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.She was beaming from ear to ear.ROOTS was going to become a reality at last.They congratulated her on her success and discussed how they would all pitch in to fix up the new ROOTS headquarters in the storefront down the street.Allaire had Tori over for dinner that night.And Saturday, Melanie called.Connor had told his sister that the engagement was over.“Are you okay?” Melanie wanted to know.“I’m getting by,” Tori replied.“Want some company? I’m coming into town in an hour.”Tori started to say no, that it wouldn’t be a good idea.But she liked Melanie.And she wouldn’t mind a little company—in fact, she’d appreciate some.Melanie came over.She confessed that Connor had told her everything.“I love my brother,” she said with a rueful sigh.“But I told him he’s messing up royally, to even consider letting you go.”“Melanie, the engagement was never real.You know that.You said he explained it to you.”Melanie made a low sound in her throat.“Of course it was real.Everyone saw it.You two were meant to be together.”“But we’re not together.And we’re not going to be.”“That’s what I thought about Russ and me.And look at us now.”“I don’t see the parallel.You and Russ are nothing like Connor and me.”“Yes, we are.Russ and I married for all kinds of convenient reasons, not one of them love.Or so we thought.”That was hard to believe.“You’re not serious.Not you and Russ—”“Yes, I am.He wanted the Hopping H and I needed help making the guest ranch work.It was a strictly business arrangement.Or so we told ourselves at the time.”Tori couldn’t afford to get her hopes up.“It’s not the same.”Melanie only smiled at her and said gently, “Love matters.When there’s love, all kinds of impossible dreams end up coming true.”Tori nodded.She agreed with Connor’s sister.At least, she did in theory.As she had told Connor the day it ended, she believed that love—that having loved him—was worth the pain.But right now, well, she was suffering through the worst of it.It wasn’t easy.It hurt a lot.Sometimes, she forgot that love was worth it.Sometimes, she thought that impossible dreams were simply that—impossible.Sometimes she almost wished she’d never loved him at all.Connor had the monthly meetings in Philadelphia starting Monday.He gave Gerda four days off, since CJ wanted to stay with the Chiltons, and he flew out early Sunday.He had dinner with his parents that evening.They asked after Tori.He said she was fine.Yes, he should have gone ahead and told them that the engagement was off.But he couldn’t bear to do it, couldn’t stand to see that cool flare of satisfaction in his mother’s eyes.Couldn’t sit there and listen to his father tell him how it was all for the best.That the schoolteacher from Montana was not the right woman for him and they were glad he had realized it before he got in too deep.In too deep.He was already there.Deep and going deeper.He missed her.He missed her really bad.And his own sister had told him he was an idiot.Melanie had said she didn’t care if he thought he’d gotten engaged to Tori just to improve his chances of getting custody of his son.“Wake up, Connor.You’re in love with Tori Jones.If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go and tell her so, right now.”Of course, he hadn’t.He wasn’t going back to Tori.He wasn’t ready for any of that.Not ready for love.Or so he kept telling himself.Constantly.Over and over.As if maybe, when he’d said it enough times, he would actually believe it.He would be able to forget her, to get on with his life.Monday was one meeting after another.Tuesday, he gave his presentation on the Thunder Canyon Resort buyout.He shocked the hell out of all them at that meeting.His father looked like he might have a coronary when Connor said, “I want to invest in the resort instead of buying them out.My prospectus is in front of you.When you’ve had time to study my new plan, I think you’ll see that the numbers are solid.We’ll leave the current management team in place, and I project we can see a profit from our investment within the next two years.They need capital.We can give it to them.And then share in the returns.”His father sputtered.“But it won’t be a McFarlane House project.”“No.It will be a McFarlane House investment.I’ll look elsewhere for our next project.As you’ve mentioned more than once, Donovan, the resort doesn’t really fit our brand.But the Thunder Canyon Resort can be profitable again.And that means we will profit, too.”There were hours of arguments, of objections and retrenchments.But Connor refused to back down.In the end, he convinced them all.Even his father couldn’t argue with the numbers Connor had provided.And besides, Donovan had never liked the idea of a sprawling ski resort bearing the McFarlane House name.Connor stayed over that night.He had dinner with his parents again.Donovan was anxious for him to move back home, to get to work on the next acquisition [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.She was beaming from ear to ear.ROOTS was going to become a reality at last.They congratulated her on her success and discussed how they would all pitch in to fix up the new ROOTS headquarters in the storefront down the street.Allaire had Tori over for dinner that night.And Saturday, Melanie called.Connor had told his sister that the engagement was over.