Deep Waters

them were true. I did make an incredibly embarrassing scene on the night I was to become engaged to a very nice man named Brett Loftus. Had a panic attack, in fact. Right there in front of half the movers and shakers of Seat tle. I felt terrible. I mean, it wasn't Brett's fault that he was too big and that I didn't... well, never mind."
    "Too big?" Elias's voice was oddly neutral.
    "Yes, you know." Charity waved a hand in a vague gesture. "Too tall. Too large. All over. For me, that is." That wasn't fair, she thought. Her therapist had explained that Brett's size hadn't been the real problem. Unfortunately, her brain had linked her fear of the relationship with his physical stature. The result had become a full-blown phobia.
    "I see." Elias's tone sounded even more strange.
    "Have you ever met him?"
    "No. But I've seen him. I heard him speak once at a luncheon at one of my clients' business clubs."
    "I'm sure that he would be just fine for another woman," she said hastily. "My stepsister, for instance. Lots of women admire, uh, size in a man."
    "I've heard that."
    "But every time poor Brett . . . well, you know. I just couldn't stand it. He was such a gentleman. He attributed my problems to stress. It was really very awkward."
    "Sure. Awkward"
    "But the bottom line was that when it came right down to it, the thought of ... of ..." She felt herself blush furiously and was profoundly grateful for the deepening shadows. "Doing it. On a regular basis, that is. The way one would in marriage ... I mean, a man as big as that, well, it was just too much."
    "I think I get the picture."
    She cleared her throat. "At any rate, the merger I had planned for months did not go through."
    "You stepped down from the helm of Truitt department stores."
    "Yes. With no warning to my stepbrother and stepsister. I just abandoned them. I spent a few weeks getting therapy, realized I could never go back to the business world, and decided to move. I more or less threw a dart at a map of Washington. And here I am."
    "What happened next?"
    "A funny thing." Charity smiled. "I rested. Walked a lot here along the bluffs. Got back into cooking. And then one day I went looking for something to read and realized that Whispering Waters Cove had no bookshop. I went down to the pier and talked it over with Hayden. He rented space to me. Within a couple of months I started to feel reasonably normal again."
    "You know," Elias said thoughtfully, "under your management, Whispers would flourish in a boutique version of Whispering Waters Cove. You have nothing to fear and everything to gain if the town council's plans work out."
    "I'm doing fine as it is. I prefer slow, steady growth. Big leaps are hazardous in business. If you crash, you go down in flames. Besides, my aspirations aren't as high as they used to be. I like small business. I think it's a calling. You get to know your customers person ally. There's something very satisfying about it."
    "But there's no reason to tie the future of your business to that of the other businesses on the pier," Elias insisted. "Why are you doing it? Why form the shopkeepers association? Why do battle with the mayor and the town council?"
    Charity frowned, puzzled by his line of inquiry. "The other shopkeepers are my friends. They welcomed me with open arms when I first came to Whispering Waters Cove. They were generous and supportive, and they've been good neighbors."
    "So in order to pay them back, you've committed yourself to helping them hang on to Crazy Otis Landing?"
    "It was the least I could do. You've met them. None of them are what you'd call sophisticated businesspeople. A big corporation would roll right over them."
    "True," Elias admitted.
    "They all ended up on the pier because there was nowhere else for them to go. They've formed a community. They need each other. I think Hayden under stood that."
    Elias smiled wryly. "Hayden had no interest in going boutique, himself."
    "All I want to do is give the pier shopkeepers a chance to stay where they are as the town begins to pull in more visitors and tourists."
    "Do you think that Yappy and Ted and the rest can learn to compete with a bunch of art galleries?"
    "If necessary." Charity shrugged. "But who knows? Maybe the upscale shops will never materialize."
    "In the meanwhile, you've thrown in your lot with the pier crowd."
    She studied him with a long, considering glance. "So have you. If you're telling me the truth about Far Seas' intentions, that is."
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