Green Mountain Collection 1 by Marie Force (19)

For an hour after she left, Will waited for her to come back. Only after that first hour passed did it sink in that she wasn’t coming back. He sat on the sofa with a dog head on each leg, watching the fire and berating himself for not having the balls to tell her he wanted to go with her or that he loved her. He should’ve told her that much, at the very least.

And now he was sitting here by himself, as always, wishing he’d told her all the things he’d decided she wasn’t ready to hear.

“So stupid,” he whispered. “So freaking stupid.”

He couldn’t sit there for another second without losing his mind, so he pulled on a coat and headed out with the dogs on a long hike through the woods behind his house. They were gone all morning, and when fatigue and hunger drove him back to the house, he emerged from the thicket of trees hoping against hope that he’d find a red Mini in the driveway.

Cameron’s car wasn’t there, but his dad’s Range Rover was. Recognizing the car, the dogs took off toward the house and the treats that Lincoln always had in his pockets for them.

By the time Will caught up to them, the treats were gone and a fierce wrestling match was under way on the floor. The dogs loved his dad almost as much as they loved him.

“Don’t mind us,” Lincoln puffed from the bottom of the scrum on the floor in front of the fireplace.

“Okay, I won’t.” Will went into the kitchen, made a turkey sandwich and ate it without tasting anything. He chased it with a tall glass of ice water. With his hunger satisfied for the moment, he went to use the bathroom and walked into the wall of lingering fragrance she’d left behind after her shower.

A moan escaped from between his lips. With his hands on the sink, he hung his head and tried to recover from the emotional firestorm the scent unleashed within him. He’d never felt pain like this. Not when Lisa left him, not when his grandmother died or even when Caleb died. Nothing could compare to this, a thought that made him feel horribly guilty when he recalled the awful agony of losing Caleb, in particular.

Now he had a very small idea of how his sister must’ve suffered when her husband died so suddenly, which was another thought he felt he had no right to. How could he begin to compare the end of a two-week affair with what Hannah had endured after her husband’s death? He couldn’t, really, but he also couldn’t deny that he felt grief-stricken, as if someone had died.

“Will? Are you alive in there?”

He took a series of deep breaths, splashed cold water on his face and tried to school his expression to hide his inner turmoil. When he was as prepared as he could be to face anyone feeling the way he did, he went to the living room where his dad and the dogs had apparently reached a truce.

“We were worried when you didn’t bring the dogs over to stay with us this morning. Mom thought I should come check on you.”

“I decided not to go to New York.”

“How come?”

“She had stuff to do, and the timing wasn’t right.”

“Huh.” Lincoln scratched at the scruff on his chin. He never shaved on the weekends. “What did she say when you told her you wanted to go?”

“I never got around to actually telling her.”

“Why not?”

“One of her friends called to tell her that her business partner and best friend, Lucy, was freaking out because Cameron was moving to Vermont. I could hear everything the guy was saying, and Cameron said she’s not moving, and she never said she was. After that … I don’t know. It just seemed pointless to prolong it.”

“Mom and I were talking about her last night. We both like her very much, and we like how happy she makes you.”

He couldn’t hear that. Not right now. “Dad …”

“Hear me out, son. When Cam’s mom died, Patrick’s friends worried about what would become of him and his adorable little girl. I remember Mom saying once that Patrick loved his money more than he loved anyone, and she wasn’t that far off. After his wife died, he seemed to direct his grief into growing his business rather than nurturing his daughter.”

“From everything I’ve heard, he sounds like a total dickhead.”

“I can see why you’d think so, but he really loved Ali, and he never got over losing her. He was absolutely lost without her, and that Cameron looks just like her, well … I think it haunts him.”

“That isn’t Cameron’s fault.”

“Of course it isn’t, but the guy is human, and he made some mistakes. Who among us hasn’t?”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I want you to see what she needs, son.”

“And what’s that?”

“Love. She needs love. She needs security and commitment and all the things her dad was never able to give her despite his enormous resources. Those are all things you could easily give her.”

Will shook his head. Gesturing to his humble home, he said, “This could never be enough for her long-term.”

