“Do you think he’s thought about it?” Lauren hated sounding needy, but nobody knew Ryan the way this woman did. “That we’re not a part of his life?”
“I don’t know. But I bet he will when he’s all alone in that big beige house for a couple of days and nights, missing you.”
Lauren smiled, imagining him stretched out on a beige couch, staring at the ceiling with nobody to talk to. Of course, there was always a chance he’d be happy to have the peace and quiet and decide he didn’t need the complication of a woman with a teenage son who lived hours away.
This time, when Ryan walked through the door, he smiled at her, looking a little bit more relaxed. Nick was at his heels and he grabbed his backpack out of the corner. Guess they were leaving.
Lauren stood up and gave Rosie a smile since she couldn’t really thank her for the advice in front of Ryan. “We should probably go. You’ve got a long drive ahead of you.”
He stepped close to her. “I’ll miss you.”
She certainly hoped so. “Call me when you get a chance. It’s going to be insane at work because Gary destroys the office if I’m gone an hour, never mind three sick days, but anytime after work hours.”
“I will.” He kissed her, maybe a little longer and harder than he should have in the kitchen, but nobody complained. “I’ll see you Friday.”
She drove home listening to Nick’s excitement that he’d be getting paid to work at the lodge now. There weren’t many jobs in Whitford and, since the economy had suffered, adults had taken the jobs the teens used to do. Plus, his penance was over and his debt paid, which was a weight off his shoulders.
“That’s great, honey,” she said. “I’m proud of you. It might have started as a punishment, but you earned yourself the job.”
“When I get my first paycheck, I’m going to take us out for ice cream at the diner.”
Lauren couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. “I can’t wait.”
“I’m going to get a banana split because you never let me. I bet Ryan will get a sundae with chocolate ice cream and hot fudge because he loves chocolate. What are you going to get?”
A son with a broken heart if Ryan went home and remembered he liked his uncomplicated beige life, she thought. Maybe not broken, but bruised. Hers would be the broken one. “Coffee ice cream with caramel topping and extra whipped cream.”
He gave her a sideways look. “Will they charge me for extra whipped cream?”
Laughing, she shook her head. “Paige won’t charge us for extra whipped cream. Neither will Ava.”
Some of the tightness eased in her chest. She’d be okay. No matter what happened in the future with Ryan, she had Nick and they’d both be okay.
Chapter Fifteen
“You can’t keep doing this.”
Ryan scrubbed his hands over his face. He knew Wendi, his office manager, was right, even without Phil nodding his agreement from the other chair.
“If you’re still in charge,” she continued, “you need to be here. If you want to be there, then somebody else has to be in charge. And not just somebody you delegate stuff to and communicate through. Somebody has to be the boss.”
Phil leaned forward. “When we have to keep telling homeowners and real estate brokers and architects and suppliers over and over you’re unavailable, even if we can give them a reason, they lose confidence in the company.”
As much as he’d tried not to think about this day, it was time to quit with the denial and come back to reality. He’d asked a lot of his people over the past month, especially Wendi, who’d been with him since the end of his first year in business. She’d started out part-time, out of her house, and he’d pretty much eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for months to scrape up the money to pay her. But he sucked at remembering to return phone calls and file paperwork, and he couldn’t run his growing business out of his pickup anymore. She was as important to Kowalski Custom Builders as he was, and he could see she was nearing the end of her rope with him. He couldn’t lose her.
“We’ve just about wrapped up the projects they need me for,” Ryan said. “Once the roofing’s done, I’ll be done except for some weekend side work. Another week, so you can start telling people I’ll be available starting the twenty-ninth.”
They both sagged back in their chairs, relieved smiles lighting up their faces. All he felt was grim resignation and a knot in his gut. This was going to change everything.
“Except on weekends,” he said. “No Saturday meetings.”
“You got it,” Wendi said. “As long as you’re here during the week, we can handle anything that comes up on a Saturday.”