A Dream Too Far (Summer Lake Silver Book 2) Read online

  Some laughs, hopefully. Some stories. She already knew from that first night they met that they shared some life experience. They’d each raised their children alone after their spouse died. She sighed. Seymour had loved his wife very much. They’d led a happy life together from what he’d told her. She, on the other hand … well, her marriage hadn’t been such a happy one. She’d loved him. She’d been devasted when he drank himself into an early grave, but she still carried the guilt—the guilt that came with relief. Even now, all these years later, it was hard to admit that she’d been relieved when he died. Still. She sat up a little bit straighter. She liked to believe that he’d been a good a man. A good man who’d been eaten alive by his demons and his addiction.

  She got up from the table. She didn’t like to dwell. She’d managed to turn it all around in her mind. She liked to believe that now he was free of his demons and that he’d be happy for her and the boys if he were looking down on them. She hoped he’d found the peace in death that had eluded him in life.

  “Okay,” she said out loud. “That was yesterday. This is today.” She went to close the living room curtains. It was too early, yet, but she didn’t like to leave them open when she was out in the evening.

  She stopped with her hand raised when she saw an SUV pull up outside. It wasn’t one of the neighbors; she knew all their cars. It looked like there were two men inside. She frowned. Summer Lake was a quiet little place; nothing bad ever happened here, but she felt uneasy. She moved back from the window, wondering if she should call Colt. He was one of Jack and Dan’s friends—and the deputy sheriff. It might not be a bad idea to let him know there was a strange vehicle. “Oh!” She suddenly felt foolish as she saw Seymour get out of the passenger side. He leaned back in and spoke to the driver before closing the door.

  She went into the hallway and waited for the bell to ring before she opened the door with a smile. She’d had a quip ready to tell him how she’d been about to call the police on the strange man outside, but it died in her throat at the sight of him. He took her breath away. His eyes were mesmerizing. She’d thought they were hazel, but as he stood there on the doorstep smiling at her, she could see they were a deep green. Her heart raced as she returned the smile.

  “Sorry, I know I’m a little early. It’s a habit I can’t seem to break. I was going to sit outside and wait for a few minutes, but I thought that might look as though we were prowlers casing the neighborhood.”

  She laughed. “I’m glad you changed your mind. I’m ready—I’m always early, too. And I was just debating whether I should call in the suspicious vehicle outside my house. Do you want to come in for a minute?”

  “Sure.” He looked back at the SUV before following her inside.

  “I’ll just get my purse—unless you’d like a drink? Who’s that in the car? He can join us if you like?”

  Seymour shook his head. “That’s okay. That’s Ivan. He’s my driver.”

  Chris raised an eyebrow at him. “Your driver? You don’t drive?”

  She couldn’t figure out the look on his face. “I can drive, but I don’t. I …” He pursed his lips and looked away. “I have a driver. I have a pilot, too.” He looked back at her with a smile. “You know what I do for a living.”

  She nodded. She couldn’t claim to understand what he did, but she knew he was involved in the investment world. He ran a hedge fund and did some other stuff. She’d seen him on the news being interviewed when there was big news about the markets.

  “I work a lot. I work most of the time. Every hour that I put into my work produces a lot of money. So, I dedicate my time to doing what I do best, and I hire people to do the things that don’t require my attention.”

  She cocked her head to one side and held his gaze for a moment.

  “You disapprove?” he asked eventually.

  “No. Oh, my goodness no. I’m not judging. It’s not my place to judge. I’m just trying to figure you out. I can’t imagine what it’s like. I can’t imagine letting someone else drive me around. But then I don’t have anything more important—or more profitable—to do with my time. It’s just a logical arrangement to you, isn’t it?”

  He nodded. “When you run the numbers, you can see that it makes sense. If I can make one thousand dollars in an hour either on the phone or on my laptop while sitting in the back of the car in traffic, and I can pay Ivan one hundred dollars to drive while I do it. I’d be crazy not to. It’d be like paying nine hundred dollars an hour to drive myself.”

  Chris had to laugh at that. It made sense, but she would never have thought of it that way. “If the rate’s one hundred an hour, you can leave him at home next time you come up here, and I’ll drive.”

  He looked uncomfortable. “I was only illustrating—”

  She reached out and touched his arm. “And I’m only joking with you. I don’t even know if you’ll be coming here again—and if you do, I’ll happily drive you around for free.”

  He smiled. “Sorry. I guess I’m a little on edge. When you said we could walk home later if I wanted to have a drink, I wondered if I should tell you about Ivan then. I didn’t know if it’d seem strange to you. If you’d mind. Do you mind?”

  “Of course not. And it’s not so strange. Did you know that my sister, Marianne, is engaged to Clay McAdam?”

  He smiled. “I knew Clay got engaged, but I had no idea that it was to your sister.”

  “Yeah. I’m so glad they found each other. They make each other happy. Anyway, my point was that Clay has a couple of guys, Adam and Davin, who drive him around—they’re like bodyguards, too. His security team. I get along well with them.” She stopped and frowned at him. “Is Ivan just your driver, or is he security, too?”