“I don’t think you’re giving her anywhere near enough credit. She took to this place like a bee to honey. We all saw that. Surely you did, too.”

“I did, but—”

“No, buts. If you love her, and I think you do, tell her. Offer her all the things she’s never had. Let her know she’ll always be able to count on you in a way that she’s never been able to count on anyone else. And give her the family she’s always wanted but never had—ours and the one you’ll build together.”

Will hated that his broken heart soared with hope as he listened to his dad.

“Are you actually suggesting I propose to a woman I’ve known for all of sixteen days?” Will asked, amused despite the turmoil that continued to churn inside him.

“I’m suggesting you do what you need to do to be happy—and to make her happy. If that requires you to put it all on the line and propose to her, neither your mother nor I would have any objections whatsoever to that. We had our first marriage conversation exactly five days after we met. You wouldn’t be shocking us, if that’s what you think. And besides, will you feel differently in sixteen months than you do after sixteen days?”

Will had no doubt whatsoever that he would love her this much in sixteen years, if he was lucky enough to get that much time with her. “You make it sound so simple when it’s not. She has a life in the city and a business and a group of friends who are like family to her.”

“It’s not simple, Will. It’s love. It’s the most complicated and wonderful and frustrating and amazing thing you’ll ever experience. If you love her, tell her.” Lincoln got up off the floor and brushed the dog hair off his dark cords.

“She asked for some time.”

“So give it to her, and then put your cards on the table. Don’t hold anything back.” Lincoln patted Will’s face. “Get some sleep, son. You look like hell.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“I’ll see you at dinner tomorrow.”

“I don’t know, Dad. I might not be up for it this week.”

At the door, Lincoln turned and gave him the steely stare that had kept ten children in line for thirty-five years. “I will see you at dinner. And I will see you at work on Monday. And I will make sure you get through this. We all will.”

Before Will could formulate a reply, his dad was out the door, and Will was alone again with the disquiet in his mind and the reminders of Cameron in every corner of his tiny home. Because he was, in fact, absolutely exhausted, he stretched out on the bed.

Both dogs joined him, cuddling up to him as if they somehow knew he needed them more than ever. He was never more grateful for their unconditional love—or that of his dad, who’d given him a lot to think about.

He’d give her this next month to do her thinking and then he’d take his dad’s advice and tell her how he felt. Settled on a plan and with hours to wait until he’d hear she was home safely, he closed his eyes and slept.

It was, Cameron discovered over the next few weeks, extremely difficult to maintain a long-distance relationship with a man who didn’t own a cell phone, who was apparently never home and who was away from his office more often than he was in.

She had never yearned for anything the way she did for him. He was on her mind every minute of every day, especially at night when she would lie awake in bed and remember all the sweet, sexy nights she’d spent in his arms. Because she missed him so much and thought of things she needed to tell him all the time, she resorted to sending him witty little e-mails several times a day so he wouldn’t think she’d forgotten about him.

She lived for his replies, haunting her inbox at all hours of the night and day, and waiting just as impatiently for her phone to ring so she could hear his deep voice and be transported back to his cozy cabin in the woods where she’d fallen truly in love for the first time in her life. She knew that now. The others who’d come before him had been a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Will Abbott was the real thing.

During her workdays at the office and long into the nights at home, she threw herself into the Green Mountain Country Store website with a kind of single-minded focus that was also all new to her. After battling attention deficit disorder her entire life, it was unlike her to be able to devote twelve or fourteen hours a day to the same project without her mind wandering. This, like all things related to her memorable trip to Vermont, was different.

She poured her years of technological know-how and all the love she felt for Will, his family and their business into creating a website that would blow them away. She worked seven days a week until her eyes gave out at night and she had no choice but to sleep.

She and Will fell into the habit of talking every night around eleven thirty when they were both finally home and able to talk for as long as they could stay awake. They chatted about everything—except for what would become of them when they saw each other again at the end of the month.

The changes in her were apparently obvious to her friends and coworkers, who gave her a wide berth in the first weeks she was back, allowing her to work through the boatload of emotional baggage she’d brought home with her.

Lucy never mentioned her worries about Cameron leaving, and Cameron didn’t bring up the subject either.

