you scream?”

    
Tiny sizzling sparks shot through her body
at the mere suggestion.

    
“Yes,” she whispered, burying her face into
his chest and breathing him in.

    
He growled at her admission and swiftly
backed up against the cabin wall, kissing her deeply. She moaned quietly in
anticipation.