Fly Like You've Never Been Grounded (Summer Lake, #4) (21 page)

“Darling, that's wonderful! And you'll be so close, perhaps we'll see more of you if you move there? You know we'd love that.”

She tried so hard to never ask him outright to come visit, but he knew she was hoping to see him. “That's why I called. I thought I might stop by on Friday, stay the night if you don't mind. I have to pick up a passenger in San Francisco on Saturday morning.”

“That would be wonderful! And don't worry, I'll tell your father that I want you all to ourselves. I won't let him invite the hordes.”

“Thanks, Mom. I'll call you before I leave. There shouldn't be any hitches, but I'll call you if I need to fly, okay?”

“Of course. I'll just keep my fingers crossed.”

“Well, I'll see you Friday then.”

“I hope so. Love you, darling.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

As he hung up he stared out at the lake. They really had come a long way. It seemed like everything was changing for the better. The scars of the past were healing. Now he had to decide what he wanted the future to look like. He looked around. With any luck, this house would become his home. That would do for starters. He was reshaping his career, too. Bringing Jason on board to take over some of the Phoenix schedule would be a big change. Not as big as going back to instructing, though. He was pretty sure now that he wasn't going to get involved in any of the long haul gigs that the New York plane was scheduled for. Not so long ago he'd loved that life. Traveling the world, living out of a suitcase. He'd thought he might give it another go, but when it came down to it, he'd been there, done that. It was a young man's game.

He pressed his lips together. When it came down to it, he wanted to build a home. As long it could be a base and not a burden, he might just be happy here. Especially if Laura was going to move up here. He liked that idea. He liked it a lot. He didn't think he was turning his back on the long haul because of her, was he? He shrugged. Even if he was, it was because
he
wanted to. Not because she'd asked him to. Or would ever ask him to. He understood that about her. She would never ask him to give anything up in order to be with her. Just as he would never ask her to give anything up to be with him. He wouldn't ask her, but he selfishly hoped that her plans would involve moving up here. He looked at his phone. He couldn't call her. It would be midnight over there by now. She had called him when she arrived, just like she said she would. She'd sounded tired. She'd be fast asleep by now. He hoped. He hated to think of her out, in London with who knew who?

He stood up. Time to take another look around. He didn't need to be thinking like that. He'd only drive himself nuts. She was just as into him as he was into her, he knew that. He frowned, though. She was just as scared and confused about where they could go with it, too. He'd text her tomorrow. Wish her luck with her meetings.

***

L
aura looked around as they stepped out of the Levy store. So this was the famed Jewellery Quarter. It was like stepping backing in time. Of course she knew about Hatton Garden, but actually being here was something else. This had been the diamond district of the UK since medieval times. This place was known worldwide. Some of the world's wealthiest people came here to have bespoke pieces made by some of the world's greatest jewelers. She smiled: and now she was here.

So far London had not lived up to its gray and dreary reputation; the weather was beautiful. Colin took her arm as they stepped out into the sunshine. Laura wanted to shrug him off, but forced herself to smile. He was a nice enough guy, good looking in a quiet, British kind of way. Bookish, that's what he was. Actually he was very much her type, or would have been before she met Smoke.

“We're so glad you're here, Laura. I hope you found today informative.”

Had she ever! Colin had taken her through how they operated and what they hoped she would contribute. Apparently they did this every couple of years, found a new designer they liked and showcased their work with a new line that they marketed the heck out of. The idea was that the designer, and of course Levy, would build a new following. The hope was that amongst that following would be some wealthy clients who liked the new line, but wanted bespoke pieces made. It was a great strategy. Laura could see how it worked so well.

“Very informative. And very pleasant. Thank you.”

Colin had been a real sweetheart, showing her around, explaining how they liked to run things and why. He'd talked her through the history of the business...well it was his family history. His father, Mr. Levy Sr. was still the head honcho, but Colin was being groomed to take over in the next year or two.

