Page 25 of The Summer House

“A couple of weeks.”

“Until then are you open to spending time together? I’ll need to head into the office for a day or so to get things in order. Then I’ll take some time off. Maybe we can learn to be friends.”

The pressure on her chest eased a little. “I’d like that.” She managed a smile. Friends. That was what they should be, she told herself, even as she had a fleeting thought that there was a lot of potential for more.

“We’ll work on the past,” she said as he rose to his feet. “Figure out this closure thing and get on with our lives.”

“Exactly.”

She stood and he smiled at her. “How about if I come by day after tomorrow,” he said. “About ten in the morning?”

“Sounds good.”

Better than good, she thought as he waved and left. Then she stopped herself in mid mental-sentence. No way. She and Rick had a very specific purpose. Apparently they hadn’t finished up with each other as much as they should have. If she could tie up all the loose ends with him, she could move on with her life. That’s what she wanted. Not a slow walk down memory lane. Been there, done that. It hadn’t worked the first time and there was no reason to think it would work this time.

Right?

Oddly enough, there was no answer.

Chapter Six

Mandy stretched out in the chair, her feet resting on the railing around the deck. It was an amazing day—warm, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. She had a perfect view of the ocean, a cold lemonade in her hand. She could get used to life like this.

In the background she could hear Rick’s voice. He was arguing with someone, but she refused to pay attention. When he got off the phone, he would tell her all about it…probably with a lot of passion in his voice. In the past few days she had discovered Rick was passionate about a lot of things. His work, the house, his hobbies.

Her?

Don’t go there, she told herself. Dangerous, dangerous territory. One fabulous afternoon in bed did not a relationship make. She and Rick were looking for an ending, not a beginning. Still, a girl could dream.

She had discovered he was the kind of man who made dreaming easy. They’d spent much of the past seven days in each other’s company. Going to lunch, the movies. They’d taken an all-day sail, had cooked out on the beach, picked out new flooring and fixtures for the guest bath in his house, and had generally hung out. By mutual agreement, they’d avoided any difficult topics, instead using the time to get to know each other.

With Rick, the more she learned, the more she liked. They got along well, agreed on many subjects, disagreed on enough to keep things interesting. There was also the added spice of the chemistry between them.

It lurked in the background, never obvious, but never absent. It was as if everything inside her vibrated slightly when he was near. The sensation was acutely pleasant.

She closed her eyes and did her best to get lost in the moment. Whatever she might feel about Rick was interesting, but not significant. They weren’t ever going to be more than what they were. Now if he’d been like this eight years ago, things might have been different.

Her eyes popped open and she sighed. Honesty insisted that she acknowledge that unless she got the chance to go back and make her former self more mature, the marriage was still doomed to failure. She’d had unrealistic expectations about the relationship from the start.

She heard Rick slam down the phone and mutter something. He stalked out to the deck and flopped down in the chair next to hers. She adjusted her sun hat so she could see him and lowered her sunglasses on her nose.

“What’s wrong?”

He shrugged and reached for his lemonade. “I’m arguing with the board about a project. It’s a pet project of John’s—he’s on the board. He wants me to approve it, but it doesn’t work. We’ve recreated the experiment three times and the results don’t match what the inventor told us they would be. I don’t know where he got his data, but it wasn’t using this particular experiment. I recommended that we pass on the project.”

Mandy shoved her glasses back in place. “Let me guess. John’s having a cow about the whole thing.”

Some of Rick’s tension eased as he grinned. “I wouldn’t have phrased it that way, but, yes.”

She grinned. “There’s nothing like hanging out with a bunch of kids to keep one’s descriptions creative.”

“I guess.”

They were both casually dressed in shorts and shirts. She wasn’t sure what he thought of her attire, but she was darned appreciative of his long, powerful legs and the way his shoulders filled out his T-shirt. She took a sip of lemonade to cool herself down and returned her attention to the conversation at hand.

“So what happens now?” she asked.

“We argue.” He shrugged. “It’s pretty common at the foundation. Everyone is brilliant and everyone has an opinion. Very few projects get through easily. But that’s what makes things work. John knew I’d tell him the truth when he asked me to review the material. I don’t think he knew the information was bogus. Now he’s mad, but he’ll get over it.”

---