Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
NASH
I didn’t believe in luck. Could’ve been my childhood or my upbringing or any number of things that’d happened to me over the years, but when it came down to it, I believed in hard work and determination over everything else.
But I couldn’t discount how things seemed to be falling into place over the past two weeks on the business side of things. Days after my dad had practically handed over King Construction to me on a silver platter, I’d received a call from a writer for a national magazine. They wanted to do an interview regarding the work Rory and I had done in Havenbrook.
I’d been working so hard— we’d been working so hard—and things were finally happening. Somewhere along the way, I had stopped looking at it as mine and had started looking at it as ours.
And Rory wasn’t even by my side for this milestone.
My texts and calls to her went unanswered, and it was pissing me off. I’d promised to give her space on the relationship front, but this was for the business— our business—and she was nowhere to be found.
“I think I got everything I need, Nash. Thanks so much for taking the time to meet with me.” Lucy, the interviewer, packed her things into her bag. “I’m so excited about this series. I’ve been pitching something like this to my editor for months, but we just hadn’t found the right town to spotlight yet. Once Rory sent over those pictures of your projects and I started digging more, I knew Havenbrook was our town.”
I cocked my head to the side, my eyes narrowing. “Did you say Rory sent you the pictures?”
She laughed. “Yep, kicked off this whole thing with her email. Never knew so much tenacity could reside in such a small package. Didn’t matter that she only knew me through my sister, she wouldn’t take no for an answer.” She closed the flap of her messenger bag. “But I’m glad she reached out. It was at the perfect time since I’ve been angling for something like this for a while.”
“Yeah,” I managed while my brain churned over the new information. Rory had set this up? Rory had contacted the magazine to get this spread for me—for us —and she wasn’t even here for it? None of it made sense.
“I’ll be sure to send a few copies of the magazine once it’s printed.” Lucy stood and offered her hand to me. “Thanks again for your time.”
I stared down at the tabletop after she’d left, my brain cranking a mile a minute. The more I thought about it, the more pissed I got. I understood Rory wasn’t ready for a relationship with me, and I was finding a way to deal with that. I hadn’t pushed once.
Hell, even if I’d wanted to, I wouldn’t have been able because she’d been avoiding me. She wasn’t at job sites when I was, and all her instructions over the past few days had come in the form of texts or notes at the location.
I’d worried more than once that it was her way of slowly extricating herself from our partnership. But if that was the case, why reach out for this interview?
I had no fucking idea, and the more I thought on it, the more none of it made any sense. I’d promised to give her space, but I wasn’t going to get any answers just sitting here.
“I’m gonna have to take a rain check on today, Drew,” I called as I strode to the front door.
We’d had plans to hang out later, but this confrontation with Rory couldn’t wait. I needed to know what the hell was going on, and I needed to know now.
“What? No, c’mon, man. It’s?—”
I waved him off. “Not gonna happen. We’ll do it next week. I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Wait, Nash?—”
With single-minded determination, I pushed through the front door and headed straight for my truck. I knew any calls or texts to Rory would go unanswered, just as they had every other time for the past few days. Which meant it was time to confront her. We were going to figure out a way to work through this, whether or not Rory wanted to talk.
I knocked on Rory’s front door again and glanced around. Her car was out front, a golf cart parked next to it. She was definitely home. Home and blatantly ignoring my knocks, which pissed me the hell off. As if it weren’t bad enough that she apparently couldn’t be in the same place with me in public, now she couldn’t even speak to me? How were we going to run a business like that?
“Momma, can you take a look at this, please?” Rory yelled.
My head jerked toward the sound of her voice, and I jogged down the porch steps and around the side of the house. The farther I went, the louder voices grew—two of them, from the sounds of it, arguing about something.
When the backyard came into view, I stopped short. A large canopy tent stood in the back corner of the yard, half a dozen picnic tables settled beneath it that Caroline and Will, along with Ava and Ella, were covering in tablecloths. Large-bulbed string lights zigzagged through the arching tree branches. And only ten yards from where I stood, Rory and Mac were perched on stepladders, their backs to me as they argued over whether or not the banner they were hanging was straight.
A banner that read, CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR SUCCESS, KING CONSTRUCTION!
For long moments, I was frozen in place, my mind whirring. She hadn’t bailed on me, hadn’t been avoiding. She’d been trying to surprise me. She’d contacted the magazine, had arranged for the interview, and now, apparently, had planned some kind of party in celebration. For me.
I strolled in her direction and didn’t stop until I stood directly behind her, ready to catch her if she fell. “I thought we talked about you standing on ladders.”
Rory squeaked and spun around, hand to her chest. “Nash! What—” She glanced over my head, wild eyes darting around the yard. “What’re you doin’ here? Where’s Drew? I told him five , not two!”
I gripped the ladder on either side of her hips, brow furrowed. “What does Drew have to do with anything?”
“He’s…” She glanced around again. When she seemed to realize Drew wasn’t there, she yanked the banner out of Mac’s hands, ignoring her sister’s protests, and shoved it behind her back. “What’re you doin’ here?”
I raised my eyebrows and pointedly glanced around the yard, lifting a hand in a wave at Caroline, Will, and the girls, who were all staring at me. “I think the better question is what are you doin’ here?”
“Let’s, um—” With a hand on my shoulder, she pushed me back so she could climb down the ladder. Once on the ground, she kicked the banner behind her and shot a pointed look to Mac. “Let’s go around front and chat. It’s such a mess back here.”
I nearly grinned at her avoidance, but I played along, strolling behind her as she tugged me toward the front yard with a hand gripping my wrist. “Looks like you’re throwin’ a party. What’s it for?”
