Chapter 5 - EMMA'S TEST
Z
Nathan avoided Catherine for nine days.
He told himself it was work.
The staircase repair became a larger restoration project after the hotel engineers discovered additional problems.
Nathan spent long hours preparing estimates.
He had cabinets waiting for installation in Hyde Park.
A Victorian home needed window frames repaired.
Emma had school.
Life was busy.
But none of those things explained why he waited until Catherine left the hotel before arriving each morning.
Emma finally confronted him Wednesday night.
“You’re being weird.”
Nathan stirred pasta sauce.
“That is not a measurable condition.”
“You stopped talking about Ms. Bennett.”
“I barely talked about her.”
“You said her name eleven times last week.”
Nathan turned.
“You counted?”
“No. That was a guess.”
“You are deeply manipulative.”
“Thank you.”
Emma sat at the kitchen island.
“Did she do something?”
“No.”
“Did you?”
Nathan sighed.
“Emma.”
Her expression changed.
The teasing vanished.
She had Laura's eyes when she became serious.
“Dad, you’re allowed to like somebody.”
His chest tightened.
“This isn’t a conversation you should have to manage.”
“I’m not managing you.”
“You kind of are.”
“Because you’re bad at it.”
Nathan turned off the burner.
Emma looked down at her hands.
“I remember Mom.”
“I know.”
“I remember enough.”
He stopped.
Emma rarely spoke directly about Laura.
“I remember her singing badly in the car. I remember she hated grape medicine. I remember she made pancakes shaped like animals and none of them looked like animals.”
Nathan smiled painfully.
“The giraffe was especially disturbing.”
Emma smiled too.
Then her eyes filled.
“But sometimes I’m scared if we’re happy without her, it means we’re leaving her behind.”
Nathan crossed the kitchen in two steps.
He sat beside her.
“Oh, Em.”
“I know that’s stupid.”
“No.”
He wrapped an arm around her.
“It’s exactly what I’m scared of too.”
Emma leaned against him.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then she whispered, “Maybe Mom didn’t fight that hard for us to stay sad.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
That sentence broke something open.
Not completely.
But enough.
Two days later, Catherine received a text.
Nathan: Emma wants to meet the terrifying hotel woman.
She stared at it for thirty seconds.
Then replied.
Catherine: Should I bring references?
Nathan: She accepts snacks.
Catherine: Ruthless negotiator.
Saturday afternoon, Catherine drove to Cole Woodworks herself.
No driver.
No Marco.
She almost turned around three times.
The workshop stood behind Nathan's house, a large brick building with tall windows and a weathered sign painted by hand.
COLE WOODWORKS - EST. 1987.
Nathan met her outside.
Jeans.
Work boots.
Gray sweatshirt.
Somehow Catherine found him more intimidating like this than in a suit.
“You came.”
“You invited me.”
“Emma invited you.”
“Important distinction.”
The shop smelled like cedar, machine oil, and coffee.
Half-finished cabinets lined one wall.
Long boards rested overhead.
Hand tools hung in precise rows.
“This is beautiful,” Catherine whispered.
Nathan looked around.
“Dad built most of it.”
“You grew up here?”
“Pretty much.”
A voice called from behind a workbench.
“Is that her?”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Emma appeared wearing safety glasses pushed onto her head.
Catherine smiled.
“You must be Emma.”
“You don't look terrifying.”
“Emma.”
“What? That's good.”
Catherine laughed.
“I appreciate the review.”
Emma walked around her carefully.
“Your shoes are expensive.”
Nathan covered his face.
Catherine glanced down.
“I got them on sale.”
“How much?”
“Emma.”
“What?”
Catherine answered.
“Four hundred.”
Emma's eyes widened.
“On sale?”
“Very good sale.”
Nathan groaned.
“Please stop discussing footwear.”
Emma led Catherine around the shop.
Within fifteen minutes, they were discussing astronomy.
Within thirty, Catherine was helping Emma build a wooden model shelf for her telescope accessories.
Nathan stood across the room pretending to organize clamps.
He watched Catherine struggle with a tape measure.
Emma corrected her.
Catherine accepted the correction with mock offense.
Then Emma laughed.
Not the polite laugh she used with adults.
The real one.
Nathan's throat tightened.
Laura would have loved this woman.
The thought came so suddenly he had to turn away.
A few minutes later Catherine joined him.
“You okay?”
“Fine.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“I know.”
She waited.
Nathan looked at Emma.
“I thought introducing you to her would feel wrong.”
Catherine's face fell slightly.
“But?”
“It doesn’t.”
Catherine looked at him.
Nathan continued.
“That scares me more.”
Her voice softened.
“I’m scared too.”
“Of what?”
She glanced at Emma.
“Wanting something I can’t control.”
Nathan understood.
His fingers brushed hers.
Neither moved away.
Emma shouted from the other side of the workshop.
“If you two are going to kiss, please don’t do it next to the glue station.”
Nathan jerked away.
Catherine burst out laughing.
“Emma!”
“I’m busy!”
Nathan turned crimson.
Catherine was still laughing when his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Nathan Cole?”
“Yes.”
“This is Franklin Commercial Lending regarding the credit line for Cole Woodworks.”
Nathan's expression changed.
“My credit line?”
“We’re calling to notify you that your renewal application has been placed under additional review.”
“What additional review?”
Catherine saw the tension in his jaw.
The caller continued.
“Questions were raised regarding your company's outstanding exposure.”
Nathan frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
His accounts were solid.
Not wealthy.
But solid.
“Who raised questions?”
“I’m not authorized to disclose that.”
The call ended.
Nathan stared at the phone.
Catherine's stomach tightened.
“Problem?”
“Maybe nothing.”
“What happened?”
He explained.
Catherine immediately thought of Richard.
She hated that she did.
More than that, she hated that the suspicion made sense.
“I need to make a call.”
Nathan looked at her.
“To who?”
“My uncle.”
His expression hardened.
“No.”
“Nathan—”
“No.”
“If Richard interfered—”
“I don’t need you fixing my business.”
“I didn't say—”
“That’s exactly what you’re about to do.”
Catherine stiffened.
Nathan instantly regretted his tone.
But pride and fear had already mixed.
“I’ve built this company for eighteen years.”
“I know.”
“I won’t become some project you rescue.”
“You think that’s what you are to me?”
“No.”
His answer came too quickly.
Catherine stepped backward.
Emma had gone silent across the workshop.
Catherine picked up her coat.
“I should leave.”
“Catherine.”
“No.”
Her eyes shone.
“I spent my entire life around men who assumed money was the only language I understood. I thought you were different.”
“I am.”
“Then stop treating everything I offer you like it comes with a price.”
She walked toward the door.
Nathan followed.
“Catherine.”
She turned.
“I wasn’t trying to buy your dignity.”
He had no answer.
Catherine left.
Nathan stood in the cold parking area long after her car disappeared.
Behind him, Emma spoke quietly.
“That was bad.”
Nathan rubbed both hands over his face.
“Yes.”
“You hurt her.”
“I know.”
Emma came beside him.
“Are you going to fix it?”
Nathan stared toward the empty road.
“I don’t know if I can.”
Emma shook her head.
“You fix hundred-year-old staircases.”
She walked inside.
Nathan looked toward the workshop.
Then at the road.
May you like
For the first time in years, he realized repairing wood was easy.
Wood did not walk away after you broke it.
