The River House. Carla Neggers
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help. She could be a professional about it. They weren’t teenagers anymore. They weren’t even friends.
Today was Wednesday and the boot camp was Saturday.
It’d be done and dusted in no time, and he’d be gone to wherever he was hanging his hat these days.
Feeling calmer, Felicity listened to the rustle of leaves in a light breeze, stirring the stillness of the summer afternoon. Through high school, she and Gabe would come out to his grandfather’s “camp” on the river to sneak down to their personal swimming hole, play cards by a campfire, meet up with friends. They were in the same class, but as an October baby, he was almost a year older than she was.
They’d been tight. Good friends. He’d been a reluctant student with big ambitions after high school. She’d been a good student with no real focus for after graduation. She figured she’d get a degree in finance. Something like that. She’d put a lot of her energy into encouraging Gabe.
She chewed on her lower lip, pushing back the flood of memories the news about Gabe’s impending return to town had triggered.
One memory in particular, of a night much like last night had been. Warm, still, starlit. She and Gabe had a fire going in the outdoor fire pit, the only permanent structure then on the Flanagans’ riverfront campsite. They hadn’t needed the fire’s heat. The flames were atmosphere, creating a glow that encompassed just her and Gabe, as if they were in their own little world. They’d been getting ready to leave for separate colleges hundreds of miles apart, feeling the mixed emotions of what lay ahead of them. Fear, uncertainty, excitement, resolve. They’d all bubbled up that night. Neither of them had lived anywhere but Knights Bridge. What would life be like outside their small town?
“We’ll stay friends,” she’d said, half to herself. “We’ll always be friends, won’t we, Gabe?”
“Always, Felicity. Always.”
He hadn’t hesitated. She’d believed him, had needed to hear—wanted to hear—those words.
Later, with the fire dying and stars glistening overhead, they’d gotten carried away.
Felicity let out a long breath. It’d been a wild night. No question. She wondered if Gabe even remembered it.
She put it out of her mind. Her life in Knights Bridge was good. Fun, energizing, busy. It was different from where she thought she’d end up when she’d left for college in upstate New York, and maybe it wasn’t what her friends and family or anyone else had expected.
No maybe about it. It was definitely not what anyone had expected.
“Except Gabe.”
The words were out before she could stop them.
She could hear him now, on a cold February morning three years ago—the last time she’d seen him. “You have to do what you want to do, Felicity. You’re doing what everyone expects you to do.”
“What if what everyone expects and what I want are the same thing?”
“They aren’t.”
That was Gabe. Always so certain.
No way had he changed in three years.
Sometimes she wished he’d fought harder to maintain their friendship, but he hadn’t fought at all. If he had? Would she have taken that first event management job, or with him breathing down her neck would she have tried again as a financial analyst—to prove to him she could do the work, wanted to do the work? Giving up fit right into his ideas about her, but would he have approved of her alternate career? Would he have encouraged her, or would he have told her not to “settle” as a party planner?
She checked her phone for an email, text or voice mail from Gabe about the boot camp party, but there was nothing. He wouldn’t have understood her choice of new career. He’d have wanted it both ways. She’d face her failure as a financial analyst and come out on the other end in a stable, high-paying job.
She did fine as a party planner. She’d paid down her debt, reined in her spending and bought a house.
She sent Saturday’s caterer—a friend from town—a quick email to set up a time to discuss Gabe’s addition to the day.
She let that be enough for now. She’d work on Kylie’s party and tackle Gabe’s party later.
She brought all eight books in the Badgers of Middle Branch series out to the deck and set them on the table for inspiration. She grabbed her brainstorming colored pencils and a pad of lined yellow paper and a pad of plain white paper.
Badgers. She’d think about badgers.
But she was positive when he’d told her she was hacking away in the wrong jungle and needed to get out of finance that Gabe Flanagan hadn’t envisioned her figuring out how to incorporate badgers into a party at the Knights Bridge public library.
Gabe Flanagan looked out at Boston from the living room of his twelfth-floor condo in the heart of Back Bay. He gripped his phone. “Say that again, Mark.”
His brother didn’t answer at once. Gabe had been home for ten hours after two months in California, working his way down the coast from Sonoma to San Diego on a mix of business and pleasure. He didn’t know whether Mark’s call was business or pleasure. Some of both, maybe.
“You hired Felicity to handle the party after Dylan’s boot camp,” Mark said.
“Felicity MacGregor.”
“None other.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I just did.”
Gabe sighed. Felicity. Mark had no idea what he’d stepped into, but still. “I should throw you in the river when I get there.”
“You and what army,” his brother said, teasing, as if they were kids again. “I did you a favor. The party’s on. You’re the host. Everyone will be thrilled. You’ll have a great time, and you don’t have to lift a finger.”
Gabe could see his reflection in the window. His jaw was tight, his angular features and tall, lean frame giving away that he and Mark were brothers. Gabe had put on muscle now that he’d been doing CrossFit for two years, dropping into studios when he was on the road. He’d gone to one yesterday in LA, before his overnight flight to Boston.
“You told Felicity it was my idea to hire her?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah. It was simpler. I don’t need to be the middleman.”
“You are the middleman. I didn’t know anything about it.”
“Now you do. Why are you jumping down my throat? You should be thanking me. You said you wanted help. I helped.”
“Do I need to do anything for this party?”
“Just show up. It’s not much notice, but Felicity’s good at what she does.”
Mark had mentioned in passing she was an event planner now. She’d started shortly after she and Gabe had fallen out. He’d figured it was something she’d do to make ends meet while she tried to find another finance job, if only to spite him. But she’d stuck with it, obviously. Mark didn’t know the ins and outs of his younger brother’s relationship with Knights Bridge’s own party planner. They were close, but not that kind of close.
“Okay, thanks,” Gabe said finally.
“You’re not regretting saying yes to speaking at the boot camp, are you?”
“It’s a day and then it’s done.”
A few minutes ago, Gabe would have said he was looking forward to the boot camp. Dylan McCaffrey had invited him when they’d met briefly in San Diego before Gabe