Welcome to Paradise (16 page)

After another half hour during which Chloe either slept or pretended to sleep so she wouldn't make a fool of herself again, they arrived in McClure, the county seat with its town square, courthouse and fairgrounds. While Sam went to look up a friend, Chloe and Zeb left the water samples off at a small lab in the basement of the county building where they learned it would take a few weeks to get the results.

Chloe's face fell. “I can't wait a few weeks,” she told Zeb. “I have to get the results so I can get the loan so I can make plans, buy equipment and winterize one of the cabins so I can store my stuff there.” She shook her head, suddenly overwhelmed with the enormity of the project “I don't know. Maybe this isn't such a good idea, after all.”

Zeb stared at her, opened his mouth to speak, then changed his mind and closed it as Chloe continued.

“Everything's so different from what I imagined.” She rubbed her forehead. “I was so naive, I thought I could get a loan and open a spa just like that. I can't even start a mineral water business without...” She looked around at the tan institutional walls. “Without a lot of bureaucratic red tape and a lot of work and... Oh, Zeb, what am I doing?” she asked.

“Doing? You're starting a business. You can't give up now.” He took her by the shoulders and held her tight looking deep into her eyes. She gave him a tentative smile and his heart surged. Did his encouragement mean so much to her? She was so vulnerable. Sometimes so sure of herself and other times so insecure. But what was he doing? What was he saying? He wanted her to give up.

“It means that once you get the word on the water and actually start bottling, you won't have any spare time.”
Whew
. Back on track. He'd felt himself waffling for a minute. Hating to see her discouraged. Wanting to see her succeed. Forgetting that her success was his failure. But he got out of it What he'd really meant was that Paradise Springs would not be there forever and she ought to enjoy it while she could.

“If you really believe in me,” she said, her eyes brimming over with hope and confidence, “then maybe I'd better extend my leave at the hospital. And if they say no, I've got better things to do.”

Zeb's heart sank. Extend her leave. Better things to do. “Don't do anything rash,” he warned. “You don't want to jeopardize your job or anything.”

“Why not? The more I think about going back there and doing the same old thing every day, the less it appeals to me. Here, every day is a new challenge.”

“You can say that again,” Zeb muttered. “And if you like challenges, you'll love winter,” he reminded her grimly.

As he walked briskly down the corridor and out the door, he shook his head, afraid she hadn't heard him, afraid she wasn't going to give up after all. And it was his fault. No, it was her fault. She made him do things he shouldn't do, say things he shouldn't say. Not if he wanted to hold on to the ranch for the next generation of Bowies. Maybe there wouldn't be any more Bowies. Sam showed no inclination to get married. And if it was up to him, the line would die out. Because he was
never
getting married.

Chloe found a pay phone in the hallway of the county building and while Zeb went to price fencing at the farm supply store, she called her friend and supervisor at the hospital in San Francisco.

“Chloe! Where on earth are you?” Cass asked.

“In Colorado at my property. Actually I'm thirty miles away at the county seat in McClure. I came to have my water tested,” Chloe said.

“What?”

“I'm planning to bottle and sell my mineral water.”

“What about the spa? My vacation's coming up and I'm ready for a week of pampering and massages,” Cass said.

“Don't pack your bags yet The place needs a little work. I'm going to do it, though. I'm definitely going to do it. It just might take a little longer than I thought. It's...it's kind of remote.”

“Remote? That's okay. I want to get away from it all.”

“Do you want to take a three-mile hike just to get there?”

“Three miles?” Cass said, alarmed.

“Uphill.” Might as well tell it like it was.

Cass's voice fell. “That is remote.”

Remote was only the half of it. It was not only remote, it was downright ramshackle. “And at the moment there's no electricity or phones.”

“Okay, I get the picture. Maybe I'll go to Costa del Oro and have the shiatsu massage. Why don't you come with me? Aren't you lonely there?”

“Not really. I have neighbors. The Bowie brothers. Cattle ranchers.”

“Ooh, do they wear Stetsons and leather boots and lasso cows all day?” Cass asked.

“They're more into breeding.” Chloe's face reddened, remembering how she'd blundered into the middle of their conversation today. “They're very helpful.”

“In what way?” Cass asked.

Chloe listed all the things they did for her, wondering what on earth she would have done without them, her pulse rate increasing as she pictured Zeb digging a post hole for her with his shirt off, his hair in his face, his rugged torso drenched with sweat

“I was just wondering...” Chloe took a deep breath. “Because things are moving so slowly here. What would you think if I didn't come back in the fall, if I took the whole year off?”

“No, you can't. I need you. I have no one to talk to. And Brandon broke up with that nurse in the ER.”

“Really.”

“Really. She transferred to ICU. He was asking about you. Said he was hurt you hadn't told him you were leaving. I think he misses you.”

“You're not falling for one of those cowboys, are you, Chloe?” Cass asked. “Of course if they're anything like they are in the movies.”

Chloe gripped the receiver remembering the first time she'd seen Zeb stepping out of the tub, clasping his hat in his hand, covering his...

“Nothing like that,” Chloe said. It was true. Zeb was not a movie star. He was a real man. Down-to-earth, tough, tender, funny, sweet, warm and caring.

“Remember you've been hurt You're in a vulnerable state,” Cass warned.

