Sweet Reunion (6 page)

“What?!” This surprised
exclamation sprung from the lips of both Justin and Geoffrey simultaneously,
although with very different undertones. While Geoffrey sounded horrified,
Justin sounded truly shocked and taken aback.

“I don't understand this,”
Justin said, “Henry, when you told me Parker left something to me, I thought it
would be more in the neighborhood of a memento, a token. Something small and
meaningful.”

“Well, son,” Henry said,
amused, “you were expecting something small and meaningful, and what you got
was something big and meaningful. I'd say that's better all around.”

“Who is this person?”
Geoffrey's frustrated voice cut in.

“Justin used to live here,”
Amanda interjected softly, holding her head a little higher. “he was my Dad's
right hand man for many years. He was like a son to him.”

Justin gave Geoffrey a
steely-eyed suspicious stare. “And who is
this
person?” he returned the
inquiry.

“I'm Amanda's boyfriend,”
Geoffrey said territorially, slipping his arm around her shoulder, almost as an
afterthought.

The two men stared each
other down for a moment, clearly sizing each other up. The atmosphere in the
room became increasingly tense, until finally Karina said, “OK, guys, look...if
you're really gonna do this, why not just drop trou and we can settle it once
and for all. Whip 'em out and we'll see who has the bigger dick. Otherwise,
let's just get on with the will reading, shall we? Amanda doesn't need this
crap.”

“Fine,” Justin agreed, but
his stare didn't waver.

Geoffrey quickly looked away
towards Henry and said petulantly, “I don't understand how this person could
possibly be given 20% of Amanda's business when he's done nothing to earn it.”

“Geoffrey, stop,” Amanda
protested, “I don't have a problem with it, in fact, I think it's perfect.”

“Well, it's a good thing you
feel that way, Manda girl. Because there's one more condition.” Henry
continued, and this time Amanda was sure that it was not her imagination, she
definitely did see a sparkle in his bright blue eyes.

“What condition?” she
inquired.

“Simply this: although you,
Manda, own 80% and Justin only 20%, you both do have to agree on big decisions
about the property. For instance, selling. Both of you would need to sign off
on that. Secondly, no decisions whatsoever about the future of the park can be
made until you and Justin have run it together for at least one full month.
After that time, if you both agree to sell, you can go down that road. But you're
going to have to run it together for one full month before that.”

“What if Justin runs off
before the month is up?” Lauren asked stiffly.

“Lauren!” Amanda exclaimed,
her eyes wide.

“What?” Lauren shot back,
“It does seem to be what he's good at.”

“I deserve that...” Justin
began.

“You deserve worse than
that,” Lauren cut him off.

“Lauren, stop it!” Amanda
begged.

Henry put his hands up.
“Okay, folks, let's settle it down. Emotions are running high right now, of
course they are. It's been an emotional day. Why don't we stop this for the
moment. Amanda has the memorial service to get ready for, and all of these
details can wait until next week. I'll come over to the main administration
building and Manda and Justin and I can have a meeting. We'll get all the
details straightened out then.”  Henry looked pointedly at Geoffrey when he
made clear who the attendees of that meeting would be.

Amanda, shaken, nodded her
head, “Yes, that sounds good. That sounds really good. I think I need to lie
down.”

Justin nodded numbly, “I
think I might need to lie down as well.”

“Where are you staying,
Justin?” Amanda strove to keep her voice even as she asked Justin this
question, even though everything inside of her was screaming for the answer.

“Well, I hadn't actually worked
that out yet,” Justin said ruefully, “I walked straight over here from getting
off of the bus, and dropped my bag in the front hall. I was figuring I'd walk
back into town and see what I could scare up. Is Sue Ann still renting out the
couple of rooms over the cafe?”

Amanda made a conscious
effort to wipe all of the expression from her face before she spoke again,
because it was imperative that he not read the desperation there, desperation
for him to say yes to her next inquiry. She needed to be casual. She needed to
play it cool.

“Well, you could do that I
suppose,” she said, in as light a tone as she could muster, “Or you could bunk
in your old quarters out back, if you like. It's empty.”

Justin looked at her
carefully, “Would that be alright with you?”

Amanda shrugged, afraid to
speak. This casual facade was difficult to keep up! She felt if she spoke, that
her entire heart would be laid bare in her voice.

“I think I will do that then,
if you don't mind,” Justin said, retrieving his bag from the front hall, “It
will be like old times.”

--- ~ ---

Amanda walked Henry out to
his car, and he gave her a big hug. “Manda Bear, don't you fret. Your Uncle
Henry is going to make sure this all comes out all right for you,” he said
comfortingly.

Amanda fell apart at that,
and began to sob on Henry's shoulder. This was what she had been missing most
since her father's death, the sheer luxurious comfort of resting in the strong
arms of someone who was assuring her that everything would be fine. When her
Dad was alive, she had the privilege of being able to have that any time she
wanted. She swore to herself in that moment that if she were ever blessed
enough to be able to have that in her life again, she would never – not for one
moment – take it for granted. She would treasure it, with every cell of her
being.

Geoffrey came down the steps
of the front porch at that moment, straightening his coat and pulling on his
gloves. He sniffed disagreeably at the sight of Amanda crying. “Really, Amanda,
there's no need to come apart. That ridiculous will is never going to stand up
in court. Honestly, Henry, I think it verges on malpractice that you would even
draw up such a document.”

Henry glared at Geoffrey,
“Well, son, your legal expertise aside, the fact is that in order to see if the
will would stand up in court, you would actually have to challenge it in
court.”

Geoffrey looked unfazed. “We
have no problem with that.”