He smiled at her. “You are very welcome. I hope you will do me the honor of having a drink with me? Since it's your first evening here, we left your schedule clear in case you're feeling jet-lagged and would prefer to rest. However, I do hope you'll at least feel up to a quickie before you need to sleep.”

Laura had to bite back a giggle. She'd love a quickie before she went to sleep, but it would be with a big American pilot, not a bookish British jeweler. She must be jet-lagged. She was six thousand miles away from that pilot and she still couldn't get him out of her head. She realized Colin was looking at her hopefully. It would be rude not to go.

“Thank you. I'd love to.”

Colin smiled. “Great. There's a place just around the corner. Another Hatton Garden landmark, it's called the Bleeding Heart.”

Laura bit back another giggle. What was it with these Brits? They liked to call their pubs such weird names!

Once they were settled at a little table in the corner, Colin raised his glass to her. “Here's to our new ventures. To the beginning of a very long, and mutually beneficial, partnership.”

She raised her glass. “Cheers.” She certainly hoped so.

“I talked to Father again before you arrived. We've decided that we would very much like to buy your San Francisco store. It would be perfect for us.”

Laura swallowed, hard. She'd been hoping for this, but there had been no mention of it in any of their meetings today. Strange that he should wait to bring it up now. But hey, it was what she wanted.

Apparently he sensed her hesitation. “I believe it would be beneficial for you too. To not have the retail responsibilities? It will free you to travel more. In fact....” He smiled at her over his pint glass before taking a drink.

Laura wished he'd hurry up. He was obviously going for effect, building up to something. She raised an eyebrow as she waited for him to put his glass down and continue.

“You could establish a base here. Avail yourself of our facilities and be more central to our client base.”

She stared at him. Now that was something she'd never even considered. “You mean, live in London?”

“Yes. It is a wonderful city. New York is still only a short hop and you'd be much closer to our European and Middle Eastern clients.”

Laura thought about it. Her idea had been to travel to the East Coast and Europe, or to fly out of San Francisco to Australia and Hong Kong. This would take some thought.

Colin seemed a little deflated by her reaction. “We would love to have you. Make you one of the team?”

“Thank you.” She tried to pull herself together. “I'm just a little surprised. I hadn't even considered it as a possibility.”

He smiled now. “I'm sorry. There's no need to give me an answer right away. But think it over. Keep it in mind this week. It might make you look at things a little differently if you bear in mind that you could be here permanently.”

What did that mean? “I will, thank you.”

Back in her hotel room Laura did think it over. It could be a great career move. So why did she feel so flat? She loved London. Why wasn't she excited at the thought of living here? Was it because she'd been thinking about moving to Summer Lake? She looked out of the window. The street far below was packed with tiny cars, black cabs, and red buses. She shook her head. She'd much rather be swinging on a front porch looking down at tiny boats on a blue lake, backed by green mountains. And sitting next to a certain pilot—but how realistic was that? And what exactly would it do for her career?

S
moke pulled in to the square at the resort. He'd been surprised that Austin had called him back so quickly. Seemed like this might be a much quicker and easier purchase than he'd thought. The most interesting part of the conversation had been that the family who owned the parcel to the south was named Walton. That was Ben's name. Smoke had kept thinking about Ben since Friday night. He'd wanted to check in with him, see how he was doing, but they weren't exactly best buds or anything. Wanting to buy the land gave him the perfect excuse to seek Ben out.

He wandered into the bar, but there was no sign of him there. “Hi. What can I do for you?” The girl behind the bar was smiling, batting unnaturally long lashes at him.

As he looked her over, Smoke registered that not so long ago he would have been settling at the bar for some serious flirting—’til her shift was over. He smiled at her, grateful that she was reminding him how empty and meaningless that all seemed since he'd met Laura. “You can tell me where Ben is.”

“Sorry, he's not working tonight. You'll have to make do with me.” There went the eyelashes again, the classic flick of the shoulder length hair. All the standard come-ons.

“No thanks. Can you tell me where I'll find him?”

Her face fell. “Probably in his apartment.”

“Thanks.” Smoke turned around and left.

