“Stupid?” Billy exclaimed, still hung up on her dissing the big game. “Softball is a sport of great consequence. ”
“C’mon, Laura. ” Sorrow gave her a nudge, moving her along. “We’ll keep an eye on the kids, Helen. ”
“All right, troops. ” Billy swung the little girl onto his shoulders, grease and all. “Let’s go kick some butt. ”
The man was a natural with kids—and of course he was. He’d bought her sister a ring, had just bought her a house, and Laura was sure it’d only be a matter of time before Sorrow popped out a whole softball team of children, probably all strapping dark-eyed boys like their father.
The pang returned to Laura’s chest, sharper now. She wasn’t jealous, she told herself, not even a little. She didn’t want a man, and she definitely didn’t want a passel of dirty kids.
Billy walked ahead, and Laura wondered just who was going to watch said kids while he was in the outfield. The prospect of serving a bunch of hungry picnickers in the hot sun suddenly seemed preferable. She turned back to Helen, calling, “You sure you want to miss the game? Isn’t Rob playing shortstop this year?”
“You got me,” Helen said bitterly, suddenly intent on counting the ones in the cash box. “I don’t know where my husband has got to. ”
Feeling a stab of sympathy and womanly fellowship, she walked closer, asking quietly, “You sure you don’t need me to stay?”
“No,” Helen shot back. “I don’t need you to stay. ” Her mimicking tone was as flat as her eyes.
She took a step back. “All righty then. Don’t say I didn’t offer. ”
The baseball diamond was at the far end of the picnic grounds, and as they headed there, Sorrow and Billy entertained the kids while Laura trailed behind, trying to turn her mood around. Watching all these smiling faces, Sierra Falls felt more like home than ever. And yet she’d fought it for so long, fantasizing about any place but here.
It hadn’t been easy weathering her teen years in a small boondock town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada—particularly as she’d had to do it in the shadow of a sports-star brother and the family-pet little sister. She’d grown up feeling underestimated, underappreciated, and overlooked and had taken off for San Francisco the moment she graduated high school. At the time, she’d vowed not to return until she had a fast car, a killer body, and lots of money—anything to finally get some attention.
But the trouble with chasing those sorts of goals was that, for years, she’d only looked outward to feel good about herself. A high-paying marketing job had bought her that car, a personal trainer, and all the respect she’d craved, but it hadn’t been enough to fulfill her. When she hit her twenty-eighth birthday, she’d panicked. Her fiancé had dumped her and she’d lost her job because of that same man, and yet, once she recovered from the blows to her pride, it was a shock to realize how little she missed either of them.
She’d been going through the motions, and it was time to look inward and figure out why her life felt so empty. She knew she could find another fiancé and another job, but she was terrified that if she did, she’d wake up ten years later and still feel unfulfilled. She was tired of pretending she was someone she wasn’t.
She needed to unlock the clues to herself and track down how and why things began to go wrong. What did she really want from life? And why did she always feel like she had something to prove? She knew the answers waited for her in Sierra Falls.
So she’d returned home, and she wanted it to be for good, too. She was done with the city and done with men—the two went hand-in-hand, anyway, seeing as she had no interest in the guys of Sierra Falls, lawmen and laborers all of them.
Laura was surprised to be discovering a friendship with her formerly estranged baby sister, and getting respect from her normally crotchety dad. They’d handed her management of the lodge, and she wanted to do everyone proud. Wanted to turn the place around, to have her family business succeed.
And, more than wanting it, she needed it, with a desperation that surprised her. She’d had so many personal failures, but this would be her chance at redemption.
She knew she could do it, too. She was no good at the great outdoors, but the fact that their home was out in the middle of nowhere was just an added challenge. She wasn’t a big hiker and definitely had no interest in fishing, but there was one thing she was good at, and it was business. Marketing, to be specific. And she had big plans about how to use those talents and turn the Big Bear Lodge into a quaint destination resort. Besides, having spent the past several years test-driving every spa, winery, and B&B in Northern California, Laura considered herself something of an expert.
Miraculously, her dad was staying out of her hair, too. He’d been walking on air ever since they discovered gold on Bailey family land. Not that it was going to make them rich or anything—the vein wasn’t easily accessible and would cost too much to mine. But still, as a family, it felt like they were at a turning point. Everyone was putting their trust in her—eyes were on her for what felt like the first time—and she couldn’t fail.
Which made Eddie’s development project all the more infuriating.
She wasn’t dumb—she knew that if it hadn’t been the Jessups, Fairview would’ve hired some other construction outfit to do the work. But it was Jack and Eddie who’d been hired, and it should’ve been a stroke of luck. They were born and raised in Sierra Falls. They had the ears of the Fairview execs—they should’ve been talking sense into them. Finding a way to persuade them to leave the town and take their soulless hotel conglomerate elsewhere. But instead, Eddie was acting the yes man and going ahead with construction, without asking a single question.
Boutique spa resort. She scowled. As if. Fairview marketed themselves as some community-oriented, eco-friendly company, but really she knew they’d bulldoze the whole town if they thought it’d make them a buck.
She would not stand by as the Jessup brothers helped nurture to life a competing business. And Fairview wasn’t just friendly competition—they had bottomless pockets, and she was sure they’d use them to either absorb or squash the Baileys.
A man had stood in her way once before. She wouldn’t let it happen again. Never again was her mantra as she rounded the back of the bleachers. Never again, she repeated over and over in her head, and she was so caught up in her thoughts, she nearly stormed right into her sister.
She caught herself on Sorrow’s back and walked around, and who was standing there with a grin on his face? Eddie.
A wicked glint darkened his eyes. “She’s coming in hot. ”
Five
Laura put her hands on her hips, looking ready to do battle. “What’s that supposed to mean?”