At their weekly Monday morning meeting on the third week after she returned, Lucy broached a concern that she’d obviously been sitting on during Cameron’s frenzy of work on the Green Mountain site.

“We need to be cultivating new business,” Lucy said bluntly. “It’s been almost six weeks since you took an appointment with a potential new client, and no one else is doing it either. I know you’re heavily invested in the Green Mountain site, but you can’t neglect your real job forever, or we’ll be screwed when we finish the stuff we’re working on now.”

The reminder that she needed to take a step back from the site and devote some attention to the business hit her like a splash of cold water to the face, snapping her out of the creative high that had kept her from wallowing in the pain of being separated from Will.

And it was devastating to realize that at some point very soon, she would finish her work on the site and have no further reason to talk to him or his family members regularly. Unless she was willing to take the biggest leap of faith she’d ever taken in her life, she would turn over her beautiful site to someone they would hire to manage it, and it would no longer be hers. He would no longer be hers.

“Why do you suddenly look like you’re going to be sick?” Lucy asked, studying her intently, the way she had since Cameron returned, as if she was waiting for Cameron to pull the rug out from underneath their business and their friendship.

“I’m not sick. I’ll take a couple of meetings this week. What’ve you got?”

Lucy handed over six inquiries that had been submitted by companies looking for web services.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

“Cameron …”

“Yeah?”

“Can we talk?”

“We are talking.”

“About the thing we’re not talking about.”

Cameron shook her head, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of their conversation when Lucy’s adorably puckish face was pinched with worry. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Luce. I’m here. I’m working. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. What do you want from me?”

“You’re not here, Cam.” Her tone was gentle and not at all accusatory. “You haven’t been here since you got back.”

“Then where have I been?”

“There. With him.”

Cameron ached when she thought of there and of him. “I think I’d know if I’d been with him, because then maybe I wouldn’t …” She shook her head.

“You wouldn’t what? Ache so badly?”

“Lucy,” Cameron said softly. “Please. Don’t poke at me about him. It’s too raw.”

“I’m not poking at you. I’m simply wondering how long you’re going to keep pretending there isn’t somewhere else you’d rather be.”

“I’m not doing that. I work here. I live here. What am I supposed to do?”

Lucy surged to her feet, her red curls swirling around her head. “You’re supposed to be honest—with me and with yourself. We always said we’d do this for as long as it worked for both of us. If it’s not what you want anymore, I wish you’d just say so rather than leaving me twisting in the wind, wondering when my whole life is going to blow up in my face.”

“Troy told me you were having a meltdown about me leaving the company to move to Vermont.”

Lucy’s face got very red. “He what? He told you what?”

“He said you were upset about it.”

“I’m going to freaking kill him! I can’t believe he told you that and weighed you down with my shit!”

“Someone needed to tell me you were freaking when you were blowing sunshine up my ass and telling me to do what I wanted, that you’d be fine.”

“Of course I was freaking! I love working with you and spending our days together and hanging out and all of it. But I’d never want to be responsible for keeping you from where you belong or who you belong with. I love you too much for that, and you should’ve known that.”

“I do know that, Luce, and I haven’t been blaming you or the company or anything else for keeping me from what I really wanted these last few weeks. I needed a reality check after the way things happened in Vermont. I needed some space and some time away from him to get some perspective.”

“And?”

Cameron took a deep breath, ready to put into words what had been only in her heart and mind before now. “And I love him. Desperately. And I want to be with him—in Vermont where he lives among an amazing family in an amazing town that has its own moose and where I felt more at home than I have anywhere I’ve been in my life. I want to manage this website I’ve put so much of myself into, and I want to help them to grow their business online. I want all those things, and I have a feeling he does, too.”

Lucy’s blue eyes swam with tears.

“Aw, shit, Luce. Don’t cry. I’m so sorry to do this to you.”

“No! Do not say that. Do not even think that. I’m not crying because I’m losing you, you ninny. I’m crying because I’m so damned happy for you. If anyone deserves to fall madly in love with a sweetheart of a guy who has a sweetheart of a family it’s you.”