“Not anymore. I've got my confidence back. I can do anything. Bottle mineral water, build a spa out of a broken-down hot springs resort, and...” She almost said,
fall in love again
, but she didn't. She had fallen in love again. But she knew what Cass would say.
It's too soon. You're on the rebound
. She might ask,
Does he love you?
And she'd have to admit that he didn't. And even if he did, he wasn't going to get married. But maybe if she stuck around he’d get used to having her around, learn to trust her and believe she wouldn't walk out on him.

Chloe hung up, feeling torn in two directions. Despite her newfound confidence, she wasn't at all sure she could make a success of bottling water, building a spa or making Zeb Bowie fall in love with her. Whereas she was wanted, needed and expected back at her job.

As she walked down the street to where the truck was parked, she glanced up at the cumulus clouds that billowed above the county courthouse. What do you think, Great-Grandpa? she asked. Do I have a chance, a chance to rejuvenate Paradise Hot Springs, to make Zeb fall in love with me?

A sudden gust of wind blew an old newspaper in her path. She glanced down at the headline. Flooding Persists. New Hope for Proponents of Dam Site. So much for her hopes of a message from Great-Grandpa Horatio to come blowing her way. Something on the order of “Go For It,” or “Get out while the getting's good.” Thinking the Bowies might be interested in the article about flooding, she picked it up and stuffed it in her purse.

Zeb threw a roll of fencing into the back of the truck while Sam watched.

“Where is she?” Sam asked, looking at his watch. “We gotta be getting back.”

“Making a phone call. We're not in such a hurry. We have time for coffee at that new coffeehouse. Chloe loves good coffee, and I thought we'd all have a latte.”

“She won't find out. Or when she does, she'll be a thousand miles away. Back where she belongs. She's calling her hospital right now. They'll talk her into coming back. They'd be crazy to let her go. If you had Chloe, would you let her go?” Zeb demanded.

Sam leaned against the tailgate and stared at him. “But I don't. And neither do you. You don't have her and you don't want her. That's what you said, isn't it?”

Zeb slumped against the door of the truck and stared down the street without even seeing the catalog outlet and the yogurt shop. He didn't have Chloe and he never would. “I do want her,” he admitted for the first time. “But I've already been that route. I had my chance to get married and I blew it.”

“What are you talking about? You didn't blow it, Joanne did.”

Zeb shook his head. “That's not what everyone in town said.”

“You're wrong. Everyone in town said that you were lucky to get off so easy. That you were too good for her. You deserved better. You deserve a second chance.”

Zeb looked at his little brother standing there, propped against his truck. Once he'd been a little kid who needed rescuing from the bullies in the schoolyard, and now he was a good inch taller than Zeb. Suddenly Sam looked so old and sounded so wise he almost didn't recognize him.

But he couldn't tell her anything at the coffeehouse. It was too crowded, too noisy. Not on the way home, either. When he asked her if she'd extended her leave, she was noncommittal. Pensive all the way home. They all were. No one spoke. He'd wait until they were alone. Tomorrow.

But tomorrow came and went. A calf got sick. He had to sit up all night with it. The work didn't bother him. He couldn't sleep anyway. He was trying to think of what to say to her. How to say that he loved her. Even though he'd lied to her from the first moment he'd seen her. Why should she believe him? What if she didn't love him, didn't want to stay? What if she'd already decided to go home? What would she say when she found out they were going to flood the Springs? Why would she stay if she couldn't have her spa? Why should she stay just for him? Joanne hadn't been willing to.

Chloe almost forgot about the clipping. It was two days later by the time she got around to digging it out of her purse. She sat on the edge of her inflatable air mattress and unfolded the old newspaper she'd forgotten to give to Zeb and Sam. It would be of interest to them because, according to the map, the dam would be built upriver from their property. And according to the map, Paradise Springs would be sold to the Bureau of Reclamation for fair market value and flooded.

She jumped off the bed and almost hit her head on the low ceiling. The newspaper fell to the floor. It couldn't be true. It was an old newspaper, from a month ago. If it was true, they'd know about it. They'd have told her about it. Someone would have told her about it. Her inheritance, flooded. The cabins, the orchard, the cold springs, the hot springs, gone. Her future. Gone.

She went out into the cool night air and paced back and forth in the clearing in the dusk. In the morning she'd walk over to the ranch and demand an explanation. But in her heart she knew the explanation. They'd known all along and hadn't told her. Zeb had kept it a secret from her. No, that was impossible. He cared about her. She knew he did. He didn't love her, but he wouldn't lie to her, either.

She tried to sleep that night, but couldn't She dredged up everything he'd ever said to her. Every thing having to do with the property. There was never a hint, never a clue. Or was there? Maybe she hadn't wanted to hear, hadn't wanted to understand that he was eager to buy her property so he could resell it to the Bureau of Reclamation and make a tidy sum. Enough to buy a bull. She remembered everything he'd ever done, all the hard work he'd expended for her, and now she knew the reason for it. To soften her up for the sale. Well, she'd softened, all right So soft she'd melted into his arms, lost her head and her heart as well.

Lying there in the middle of the night she remembered how he'd made love to her, how close she'd felt to him then, as if she'd found her other half, the part that made her whole. She'd thought he felt the same. But it was all an act. The tears came, hot and heavy, and soaked her flannel sheet.