She glanced back at me. “What? Oh, no. I’m not— That’s not—” She shook her head and waved a dismissive hand. “Just a little get-together for family. It’s nothing.”
“Didn’t look like nothing. Looked like a pretty big deal. A genuine Rory Haven party. Something you might throw for your grandmother’s eightieth birthday, or for a graduation, or maybe even after a small, family-owned business got a spread in a national magazine…”
She stopped short, and I nearly stumbled over her, stilling myself with a hand on her waist.
“What makes you say that?” she asked, her voice strained.
I knew I shouldn’t, knew it wasn’t my place to touch her anymore, but I couldn’t stop my thumb from stroking the sliver of skin peeking out between her pants and long-sleeved shirt. Fuck, I’d missed the feel of her under my hands. Missed the feel of her under me, period. “I saw the banner, princess. You gonna tell me what this is all about?”
“ Dammit !” Her entire body deflated before she snapped upright again, fire in her eyes. “I’m gonna kill Drew! He had one job— one !” She paced away from me, her arms gesturing wildly. “Just get you here at the right time so I could do this in front of everyone because you deserve that. You deserve it after everything I put you through—put us through. This was the chance to show everyone how much I love you, and now it’s ruined because you’re here three hours early! This wasn’t how this was supposed to?—”
She continued ranting, but I stopped listening. My mind was stuck on the three little words she’d said that kept repeating over and over in my head.
When she paced closer to me, I stilled her with my hands on her shoulders and turned her to face me. I brushed my thumbs across her collarbone and bent at the knees to meet her eyes. “Hang on. Rewind for me a minute. I’m gonna need you to say that again.”
“Which part? How I’m gonna kill Drew? Don’t worry, you can plead ignorance. Will’ll watch the girls for me, and Mac’ll help me bury the body.”
I breathed out a laugh and shook my head, tightening my fingers on her shoulders, fighting the overwhelming urge I had to pull her into my chest and just…hold her. Remind myself what all her curves felt like against every inch of me. Reacquaint my senses with the feel of her…the scent of her…the warmth of her.
“I was thinkin’ more about when you said you love me.”
“When I—” Her eyes went wide before she dropped her forehead to my chest and groaned, her hands fisted in my shirt. “ Nooo ! Can’t even do that right. I just drop it in the middle of threatenin’ to kill one of your friends. What is wrong with me?”
Unable to keep myself from holding her for another second, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her close, finally inhaling my first full breath in what seemed like forever.
Tucking my head until my nose was in the crook of her neck, I asked, “Was this party really just an elaborate event for you to tell me you love me?”
“I wasn’t just telling you ,” she said into my chest. “My parents, too. Your dad. Everyone I work with at town hall. All our clients. Edna, of course. I figured she’d spread it the quickest. And if it happened to make it back to that bitch Carol Ann before tomorrow morning, all the better.”
I exhaled a laugh into her neck. “Seems like a whole lot of work for something you could’ve told me yesterday at the Taylors’ house and put me out of my misery sooner. I wouldn’t have minded something simple like, ‘Hey, Nash, we’ve decided to go with four-inch baseboards, and oh, by the way, I love you.’”
Rory pulled back enough to look up at me, her eyes serious as she rested her hand over my pounding heart. “But then only you’d know, and I didn’t want it to be a secret anymore. I just…I was tired of hidin’, and I wanted everyone to know.” She shrugged. “This seemed like the perfect way.”
“What’ve I told you about that? I don’t want perfect. Never have.”
She raised her eyebrows. “But perfect would’ve gotten you here at the correct time with everyone around to bear witness to my declaration.”
“But real got me you cussin’ and plottin’ homicide while tellin’ me you love me all alone.”
The corner of her mouth lifted. “Technically, I haven’t told you yet.”
I tipped my head down in acknowledgment and tugged her against me until our noses were nearly touching. “I stand corrected. You gonna change that?”
She studied me, a tiny bit of apprehension shining in her eyes. Her fingers danced along the collar of my shirt, and her gaze followed the movement. “If I were to say that—hypothetically speakin’, of course—what would your response be?”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Hypothetically?”
She nodded and glanced up at me. “Yeah.”
“Well, hypothetically, I’d probably tell you something along the lines of me wantin’ you my entire adult life and how I don’t see that changin’ anytime soon, so you’re stuck with me. Or I might play it cool and just reciprocate.”
A slow smile swept across her lips, and happiness danced in her eyes. “Either one works, I guess.”
I finally did what I’d been aching to for so long. I cupped her face and brought my lips to hers, inhaling her moan when I swept my tongue into her mouth. She tasted like coffee and chocolate and…home.
Pulling back, I pressed kisses to her cheeks, her eyelids, her forehead—everywhere I could reach. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”
“Don’t care how long it took, just that you made it.” I tipped her head up until she met my eyes. “We’re gonna make a whole lot of mistakes, princess. We butt heads and we argue—there’s no denyin’ we crackle, for better or worse, when we’re together. But I’m tellin’ you now, I’m not goin’ anywhere. We can be pissed at each other all damn day, but I won’t end a single one without tellin’ you I love you.”
She sighed and melted into me, her eyes broadcasting her feelings without her saying a word, before she suddenly jerked back. “ Hey! You stole my thunder. I went to all this effort—” she gestured toward the backyard “—just to tell you, and you said it first.”
I shrugged. “You snooze, you lose. Next time, don’t take so damn long.”
She pinched me, laughing, and I captured the sound between my lips.