“Sure.” Eric scooped
him up and headed for Nate’s room. If he refused, Eric knew he’d be walking straight into tantrum territory. Right now, he didn’t have the energy.
Eric set his nephew down. He retrieved the markers and a piece of construction paper, setting them on the child-size table. “What’s the sign for?”
“To tell the bears to go away,” Nate said, sliding into a seat at the table.
Eric glanced around the room. “There are bears in here again?”
“Not my room.” Nate opened the green marker and drew a big X and a circle. “Georgia’s. If I put a sign on her door, the bears will stay away. And then Georgia can come home.”
Eric studied his nephew as he drew a second X on the page. How could he tell a little boy that he couldn’t fight these bears because they haunted someplace within Georgia’s mind? He pulled the second little chair beside Nate’s and sat.
“That’s a good idea, buddy,” he said. “I’m sure Georgia will appreciate the sign. But I don’t know if she can move back here. She’ll still be here for you during the days.”
He was so damn grateful Georgia had stayed true to her word, continuing in her role as Nate’s nanny after things fell apart between them. But every day when she showed up, full of smiles for his nephew, it became more and more evident that he’d been the one holding back. Georgia would never walk out of Nate’s life, subjecting him to the roller coaster Eric had ridden as a child.
Nate looked up from his paper. “I need tape.”
“OK.” Eric stood and went to the craft bin. He tore off a piece of Scotch tape. “Here you go.”
Tape on his finger and the sign in his other hand, Nate headed for the door. Eric followed him down the long hall to Georgia’s former room. Carefully, Nate placed the tape on the top of the paper and secured it to her door.
“Now she can come back,” Nate said, looking up at him. “She needed help fighting the bears. Just like you help me when I’m scared. I helped Georgia.”
“Yeah you did, buddy.” Eric patted his shoulder, wondering how a toddler could be so damn wise. “But now it’s back to bed.”
They walked back to Nate’s room and Eric tucked him in, kneeling beside his bed while Nate drifted off to sleep.
Eric knew he’d made the wrong call when he’d let Georgia go instead of helping her fight her bears. But he’d always thought it would be easy. He’d thought that when a child’s heart was at stake, as his had been so many times growing up, there would be a definitive line between right and wrong. He’d been so determined to take the correct road, even if it tore him to pieces, that he’d put on blinders. There was one big difference between his parents’ relationships and his own.
Georgia.
He’d fallen in love with a woman who was steadfast and sure, especially when it mattered. She’d never walk away from the people she loved. She had a razor-sharp view of what was important in life born from witnessing firsthand how fast it could all slip away. He’d viewed her experiences and memories as a handicap. Eric had willingly followed her brother down that path. But they were her greatest strength. Georgia refused to give up. She didn’t walk away from love because it was difficult or complicated. She fought to find a way through.
“I don’t deserve her. Not after the way I let her go,” he whispered to the sleeping child. “But starting tomorrow, I’ll do whatever it takes to win her back and prove that I love and need her. That we need her. I promise. I won’t let her fight the bears on her own.”
Chapter Twenty-One
ERIC WALKED INTO the Department of Forestry conference room wishing he could fast-forward through the next thirty minutes. He’d planned to be at home when Georgia brought Nate back from preschool. But then Caroline had moved the time of this supposedly informal meeting. The best he could hope for now was to get there by nap time. He was ready to beg. Whatever it took to win her back. He would have confronted her this morning while Nate was in school, but Caroline Smith had originally set this get-together for nine-thirty.
Settling into a chair at one end of the rectangular table, close to the door, Eric glanced at his watch. Georgia should be picking Nate up right now.
A hand touched his shoulder and Eric looked up. Caroline Smith, dressed in a fitted black pantsuit that accentuated her curves, smiled down at him. “Good morning. Glad to see you’re healing. I heard about your fight with Liam Trulane.”
“A scuffle among friends,” he said. He’d refused to offer any insights into what had caused the fight. Most people, including Caroline, probably believed it had everything to do with the investigation. Eric had neither confirmed nor denied anything, unwilling to let the rumors touch Georgia.
“You’ll be pleased to know we traced the fire back to its point of origin,” Caroline added.
“Good.” It had taken them long enough. But he couldn’t tell from her expression if it was good news for Moore Timber, or if it further implicated Liam and his crew. “Where’d it start?”
“Why don’t we wait for everyone else?” she said.
Two men Eric didn’t recognize walked into the room carrying file folders overflowing with paper. Lawyers? Eric frowned. He’d brought legal representation to the first meeting, but after the investigation and questions dragged on and on, he’d decided to curtail the number of billable hours he was investing. Even if the DOF determined they’d made every reasonable effort to prevent the fire, he would be on the hook for a large portion of the expenses associated with fighting the flames. Why pay a lawyer to sit and listen to Caroline too?
More people came in, some of whom Eric knew from the DOF office. The private investigator he’d hired slipped into the room, claiming a chair around the wall. Eric drummed his fingers on the table, stealing a second glance at his watch. Georgia should be arriving home right about now.
“Welcome.” Caroline Smith stood at the head of the table. “Thank you for coming today. Before we get started, I wanted to thank Moore Timber for their cooperation. Eric, you’ve been a real asset to this investigation.”