Page 10 of Christmas at the Ranch
She couldn’t imagine not having two parents. Samantha and her mother might not agree on everything, but Samantha knew her mother cared about her more than anyone in the world.
“I did get a pet eventually.” Drew smiled as if he was determined to change the mood. “When I lived in Fiji, I had a pig. Porky was a good pet, though his morning breath was terrible.”
“You did not call your pig Porky,” Samantha said, laughing.
“Actually, I didn’t,” he admitted. “One of the children in the village named him, and it sort of stuck.”
Samantha placed her cup on the counter.
“About the things I told you on the plane…,” she began.
“You mean that you’re not the kind of woman who wears stilettos and evening gowns while rappelling off a cliff in Venezuela?” He grinned, glancing at her robe.
“If your father knew, Charlie and I could get into a lot of trouble.”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything,” Drew assured her. “To be honest, I have my own problems with my father. I’d rather not talk to him in private.”
“What kind of problems?” Samantha inquired.
“You have other things on your mind.” He shrugged.
“You listened to me on the plane,” she reminded him. “I’m happy to do the same.”
“My father and I were very close growing up. He never put the publishing company before me,” Drew began. “You could say he raised us both together. He loved taking me to the office, but he rarely missed my school plays and soccer matches. While I was in college, I spent a semester building a school in Thailand. Everything about it was different from New York: the thatched houses built on rivers, the people who were so grateful for small kindnesses. It was the children especially who I couldn’t get out of my mind. When the Jeep pulled up at a village, they swarmed around me for a packet of raisins. And when the school was finished, the smiles on their faces were as big as if Santa Claus delivered the desks himself. I knew what I wanted to do after I graduated.” He paused. “My father agreed to help me financially until I was thirty. Then I would come back to New York and work for him. I took a publishing course the summer before I graduated from college. It taught me the basics, and we agreed that when I joined the firm, I would work for three months in each department, learning the ropes,” he finished. “I turned thirty a month ago.”
“Can’t you talk to him?” Samantha ventured. “Most parents want their children to be happy.”
“I was planning to,” Drew sighed. “That was before Beatrix put her foot down.”
“Beatrix?” Samantha repeated.
“My fiancée. We’ve been together for three years,” Drew replied. “Beatrix loved the idea of building schools in third world countries. She imagined herself as some kind of modern-day Amelia Earhart. Lately she’s changed. She’s tired of wearing the same clothes for weeks and she misses manicures and pedicures. Sometimes I find her scrolling through her photos of a favorite pair of loafers as if she’s mourning the death of a friend. She was supposed to come to the ranch but she gave me an ultimatum: either we stay in New York or the engagement is off.”
“That seems a little harsh if you love each other,” Samantha said, wincing.
“I can’t blame her,” he remarked. “Few women would consider eating soggy noodles in a tent during a monsoon as the perfect birthday celebration. And having a snake slither into your sleeping bag is the fastest way to end a romantic moment.”
At the mention of snakes, Beatrix had Samantha’s sympathy. Snakes were high on the list of creatures Samantha was afraid of, ahead of spiders and those flying bugs they have in Florida that made Samantha want to retire somewhere colder like Alaska.
Even Sloane Parker inherited Samantha’s fear of snakes. In a recent book, José, the sexy casino owner, gives Sloane the gift of a ruby necklace shaped like a snake. After they make love, José removes the necklace and replaces it with a real snake. Sloane wakes in the morning to discover a snake sharing her bed and José and theruby necklace gone. José stole the necklace from a Colombian drug lord and gave it to Sloane to get through customs.
“I can see her point.” Samantha shuddered. “Didn’t you discuss it before you got engaged?”
“Beatrix thought I’d change my mind.”
“And you didn’t?” Samantha wondered.
Drew leaned back on the stool. He rubbed his brow.
“I love Beatrix, but I love what I’m doing too,” he said slowly. “I don’t want to choose.”
Samantha didn’t say that sometimes life makes choices for you. Sometimes the person you think you’re going to spend your life with decides he wants something completely different: An ocean warm enough to swim in year-round. An office where dress-down Friday means board shorts and sockless loafers.
Roger hadn’t even asked Samantha if she wanted to join him in California. He simply packed his suitcases and left.
Someone else entered the kitchen. It was Arthur, dressed in a striped tracksuit.
“Drew, Samantha, you’re both up early,” he greeted them. “I was headed down to the gym for a morning workout.”
