Bittersweet Surrender (15 page)

Tucking her forehead into her palm, Carly said, “I don't know what came over me to talk to him that way. I'm sorry, Rita.”

Her sister-in-law waved it off. “Don't worry about it. My brother and I do it all the time. Bantering is what siblings do.”

“I guess,” Carly said.

After C. J. left, Rita and Carly meandered around the quaint village of Smitten. Couples walked hand-in-hand through the town square where a stringed trio played romantic tunes for the audience. Lamplight spilled over brick streets and sidewalks. Colorful flowers spilled from window boxes.

After the concert, they finally stopped at the local coffee shop, Mountain Perks, to get their mochas with extra whipped cream, then headed back to the lodge.

“How's your savings coming along?” Rita asked.

Carly's head whipped to her. “Do you need money?” With her brother's overspending compulsion, Carly wondered if Rita was in trouble.

“Oh no, nothing like that. I just know you're saving for your surgery.”

Rita was the only one on the earth who knew how hard Carly had been saving for surgery and how badly she wanted it. That was one of the reasons Rita blew a gasket if C. J. hinted at asking Carly for financial help. Little did Rita know it didn't stop him.

“It's coming along.” Carly smiled to reassure her. “The next disbursement check should pretty much give me what I need, so I'll schedule after that. It won't be long now.”

“I'm so sorry you've gone through all this, Carly.”

“It's water under the bridge. I was a dope to allow that stupid depression to take over when Gary walked out. What kind of man walks out on his wife when she has breast cancer, Rita?”

“A real jerk.”

Carly let out a painful sigh. “Oh well, what's done is done. It's been a long journey, but I'm back now, baby!”

Rita laughed. “That's our girl.”

“Maybe I should have gotten both breasts lopped off so I could start over and go for a Marilyn Monroe look or something.”

Rita gasped. “Don't even talk like that.”

“You're right. I'll be satisfied with an even look. This gel insert thing just isn't cutting it. I can't find one to quite match the other side.”

Rita laughed again. “No one can tell but you. I think you look perfectly normal.”

Carly's left eyebrow arched. “Sure, if you're comparing me to, say, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.”

“You're so funny. You're not leaning.”

“Oh yeah? Then why do people tilt their head sideways when they talk to me?”

Rita shook her head and pushed the card into the door slot of her and C. J.'s room. “Good night, neighbor.”

Carly smiled and pushed into her room next door. “'Night.”

As she stood looking around her room, her gaze landed on the large vanity mirror.

Looking at herself, she sighed. Jake was coming next week. She was still her heavy self. Guess she'd find out right from the start if this was going to work between them. If she weren't so tired, she'd go to the fitness room. It would have to wait till morning.

She plopped down on the bed and picked up the TV remote. The phone rang.

“So I assume you arrived at the lodge safe and sound?” Scott said.

Good grief. Did he have sirens at home alerting him that she was skipping out on the fitness room tonight? She glanced around for hidden cameras.

“Hi. Yeah, we're here. Everything all right there?”

“Yeah, everything is fine. I'm just bored,” he said.

Whew. He didn't know she was sloughing off exercise. “You should have come with us. You could have kept a watch on C. J. and made sure he didn't get into any trouble.”

“I'm sure he would have appreciated me babysitting him. Besides, I don't think your brother cares for me all that much.”

“I don't know why you say things like that.”

“Oh, I don't know. He just acts uncomfortable around me.”

“That's just C. J. His mind is always on the next adventure. He's restless.”

“Maybe. But I always feel a little weird around him.”

“Guys aren't supposed to have intuition or things like that,” Carly said.

Scott laughed. “You're right. Probably got my signals crossed when you were around.”

“Well, don't listen to me. That will get you into trouble for sure.”

She explained what happened over dinner with C. J. “Why would I say such a thing, Scott? You know me. I'm not usually that temperamental.”

“Give yourself a break. You've been under a lot of pressure lately.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

They enjoyed a moment of comfortable silence. “You know what I miss?” he asked.

“What?”

“How the four of us would get together for dinner and a movie on Friday nights.”

His comment stirred up memories of happier times. “I know. I miss that too.”

“Hard to believe they're gone,” he said. The loneliness in his voice was palpable. “Are you still nervous about Jake coming into town?”

“Yeah, I'll be glad to get the initial meeting out of the way. I'm tired of worrying about what he'll think of me.”

“It's more important what
you
think of you.”

“Oh, Dr. Phil, I see you've joined us.”

“You know I'm right.”

“Yeah, okay. It's quiet at your house tonight,” Carly said, hearing nothing on his end but his breathing.

“I'm still at the office.”

“Oh sure, make me look bad. I'm off having a swinging time in Smitten and you're still working.”

“You're alone in your hotel room on a Friday night at nine thirty. I wouldn't exactly call that having a swinging time.”

“Good point. And thank you for pointing that out.”

He laughed.

“Why are you still working?”

“Oh, finishing up some things. Listen, I'll let you go. Just wanted to check in on you. Oh, get this, Magnolia brought me down a snack a little while ago.”

“Was it burned?”

“Still sizzling when she brought it to me.”

Carly laughed. “What was it?”

“She said it was apple crisp. I agree with her on the crisp part, but I didn't find an apple anywhere.”

