Mitch laughed. “Hard to compete when I know it was never really a contest.”
“We put together a list of potential clients.” Anita handed over yet another manila envelope.
Frowning Norah took it, sliding out a thick stack of what turned out to be signed letters of intention.
“It’s more or less everyone you’ve worked with since you got here,” Grammy said. “Plus a few others.”
Norah said nothing, eyes moving from one Campbell to the next.
Mitch had sobered. “We felt bad about how we reacted, and we really wanted to show you that we’re behind you a hundred percent.”
Cam bristled. “So you decided to make the decision for her and back her into a corner?”
Of course he would understand her hesitation. Her parents had been doing the same thing for years, trying to force her hand, albeit with far less consideration of her own wants and preferences. Cam himself had gone out of his way to avoid talking about the future, to keep her from feeling pressured.
“I’m sure that wasn’t their intention.”
Aunt Liz looked stricken. “No! We just wanted to be supportive. To try to make it an easier decision.”
“Oh, no we absolutely colluded to railroad you,” Miranda said. “Because we love you and that’s what we do in this family. You love us, so you’ll forgive us for essentially beating you over the head with this after you’ve put in a full day’s work on three hours of sleep.”
Norah felt her cheeks heat. She didn’t dare look at Cam to see if he was blushing or otherwise looked incriminating. Miranda knew she’d slept at his place. Norah didn’t know if the rest of the family did and wasn’t quite ready to look them in the eye to find out. So she kept her eyes on her friend. “The fact that you pull no punches is one of the things I love most about you.”
“You’ve been too busy busting your ass trying to outflank GrandGoods to give much consideration to a real job. I know you. It never occurred to you to create one for yourself.”
“You’re right. It didn’t. I’ve deliberately kept myself too busy to think about it because, I guess I was afraid if I did, I wouldn’t be able to think of a viable way I could stay.” She looked down at the stack of letters and smiled. “So thank you for opening my eyes to the possibility.”
Picking up Mitch’s tablet, she opened up the concept sketches again. “Who owns this property?”
“The city,” Sandra said. “As Mitch said, it’s not been used for anything but storage in ages. I don’t think there’d be any fuss over selling.”
Norah looked to Cam. “Can you get the keys?”
He angled his head, a faint curve to the corners of his mouth that was just enough to make his dimples wink. “That can be arranged.”
~*~
The old train depot was, as advertised, a glorified storage unit. File cabinets and boxes of who knew what from decades of running a town were stacked cheek by jowl around an assortment of discarded office furniture all through the space. But what Norah saw as she looked through it a few days later was the vision Mitch had planted in her head.
“It was really smart of Mitch to do this.”
“Do what?” Cam asked.
“Make me lust over what this space could be. It was smart of all of them to give me the pitch for what my own firm here could be like.”
He scowled. “They shouldn’t have pressured you.”
“It means a lot to me that you don’t. That you’re giving me time to figure things out. I know it has to be hard on you to stay in the here and now without talking about the future. You’re just as much a planner as I am.”
“I don’t have to talk about it to believe in it. I’m a patient guy. I know you’ll get there in your own time.”
This was where he put his faith, his hope, and it humbled her.
“Maybe a little less time, thanks to your very nosy family.” She leaned back against a desk. “I want to stay, Cam.”
It wasn’t the declaration she wanted to make. Or, at least, not the only one. But it was enough to make his eyes light.
“I’ve been afraid to admit to myself how badly I want that because I couldn’t see how I could make it work. They gave me an option I hadn’t considered. I don’t know if it’s actually what I’ll end up doing, but they showed me a way I could maybe legitimately have my cake and eat it too. That makes up for the pushy.”