  “Both. Not that I need security for any particular reason, but you never know.”

  She looked at him for a long moment. She'd been about to ask him why he might need security, but she got lost in his eyes. Now they were a light brown, flecked with green. They might just be the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen.

  His lips quirked up into a smile as if he knew the effect he was having on her. “Anything else you want to know?”

  “Only if you want to have a drink here or if you’d like to go?” She could hardly ask him any of the questions that were racing through her mind, none of them were appropriate for a first date.

  “Maybe we should go.”

  The way he said it made her wonder if he was having the same kind of thoughts she was. She picked up her purse and led him to the front door. Maybe she was just getting a bit carried away.

  ~ ~ ~

  Seymour looked around as they followed the server to their table. Giuseppe’s wasn’t the kind of place he’d normally frequent, but he liked it. It felt warm and welcoming.

  When they reached the table, the server set two menus down on the table. “I’ll be back to take your drink orders in a few,” he said with a smile.

  Seymour pursed his lips and pulled out a chair for Chris.

  She sat down and smiled at him as he joined her. “Thank you, but don’t be mad at the kid for not doing it. It’s just how things work these days.”

  He blew out a sigh. “Was it that obvious that I wasn’t impressed?”

  “I don’t think he noticed, but then he wouldn’t have a clue what you were pissed about. It wouldn’t have occurred to him that he should do it.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry, I guess I’m old school in that respect. But I shouldn’t get annoyed at people for not living up to expectations they don’t even know I have.”

  Chris laughed. “I think we’re all guilty of that in one way or another.”

  He smiled. “You’re probably right about that. I hope you’ll let me know what your expectations are.”

  “I’ve learned not to have many. It makes life easier. I prefer to take things as they come.”

  He held her gaze for a moment. He wanted to tell her that it was better to have some expectations and hold people accounta
ble to them, but she’d already proved her point with the server.

  She gave him a playful smile. “Do you have certain expectations of me? I wouldn’t want to piss you off.”

  He laughed. “No, I don’t. At least, nothing that I’m aware of.”

  “Good, then, although I’d guess that it doesn’t come naturally to you, I’d like to suggest that that you take things as they come this evening.”

  “Just for this evening?” Had she already decided that that was as long as she could put up with him?

  She laughed. “If we’re playing this by ear, then we won’t know if what I think will matter to you after this evening, will we?”

  He nodded. “You’re right. We won’t. But I’ve built my life and made people’s fortunes on my ability to make predictions. And I’d predict that what you think will still matter to me tomorrow.”

  She held his gaze for a moment, then smiled at the server who’d returned to see what they wanted to drink.

  “So, why now?” asked Chris after he’d gone.

  Seymour raised an eyebrow. He thought he knew what she meant, but he wanted to buy himself a few moments to consider his answer.

  “I just wondered why you finally decided to come up to the lake.” She smiled. “Why we’re sitting here right now. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, or if you don’t know.”

  He smiled. “It’d be easier to mumble something about the time seeming right, but you deserve the truth.”

  It was Chris’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “That sounds ominous. Are you sure I want to know?”

  He laughed. “I think you do. You see, after that night we met in LA.” He stopped and pondered the wisdom of being as honest as he was about to be. He realized that it wasn’t his wisdom, but his courage that was in question. That made it easier to go on. “I wanted to call you the next day. I wanted to come up here and see you, to continue laying the foundation I thought we’d started to build.” He shrugged. “But I managed to talk myself out of it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’ve gotten too good at hiding. Hiding from life, hiding from reality. Hiding from happiness.”

  She cocked her head to one side. It was adorable the way she did that.

  “You want to know why I’d hide from happiness?”

  She gave a little chuckle. “No, that’s not what puzzles me. I get that part. I guess I’m more surprised that you thought your happiness might be at stake if you got in touch with me.”

  “We both knew there was a possibility of something very real between us.” His heart was hammering in his chest. He hadn’t intended to be this open, but he couldn’t help it, something about her demanded absolute honesty.

  “I thought there was, but I wasn’t sure you even wanted to consider it.”

  “I did, and that scared me. I thought my way through all the logical routes that this could go. I reached the conclusion that we could likely find happiness together. I wasn’t sure I could handle that.”

  She smiled. “Which brings me back to my original question—what makes you want to find out now?”

  He blew out a sigh and reached across the table to take hold of her hand. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull away. “Because I’ve finally run out of excuses not to. I’ve managed to escape almost everything I didn’t want to deal with in life by hiding in my work. But you …” He squeezed her hand and smiled. “I can’t hide from you. You somehow took up residence in my head. You make me want to know what it’d be like to allow myself to be happy.”

  She held his gaze for a long moment. She looked serious, doubtful, maybe, but eventually, she smiled. “I think you deserve to be happy. I think it’d do you good to relax and have some fun—maybe not work so much. I think I can help you with that.”

  He waited, it sounded like there was a but coming.

  “If you’re going to stay here until next weekend, then maybe I can be the catalyst you need.”

  He frowned. That wasn’t what he meant. He wasn’t looking for some vacation fling. “I’m not here to—”

  She held up her hand to stop him. “I think I know what you mean. But if we’re playing this by ear, then even next weekend is a long way away. Don’t you think?”