“I can't believe she made a dessert with sugar. What evils!”

“She used honey or something in it, she said. All I could taste were the charred remains. But at least she gave me a salad first. By the way, what are those long, thready, grassy things?”

Carly laughed. “Alfalfa sprouts?”

“That would be it.”

“Yuck. I'd rather go hungry. So did you eat it?”

“Every string.”

“And?”

“I'm still alive. Well, listen, I'd better go. Talk to you on Monday.”

“Okay, see ya, Scott.”

They hung up and Carly got ready for bed. Scott's phone call had improved her mood at least, and she was thankful for that. She didn't like to go to bed mad—she was afraid her frown line would deepen while she slept.

Spotting the brochure on her stand, she picked it up and glanced through it again. It was probably silly for her to carry it around with her, but it kept her sights on her goal. If only she could have the surgery and be ready when Jake showed up. She sighed. At least she had lost five pounds. That was good. On the other hand, she was still twenty pounds heavier than the picture he had of her. One look at her and he might run.

In the opposite direction.

nine

They had decided to go to the spa. Rita
opted for a facial while Carly opted for a special bath in mineral water. A good long soak should take the edge off her attitude—at least she was hoping it would.

First, they were taken to a room decorated in soothing colors to wait for their treatment. There they could get a hot drink and lounge in comfortable chairs. Water trickled softly down a wall fountain while quiet, relaxing music wafted around the cozy room.

“Want anything to drink?” Carly asked while edging her way toward the teapot.

Rita settled into her seat. “No, thanks.”

Carly reached for a cup and heard someone step into the room. “We're ready for you now.”

When Carly turned to see the woman, she momentarily lost her voice.

“Oh, uh, hi, how are you?” Amber said.

“Amber. Hi. I didn't know you worked here too.” Carly couldn't deny she felt hurt. They were friends at work, so why hadn't she mentioned this?

A pretty shade of pink fanned her cheeks. “Yeah, on the weekends.”

Which would explain why she was never available in a crunch to help Carly on Saturdays. “I see.”

“I hope you don't mind.” She hung her head. “I know I should have told you, but I hated to admit that I needed more hours—that I could count on—and I knew, well, that the Mocha Day Spa wasn't always busy enough to justify my being there.”

“Well, sure, I mean, there's no confidentiality paper between us or anything. You're free to work where you will.” Another reason why Carly needed to build the business—so she could afford a decent wage and offer more hours.

Amber took Rita to her room, then walked Carly a little farther to another room.

“Here you go,” she said, taking Carly into a lamp-lit room with a claw-foot tub. “I've already drawn your bath for you.”

Carly could smell the minerals in the room when she entered. Perhaps it worked along the same principal as the garlic poultice their grandparents used to ward off infections. Rose petals were sprinkled over the water, and Carly watched them to see if they would disintegrate in the sulfur. She figured if the rose petals made it, she could too.

“Carly, I—”

Carly put her hand on Amber's arm. “It's all right. Really. I understand.”

Amber relaxed. “Thanks.” She turned and left Carly in the room.

Disrobing, Carly slipped into the smooth mineral water and felt herself instantly relax. It was like bathing in cream. Her scrambled thoughts of Jake, her diet, C. J.'s spending, and how to make their spa more successful began to untangle and drift away with the rose petals. There would be time to think of those things later. Right now, a calming bath had her name on it . . .

“So how was your bath?” Rita asked when
they met in the front lobby after their treatments.

“Heavenly. How about your facial?”

“I'll never be the same.”

“Okay, you owe me lunch.” They paid their bills and left the spa.

“Why do I owe you lunch?”

“Because you liked their facials better than ours.”

“How do you know that?”

“You said you'll never be the same. A little something you've failed to mention after one of my spa treatments.”

“They didn't pluck my eyebrows without warning.”

“A person makes one mistake . . .”

Rita looked at Carly point-blank. “Lunch is on me.”

“Okay, so what can I do to beef up our spa?” Carly asked once they were seated with their full plates from the buffet line.

“You're kidding, right? Your spa is the best place in town. It's doing a great business. What are you worried about?”

“See, that's just it. It seems as though we have a lot of guests come through, but I can tell by Scott's grunts and groans while he's working on the taxes that things aren't so great.”

“Is there a way to cut expenses?”

“If there is and still provide a quality spa, I haven't discovered it.”

“Maybe you should talk to another spa director, get some ideas.” Rita dug into her mashed potatoes smothered with gravy.

Carly's fork hovered over a lettuce leaf as she longingly watched Rita bite into her potatoes.

“How are my two best girls?” C. J. asked, approaching the table with a plate of food in hand. Happily, he didn't seem to hold Carly's comment from yesterday against her.

“Well, you finally decided to join us,” Rita said with a slight sneer. “What time did you get in? I suppose you found a poker game. How much did you lose?”

Did Carly want to hear this discussion? No.

C. J. held up his hand. “I got in around two, and I won us a little money,” he said with a slight bow before sitting down.

He was smiling.

Rita wasn't.

Obviously, they hadn't talked yet today.

“C. J.—”

“Now, Rita, don't. Let's just enjoy our meal together.” The look on his face said the discussion was over, and they would do well to leave it there.