They were both in tears when Cameron hugged her best friend, hanging on to her the way she had for so many years when they’d relied so heavily on each other. “I want you to come up with me when I go back so you can see the store and the town and meet Will and his family.”

“You bet I’m coming with you. I’ve got to check this guy out before I let him take you away from me.”

“No one could ever truly take me away from you. You know that, right?”

“Sure I do.”

“And I’d never leave you stranded in the business either. We’ll figure something out that works for both of us. I promise.”

“So this is really happening, huh?” Lucy asked, wiping her tears.

In talking to Lucy, everything had clicked into focus, and Cameron had no remaining doubts about what she needed to do. “It looks that way.”

Before she could leave New York to go back to Vermont, Cameron knew she had to see her dad and tell him her news. Despite the anxiety it caused her to imagine letting him know that she hoped to move to Vermont, she called his assistant and scheduled some time with him on the last day before she and Lucy were due to fly to Burlington.

It had already been a brutally long week during which she’d had to live without the nightly phone calls with Will that had become a lifeline during their separation. He was off on the annual Abbott spring camping-fishing-hunting trip with his dad, grandfather and brothers. They were due home later that night, and Cameron was counting the minutes until she heard from him. And then tomorrow, she’d get to see him … Her heart literally skipped a beat every time she thought of what it would be like to see him again after thinking of him every minute of every day for weeks.

Since her appointment with her dad was for dinner, she was astounded when he turned up at her office a half hour before she was due to meet him. At fifty-eight, he was still handsome as sin, with dark blond hair, blue eyes and a smile that kept him in an endless array of female companions. He wasn’t smiling tonight, however. Rather he was studying her with a pained expression that put her immediately on guard. What did he know?

“What’re you doing here? I thought we were meeting at the restaurant.”

He came into the office and took a seat in front of her desk. “Since I couldn’t recall the last time you’d requested an audience with me, I figured something big must be up and whatever it is, I didn’t want to talk about it in public.”

“I regularly request an audience with you, Your Highness.”

“Maggie said something about how this felt different,” he said, referring to his faithful assistant. “What’s going on, Cam?”

She blew out a deep breath and met the steely gaze that had been such a big part of her life. “I think it’s possible I might be moving to Vermont.”

Whatever he’d been expecting, that was clearly not it. “No way,” he said scoffing. “You’d hate it there!”

“Um, no, I don’t think I would. In fact, I quite loved it there.”

“But you live here. Your business is here. Your life is here. I’m here. What the hell is there for you?”

“Will Abbott.” As she said his name, a calm sense of serenity came over her. She had no doubt whatsoever that taking an enormous chance on him was the right thing to do.

“Lincoln’s son?”

“Yes.”

“What about him?”

“I love him.”

“You love him. You’ve known him a month!”

“Actually, I’ve known him six weeks, and I knew in less than a week that I was going to love him. This feels like the right thing for me to do, Dad, and I want you to support me.”

“You can’t leave me, Cam.”

She stared at him, astounded. “Leave you? I never see you!”

“You see me,” he said almost petulantly. “And I like knowing you’re here, even if I don’t see you as much as I should.”

Cameron got up and went around the desk to sit next to him. “I’m always here for you, no matter where I am.”

“You can’t move to Siberia. I’ll truly never see you if you’re there.”

“You can visit anytime you want, and I’ll visit you, too. It’ll be fine.”

“You really love him? Enough to pack up your whole life for him?”

Cameron leaned her head on her dad’s shoulder. “Yeah, I really love him that much.”

“I know I haven’t always been the best dad in the world, but I’ve always loved you. You know that, right?”

Cameron smiled and closed her eyes against the rush of emotion. “I’ve always known that. You’ll visit, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “I’ll visit.”

Cameron and Lucy flew to Burlington the next morning, armed with the best first cut on a website either of them had ever done. Everyone in the office agreed that Cameron had produced the finest work of her career, and she couldn’t wait to share it with the Abbotts. She couldn’t wait to see Will either. He hadn’t called the night before as planned, which had given her plenty of anxiety as she lay awake thinking about whether he might’ve changed his mind about them while he was away on the camping trip. As the hours passed, she’d had far too much time to dream about what she wanted with him and whether or not they could really make it work.

