Echoes of Summer Read Online Free PDF Page B

the ocean when he’d gone out boating to come to terms with his mother’s diagnosis and hadn’t had Bea’s cell phone number anywhere else. Her parents wouldn’t answer the house phone when he’d tried calling either. But Bea had never tried calling or finding him, making him think their time together had meant nothing to her.
    He should have never let her parents run him off, and if he hadn’t gotten distracted with his mother’s illness, he would have contacted her sooner. By the time he’d been ready to track her down, he’d figured she would have already been off to college dating someone. He’d looked for her on all the social media sites, but Bea Perry didn’t exist. And no wonder, if she’d changed her name to Madison.
    She must have thought he was a complete jerk, or just a horny guy after a summer fling. But now that he’d run into Bea again and was working with her for a few months, he was going to have to make things right.
    He thought back over the last twenty-four hours and understood a little bit of her hesitance. She’d remembered him. That had to be a good thing, right? He’d meant enough to her that she hadn’t just dismissed him completely when they’d lost touch.
    And seeing the type of woman she was today, blended with the memories surfacing from that summer, he really wanted to see where things could go.
    But how could he go about it? He was sure he was in the hole after having not recognized her at first. That would be hard to come back from. And by working together, he’d have to go slow so she didn’t get skittish or think he was harassing her. He’d have to check the company policy with HR to make sure it was okay to date.
    He hoped so. He very much wanted to rekindle what they once had.
     
    ***
     
    Madison flipped through the potential client list, not even registering the names. Her mind was on Stephen and the look of complete surprise when he realized who she was. She wasn’t sure if he had been impressed or horrified. This would make for a very uncomfortable couple of months.
    He was good here. She admitted that. And with his talents and her familiarity with the company, they could really do some good things for Carlson Ad Agency. Besides, she was a professional. She could keep things on the business level. It was never a good idea to date a colleague. And she really didn’t want to bring Milo in to the mix. Staying away from Stephen was the best thing she could do.
    As she thought of him again, she sighed. If she were truthful, she kind of did want to see where things would lead. But she’d worked too hard in the company to let something temporary like Stephen get in the way.
    She really didn’t know the man. So much could have changed over the last eight years. Though, when they’d been together that summer, he had seemed kind and reliable, nothing like her parents had accused him of being. Yet the moment he left, she’d obviously no longer been important to him.
    Madison focused her attention on the potential clients only to be distracted again when Stephen knocked on her door. He held his laptop up. “Do you have time to go over the list?”
    “That’s what I’m doing now. Have a seat.”
    Stephen entered the room, grabbed the chair he’d used yesterday, and brought it around to her side where he’d sat as they’d worked. He didn’t bring it too close, for which Madison was thankful, but it was still disconcerting to have him near.
    Instead of opening his laptop, he set it on her desk and looked at the open file on hers. “I’ve heard of a few of these companies. Some I’ve had contact with, and it should be easy enough to bring them to Carlson.”
    “That’s good,” Madison said. “I know Robert made some initial inquiries to these companies, and a lot of them showed some interest in hearing what we could do. I’ll follow up with them.” She sighed at the workload ahead of her. She still had to take care of the client accounts since Robert wasn’t