Valerie hoped this wasn’t another lead-in to having her parents up at the cottage. Also, how did they miss Tracey again?
“All of this modern life takes us away from our roots, but I’m the kind of person who was raised to truly appreciate the natural environment,” Penny continued. “This is the well-deserved reward for all my hard work.”
Alice paused as she passed by. “You can’t be serious, Penny. Others work hard too. Do you know how lucky you are to afford this?”
“It’s not luck, it’s effort.” Penny leaned back in the chair. “Also, it’s not about money.”
“I would say it is very much about money.”
“What really makes us rich is that we love each other. That we’refamily. We’re Badgertons.” She glanced over at Valerie, then Alice. “Most of us.”
Alice looked like she wanted to argue further but shrugged and moved on.
“I never understood what Peter saw in her. Now, Valerie.” Penny fixedher with a serious gaze. “Roger has talked to me about that little document I want you to sign again. He’s being ridiculous, but I know you’d want to do the right thing. I’ve brought it with me and I’m not leaving without a signature.” She gave a gentle laugh. “I can be very persuasive.”
It sounded like she had the punishment room already prepared. Valerie stared at the sheets Penny held out with a pen as Nico looked up from where he’d been rapidly typing on his phone.
“Valerie!” called Roger, suddenly appearing on the upper deck. “Can you come here for a sec?”
Reprieve. Valerie jumped up and made an apologetic face to Penny, whose lips had disappeared in anger. “Coming!”
“Nico sent me an SOS,” said Roger when she arrived. “What’s going on?”
“She still wants me to sign that waiver document for the will.” Valerie glanced down to see Penny on the phone and looking in her direction. She tried not to duck.
He shook his head in disbelief. “This isn’t like her at all. I’ll talk to her one more time and make it crystal clear you’re not signing a thing.”
They chatted to make it look good for a few minutes. Then Roger went back to work and Valerie turned to Nico, who had followed her up. “Is that not like her, though?” she whispered. “How much does Roger really know his sister?”
“As opposed to how much is based on a perception of her created from common memories and nostalgia?”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I have a bad feeling he’s going to have to come to grips with that before the end of the summer.”
“Poor Roger.”
Nico nodded as Valerie peeked out to see if it was safe to leave, only to find Fernie crouched with a leg outstretched.
What was shedoing?
* * *
It wasn’t until they were on the dock later in the afternoon, that Nico realized he might be in a bit of a bind. Valerie was gazing at the water like an ancient mariner contemplating the endless sea, and he wanted to kiss her. He’d spent most of last night and today kissing her, but that didn’t matter. It was in the small moments, like now, when she was perfectly herself, that he found her almost unbearably captivating.
The problem was, should they tell Roger? Technically they were employees. Was this a workplace relationship they needed to disclose?
Valerie turned around. “Would you rather face down the kraken or Ogopogo? I vote Ogopogo because with a lake battle you’d have some chance of getting to shore. There’s no help in the middle of the ocean.” She stopped and peered at him. “What’s wrong?”
“How do you know anything is wrong?”
“According to my therapist, I constantly monitor my environment for potential disturbances and threats.”
“Like a permanent SWOT analysis.”
“With heavy emphasis on theWandTover theSandO, so can you tell me what’s wrong? Don’t saynothingbecause I can tell.”
He hastened to reassure her. “I was thinking of whether we need to tell Roger.”
