Page 49 of Choosing the Montana Cowboy

“And make sure to let me know if that sign isn’t down by tomorrow. Also, I take it that you saw my email about Libby’s baby coming a month ahead of schedule?”

Natalie nodded. “Sure did. Praying everything goes okay for them. And I’m happy to help with the Greensboro project remotely, just please don’t try to fly me out there right now. We’ve got too much in motion here for me to pack up and leave.”

Also, she wasn’t ready to leave, not yet.

Steven expressed his gratitude at her flexibility and promised not to pull her away from the Marietta project prematurely. It all seemed like a win-win to Natalie. The extra work would keep her days full while Sam was out working, too, then leave her evenings open for time out on the ranch.

Where she wanted to spend as much time as possible her last guaranteed week here.

Natalie started to question her rationale an hour later, buried beneath a dozen forwarded emails from Steven. Holy crap, had Libby not done anything the past few months? She’d missed deadlines, town leaders were frustrated with Terakion’s lack of communication, and the actual site evaluation hadn’t been properly compiled or distributed.

And Natalie thought her project was a mess.

She worked on digesting as much as she could until five, then shut down her computer. Two hours behind the East Coast, no one would be calling her with requests tonight. So Natalie freshened up, then headed to the ranch for dinner. Greensboro could wait; she had a limited amount of time left with Sam and his family.

Tuesday, she had another brunch meeting in Marietta—this time with Tom Felz, the other planning committee/board of works member. Tom was less eager to see a large, corporate-run vacation resort be placed in their backyard. She made sure to make notes of his concerns, then headed back to her room at the Bramble House to pick up on helping the Greensboro project. She’d just begun reading one of the dozen latest emails her boss had forwarded when her phone buzzed. Grinning, she picked it up. It was likely something from Sam.

Instead, her sister’s name appeared.Can you call me?

Natalie sat back in her chair with a sigh. If Julianna wanted to chastise Natalie again for her desire to change positions, she was going to have to wait. But the longer Natalie considered the request, the more it piqued her curiosity. If Julianna had wanted to badger Natalie, she would have just called. This seemed more like a sincere request, and an unexpected one at that.

So, she took a cleansing breath, turned from her laptop, and tapped the call icon on her phone.

“I take it you got my text?” her sister answered.

It was just like Julianna to bypass the pleasantries. “Sure did. Caught me in between tasks, so I figured now was a good time. What’s up?”

“I spoke with Steven this morning.”

Natalie pinched the bridge of her nose. “Jules, if this is about me applying for that promo—”

“It’s not. Well, not like you think.” On the other end of the line, Julianna blew out a huff. “Steven said you’ve been having troubles with your project, and I think I know why.”

“Go on.” But her sister said nothing. Several seconds passed. “Jules?”

“I’m here.” Her voice was softer than usual. Less domineering. “I—It was me.”

Natalie’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“Not personally, but I think I was the cause. I thought you were nuts for wanting to switch to a different department, because you’re doing really well where you are. Like, Steven brags on you all the time at other meetings.”

He did? That almost made Natalie smile. Almost, because she was too mad at the moment to do so.

“Anyway, I was dating a guy named Brice in the site procurement group when you first mentioned your intention to switch, and I sort of told him my feelings on you considering walking away from your current position.”

Natalie frowned. Months had gone by since they’d last spoken andnowshe wanted to share her soap opera life? “So?”

“So he may have mentioned that there were ways he could keep the project from going smoothly, since I’d said you were one successful project away from being a slam dunk for the promotion.”

“I can’t even believe what I’m hearing.” Natalie rose from her chair and paced the room. “After all I went through, losing my job at Thinkology and having to basically start from scratch at Terakion? How could you go and sabotage your own sister’s career!”

“But I didn’t!” Julianna cried. “I swear I didn’t. And I guess I shouldn’t have vented to Brice. He promised he wouldn’t actually do anything, but after talking with Steven, it sounds like he did.”

“And he didn’ttellyou what he was doing?”

“No, he never said anything about it. But some of that stuff he could have set into motion well over a month ago, maybe two. And I’m not about to go ask him—I broke up with him a few weeks ago. Things just weren’t working out between us.”

Well, at least Julianna had gotten one thing right in all of this mess. “Did you tell Steven all of this? Because this is not cool, Jules. If that guy messed with my project, there should be repercussions. Something in the file so that if this project goes south, the blame should point to him, not me.” Never mind that the ferrets could undermine the whole project, this was her reputation at stake.

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