Authors: Samantha Chase
“
Thanks Rose!” Emma called after her and sat herself back down. There was never a lack of anything to do and the next hour flew by. Before she knew it, a salad appeared in front of her and Emma went into multi-tasking mode; eating and working.
“I’ve got an envelope here for a Mr. Montgomery,” a male voice said and Emma nearly jumped out of her skin. She never even heard him approach!
“I’ll sign for that,” Emma said with a smile. Her curiosity was making her anxious; she desperately wanted to know what it was that her boss was working on that didn’t include his sons. Once she signed the electronic pad and the courier left, she eyed the package warily. She wanted desperately to tear it open but held herself in check and reached for the phone.
“Just wanted to let you know that the courier just left, Mr. Montgomery,” she said cheerily when her boss answered the phone.
“Excellent!” he boomed. “Now, go and get Rose and get her situated and enjoy a nice long weekend!”
“Are you sure?”
“When have you ever known me to not be one hundred percent confident in what I’m saying?” he teased.
He had her there. The man never seemed to experience a moment of doubt. “Okay, okay. I’ll just put this envelope on your desk and…”
“No!” he interrupted a bit too harshly and silently cursed himself when he heard Emma’s gasp of surprise. “I mean, I really need those papers and if they’re on my desk, the boys might get curious and open the envelope.”
It was funny to always hear him refer to his two grown son as ‘boys’ but she let that thought go as she tried to focus on what she needed to do with this secret envelope. “I can put it in the safe or just lock it in my desk if that would work for you?”
He sighed with a hint of frustration. “Emma, I don’t want you to stress out over this but I have a favor to ask.”
“Sure; anything you need.”
“I really don’t want to wait to go over those papers.”
“I can fax them to you,” she suggested.
“No. We promised to not have an office up at the house. It’s our retreat.”
“I can scan them and email them and then you can read it on your laptop.”
“I didn’t bring it.”
Emma couldn’t hide her frustration. “Okay, so if you knew these were coming and that you were going to need them, why didn’t you just wait for them?” As soon as the words snapped out she regretted them. “I’m sorry; that was completely unprofessional of me.”
“No need to apologize, Emma; I’m afraid I’m the one being difficult.” He paused as if carefully considering his next words. “I have a proposition for you,” he finally said.
Something in his tone had Emma feeling a bit uneasy.
“O-kay,” she said slowly.
“I know I said that you could leave now and to enjoy a long weekend,” he began. “Have you given any thought as to what you were going to do or where you were going to go?”
“No, not really.”
“Well, maybe, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, there is a fabulous spa up here not far from our house and I think yo
u would really enjoy it. Monica can book you a room and arrange for a massage and…”
“Wait a minute,” she interrupted. “You want me to drive up to the mountains and bring you the papers in person?”
“I know, I know, poor planning on my part but I would be extremely grateful to you Emma if you could help me out with this.”
“I don’t know, sir,” she admitted honestly. “I’ve never driven up there and it’s getting late…”
“Nonsense!” he boomed. “You’re only two hours away! If you leave now and go home and throw some things in a bag, we’ll take care of the rest. I’ll send you the directions to your phone or you can just use your GPS; whichever is easier for you.”
As much as Emma wanted to refuse, the thought of a night at a deluxe spa was quite tempting. “I guess I could do it, but don’t feel like you have to book the spa for me,” she said, trying to make it seem like she wasn’t doing this simply for the perk of a massage.
“Are you kidding? You’re doing me a huge favor! You can have two nights there if you’d like!”
Now that got her attention and before she could stop herself she squeaked, “Really?”
“Absolutely,” he said, sounding more than a little thrilled. Turning to his wife he told her to make all of the arrangements before returning his attention to the phone and Emma. “Consider it taken care of. We’ll give you all of the information when you get here.”
“Thank you, Sir,” she said, relief and anticipation filling her voice. “I’ll call when I’m on my way.”
“Don’t stick around the office too long. I’d feel better knowing that the majority of your drive was while the sun was up. These November days seem to be getting shorter and shorter.” They firmed up their plans and as soon as they hung up, Emma grabbed up the envelope and placed it in her briefcase and then walked over to Rose’s desk to give her instructions for the remainder of the week.
Within fifteen minutes, Emma Taylor walked out of Montgomery’s for the first time in two years before six o’clock, a wide grin on her face.
****
“It’s going to be treacherous driving on your evening commute tonight. Snow is expected in the area early this evening and it’s going to come down fast and furious.”
“Damn weather,” Lucas cursed under his breath as he pulled into his driveway. He was returning from his monthly trip into town to stock up on food and supplies. That was something new; he used to have everything delivered but with a couple of days of stubble on his face and a ball cap pulled down low, no one bothered him.
Glad that he was fully stocked, it took a little time to get it all from his truck and into the house. Once it was all inside and put away, he looked at his supply of wood. While he had a generator and knew that if the storm got bad enough to lose power, he
’d be fine; he liked to be well prepared. Looking at the clock and seeing that there were several hours of daylight left, Lucas headed out into the back yard and toward the stack of firewood that was waiting to be cut.
The physical exertion felt good; Lucas knew that it wasn’t in his best interest to just simply sit around the house. Swinging the axe had him using more muscles than he did in the average day and while at first his body protested a little, it didn’t take long for him to get into the swing of things (literally) and feel good. Even in the cold, he worked up a sweat and once all of the cutting was done, it was another chore to move all of the wood to the shed that was built on to the back of his house.