  He wasn’t used to playing things by ear. He didn’t work that way. Yes, he adjusted on the fly to changing circumstances, but he always knew where he was headed, what his end goal was in any endeavor.

  Chris squeezed his hand. “I can see cogs whirring behind those pretty eyes of yours. Slow down, would you? Let’s have dinner, have fun, get to know each other, and that’s all tonight needs to be. If we have fun, we have another ten days or so to play with before you leave.”

  He nodded slowly. “Is that all you want? Some fun?”

  Her smile faded. “Honestly?”

  “I should warn you; honesty is one of my expectations.”

  “Okay, then to be as blunt as I can. It’s all about fun. My life is good. I have my kids, my grandkids, the causes I support. I’m okay. If I can layer a little fun over the top of that, then that will be wonderful. I’m not greedy. I’m not asking for more than that.”

  He wondered if she was trying to reassure him that she wasn’t going to ask too much of him, or if she was trying to warn him that he shouldn’t ask too much of her. “And if I were to ask for more than that?”

  “You won’t—”

  He started to interrupt, but she held up her hand again with a smile. “You won’t even know if you want to ask for more for a while yet.” She chuckled. “For all you know you might be calling that pilot of yours to get you out of here and away from that annoying Chris woman long before next weekend rolls around. That’s why I’m saying play it by ear.”

  He had to smile. “I’m sorry. I know you’re right. I’ll try to back off.”

  “I’m not asking you to back off. All I’m saying is that we can have fun with this—and we don’t need to try to make it into anything more than that.”

  “What if it turns into more than that all by itself?”

  She laughed. “Then we’ll be onto something, won’t we? But if we try to plan it and manage it from the beginning it won’t do anything all by itself, will it?”

  “Are you ready to order?”

  They both looked up at the server who was staring pointedly at the menus which still lay on the table where he’d left them.

  “I’ll call you over when we are.” Seymour tried not to scowl at him, but it was hard.

  When he’d gone, Chris laughed and handed Seymour a menu. “Here, I recommend the pizza, it’s wonderful.”

  He made himself relax and smile back at her. “Okay. Pizza it is.”

  Chapter Four

  Chris couldn’t believe it when she set her glass down and looked at her watch. It was just after eleven! They’d been sitting here for four hours. No wonder the poor server had been giving them the evil eye for a while now. She looked around. The restaurant was almost empty. She hadn’t noticed.

  Seymour smiled at her. “You’re right. We should go.”

  “I don’t want to.” She laughed. “I wasn’t giving you a hint that it’s time to get out of here. I was just shocked. Where did the time go?”

  “I have no idea. But I enjoyed it.”

  “I did, too.” She reached across the table and took hold of his hand. He’d taken hold of hers a few times throughout the evening. It felt natural. “I had a really good time. Thank you.”

  “I’d thought we could go for a walk down by the lake afterward, but it’s a bit late now.”

  “I’m allowed to stay out as late as I want. We can still do that—unless you’re tired?”

  “No. I’d love to. Do you want Ivan to drive us back over to the resort?”

  She waved a hand at him. “No. Let him go home. I’d planned to say that earlier, you should let him know he can have the rest of the night off.”

  “Don’t worry. I didn’t make him sit outside all this time. He’s back at his ca
bin. I said I’d call when I needed him.”

  “Why don’t you call him now and tell him that you don’t need him?”

  “Okay.”

  She watched as he fished his phone out of his pocket. “Ivan … No. Thanks. We’re going to walk back … Okay.”

  Chris waved her hand in front of Seymour’s face. He gave her a puzzled look, and it occurred to her that he wasn’t used to people doing anything like that to him. She smiled and held her hand out for the phone. “Can I have a word with him?”

  Two vertical lines appeared between his brows, but he nodded. “Hold on, Ivan. Chris would like to speak to you.”

  “Hey, Ivan. I’m sorry we didn’t call you earlier. You could have had the night off.”

  “That’s okay.”

  “I just wanted to let you know that if you walk up to the restaurant at the resort—the Boathouse, have you seen it?”

  “I have.”

  “Well, if you take a walk up there, I’m sure it’ll still be busy. You should enjoy yourself. Go see the bartender—the blonde girl, her name is Kenzie. Tell her I sent you and that your drinks are on me.”

  “No. You don’t need to do that. Though I appreciate the offer.”

  “Please do. I hate to think of you sitting home twiddling your thumbs all night. You should go out and have some fun.”

  She could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke again. “It’s kind of you to think of me. I might take a walk up there, but I can get my own tab.”

  “At least let Kenzie know who you are? She’ll introduce you to the locals—you may as well make some friends while you’re here.”

  “Thanks.”

  Chris looked at Seymour. His lips were quirking up in that odd little smile. “Anyway,” she said to Ivan. “I’ll let you go. I’ll give you back to Seymour now.” She handed the phone back to him.

  He brought it up to his ear with the same smile. “You should go … I won’t call you before noon tomorrow. Yes. Goodnight, Ivan.” He ended the call and looked at Chris. “Thank you.”