Cameron had gone over and over what she wanted to say to him and how she wanted to say it and had obsessed about when she would say it. Before he left on his trip, he’d offered to pick them up at the airport, but she was intent on getting the presentation out of the way before they talked about what might be next for them. So she’d thanked him for offering and said they’d get a rental car and meet him in the office.

Now that they were on the road to Butler, Cameron was undone by the knowledge that she would see him soon, would talk to him and, she hoped, figure out a way to be together. But what did it mean that he hadn’t called her last night? Her stomach ached at the possibility that he might’ve changed his mind during the long week since they last spoke.

Returning to Vermont stirred all the feelings she’d tried desperately to suppress since she left so she’d be able to function. But now there was no need to keep those barriers in place any longer. At some point today she’d finally get to look into his gorgeous golden eyes and tell him she loved him with all her heart and wanted to be with him, no matter what it took. She was ninety-nine percent certain he’d be receptive to what she had to say, but niggling doubts remained. What if they saw each other again and everything was different? What if theirs had been a short-lived relationship that didn’t have the legs to go the distance?

“I can hear you thinking,” Lucy said from the driver’s seat. She’d insisted on driving after hearing of Cameron’s adventures with Fred.

“Lot to think about.” She hadn’t mentioned to Lucy that she hadn’t heard from Will as planned the night before. The last thing she wanted was to plant doubts about him in her friend’s mind.

“It’s all going to be fine, Cam.” Now that Lucy had had some time to get her head around the upcoming changes, she was fully on board with helping Cameron get her happily ever after. It didn’t hurt that Cameron had recruited an aggressive former competitor to handle new business acquisitions for them or that Cameron had offered to work remotely for Lucy anytime she needed an extra set of hands.

“I hope you’re right.” The knot of anxiety she’d woken with this morning grew larger the closer they got to Butler and to Will. Excitement and nerves and elation battled it out in her belly as she directed Lucy to the town that had become her home away from home.

She was filled with yearning and anticipation as they passed the turn to Will’s house.

“That’s where Will lives, and that’s where I first met Fred the moose,” Cameron said, pointing as it occurred to her there ought to be a plaque or something to mark a place that changed a life so profoundly.

“This is it?” Lucy asked when they drove into town a few minutes later. “This is the town?”

“This is it,” Cameron said, feeling strangely defensive. “You have to settle in a bit and get to know the place before you pass judgment.”

“I wasn’t passing any judgment. Just simply asking if this was all of it.”

“This is the town, but there are houses all over the place and then there’s the mountain.”

Lucy scrunched down in her seat to take a look at the mountain. “They really have their own mountain?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Have you been up there?”

“Once.” Cameron remembered the day Will had tried to teach her to ski and smiled at the memory.

“I wouldn’t mind going up there, just to say I did it.”

“We can probably arrange that.” Suddenly Cameron couldn’t wait another minute to lay eyes on the man she loved. “Let’s get in there so we’re ready for the meeting.”

“I’m with you, boss.”

Cameron grabbed the laptop bag while Lucy hauled the LCD projector. The first thing the Abbotts needed was their own projector. She’d see about getting them one if they went for her plan. Easy, she thought. One step at a time. Don’t get ahead of yourself. To keep her mind off the emotional minefield that awaited her, she showed Lucy the garage that had fixed her car, while wondering if Nolan had made any headway in convincing Hannah to go out with him. Cameron hoped so. He seemed like such a nice guy, and he was obviously nuts about Hannah.

“That’s the inn where you’ll be staying—and where I’ll be staying with you if Will has had a change of heart.”

“He hasn’t. He’s called you every night for a month.”

Trying not to think of the call she hadn’t received the night before, Cameron clung to those words like a lifeline as she led Lucy into the store. The women working the counter came to hug her and welcome her back. Dottie produced cider donuts and coffee for Cameron and Lucy.

Cameron managed to introduce Lucy to Cletus—without tripping over his name—and Percy, who actually looked up from their game to say hello to the newcomer and to welcome Cameron back.

