Baby, Come Home Read Free Page B

our bridge.”
    “A new covered bridge?”
    “As close to the first Evermore Bridge as possible, considering the original blueprints no longer exist. We have a grant from a preservation society to offset some of the costs and they provided blueprints from a similar bridge in Ohio.” He gave her an overview of the project budget and the amount they could offer for her services. “Not a king’s ransom, I know,” he said.
    “No, it sounds very fair,” she said, tightening her grip on the phone. Had Kendall told Marcus how much that bridge had meant to her? Rebuilding it would be a great personal achievement. “So…you’re offering me a temporary job?”
    “That’s right. The way I see it, I need a bridge, and it would give you a chance to see if things have changed around here.”
    If things had changed… He was alluding to Kendall and their old feelings for each other.
    “Whose idea was this?” she asked.
    “Mine. Kendall doesn’t know I’m making this call. As far as I know, he doesn’t even know you’re an engineer.”
    Because he didn’t care enough to find out? But even as hurt squeezed her heart, she was grateful Kendall hadn’t delved deeper into her life. She wondered again how much Marcus knew.
    “And if I say no, what then?” she asked.
    There was a hesitation on the other end of the line. “Then nothing. No matter what I think, Amy, you have a right to your privacy.”
    She exhaled. “Thank you, Marcus. You don’t know how much I appreciate that.”
    “Then you’ll think about it?”
    Amy’s mind swirled with the possible outcomes of returning to Sweetness. It had taken years for the sharp pain in her heart over Kendall to subside to a dull ache. If she returned now, there would be more at stake. Much more. And it was more than she was willing to gamble.
    “I’m sorry,” she said with as much conviction as she could muster, “but I’m going to have to pass. I have commitments here that I can’t turn my back on.”
    A regretful noise sounded on the line. “I’m disappointed, but I understand. It’s been nice talking with you. Call if you ever need anything.”
    She smiled into the phone. “Thank you. Goodbye, Marcus.”
    Amy set down the receiver and sank into her chair. That was close. She sat for a few moments, her mind traveling down the road not taken, wondering if her response would’ve been the same if Kendall had called instead.
    She closed her eyes and conjured up his handsome face, his serious deep blue eyes, his intense approach to everything.
    Including lovemaking, she remembered with a smile. He’d been her first lover and the only man who’d ever moved her. Every man in her life after Kendall had suffered in comparison to his strong body and keen intellect. If Kendall had been able to commit to her or had loved her enough to come looking for her, her life would’ve been so different.
    Amy gave herself a mental shake. Luckily she had Tony in her life now…a different set of blue eyes to lose herself in. She’d learned long ago that nothing productive came from rehashing the past.
    She reached for her computer mouse and returned to the CAD drawing she’d been working on before her chocolate attack, the addition of a wheelchair ramp to an existing structure. A worthwhile project, to be sure…but not very challenging. Even as she double-checked the fine details on the screen in front of her, her mind kept straying to her memories of the Evermore covered bridge over Timber Creek.
    Always happy for a reason to get out of the cramped, tension-wrought house where she lived with an elderly aunt, Amy had thought the bridge was the most romantic place in Sweetness—the way it enveloped her and Kendall when they entered one arched portal to slowly walk or ride across the length of it, counting timbers as they went, their footsteps and voices echoing off the plank walls. She would pretend it was their home. They’d certainly shared a lot of intimate moments there,