Chapter 5 #2
“I can’t say. Please, Jade, help me out. I promise this will be the last time. I can get a flight to Atlanta right now.”
“I’m not in Atlanta.” She paused, conflicted. If she told him where she was, that would open a door she’d already closed. But the urgency in his voice had her worried. “I’m in Arkansas,” she said, wincing.
“Really? How long have you been here?”
“Not long. Logan, what’s all this about?”
“I’ll tell you when I see you. Are you in Little Rock?”
“Clementine.”
“Never heard of it, but I’ll be there in the morning. Where are you staying?”
If she saw him, she could assess his condition. He didn’t sound under the influence, but that didn’t mean anything. “The Clementine Inn. But I’m not paying for your room,” she added. At least she could keep that boundary up.
“I don’t expect you to.” His voice lowered again. “Thanks, sis. I promise you won’t regret this.” He hung up.
Sis. Despite her worry and frustration with herself that she was so easily cajoled, the word stirred warmth inside her. That didn’t mean he wasn’t trying to get something out of her, however. She stared at her Razr. “I already do.”
* * *
Seb drummed his fingers on top of the Harrington Media folder.
Jade’s skin was fair, almost porcelain, but when she saw her phone screen, she went pale.
And as she talked on the phone outside his office, he saw her pacing back and forth behind the frosted glass on his door.
He doubted she even knew what she was doing. The conversation was clearly tense.
His fingers had stilled, and when he glanced down, he was surprised to see his hand clenched. He relaxed, then rubbed both palms down his thighs. Jade wasn’t his concern, so whatever was going on wasn’t his business. However, her company wanting to buy The Times was.
He shook his head, his back teeth grinding.
After all these years, Jade Smith had come back into his life, and she was intent on taking his business from him.
Un. Believable. What made it worse was that after the last time Harrington left a message on his voicemail, Seb made a rare venture onto the internet, found the company, and discovered they were buying small newspapers left and right.
They were destroying the community newspaper trade one acquisition at a time.
He found it hard to believe that Jade was okay with this.
Then again, maybe she was just fine reducing Seb’s hard work and Buford’s legacy to a number on a spreadsheet and an afterthought in a bloated conglomerate.
She was an accountant, or she used to be.
Apparently she was in acquisitions and mergers now.
Even more concerning, annoying, and irritating was that, despite her wanting The Times , despite knowing that she never felt as deeply for him as he did her, and despite the possibility that she belonged to someone else, he couldn’t stop looking at her.
He really, really liked what he saw, especially when she turned around and left his office to take her phone call.
Jade came back in, her expression shuttered as if she’d just ordered takeout instead of having an intense conversation, and sat back down. “Sorry about that.” She kept her phone in her lap. “Did you look at the offer?”
There was no point in talking about the offer since he wasn’t going to sell. But he could get a few questions answered. “Why are you here?” he asked.
She frowned. “I told you, I’m a representative from—”
“But why you in particular? Are you still an accountant?”
“Yes.” She shifted in her chair. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“Companies don’t usually send accountants to discuss buyouts, do they?”
“No,” she said quietly, glancing at her lap.
“Then why... Oh, I get it.” He shook his head. “You thought you could use our past to convince me to sell.”
Her head popped up. “No! I would never do that.”
He sat back, the wheels of his antique chair squeaking.
“Is that your old chair? You never got it oiled?”
Her question stopped his interrogation. “It is. And, no. Kept meaning to. But”—he shrugged—“life—”
“—gets in the way.”
“Yeah.” He met her gaze, mesmerized by her pretty green eyes.
That was why her mother named her Jade, she’d told him.
When she was born, her eyes had a slight green tint to them.
That was the one and only time she mentioned her family.
He figured he would meet them eventually. .. but that never happened.
She didn’t look away. Neither did he.
“Jade,” he said, surprised at his gentle tone when a minute ago he was angry at her. But he couldn’t ignore the sudden stirring inside him, a feeling that knocked him back to the past. To the good times, not the bad. When they—
The door flew open, and Evelyn Margot barged in. “Guess what! I—” She stopped. Looked at Seb, then at Jade, who had swiveled around in her seat, then at Seb again. Her eyebrows slowly lifted. “I didn’t realize you had a meeting.”
His sister’s entrance diffused whatever was going on inside him, bringing him back to reality. “It’s over,” he said, picking up the folder and handing it back to Jade.
Her expression turned to shock, then exasperation. “Keep it,” she said, grabbing her briefcase and rising to her feet. “We can discuss this later.”
“No we—”
She breezed past Evelyn and left the office.
“Won’t.”
Evelyn slid over to his desk. “Who was that ?”
“No one.” He set the folder back on his desk. Just what he needed—more clutter.
“Come on, big bro. She’s certainly someone, the way you two were looking at each other.”
How exactly were they looking at each other? The last few moments seemed like a dream as he’d gotten lost in her eyes. Or had he just imagined she was also reminiscing about their better times. He blinked. Shook his head. Looked at his annoying little sister and snapped, “What do you want?”
“You need a new picture,” she groused, putting her hands on her hips. “A snarling beast.”
“Sorry.”
She grinned. “You just confirmed that there’s something between you and her .” Evelyn sat down and crossed her legs. “Spill.”
Seb pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “I assume you barged into my office for a reason?”
She put her elbow on one knee and peered at him. “You’re being cagey. All right, I’ll let this go. For now.” She sat back, then said, “I found another advertiser. They’re nowhere close to Piggly Wiggly, but they’re willing to do a small advertisement.”
His expression relaxed. “I’ll take everything I can get.” Especially since Jade confirmed that The Times ’s financial problems weren’t a secret. He wasn’t sure how Harrington Media had figured that out, not that it changed anything. “Tell me about them.”
After Evelyn had explained that a new car wash had been built in Cherry Hill and they wanted to drum up business, he struggled to focus on the rest of what she was saying.
Jade loved car washes. He remembered when she had revealed her secret to him shortly after they started dating.
She worried he would think she was weird.
Of course he didn’t, and he’d gone to a couple of car washes with her on their dates. One time they’d even made out in one—
“Sebastian? Are you even listening to me?”
“Sure, sure. Cherry Hill Car Wash. Glad to have ’em. Is that all you needed?”
“That’s all.” She got up from her chair. “I’ll leave you to your thoughts about... her .”
“Shut up,” he said only half-heartedly. She just delivered good news, and he wasn’t going to get bent out of shape over her teasing. Evelyn Margot was practically a professional at it.
After Evelyn left, he looked at the folder again.
The Harrington Media logo was emblazoned on the front in blue-and-white letters.
Seb had always had a curious streak, something that was both a blessing and a curse, and this time he was poised to give in to temptation.
What kind of deal was Harrington offering—not that it mattered.
His fingers touched the edge of the folder.
He recoiled and threw the folder in the trash. No matter what Jade tried to do, she wouldn’t convince him to sell. She might as well go back to Atlanta. To Miles.
He whirled in his seat and faced the typewriter.
He was making an assumption about her and Miles when he shouldn’t be thinking about anything but his job.
The Times and his writing were his focus and solace, not Jade Smith.
Definitely not her. His fingers hit the keys with gusto.
After today’s meeting, he doubted he would ever see her again.