Henry looked at Amanda,
“Manda girl, is that what you really want? Forget for a moment whether this
will is on legal ground that's as shaky as quicksand or as solid as granite.
What we know for sure is that this document represents your Daddy's wishes for
how he wanted to see things turn out. Do you really want to go to court and ask
for their help in throwing his wishes aside like they don't even matter?”

Amanda was horrified, “No!
God, no! Geoffrey, we're not going to court! I don't even mind that Justin owns
20% of the resort. Daddy loved Justin. I wouldn't care if he had half!”

Geoffrey gave Amanda an
exasperated sigh, “Amanda, weren't you listening? The real travesty of this
document is not merely that it gives away 20% of your hard-earned profits to
this person, but that it gives him veto power over selling the property. It
also delays the ability to sell for at least a month!”

Amanda looked confused,
“Geoffrey, I don't know where you got the idea that I wanted to sell Mountain
Ridge Outdoor Adventures. It's my home. It's where I grew up. It's Daddy's
legacy. I don't want to sell it. I never want to sell it!”

Something hard glinted in
Geoffrey's eyes. It was something Amanda had never seen there before. Sure, he
had never been the warmest person, and he certainly did have a knack for making
blunt pronouncements with little regard for tact, or for the feelings of the
person on the other end of his assessments. But she had never seen anything
truly cold, truly cruel in his soul. Not until now.

“We'll see,” he said flatly
as he strode to his car, before peeling off in a cloud of dust.

Chapter 6

Amanda tossed and turned in
her bed that night. She felt as though she were having a nightmare, except for
the part where she was still awake. Heat coursed through her body, alternating
with freezing cold flashes, until she felt she would go insane. She wondered
idly if she had been suddenly stricken with some debilitating physical ailment,
if she were coming down with some sort of rare strain of flu, perhaps, or the
bubonic plague.

It wasn't out of the realm
of possibility. Her every joint ached and her stomach felt queasy. She couldn't
catch her breath, and when she put her hand to her forehead, she could swear
she felt feverish.

Still, the one big
difference between what she was feeling and a true physical ailment that, even
in her condition, she could not fail to notice was that, alternating with the
shaky sick feelings were sensations of overwhelming exhilaration and pure joy.
Her joints and muscles traded off aching with tingling.

No, if she were honest, she
had to admit to herself that this was a case of good old fashioned love
sickness. Every sensation coursing through her body tonight, both positive and
negative, could be attributed to the return of Justin Barnes.

Damn Justin.

Her life had been going
along calmly enough. She had a handle on it, it was moving forward, she knew
where it was going. And then Justin had walked back into her life. Just as she
had finally gotten over him, he had waltzed back in.

Well...if she were honest
with herself, maybe that “finally gotten over him” part was a bit of an
exaggeration. After all, wasn't it she who still couldn't even think of his
name without getting choked up? Wasn't it just yesterday afternoon that she
hadn't been able to tell the story of their parting to Karina, Lauren, and Sam
without, in fact, crying? So maybe she wasn't
entirely
over him, if it
came to that. But she was
mostly
over him, dammit! She could go through
an entire day sometimes without thinking of him now, for God's sake, and Lord
knew that hadn't always been the case. She was in a much better head space where
he was concerned now than she used to be, and she had worked very hard to get
that way.

Yet, in one split second –
yes one tiny little second was all it had taken to totally obliterate
years
of hard work in forgetting about him – in that one instant when he had walked
back through the door, he had smashed all of that peace of mind to bits.

Now she had to admit to
herself that she wasn't over him at all. If she tried to deny that, her queasy
stomach and aching joints would tell her differently.

Amanda got up from her bed
and sighed. It was clear she was not going to get any sleep at all this night.
She had been trying for hours and she had not been able to achieve anything
even closely approaching the relaxed and languid state that would allow her to
drift off. No, if anything, she was in such a hyper-aware, hyper-charged frame
of mind that she felt as if her nerves had live wires attached to them. She
jumped at every tiny noise. She didn't know if she would ever sleep again.

Amanda wondered if seeing
her again was affecting Justin in even close to the same way as seeing him
again had affected her. She padded over to her bedroom window, which had a
clear view of the front porch of the bunkhouse, and gazed down longingly.

Yes, this was far from the
first sleepless night she had spent, eyes locked on the front porch of the
bunkhouse, her mind, body, and soul completely consumed with the alternately
blissful and torturous awareness that Justin was near.

But, as she had gotten
older, she had convinced herself that this was a teenage affectation. And yet,
here she was – a grown woman – still tossing and turning and stealing glances
at the small cabin where Justin slept. She was every bit as affected by his
presence now as she had been as a silly teenager. What was wrong with her?

As Amanda tried everything
in her power to slow her breathing, to calm her heart rate, to become again the
rational adult that she had fought so hard to grow into, the one lingering
thought that she absolutely could not shake no matter how hard she tried was:
Is Justin going through the same thing that I am right now? The agony and the
ecstasy? Is he being tortured, as I am, with alternating flashes of pain and
bliss?

Here she was, tortured,
tossing and turning, losing sleep. Was he down in the bunkhouse, tortured,
pacing the floor, also miles away from sleep?

She couldn't stop picturing,
imagining, what he might be going through down there. And after all, hadn't she
been congratulating herself on how mature she'd grown in the years since he had
been gone? She would just put on a sweater, slip on her tennis shoes, head down
to the bunkhouse, and knock on the door. What was more mature than just
confronting a situation head on? If you have an issue with someone, you discuss
it. That's the adult thing to do, and that's what I'm going to do, Amanda
decided.

She opened and closed her
bedroom door and padded down the stairs as lightly as possible so as not to
wake the girls as she headed out on her midnight mission. This was between
Amanda and Justin, no one else.