Lucy stood in the middle of the store, near the potbelly stove, and did a complete three-sixty, taking in the entire place in one slow rotation. “You did a brilliant beyond brilliant job of capturing this place, Cam. Seriously. Brilliant.”

“You think so? Really? I want them to love it so badly.”

“They’re going to love it. As much as they love you.”

Cameron wanted their love as much as she wanted them to love the website, not that she’d admitted as much to anyone—even herself—until this very moment when she stood in their store, poised to deliver the website she’d promised them, and poised to offer her heart to Will. No sitcom writer ever could’ve created a family quite like the Abbotts, and being a part of them, even a peripheral part, for fifteen days had been like living a dream—a dream she hoped to never wake up from.

“Let’s do this.” Cameron led Lucy up the back stairs to the offices. In the reception area, Mary greeted her with a squeal of excitement and a hug.

“It’s so good to see you again, Cameron! Welcome back!”

“Thanks, Mary. This is my business partner, Lucy Mulvaney. Lucy, this is Mary. She runs the place.”

Mary laughed as she shook hands with Lucy. “I don’t know about that.”

“I brought you something from the city,” Cameron said, handing Mary a bag from Neiman Marcus.

“You did not!” Mary peered inside the bag and then at Cameron, her eyes bugging. “Is that cashmere?”

“Sure is. Just like mine.”

“Oh my God. You did not!”

“What didn’t she do?” Charley asked as she came up the stairs into reception.

Cameron introduced her to Lucy.

“She brought me a cashmere dress from Neiman Marcus in New York City because I admired hers.”

“Damn,” Charley said. “I loved that dress, too.”

They all laughed, but Cameron’s laughter died on her lips when Will walked in and stopped short when he saw her, his eyes gold with warmth and pleasure and desire and love. She definitely saw love, which sent relief coursing through her. He was going to keep his promise to never let her go if she fell in love with him. It was all going to be okay.

“Hey,” he said. “You’re here.”

“I’m here.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t call you last night.” He looked exhausted and elated at the same time. “My grandfather sprained his ankle on the hike out of the woods, and by the time we left the ER it was too late to call. And then you were on the plane …”

Relief flooded through her.

“Oh for Christ’s sakes, Cameron,” Charley said. “Will you please put us all out of our misery and hug him?”

Since there was nothing in the entire world she’d rather do, Cameron moved toward him and stepped into his embrace. The instant his familiar scent filled her senses and strong arms came around her she knew with one hundred percent certainty that she’d found her home.

“So, so glad to see you,” he whispered against her ear, raising goose bumps on her arm.

“Me, too. Could I have some time after the meeting?”

“You can have all the time you want.”

“All right,” Charley said. “That’s enough. Save it for later. This is a place of business.”

Lucy snorted behind her hand.

“Will, this is my best friend and business partner, Lucy Mulvaney. Lucy, this is Will Abbott.”

Sizing each other up, they shook hands.

“Okay, I can sorta see why she digs you,” Lucy said with pretend aloofness.

“I’m going to need a little more time to figure out why she digs you.”

Lucy’s eyes went wide with surprise, and then she busted up laughing. “Yeah, he’ll do. He’ll do very nicely.”

The laughter eased the tension as they headed into the conference room. Will didn’t join them right away, which gave Cameron a second to whisper with Lucy. “Well?”

“Do you really need me to confirm for you that he’s incredibly gorgeous, funny and charming?”

“No, not really.”

“He’s all those things, and I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks, Luce. I’m so happy to see him again I feel all giddy and silly and ridiculous.”

“You’re in love. Enjoy every minute of it. You waited long enough.”

Cameron hugged her friend. “You’re going to get your turn, too. I know it.”

A throat cleared in the doorway. “Um, excuse me,” Hunter said. “Am I interrupting something?”

Cameron released Lucy. “Not at all. We’re just getting ready for the meeting. Lucy, this is Hunter Abbott, the company’s CFO and HR director.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“You, too. And good to see you again, Cameron.”

“Likewise. Could I borrow you for a minute after the meeting?”

“Not if you’re going to bug me about whether I’ve asked out Megan yet.”

“Have you?”

“Not open for discussion.”

