13. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Leo
F ire dances in the brick fireplace, casting an orange glow on the living room as I head in from the foyer.
Juliet looks up from sitting on the round rug in front of the fireplace. “Oh, hey.”
I shrug off my heavy jacket, my hands and face still stinging from the cold outside. “We have enough firewood to get us through the night, but I’ll have to chop some more tomorrow.”
Her eyebrows lift. “You’re going to chop wood?”
I lower myself down to the floor to sit next to her, dropping my jacket off to the side. “I remember how to chop wood, Juju. I didn’t step foot in the city and suddenly forget how to work with my hands.”
“Touchy.”
I sigh and lean back on my hands, stretching my legs out in front of me. “Sorry. Today has been…long.”
Juliet nods and crosses her legs, leaning forward to hold her hands out closer to the fire. “And cold.”
“Very cold,” I agree as I glance at the living room windows.
It’s pitch black outside, especially since we’re a decent distance away from the heart of town. We’re tucked into nature. Basically stranded.
I guess there are worse places to be stuck, though.
Piper and Dad are already asleep, so it’s just me and Juliet. I don’t know exactly how to feel about that.
“Thanks for doing the fire,” she says.
“Thanks for helping Dad.”
She gives me a slight smile. “It’s kind of my job.”
“Still. You drove through a damn snowstorm to help him,” I tell her .
“I know it’s shocking to hear, but I do care about your dad,” Juliet replies as she sits back, folding her hands in her lap. “He’s not just a patient to me.”
There’s probably more history between them than any other patient she has ever had.
“Well, he needs you,” I say. “Even if he won’t admit it.”
Juliet laughs a little. “Oh, he will. He’s not as prideful as he used to be.”
“Are we talking about the same person?”
She nudges my arm, and my heart rate kicks up in response.
“I know things are still tense between you guys…”
I shake my head. “Let’s talk about anything else. Anything.”
Juliet chews on her bottom lip for a few moments. “About Devon…”
“Something else.”
She sighs and tilts her head back. “Is everything off limits?”
“Anything stressful or complicated. ”
“Do you miss anything about Evergreen Heights?”
Her question catches me off guard.
“There has to be something,” Juliet says when I don’t answer for a few seconds.
“I don’t hate the town,” I assure her. “I miss swimming in the lake during the summer. I miss hiking through the forest to get to the mountains. Hell, I miss chopping wood.”
Surprise fills her face. “Really?”
I scoff. “I never minded working outside.”
“You’re just all…city now,” Juliet replies as she gestures to me.
“What does that mean?”
Her lips curl up in a wry smile. “You wear fancy suits and use expensive cologne. You rented a luxury car when you used to drive a truck. Your watch is so shiny that it’s blinding.”
“I like nice things. People like nice things.”
“You grew up with plenty of money, and you didn’t care for nice things. ”
“I was a teenager in love. All I cared about was my girlfriend,” I tell her, making her eyes widen a little. “Now, I’m older. I pay attention to how I dress. I think about how I’m presenting myself to people. And I don’t have a girlfriend distracting me.”
Juliet purses her lips. “I wasn’t distracting you. You sound like your dad.”
My blood chills. Shit, she’s right. I’m just parroting what Dad told me all those years ago.
“Sorry,” I sigh, shaking my head at myself. “Being around him again is…”
“I know.”
I drag my fingers through my hair, the strands still feeling cold from the chilly air outside. Inches and inches of snow have piled up on the ground. I just hope nothing breaks or goes wrong around the estate.
“What do you like about the city?”
My eyes move to hers, and I see genuine curiosity in them. Not spite or annoyance .
“There’s a lot to do. Lots of job opportunities,” I reply as I sit up, my shoulder brushing hers. “New Year’s Eve is pretty cool.”
Juliet nods. “What else?”
I think to myself for a few seconds. “The food is good.”
“Better than here?”
The side of my mouth curls up. “Some stuff here is better than some stuff there.”
“You can’t beat the burgers at Zach’s Burger Bar or the stuffed potatoes at Riverside,” Juliet says, bumping her shoulder against mine.
I can’t argue that.
“You never left for college?” I ask her.
“I went to the University of Colorado. They have a really good nursing program,” she replies. “There was no point in me leaving. I felt like I needed to stay and help out around town. Plenty of people need medical care.”
“You never wondered what your life would’ve been like if you left for a bigger place? ”
Juliet shakes her head. “I didn’t want to leave Evergreen Heights because I hated it or because it was small. I only wanted to leave because you wanted to, and I wanted to be with you.”
