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He hated the Christmas season, because there were so many company functions that he was expected to go to, and he was always expected to have a date.
Maisie wasn’t any more interested in him than he was in her, but their arrangement suited each of them, and it had worked out well.
Until now.
“I’m sorry to hear she has malaria,” he said, trying to infuse sympathy in his voice. He really did feel bad for Maisie and her sister. Malaria was serious, and people did die from it, although he didn’t know anyone personally. But he selfishly wished that she could have gotten malaria after this weekend’s charity gala, so he wouldn’t have to scramble to try to find a date or go solo.
He could hardly ask Maisie to delay her flight. Of course she wanted to rush to her sister’s side.
“Thanks for letting me know,” he said, trying not to sound glum and depressed. He could show up without a date. He supposed people had, although it usually didn’t happen. It was the kind of place where it was nice to have someone at his side, and he would stick out like a sore thumb if he didn’t.
If he didn’t sit on the board of directors for that particular charity, he would weasel his way out of it. But he could hardly do that. He was in charge of the silent auction for the evening, and he had assumed his date was going to be helping him. Maisie always did.
The charity benefited a local Chicago dog shelter, and it was very popular. It was always a point of pride with his company on how much money was raised. That was why he handled the auction himself.
“I can hit up a couple of my friends and see if any of them would be able to go with you. But I can’t do it right now. I’m actually on hold with the airline. They’re trying to get me bumped up to an earlier flight. I need to go.”
“Sure. Thanks.”
She murmured something else, and then he swiped his phone off.
He didn’t know what he was going to do, but he did know that he wasn’t going to be able to fix the problem right now. Maybe one of her friends would come through for her. And maybe he could figure something out. But in the meantime, these people had planned this party partly because of the hotel he and his partner, Noah, had built. And while he had to respond to a few urgent inquiries earlier, he wanted to do his best to mingle with the people in town, show his appreciation, and enjoy it. So far, the hotel was a smashing success, and he was grateful to Strawberry Sands for all their wonderful support.
Franklin looked around, trying to find the woman who had come over and been speaking gibberish to him. He’d been grateful for the call, because he had no idea of how to handle that.
It wasn’t that he was suave and sophisticated. Far from it. And he’d grown up in Strawberry Sands, so he wasn’t exactly a big-city guy, although he enjoyed living in Chicago. It was just...he was much happier with his head buried in numbers, talking business, strategy, sales projections, and that type of thing. He would rather talk about inflation or taxes than have some woman, who was quite pretty, standing in front of him leaving him speechless.
He looked around again and saw her standing over beside the punch table, guzzling a drink.
He actually kind of liked her a little. But he didn’t feel that it was right for him to come into Strawberry Sands and start dating the local girls. Especially when he had no intention of leaving Chicago permanently. And from his experience, most of the time girls who lived in small towns didn’t want to go to the big city to raise a family.
Although he had bought ground in the area and had gotten all the approvals and paperwork done that he needed in order to start building, he hadn’t yet broken ground.
Maybe that was because he hadn’t yet decided whether or not he actually wanted to move to Strawberry Sands.
Noah had fallen in love, and that had made his decision easy.
But for Franklin, he missed the excitement of the big city. The noise, the convenience, and the feeling that he was never alone.
Sometimes Strawberry Sands could feel lonely.
Maybe that was just because of the fact that when he was here, he was more aware than at any other time that he was over thirty and didn’t have any family around him at all. He was practically married to his business.
And he knew that wasn’t healthy.
Except, he loved what he did. Loved the challenge and the excitement and the rush of success. He even loved when things weren’t going well, loved trying to see what he could do to fix everything and turn it all around.
Of course, he hadn’t had to do that for a long time, since their businesses had been going well.
The hotel that Noah and he had built in Strawberry Sands was open and thriving. Even in the winter, which they hadn’t expected.
But Strawberry Sands had thrown in behind them. Case in point, tonight. The first annual Strawberry Sands Christmas barn dance.
The people of Strawberry Sands had spent months planning it and had advertised everywhere.
They couldn’t have had a better turnout. And it seemed like people were having fun.
Everyone but him, who had been accosted by someone who had either had too much alcohol before she arrived or had some kind of issue he wasn’t able to help her fix.