“You started it,” Cameron retorted, falling right back into her groove with Hunter like she’d never left. “I actually need to talk to you about something business related.”

“Sure. I’ll be in my office after the meeting.”

As the top of the hour approached, Ella came in and gave Cameron a hug, as did Lincoln, who arrived with George and Ringo in tow.

“Good to have you back in town, gal,” he said.

“Good to be here.”

He gave her a wink and a grin. “Hope you’ll be sticking around for a while.”

Cameron smiled and introduced him and the dogs to Lucy.

Wade came in next and nodded to Cameron as he took his seat. She wondered if she’d ever crack the impenetrable wall that seemed to keep him removed from the others.

Wow, Lucy mouthed to Cameron as one handsome Abbott after another entered the room. Even Colton had come down off his mountain to see the demo and lifted Cameron into a hug that had Will growling at him to put her down when he entered the conference room with his mother, Hannah and Elmer on crutches.

Molly and Elmer hugged her and then took seats at the table where everyone crammed together to make room for the extra people. Molly found a footstool to prop her father’s injured foot on and rested his crutches against the back wall of the conference room.

“Don’t start without us,” Landon hollered as he came into the room with Lucas, both of them in firefighter garb. “We just got off duty and ran to get here in time.”

“Holy hell,” Lucy muttered. “It’s a DNA wonderland.”

“Told ya,” Cameron said, chuckling at her friend’s reaction to the sexy Abbott men. They were talking so loudly that Cameron and Lucy could get away with their side conversation without being overheard.

“I want to move here, too.”

“Shush. Don’t give away my secrets.”

“He hasn’t stopped looking at you since he came into the room.”

“Stop it, Lucy. I’ve got to get through this with a modicum of professionalism.”

“Then you can go jump his bones.”

Cameron dissolved into laughter. “Don’t look at me while I’m talking, do you hear me?”

“I’ve got much better things to look at in this room than you.”

Amused by Lucy’s reaction to the Abbotts, Cameron flipped on the projector and opened the PowerPoint presentation she’d created from the initial design of the site. She’d done far more than she normally did at this point in the process, but she’d had such a strong vision for the site that she’d run with it, knowing it could all be for naught if the Abbotts had something else in mind.

She took a deep breath and faced the table full of familiar faces. Although, unlike the last time she’d stood up here, this time she was presenting to friends rather than strangers.

“It’s so good to see all of you again,” Cameron said when she had their attention. Though she felt his gaze on her, she made an effort not to focus solely on Will, which took a tremendous amount of willpower. Willpower. She almost laughed at the play on words.

“When Lincoln first asked me to come up and meet with you about the site, I had no idea what to expect. Because you currently have no online presence, I wasn’t able to do as much research as I like to do before a pitch to a potential client. However, once I spent time in the store and with all of you, it didn’t take long to realize that this is a very special place and a very special family. I hope I’ve done justice to both with this design.”

With Lucy’s assistance, the PowerPoint presentation came to life, and along with it the design that took into account the family, the store, the town and the state. It had taken hour upon hour—much more time than she’d normally devote to any one client—to capture it the way she saw it in her mind, and judging from the reactions of the family to the panoramic banner photo she’d taken of the town with the store at its heart, she’d managed to get it just right.

“It’s incredible, Cameron,” Molly said, sounding a bit emotional. “Truly incredible.”

Fueled by Molly’s praise, Cameron took them through the “About” section, which began with a photo of Elmer, looking adorable and mischievous as he told the story of how the store was founded by his parents during the Depression to help the local residents get through the tough times together. Cameron had used his exact words, which she had recorded, for the text on the opening page. She’d included scanned ledgers and pictures of Elmer with his late wife, Sarah, who’d run the store with him for decades after his parents retired.

A sniffle in the back of the room caught her attention, and she saw Elmer wipe a tear from his eye. He nodded to her, his approval evident.

The “About” section continued with a photo of Lincoln and the five siblings who ran the various departments as well as individual photos of Hannah in her studio, Landon sitting outside his barn carving a headboard, Lucas at the Christmas tree farm, and Colton and Max at the sugarhouse. At the bottom was the group photo from Will’s office that she had taken apart one afternoon to scan and put back together before he noticed.