“Are you okay?” Melanie wanted to know.“I’m getting by,” Tori replied.“Want some company? I’m coming into town in an hour.”Tori started to say no, that it wouldn’t be a good idea.But she liked Melanie.And she wouldn’t mind a little company—in fact, she’d appreciate some.Melanie came over.She confessed that Connor had told her everything.“I love my brother,” she said with a rueful sigh.“But I told him he’s messing up royally, to even consider letting you go.”“Melanie, the engagement was never real.You know that.You said he explained it to you.”Melanie made a low sound in her throat.“Of course it was real.Everyone saw it.You two were meant to be together.”“But we’re not together.And we’re not going to be.”“That’s what I thought about Russ and me.And look at us now.”“I don’t see the parallel.You and Russ are nothing like Connor and me.”“Yes, we are.Russ and I married for all kinds of convenient reasons, not one of them love.Or so we thought.”That was hard to believe.“You’re not serious.Not you and Russ—”“Yes, I am.He wanted the Hopping H and I needed help making the guest ranch work.It was a strictly business arrangement.Or so we told ourselves at the time.”Tori couldn’t afford to get her hopes up.“It’s not the same.”Melanie only smiled at her and said gently, “Love matters.When there’s love, all kinds of impossible dreams end up coming true.”Tori nodded.She agreed with Connor’s sister.At least, she did in theory.As she had told Connor the day it ended, she believed that love—that having loved him—was worth the pain.But right now, well, she was suffering through the worst of it.It wasn’t easy.It hurt a lot.Sometimes, she forgot that love was worth it.Sometimes, she thought that impossible dreams were simply that—impossible.Sometimes she almost wished she’d never loved him at all.Connor had the monthly meetings in Philadelphia starting Monday.He gave Gerda four days off, since CJ wanted to stay with the Chiltons, and he flew out early Sunday.He had dinner with his parents that evening.They asked after Tori.He said she was fine.Yes, he should have gone ahead and told them that the engagement was off.But he couldn’t bear to do it, couldn’t stand to see that cool flare of satisfaction in his mother’s eyes.Couldn’t sit there and listen to his father tell him how it was all for the best.That the schoolteacher from Montana was not the right woman for him and they were glad he had realized it before he got in too deep.In too deep.He was already there.Deep and going deeper.He missed her.He missed her really bad.And his own sister had told him he was an idiot.Melanie had said she didn’t care if he thought he’d gotten engaged to Tori just to improve his chances of getting custody of his son.“Wake up, Connor.You’re in love with Tori Jones.If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go and tell her so, right now.”Of course, he hadn’t.He wasn’t going back to Tori.He wasn’t ready for any of that.Not ready for love.Or so he kept telling himself.Constantly.Over and over.As if maybe, when he’d said it enough times, he would actually believe it.He would be able to forget her, to get on with his life.Monday was one meeting after another.Tuesday, he gave his presentation on the Thunder Canyon Resort buyout.He shocked the hell out of all them at that meeting.His father looked like he might have a coronary when Connor said, “I want to invest in the resort instead of buying them out.My prospectus is in front of you.When you’ve had time to study my new plan, I think you’ll see that the numbers are solid.We’ll leave the current management team in place, and I project we can see a profit from our investment within the next two years.They need capital.We can give it to them.And then share in the returns.”His father sputtered.“But it won’t be a McFarlane House project.”“No.It will be a McFarlane House investment.I’ll look elsewhere for our next project.As you’ve mentioned more than once, Donovan, the resort doesn’t really fit our brand.But the Thunder Canyon Resort can be profitable again.And that means we will profit, too.”There were hours of arguments, of objections and retrenchments.But Connor refused to back down.In the end, he convinced them all.Even his father couldn’t argue with the numbers Connor had provided.And besides, Donovan had never liked the idea of a sprawling ski resort bearing the McFarlane House name.Connor stayed over that night.He had dinner with his parents again.Donovan was anxious for him to move back home, to get to work on the next acquisition [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]