Page 45 of A Secret Chance
“You got it, Mr...” The bartender looked down at the card, “Baxter Caldwell.”
Baxter nodded and made his way through the crowd, his beer bounty in hand, his eyes trained on Nicole’s white fur hat. He reached the table and set down the jugs with intense focus. “Where’s your lederhosen, Fraulein,” Thomas laughed.
“That’s Boss Fraulein to you,” Baxter chuckled, but his laughter was cut short as he glanced at the other members of their table and saw Charlotte O’Hare.
Nicole patted the bench seat beside her. “Baxter, this is my old friend Serena Cruise.”
Baxter extended his hand to the pretty blond woman seated across from Kate. “Baxter Caldwell. Pleased to meet you.” She looked very familiar, but it took him a second to place her. “You were in the ax-throwing contest,” he said.
“Last place,” she smiled and held up her cup. Serena took over the introductions, “This is Freddie.” The handsome man in the Patagonia coat sitting beside her stood up to shake his hand. “And that’s Charlotte—”
“O’Hare,” Baxter finished her sentence. “We’ve met.”
“Nice to see you again, Mr. Caldwell,” Charlotte said. “Glad to see you’re taking my advice.”
Baxter stepped his leg over the bench set and sat down across from Charlotte. He tilted his head quizzically, “What advice was that?”
“To get out, meet the people whose lives you’re going to rui... impact.”
“You were going to say ruin.”
“Well, that’s still up to you,” she said.
“How about we leave business at the front door,” he suggested. “For the afternoon.”
“Afternoon?” Charlotte said. She pointed behind him. The sky had turned a cotton candy pink as the sun made its way behind the jagged mountain peaks that surrounded the town. White twinkle lights flicked on and volunteers came around lighting the industrial-strength patio heaters. “How about we make that pact for the evening too?”
He held up his beer. “Deal,” he said. “To an afternoon slash evening truce.” The unlikely assembly of Rapidians and Caldwell executives raised their glasses and drank.
Nicole and Serena were talking animatedly beside him while Thomas and Barry talked to Freddie. Baxter couldn’t hear what they were saying, but every few minutes the three of them would break out in raucous laughter. He knew that crony laughter. Whatever Freddie had said, it was definitely raunchy. That left him and Charlotte.
“Are you having a good time in Chance Rapids?” she asked.
“Sure,” he smiled. “We’ve just been working.”
She nodded. “I know what that’s like.”
The conversation felt forced and stilted, but with business off the table, he didn’t know what to talk about.
“Where did you learn how to throw an ax?” She leaned her elbows on the table and held her plastic cup with both hands.
“I spent a bit of time in the woods in another life,” he replied. “Not too far from here actually.”
“Really? Where?”
“Not too many people know this about me, but I worked as a tree planter when I was young.”
“You are young.” She pointed at him and then sipped her beer.
“I mean, I was a kid, really,” Baxter chuckled. “At the camp, we were just a bunch of frustrated young men. We made up all kinds of games to keep us occupied in our downtime. One of them was ax-throwing, although none were as big as that one today.”
“Are you a skier, Mr. Caldwell?” Charlotte planted her elbow on the table and rested her face against her fist.
While the questions were friendly, Baxter felt like he was in an interrogation. “I am,” he replied. “Why?”
“Just curious,” she shrugged. “Have you been on the mountain yet?”
“No,” Baxter replied. “As I said, we’ve just been working. Are the conditions any good?”
