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“What do you mean, it was part of the plan. What was the whole plan?”
“Kevin was thinking about retiring. He wanted to pass the show and the company on to you and Jason. But before he could do that, we needed to know you could be in the same room with each other without wanting to kill the other.”
“So, you set up this hunt for us to do?”
“The idea was to have you two go solo. Jason would do the filming and setting up and we would see how you did on your own. Kevin was going to pretend to have a back injury and not be able to do it.”
“He had been mentioning his back had been bothering him a few weeks before died, was that part of the setup?”
“A bit. His back always bothered him, but it was what we were going to use as the excuse to get you two to go on the trip.”
“But then Kevin died and you still needed us to get along so you moved it up a few months?” I asked.
“Yes. The hope was you two would see that you’re more alike than not and that you would find a way to at the very least work together. Maybe find a way to form a friendship, and if it turned into anything more, well,” my mother said but didn’t finish.
“More? What do you mean by more?”
“Come on. There’s a fine line between love and hate. You and Jason walked it every time you were together. It was obvious that there was something there between you two. Kevin and I thought you two needed a little push to see if it was there. I guess we were wrong.”
“You sent us on the trip hoping we would hook up? What kind of parents are you?” I asked.
It was so ridiculous I couldn’t even comprehend what my mother was telling me. It also made me rethink me and Jason. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that. One of the reasons I never thought we would work out was that my mother wouldn’t approve, that people would think we were crazy. But if my mother and Kevin had practically set us up, it felt different somehow.
“Ones who cared about you two. One who wanted to see you happy and thought you two could do that for each other. You seem upset, dear. Did something happen between you and Jason? Something more?”
“It doesn’t matter if it did, we’re too different and would never work out.”
“You figured out all the clues on the hunt didn’t you? You had to find a way to work while you were doing that. How did it go?”
I didn’t answer her right away and I thought about it. At first, Jason had annoyed the crap out of me. I couldn’t wait to be away from him but then things changed, we changed. We had found a way to work together and I enjoyed working with him more than I had anyone else. It certainly had turned into something more.
My mom came up and ran her hands over my arms. “Sometimes you need that person who isn’t like you to show you exactly the type of person you are. I think you and Jason can do that for each other. Did you run away from him because you didn’t like working and being with him or because you liked it too much?”
“I left him because we wouldn’t work. I want different things that he wants. I need to travel and see the world, it’s what I want to do and plan on doing. He needs to stay at home and be in one place. He would never want to come with me.”
“Did you ask him?”
“Well, no. I know him, I know what he likes, what he doesn’t, what he wants.”
“Do you? Do you ever think that he stayed as the producer and close to home because that was what was required of him, not because that was what he wanted to do?”
“No. I, I just assumed.”
“Well then, before you go off and make a rash decision about your life and a man I think might be perfect for you, why don’t you talk to him? See what he wants and what he thinks. You might be surprised by his answers.
Chapter 24
Jason
I stood and stared at the poster board in front of me. It had maps and pictures of various places all around the United States. There were lines and arrows pointing in every direction to the different spots on the map. I had written notes to myself next to each one. The plan to win Natalie back was coming together, slowly, but it would happen.
It had been hard to let her go, to watch her get into the cab and leave me standing there worried that I was never going to see her again. I had wandered around the sanctuary trying to figure out what had gone wrong and how I would get her back when I had someone come up to me and hand me what turned out to be the last clue from my father.
I had immediately opened it and after I read it, I knew without a doubt that I had to win Natalie back. I would win Natalie back if it was the last thing I did. Reading the last words that my father had written to us showed me everything that I had been thinking was right. Natalie and I belonged together. I just needed to prove it to her.
“You’re still at it? I would have thought a week without hearing from the woman would have given you the hint that she isn’t interested,” Craig, my assistant, said as he stood behind me.
“Still? I’ve hardly started. I still have to figure out how it’s all going to work out. Besides the fact how I’m going to get her to start this hunt. She won’t talk to me, I’m not sure how I can get her to do this.”
