Her Heart's Bargain

Visitation numbers were down.

Spending was flat.

Revenue coming in from the education programs and even what had been reported from the campground and marina...all lower than normal, even for December.

Dutifully, he scribbled his name, but it was difficult to continue. After hours of spreadsheets and incident reports filed by the law enforcement rangers over the weekend and So. Many. Emails. Ash leaned back in his chair and stared up at the water spot on the ceiling.

Primer and paint would fix that.

Did they have the budget? He covered his eyes, so weary.

“I’m off to grab some lunch. Want me to lock the front door?” Macy stood in the doorway, half in, half out. Her hesitation was unusual.

“We’re open regular hours today. I’ll cover the phones and the front.” And count the minutes until she got back.

“Should I send Brett for backup?” Macy asked.

Ash waved her off. “You’ve been stuck here all week. Get out. The paperwork fairy will leave you a gift on your desk.”

Instead of laughing or glaring or lecturing or any other Macy thing, she just...left. Silently.

At this point, he had a few choices to make.

He should call his sister. Winter was pretty close to the center of this mess as well and she had as much, if not more, to lose.

Would her engagement survive the storm? Would she blame Ash if Whit Callaway called off the wedding? This lodge was the Callaway family’s current cause, an expansion on the Reserve after five generations of conservation.

It would make them a lot of money.

Politicians always required a lot of money.

Another suspect might be all he needed to settle the Callaway family down. All he had to do was think.

The water spot resembled a standard poodle. Further study turned up no other ideas for the report’s leaker.

“Well, there’s me.” Frustrated that he was the only logical suspect, Ash folded the newspapers and tossed them into the trash can. He heard an imaginary Macy bark “Recycle!” in his ear so he pulled them out and dropped them on top of the leaning pile behind his chair. “Since I know I didn’t leak this report, there has to be someone else.”

Fatigued, yet ready for a project he could complete quickly, Ash picked up his glasses and settled in to read Macy’s outline of events for the coming open house. Not because he was concerned she’d forgotten anything, but just because it was nice to live in her organized world. “I should have asked for pie.”

CHAPTER THREE (#u2148c765-fca1-5954-b421-07bd37e73ddb)

GETTING OUT OF the visitor center had seemed like a good idea until Macy had to decide where to go. Most days, she spent her lunch hour at her desk. The only difference between a lunch hour and a regular hour was the addition of a turkey sandwich and the fruit of the day.

After three days cooped up and Ash’s return—which should have made everything right, but instead filled the air with a new kind of tension—Macy had to do something different. The urge to change things up was getting stronger, but she wasn’t sure where to start. Escape, temporary though it was, was a first step.

“A beautiful day for eating at the campground diner. No phones. No worrying over Ash.” For December, it was beautiful weather. Sunny. Warm enough to forget that Christmas was lurking somewhere in the near distance.

Although spending the holiday alone meant it was pretty much like any other day.

Except there was no work. No ranger station.

No distraction.

No Ash.

“But it gives you plenty of time to catch up on all your projects, Macy Elizabeth. Free time is a luxury you better appreciate.” Even her grandmother would have taken off Christmas Day. All the chores could wait. Since she was the last of her particular branch of Gentrys and holidays could be lonely, Macy had already decided she’d spend the holiday hiking Yanu Falls. Getting outside of her apartment would be required.

Her inability to name any projects she was dying to finish was something she needed to think about. She’d moved to Sweetwater when Administrative Services had offered her a permanent position running the visitor information desk at the Otter Lake Ranger Station. During her first year with the Smoky Valley Nature Reserve, she’d bounced around locations, doing a wide variety of temporary assignments. The job she had now, managing the visitor center and administration support, fit her best. Even the months she’d spent in the district office in Knoxville had been less satisfying, although some people would think the ranger station was a step down.

The minute she’d signed a lease on a one-bedroom apartment in town, Macy knew she’d found her home.

Friends were easy enough to claim in the small town. Odella at the coffee shop remembered how she ordered her coffee. She and Astrid, the town’s librarian, had spent many a Friday night at The Branch bemoaning the town’s lack of night life.

And then there was Ash, the man who...

Approved her timesheets.

Looked like he wanted to pat her on the head now and then.

Needed her.

Enough wasting time, Macy.

That familiar voice in her head belonged to her no-nonsense grandmother. Gran had been easy enough for Macy to love, but the whole town of Myrtle Bend, Georgia, and the three cousins Macy claimed there had always trembled when she drove down Main Street.

Gran had been fierce. Tough. Some days, Macy had to remind herself that fierce made people uncomfortable. As long as she’d remembered that, that it was easier to get along than follow in Gran’s tradition, making Sweetwater home had been easy enough.

Still, she’d be fighting that bossy voice in her head until she died.

“Lunch is an hour, Macy. Quit wasting precious seconds,” she muttered to herself, a bad habit she wasn’t even trying to break.

After days alone at work and at home, Macy was ready to make conversation. The campground diner would have food and people, so it was an easy choice.

As Macy pulled into the deserted parking lot, she worried the diner was somehow closed for business that day. Then she realized if anyone should know the schedule for the Otter Lake Campground convenience store-slash-marina-slash-diner, it would be her. She could recite the hours with a second’s notice, both winter and summer.

Normally, at least one or two cars would be parked in front of the glass doors, even in winter.

“Business must be slower than usual.” Macy slid out of the car and marched inside. “I should do this more often.” For some reason, she’d always imagined a wild lunch rush, filled with loud conversations and not enough time.

When Christina Braswell turned to greet her, Macy was relieved. They didn’t know each other well, but Christina was a familiar face, and they had a built-in topic of easy conversation: Christina’s boyfriend, Ranger Brett Hendrix. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” Macy said.

“Yeah, I usually handle the breakfast shift, but Luisa asked me to stay later this week because she’s on vacation. If she’d known how few people would be through here, she might have shut the place down.” Christina held her arms wide. “Pick a spot. Any spot. I suggest the large booth by the window. I can stretch out my legs.”

Did that mean she was joining Macy? Macy had only planned to order something to go. Ash was no good with the phones and if a reporter came in...

Do something different, Macy. He’s a grown man, not a child. Ash Kingfisher would not appreciate her rushing back because she was afraid he couldn’t handle being left alone.

“Come on. This once, have a lunch here. At a table. With refilled drinks and everything.” Christina folded her hands beneath her chin. “Please. It’s so slow. I’m begging.”