“You’re too right about that,” Mr. Barnes agreed, his eyebrows knitting together sympathetically. “So you can see why we wouldn’t want to cause any more upheaval. The boys will need some continuity in their lives, and you and your family, Ms. Cameron, represent exactly that.”
"But you don't understand, Mr. Barnes. I wasn't planning on staying on the job. My mother and my grandmother have moved to Florida. My grandmother's health requires her to live in a warmer climate than here, one that's warm year round, and with my mother being fond of theme parks, it's a win-win. And I'm going to start a bed and breakfast in town,” she added, sitting straighter and making a point of squaring her shoulders. “I've already bought it. It's being renovated as we speak."
“Well, that sounds lovely,” Mr. Barnes said, his small frown suggesting that it didn’t sound lovely in the slightest. “But you don’t have to run off this very instant, do you?”
“I mean, I can stay on for a little while, long enough to get them on their feet and maybe train in someone new—”
The lawyer’s frown changed to a broad smile. "Good! Wonderful! It's settled, then. Why don't we go tell Trevor? He'll be staying here on his own for the first couple of weeks, until his brothers get their affairs enough in order to join him for the rest of the year."
Mr. Barnes stood abruptly, apparently satisfied enough with his temporary solution not to press matters any further. He beckoned for her to follow him, and she did so, her knees shaking with adrenaline and something that felt a lot like dread. She hadn’t expected to be moved from this conversation to one with Trevor McCall quite so quickly. If she had known things were going to go like this, she might have set a harder line from the start. At this point, though, she couldn’t imagine how to put the brakes on things.
Even as they moved quickly down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen, Mr. Barnes was calling Trevor’s name.
"Yeah! I'm in the kitchen, Barnes. Maybe come in here instead of shouting? I'm trying to make myself some lunch, and it's going badly enough without you giving me a headache."
“Is that...is that him?” she asked, practically running to keep up with the lawyer’s long strides.
“Sure sounds like it, doesn’t it?” Barnes chuckled dryly. “The two of you have known each other since you were younger, haven’t you? Must be why the McCalls wanted to retain your services.”
“No, I wouldn’t say that, exactly. We were around each other some, that’s all,” Lacey said breathlessly. She wasn’t that fond of thinking back to the days when she’d been a little girl following after her mother while the McCall brothers ran the ranch like little lords. Back then, they’d hardly seemed to notice that she was alive. She saw no reason to expect things to be any different now, especially seeing as she was only their deceased parents’ help.
As they entered the kitchen, Trevor spoke without turning from his perusal of the fridge to greet them. "What do you say, Barnes? Any idea where the fixings to make a good sandwich would be? I forgot how backward my folks were when it comes to organizing the fridge."
"No, I can't say that I do, Trevor, but fortunately for us both, I've got someone with me who might be able to do the trick. Do you remember Lacey Cameron? She's in charge of looking after the house these days, but when you were younger, her mother and her grandmother were here. The Cameron family has a long history with yours."
“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. Hi, there.” Trevor, practically inside the fridge now, waved over his shoulder without so much as turning around to acknowledge Lacey. Either he was really that wrapped up in his sandwich-making, or he was already intending to give her as little of the time of day now as he had when they were younger. Whichever it was, Lacey felt the old, familiar sinking in the pit of her stomach. She could remember telling herself in her younger days that being ignored by the cute, popular boy wouldn't hurt her anymore when she was grown. Here she was at twenty-five, and it didn't feel any better now than it had then.
Her mind went back to their unfortunate almost-collision at the gateway to the ranch on the day he had returned for the reading of the will. She’d been foolish enough to harbor some hope that Trevor might remember her, that he’d think about their encounter and put two and two together.
Now she realized how foolish that idea had been. It was no better than the stupid daydreams she had allowed herself when she was younger, still dangerously close to being a child. She had been young enough to believe in fairytales then. She should have known better than to believe in them now.
She tugged at a strand of long blonde hair falling into her face, nervously twirling it around her finger. There was another bad habit she hadn't been able to shake, much to her mother's chagrin. She was tempted to turn and walk out of the kitchen and never look back, but she couldn't quite make herself do it. The McCalls had been good to her family over the years—very good, in fact. It wouldn't be right to leave them in the lurch now, no matter how insecure she was feeling. She could only imagine what her grandmother would say if she knew that Lacey was even entertaining such an idea, and it wouldn't be pretty.
“What do you say, Ms. Cameron?” Mr. Barnes said in a low, solicitous voice, and Lacey jumped as he nudged her in the side with one meaty elbow. “Would you be able to help Mr. McCall here find what he’s looking for?”
“Don’t, Barnes,” Trevor called irritably from his position inside the fridge. “Don’t call me Mr. McCall. I hate that nonsense. Just call me Trevor. That’s my name. That goes for you, too, Ms. Cameron.”
She raised her voice a little to answer. "That's fine, but if I'm supposed to call you Trevor, you might as well start calling me Lacey. I'm not any more comfortable with those formalities than you are. Your folks never talked to me that way."
The comment was followed by a beat of charged, awkward silence during which Lacey wished with all her heart that she could melt into the pretty tile floor and disappear entirely. She didn't know what Mr. Barnes had been expecting from her where the McCall brothers were concerned, but if this wasn't proof that she wasn't prepared to take them on, she didn't know what was. She had always been more comfortable melting into the background than being the center of attention, and it had worked well for her during her years of service.
Now, though, Mr. Barnes seemed to want something more from her. Here he was, already thrusting her into the limelight with the McCall brother who had always made her the most nervous of all of them. She shut her eyes briefly and pictured the bed and breakfast, waiting for her to come and breathe life into it. That was where she wanted to be. As far away from this mess as she could get.
"All right then, Lacey," Trevor said in a smooth, rich voice. If he was angered or shaken by her mention of his dead parents, it didn't show. He stood upright, finally turning away from the fridge's contents to give her an appraising look.
She searched his face quickly for any sign of recognition but saw nothing. Not from when they were younger and not from their two cars almost colliding. She saw nothing more in his eyes than what one might expect upon meeting a stranger. Even so, she wanted to squirm under the weight of those strikingly dark eyes but made herself hold her ground. It didn't matter that he was more handsome now than ever before. This was a temporary thing. Temporary, she reminded herself savagely.