Guilt twists in my gut. “I’m sorry for how things happened.”
She lowers her eyes. “It’s in the past. Things worked out how they were supposed to.”
Does she really believe that? Do I believe that?
I haven’t been certain of anything since stepping foot in this town.
“You should get some sleep. You’ve been looking after Piper and Dad all day,” I tell her after checking the time on my watch. It’s nearing midnight.
Juliet runs her hands over her face and through her hair, pulling the strands back from her forehead. “I don’t sleep well during snowstorms.”
“Because you think the roof is going to collapse on you.”
Her eyes dart to me. “You remember? ”
“I remember a lot,” I say with a light chuckle. “You fear roofs collapsing and centipedes.”
Juliet shivers. “Ew, don’t say that word.”
“Centipedes?”
She shoves my arm with a grimace. “Stop, Leo.”
Laughter breaks from me as she shudders. Whenever we snuck out to the forest together, we’d see some every once in a while, and she’d freak out every single time.
“You’ve probably seen some horrific stuff as a nurse and a certain bug still makes you this way?”
“I can’t explain it. They’re just so creepy.”
My stomach aches from my laughter. It’s such a little thing, but of course I remember. There are so many things that I haven’t been able to let go of.
“Well, I remember you screaming like a girl when you ran into that spiderweb,” she says with a sneer.
“It was warranted. Anyone else would’ve reacted the same,” I reply, unease trailing up the back of my neck at the thought of running face first into a huge spiderweb out in the forest .
I still don’t know what spider it belonged to, but I swear it was in my hair for a second.
She smirks. “We have these fears, but we loved being in the forest.”
“I bet it looks nice out there now. All covered in snow.”
Juliet hums under her breath in agreement. She pushes herself up to her feet and stretches.
My mouth turns down a little. Is she about to leave? We’ve actually been talking instead of arguing.
“Anyone missing you in the city?”
I look over my shoulder as she sinks down on the couch and curls her legs under her. “Like at work?”
Juliet fidgets with a strand of her hair. “Like friends or…girls.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Are you asking if I have a girlfriend?”
She makes a face at me. “I’m asking in general if you’re close to anyone over there.”
She sounds pretty defensive .
I twist my body to face her better, amusement warming me. “I don’t have a girlfriend. I have some friends I hang out with after work.”
“Do they know why you’re back here?”
“I just told them I have to handle a family matter.”
She tilts her head at me. “So, they’re not close enough to you to know the truth.”
I turn back toward the fire, listening to its crackling and snapping. It would be comforting if I didn’t have to think of a reply.
She’s right. They’re not close enough to me for them to know much of anything. No one in New York City knows about the huge fight I had with my father. No one knows about our rocky relationship or about the love I lost.
It’s painful enough revisiting all of that in my own head, and I wanted a fresh start. I tried to bury the past and forget about it, but it came roaring back when I got that phone call.
There truly may not be a way to leave all this behind for good.
“Do you air out all your dirty laundry to your friends?”
“I have friends I can talk to,” Juliet replies. “I’m sorry that’s not the case for you.”
Her pity makes me uneasy. Why do I need sympathy?
I moved out of this middle of nowhere town and made a name for myself in New York City. I built my own company and make billions of dollars a year. People go out of their way to try to meet me.
I’ve done great for myself. I don’t need to cry about my past to anyone.
When I don’t say anything, she sighs.
I continue watching the erratic sway of the flames, their heat washing over me. I shouldn’t even be here right now. I should be in my penthouse looking out at the city lights, taking in how much I’ve accomplished and planning what to do next.
Instead, I’m stuck with my ex-girlfriend in the same house where I fell in love with her.
I don’t know how much time passes, but I eventually hear a familiar sound. Her heavy, slow breathing she does when she falls asleep .
I look over my shoulder to see her passed out on the couch with her head laying on the armrest. Air puffs out of my nose in a quiet laugh. She’s the type who can fall asleep anywhere if she’s relaxed enough.
I quietly get to my feet and grab the beige throw blanket on the top of the couch to drape over her.
Juliet doesn’t even stir, continuing to breathe through slightly parted lips.
I take a step back from her, my eyes lingering on her peaceful face. This is probably the most relaxed that I’ve seen her since I came to town.
She has a lot on her plate. Taking care of my dad is a full time job, and she’s a mom too. My presence is a thorn in her side on top of that.
She was so upset at the possibility of me selling the company and leaving, but isn’t that what she should want? Shouldn’t she want me to be long gone so that I don’t bother her any longer?
Maybe she doesn’t know what she wants.
I sure as hell don’t.