Ever Faithful. Carolyne Aarsen

raised her eyebrows with a smile, as if unashamed of her ignorance. “I don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about.”

      “Don’t even start, Amy,” Paul warned. “Stacy can talk about the ’Net until the cows come home, and you and I both know cows never do.”

      “I don’t mind,” Amy replied. “Someday I’d like to get a computer. I’m sure there’s something on the Internet about cattle.”

      “There is,” Stacy said, leaning forward. “You’ll find information on things you can’t even imagine.”

      “And a lot of things you can’t imagine people would want to know,” Paul added.

      Stacy shrugged. “That comes with the freedom of expression inherent in the Web.”

      “I don’t think Amy’s particularly interested in the Internet anyhow. Why don’t you ask her about her cows?” Paul continued. Once Stacy started on her favorite topic, she didn’t easily stop. He knew Amy was only being courteous.

      But neither paid him any attention. Amy asked Stacy another question. Amy was always polite, Paul thought. Always polite and always careful to make people feel good. For a moment he thought she would be put off by Stacy’s abrupt attitude, but Amy acted as if she hadn’t noticed.

      Paul watched as she tilted her head to one side, trying to comprehend, interjecting with quiet questions. She nodded, as if she finally understood and then dropped her head back and laughed at something Stacy said.

      Her hair slipped across her shoulder, her gray eyes sparkled. Paul couldn’t keep his eyes off her. He watched her more than his own girlfriend. In fact, since the party started he had watched her, knowing where she stood and who she talked to and how much time she spent with Tim.

      Not exactly the behavior of a man in love, he thought, criticizing himself wryly as he moved away from the bottom of the stairs and the two women, into the living room and the rest of his family.

      His capriciousness seemed symptomatic of his life the past few years. What he had didn’t satisfy him, so he looked to what he didn’t have. As far as his relationship with Stacy was concerned, he had thought it would last longer than it had. It didn’t help that their work always seemed to come between them and their relationship.

      That’s why he planned this trip home. He liked Stacy and knew he wouldn’t find better. He wanted to make their relationship work. He didn’t feel so empty when he was around her.

      He worked his way through the family room, past the younger cousins who grumbled about homework and jobs. He dodged aunts who bustled about refilling coffee cups as they caught up on calamities and exulted over joys. He poured himself a coffee.

      The house was full to bursting with family, friends and members of the church, and his harried mother was in her element. It had been a few years since Paul had been to a family get-together, and he hadn’t realized until tonight what he’d missed.

      He and Stacy entertained frequently and attended functions put on by their friends. But that’s precisely what they were. Functions. Another tool used by those on the way up, to network, schmooze and gather information. He had enjoyed them, but each year created an increasing restlessness he couldn’t pin down.

      The past months had been especially hectic. He and his partner, Bruce DeVries, had successfully bid on an apartment block in Victoria and two more in Vancouver proper. That meant evenings and weekends taken up with verifying subcontractors’ prices, meetings with engineers, organizing schedules, and all the while keeping the current projects flowing smoothly. It had just about fried him out.

      This holiday had been in the works for a while. Plaintive calls from his mother and quiet requests from his father had been sandwiched between urgent faxes, whirlwind financing, cell phones ringing in his car and pagers going off on job sites.

      Then his partner dropped the bomb. Bruce wanted to quit the business. He gave Paul first option to buy out his share. Paul felt as if he had come to an important point in his career. Buying Bruce out would give him the opportunity to expand the business in a way Bruce never wanted. He knew Henderson Contractors had the experience and reputation that would give them the edge in larger projects. It would mean bigger challenges and bigger returns.

      Paul swirled the coffee in the bottom of his cup, frowning. It would also mean more work, hiring a couple of people to do the work Bruce did, more headaches and more stress.

      He finished his coffee in one gulp and set the empty cup on a side table. Somehow none of these challenges held the allure it once would have. Lately he felt as if he ran harder and got nowhere. Always just out of his grasp was the happiness he kept thinking he would find with the right combination of changes in his life.

      So when the invitation came for Amy’s engagement, he took a chance, scheduled three weeks of holidays so he could think. Maybe in the open fields of his family’s ranch he could find a way to fill the emptiness that grew with each increase in his net worth.

      “So, how’s the family entrepreneur?”

      Paul jumped as his uncle Gordon slung a friendly arm over his nephew’s shoulder, squeezing him. “You make that million you were always talking about?”

      Paul grinned down at a smiling, bearded face, spectacles hanging as crookedly on his uncle’s nose as the oversize sweater did over his narrow shoulders. “It depends if you want to talk to my banker or the tax accountant.”

      “Tax problems mean you’re making money, my boy.”

      “I’ve never been able to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s without a lot of pain.”

      “From the looks of that fancy car parked outside and that equally fancy girlfriend, I’d say you and Caesar are doing pretty good.” Uncle Gordon dropped his arm and pushed uselessly at his glasses. “You two going to get married?”

      “Me and Caesar?”

      “Oh, you’re still pretty fast. I mean you and that girlfriend.”

      Paul stifled another groan. It seemed everyone in his family, from the youngest cousin to his aged grandparents, felt it their right to pry and find out the level of his and Stacy’s relationship. Trouble was, he thought, looking down at his favorite uncle, he didn’t even know that himself.

      “Maybe,” was his noncommittal reply. If he said more, Stacy would find out before he had a chance to talk to her.

      “Well I guess we’ll find out when you send out wedding invitations. I hope we’re going to be invited?”

      “What do you mean?”

      “We don’t see too much of you these days. I’m just making sure you think of us when the time comes.”

      Uncle Gordon’s tone was jovial, but the words hit the guilty spot that his relatives always struck with unerring accuracy. Family could do the guilt thing so well, Paul thought, working up an answering grin for his uncle.

      “I’ve been busy, yes…”

      “Idle hands aren’t good, either, but just don’t forget about us while you’re wheeling and dealing.” His uncle clapped him on the back. “You met Amy’s guy yet?”

      Paul shook his head. Throughout the evening, people pointed out Tim with a nudge and a smile, as if Paul should feel slighted. They hadn’t officially met, however. “I’ve heard a lot about him,” he said instead.

      “Tim’s just the man for Amy. If anyone can help her turn that ranch around, he can.” Uncle Gordon squinted up at Paul and, though his expression was kind, Paul could sense the slight note of censure in his voice. “He’s given her some good ideas and helped her out some.”

      “Amy is a wonderful girl, Uncle Gordon,” Paul conceded, not needing anyone else pointing out her good points. “I’m glad that she’s found someone good enough for her.”

      “I’ve always liked