“You got everyone in there,” Lincoln said gruffly.

“Even Ringo and George,” Cameron added, to laughter as her favorite picture of the dogs, next to the stove in the store, came on the screen. “And Cletus and Percy.” As she said the name Cletus, she finally glanced at Will and received a warm, amused smile that took her breath away. She quickly diverted her gaze before she lost the thin thread of composure she was clinging to.

The final portion of the “About” section was devoted to Lincoln’s collection of Beatles memorabilia.

“Check it out!” Colton said in a teasing tone. “Someone knows how to get in good with the old man!”

As his siblings laughed and weighed in with their agreement, Lincoln said, “Hush up, all of you, and let me enjoy this.”

Molly took his hand and squeezed, which Cameron found endearing.

With Dottie’s help one afternoon, Cameron had ventured into the room the Abbott kids called “The Vault,” which housed their father’s prized collection. She’d taken hundreds of photographs that day, which she displayed on the site in a series of collages featuring Fab Four collectibles.

“How’d you get into my secret room?” Lincoln asked with a playful scowl.

She winked at him. “With a little help from my friends.”

The comment took down the house.

“Totally awesome,” Lincoln said, beaming with pleasure.

“Glad you like it,” Cameron said, thrilled with his reaction.

Next, she took them through the “Vermont Made” section, where she’d spent most of her time ahead of this presentation. It included a text interview with Will about the product line along with an adorable photo of him—she’d had hundreds to choose from, and picking the right one had been her favorite part of the job. Leading from the main page were links to some of the Vermont-originated products that were carried in the store, including Colton’s syrup, Hannah’s jewelry and Landon’s woodwork.

“I kept it to the family offerings for this presentation, but you can see the potential to add more Vermont Made items as we continue to grow the site. Once we make the e-commerce function live, you can sell products from the store online and begin to recoup your investment.”

“Excellent,” Hunter said.

“Had a feeling you might like that part,” Cameron said, smiling at him. “Under the main navigation bar, you’ll note the headings for Health and Wellness, Home and Hearth, Tasty Treats, Clothing and Old-Time Favorites. Any of the headings can be changed. For now they’re placeholders until you all decide what the final subject areas should be. Under the Tasty Treats section, I envision a separate area for Grandma Stillman’s cookie recipes and other family recipes you might want to share.”

“Sarah would approve of that,” Elmer said, nodding.

“I thought so, too, Dad,” Molly said.

“That’s what I’ve done so far,” Cameron said. “As you can tell, we’ve still got a long way to go. At this stage, anything and everything is open for discussion, revision, editing, redoing. It’s your site, and our goal is to make it a reflection of your business and your family. I’m sure you have questions, and I’m happy to answer them.”

Her comment was met by resounding silence.

“No questions?” she asked, her heart racing in anticipation of spending time alone with Will soon. “Does that ever happen, Luce?”

“Never, but I’ve also never seen a site as amazing as this one right out of the gate.”

Embarrassed by her partner’s blatant praise, Cameron felt her face get hot.

“I think I probably speak for everyone when I say nothing I could’ve imagined would have come close to what you’ve given us,” Lincoln said. “It’s beautiful and imaginative and sentimental. It’s absolutely wonderful, and I clearly chose the right person for the job.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, Linc,” Elmer said. “I had no idea such things were even possible.”

“You would if you broke down and got a computer to go with your TV, Gramps,” Lucas said.

“The TV was more than enough,” Elmer replied.

“I agree with Lincoln,” Molly said. “It’s astonishing. It’s like a living, breathing testament to our family’s history and what we’ve tried to accomplish here. Kudos, Cameron, on a job very well done.”

Everyone seemed to be talking at once, weighing in on what they’d liked best and ideas for the unfinished sections.

Battling a rush of complicated emotions, Cameron glanced at Lucy, who gave her a dimpled smile and a thumbs-up. Cameron was high on the adrenaline coursing through her veins from the successful presentation and the awareness of Will sitting on the left side of the table, watching her every move.

She couldn’t wait to be alone with him and to finally have the chance to tell him how she felt about him.