“Ben! You home?” He'd been knocking on the door for a couple of minutes now. Maybe he wasn't here. No, he definitely heard movement in there. “Open up, bud.” He heard footsteps and then the door opened.

“Jesus! You look like shit!”

Ben shrugged. “Nice to see you too. What do you want, or did you just come to insult me?”

Smoke held up a six pack with a grin. “Thought I'd stop by to see if you want a beer.”

Ben looked at the beer, then back at Smoke. He thought it over then brought both hands up and rubbed them over his face. “Sure. Come on in.”

Smoke followed him inside. The place was immaculate. He'd been half expecting to find a drunk Ben sprawled in the middle of leftover takeout boxes and empty beer bottles. That wasn't the case at all.

“Want to take it outside?” asked Ben.

Smoke nodded and followed him out onto a balcony right above the water. “It's a great apartment.”

“Thanks. It's useful. It keeps me in the middle of things. I'm always right here when I'm needed.”

“Yeah, wouldn't that be a good reason to live somewhere else, though?”

“Maybe. If I had any sense...or a life! Are they cold?” He jerked his chin towards the beers Smoke was still carrying.

“Not stinging, I just picked 'em up at the store. We can maybe stand one, if you stick the rest in the freezer while we do.”

Ben smiled. “Great minds!” He took two bottles out and went inside with the rest. “I would say don't let me forget about them, but I don't think they'll be in there long enough to freeze.”

“I doubt it.”

Ben came back out, sat down, and popped the top off his beer. “This is a first. I mean it's good to see you and everything, but what are you doing here, Smoke?”

Smoke wondered himself. He wasn't normally the type for social visits. “Whatever the other night was about, it obviously got to you. I haven't seen you around since. I wanted to make sure you're okay. I kept putting it off. I didn't want to barge in where I'm not wanted. Like you say, I've never come knocking before, but today I got the excuse to come talk to you about buying some land. So, if you want me to butt out, we can just talk about that and have a beer. If you do want to talk about anything else...” He shrugged. “I'm here.”

Ben looked him over. “You know, I wasn't sure about you at first.”

Smoke laughed. “I could tell.”

Ben nodded. “But you're alright, Smoke.”

Smoke was surprised how much that meant to him. He nodded back, but said nothing.

“Thanks for making the offer, but I really don't want to talk about it. There's nothing to talk about. It just brought up memories of something, someone, a long time ago. It threw me cos it was so unexpected. I've spent the last couple of days trying to put it all back in the box. Talking about it would only keep it alive and....” Ben rubbed his hands over his face again before looking out at the lake, then looking back at Smoke. “All I want to do is forget.”

Smoke nodded again.

“So. That leaves you wanting to talk about buying land, right?”

“Yeah. You know I've been looking at the house up on Cottonwood Creek? I want to buy the place, but I want to be sure that any new development around Four Mile doesn't end up spreading as far as my doorstep.”

“Wow! So you want to buy the strip in between?”

“Yep.”

“Joe and I had decided we wouldn't sell it for exactly that reason—so that it can't be built on. That's why it wasn't part of the Four Mile deal. The guys will stay within reasonable limits, but there are bound to be folk with their eye on the ball who want to capitalize on a new community. Someone would build stores, a gas station or even second tier housing for those who want to be out there, but can't afford what Phoenix builds.”

“I know. That's why I can't risk buying the house without buying that land as well.”

Ben looked at him. “I just told you, we agreed not to sell it in order to make sure it doesn't get built on.”

“Which would mean you had an unusable piece of land sitting on your hands doing nothing but cost you taxes every year. Whereas if you sell it to me, you'll have some cash in hand and be done. I'll be happy to work out covenants as part of the sale if you want. Don't worry, I'm not trying to pull a fast one and start building a gas station out there myself. I just prefer to control my own environment. While it's nice to know you would keep the place as it is, it doesn't seem fair to ask that. I should pay you for it. I'll give you my guarantee, in the form of covenants or whatever, that I will keep it the way it is.”