By five o’clock, Lucas felt a satisfied sense of exhaustion as he stepped back into the house; prepared to settle in for the night. The first flakes were already falling and it didn’t take long for the weather to change and turn into a full blown blizzard. Building a fire in the main fireplace, a chill ran through his body and a sense of unease filled him. It wasn’t like Lucas to feel restless. He’d grown accustomed to his isolation and found that he’d made peace with being alone.
His knee ached and his muscles were sore from exertion. Walking around the house searching for something, for what, Lucas couldn’t be sure, all he knew was that everything felt suddenly out of sorts. After checking all of the rooms and seeing that nothing was out of place, he found himself back in front of the fireplace. It was completely quiet in the house with the exception of the occasional popping coming from the fire.
When his phone rang, he jumped higher than a grown man should.
“H’lo,” he answered gruffly, not even bothering to check his caller I.D.
“Lucas? Are you okay?” His father. There were few things that Lucas could count on anymore but one of them was that his father would call him at least once a day just to make sure that he was doing okay and had a conversation with another human being. While at times it annoyed the hell out of him, other times, like now, these calls were a comfort.
“Fine, Dad. How about you?”
“Oh, your mother and I are up here by you. She is positively giddy about the snow.”
Lucas laughed. As much as Lucas hated being cold, he loved the way the snow looked. He clearly had gotten that fascination from his mother. “She always gets like that,” he said with a laugh. “You just up here for the weekend or staying longer this time?”
“Depends on the storm,” William said, his tone a little distracted.
“Dad? Are you okay?”
“What? Oh, um, yes, yes; just fine. How about you? Do you have everything that you need in case we get snowed in?”
“Today was my day to stock up so I’m good for a while.”
“This storm really came out of nowhere, didn’t it?” William asked, worry now lacing his words.
“Not really,” Lucas said. “It’s been in the forecast but it’s just a little more intense than they originally thought. Nothing new for this area.
What’s going on, Dad? Sounds like you’ve got something on your mind. You’re not worried about this storm are you? We’ve lived through ones like this dozens of times before.”
“I know, I know, it’s just that…,” his voice trailed off.
“No, I don’t know. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” William lied. “What about you? Are you there by yourself?”
Lucas laughed. “That’s an odd question. Of course I’m here by myself. Who else would be here with me?”
Nervous laughter escaped before William could stop it. “What was I thinking?” he said, trying to sound lighter. “As long as you have everything you need. You’ll call if you have a problem, right?”
Lucas pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it like it was a foreign object. Call if he needed anything? What in the world? “I’ll be fine, Dad,” he reassured. “In case you’ve forgotten, I prefer a good storm; it keeps me inside where I like to be.”
“Lucas,” his father began, “it’s not good for you to be by yourself all the time. You need to get out of the house more, maybe come back to work or…”
“I appreciate the concern,” Lucas said with frustration, “but I really don’t feel like having this particular conversation right now. I just got done stocking the wood shed and I was just about to go and take a hot shower to ease some of the soreness out of my body.”
“You know I only nag because I love you, son, right?”
No words could have taken the wind out of his sales more than those. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Lucas closed his eyes and mentally counted to ten before answering. “I know you do, Dad; I honestly do. This is my decision, though, and I need everyone to back off, okay?”
William didn’t want to agree; he wanted to put his foot down and demand that his son fall in line. It was what was best for him! While he understood his son’s disappointment in losing his football career, he was still
alive for crying out loud! There was no need for him to hide away from the world. He’d done nothing wrong; he just had the misfortune of getting hurt. “Fine; I promise to back off. Stay safe during this storm and we’ll talk to you over the weekend, all right?”
“Thanks, Dad,” Lucas replied as he hung up the phone. Shutting it down, he placed it on the counter; his shoulders feeling the tension from the conversation. Lucas couldn’t understand why this was such a big deal for everyone. It wasn’t as if he was asking all of them to stay shut in with him.
His knee was throbbing right now. All he wanted was a hot shower, an even hotter dinner and to sit and ice his knee. It sounded like a good plan for the evening; so good that it sounded like what he did every evening. That thought made him frown as he walked into his bedroom. Sure it would be nice to get back out into the land of the living again but the life that he wanted, the one that he’d worked so hard for, was long gone.
Some people would say that he was lucky; he’d lived his dream for many years and he went out while he was still on top. The problem with that was that he hadn’t wanted to
leave; he’d been forced out due to an injury. It was funny because when it happened, promises were made to him left and right about how there would always be a place for him within the organization. Once his therapy proved that his injury was more intensive than originally diagnosed and that he would be in treatment longer that anticipated, those offers came with less and less frequency until finally the phone just stopped ringing. Lucas hated pity and the fact that he was having a daily pity party for himself annoyed him even more.
Stripping down and stepping under the steaming shower spray, he let the hot water beat down on him as he sighed wearily. All of the tension eased from his body and with it so did all thoughts of his previous life. An inner pep talk reminded Lucas that he enjoyed the life he had created since his football career ended. He finally had his privacy; reporters were no longer camping out desperate for a picture or a quote from him. He could come and go as he pleased with little to no recognition. His time was his own.
In the last eighteen months he’d agreed to work for the family organization and while it was far from his dream job, at least he had the privilege of working from his own home, making his own hours while having something to keep him busy. When he wasn’t taking care of Montgomery business Lucas had taken up photography; nature photography to be exact. The act of going out and walking around in the parks and the massive properties his family owned was therapeutic; at the same time, it allowed the creative side of him to come out. Both sides gave him a great sense of satisfaction that he hadn’t felt in a long time.