More to Give by Terri Osburn

both confused and a bit dazed. He was feeling both himself, which was all the more reason to cut and run. “You should probably go out the back door to avoid my mother,” she said.
    “Good idea. I’ll see you Friday morning to discuss the proposal for the inn. If you need anything before then, contact Yvonne and she’ll take care of it.”
    Callie nodded as he crossed the kitchen to the side door. He was stepping over the threshold when her words stopped him.
    “I know I keep saying it, but I really do appreciate this chance, Sam.”
    “You’re welcome,” he said, then felt the urge to clear something up. “I didn’t offer you this job because of our connection. I thought I was hiring a highly qualified stranger before you walked into my office. You got the job because of those qualifications and nothing more.”
    She rewarded him with a half smile before Sam closed the door between them. He considered stepping into the cold surf in search of his sanity but opted instead for a lukewarm shower and a glass of scotch at home.
    Christmas could not come soon enough.

    Callie wasn’t sure how long she remained there in the kitchen, leaning on the counter edge, staring at the checkered floor. What exactly had just happened? One minute she’d been thanking Sam for seeing her true value and giving her the opportunity she needed to create the future she longed for. The next they’d been laughing together and the whole world had fallen away.
    She’d never considered how intimate shared laughter could be, but something had changed. Sam wasn’t the buttoned-up hotelier. She wasn’t his eager-to-prove-herself employee.
    They’d been . . . friends. Friends with a spark of something they’d spent one night six years ago exploring. Callie had wondered a few times if they would have gone further had Sam not disappeared, but she’d convinced herself his leaving had saved them both from an awkward morning-after exchange.
    Or maybe only delayed it. Though they were both dancing around the topic, the awkwardness was there every time they were together. If their professional relationship was going to work, they were going to have to drag the elephant out of the shadows and do something with it.
    But what did one do with a six-year-old invisible elephant carrying the weight of two broken hearts and a lifetime supply of insecurity? Even though that insecurity was all her own.
    “You okay in here?” Henri asked, ducking into the kitchen. “Aunt Evelyn is over her fit and suggested we go out to dinner. I assume she was including the man you came in here with. Where did he go?”
    Callie nodded toward the door where Sam had exited. “He left. He came to give me a message about the hotel renovation.”
    “Is that why you look like you’ve been run over by a bulldozer?” Henri wasn’t the type to avoid the obvious. She was more a face-things-head-on kind of person. “I can see why you fell into bed with him all those years ago.”
    And Henri had a good memory.
    “We fell into bed with each other. It was a rough time for both of us.”
    “After what your shitty spouses did, you both deserved a night of consolation.”
    Callie snorted. “Consolation sex. My therapist used to get pissed when I called it that. She deemed it an ‘understanding through intimacy.’ Didn’t make much sense to me, since I didn’t understand anything about what happened back then, least of all between Sam and me.”
    “How do you feel about him now?” Henri asked, leaning her hip on the edge of the counter. “Are you mad at him for leaving?”
    “My anger was always reserved for Josh, though a good dose of it was toward myself.” Callie turned to swipe a mug from the cupboard behind her. “I ignored what was right in front of me, believing that if I tried hard enough, I could make Josh happy.”
    Henri stepped forward, taking the mug from Callie’s cold fingers. “You and I both know nothing that happened back then was your fault. Josh