Chapter Twenty-Five – Beck
Chapter Twenty-Five
BECK
Avery’s words filled a hole inside of me that I hadn’t even realized was gaping open. I couldn’t help the smile that spread over my face, and I dropped my head back against the vehicle seat. The relief that flooded my body nearly brought me to tears.
It was such a stupid fucking idea to let Rachel come up to my place last night. I was just so exhausted that I hadn’t been thinking straight. After Avery hung up, I’d lain into Rachel big time for answering my damn phone the way she had. I don’t know what the hell had even possessed her to do such a thing.
“Beck?” Avery whispered.
“I’m here. I’m just letting your words settle in. I wish I were there with you. This isn’t how I wanted to say that to you.”
“I wish you were here as well.”
I could hear the smile in her voice. “Once I get my grandfather settled and make sure he’s healthy enough for me to leave, I plan on coming back. We need to talk about our future, Avery. Because now that you’re in my life, I cannot imagine living it without you.”
“I can’t imagine that either. But yes, first you need to take care of your grandfather. I’m off today, so I’m going to work in the greenhouse.”
“Do me a favor and send me some websites that inspire you, and any ideas you have for what you want your website to look like, and I’ll start working on it.”
“Beck, that isn’t something you should be worried about right now.”
“Please, Avery. I want to be a part of this with you.”
I could practically hear her thinking. “Okay, I’ll work on that this afternoon, after I get done playing in the dirt. I’ll need to get together with Emily as well on it.”
“No rush. I’ve got some work to catch up on, and will most likely be doing that here in the hospital.”
“Sounds good.”
Glancing at the austere building in front of me, I said, “I better run and see how Granddad is doing this morning. I’ll call you later.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”
I closed my eyes, wishing I could kiss her. “Bye, sweetheart.”
“Bye, Beck.”
The call ended, and I sat there for a few moments, wondering why life was throwing me this curve ball. I swear it was almost as if my grandfather had sensed the decision I was going to make, even though I still hadn’t been sure of it myself. But there was one thing I knew for certain—I could barely stand to be away from Avery for even a day. Living apart wasn’t an option.
Opening the door to my Ford truck, I got out and started for the hospital. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see a text from Rachel.
Rachel: I hope you got some sleep last night. Are you free for lunch today?
Frowning, I stared at my cell. Did she honestly think I’d want to have lunch with her? Besides the fact that she’d dumped me for another guy because she thought he had more money than me, my grandfather was in the hospital.
Once I walked into the lobby of the hospital, I sent her back a text.
Me: I slept okay. No, sorry, I’m not free for lunch.
Before I could even put the phone in my pocket, she texted back.
Rachel: Dinner then?
Me: I don’t think so. I appreciate you calling me and picking me up, but it’s not a good idea to spend time together.
Rachel: LOL! Beck, it’s just food. Nothing more. Unless you want more.
And there it was. I shook my head.
Me: Don’t you have a fiancé?
Rachel: I’m single again.
Not feeling a thing at that revelation, I sent her my reply and turned my phone to silent.
Me: Well, I’m not. Thank you again for letting me know about Granddad.
I stepped onto the elevator and didn’t feel my phone vibrate until I got off on my grandfather’s floor. I decided that whatever Rachel had to say, it could wait.
Starting down the hallway, I heard my name called out. “Mr. Dahlstrom?”
“Yes?” I replied, as I turned toward the nurse standing behind the nurses’ station.
“Are you here to see your grandfather?”
“I am,” I replied with a smile.
“I’m so sorry no one called you! He was discharged earlier this morning.”
My mouth fell open as I lifted my wrist and saw it was only eight in the morning. “I’m sorry,” I said, as I made my way over to her. “He’s been discharged already? I thought he said he needed to be here for a few days?”
She gave me a warm smile. “He and his doctor agreed he’d do better at home. He only left about twenty minutes ago.”
Frowning, I nodded. “I see. Thank you for letting me know.”
As I made my way back out of the hospital, I couldn’t help but think how strange it was that I hadn’t seen a single nurse come into my grandfather’s room the entire time I was there. It had only been the doctor.
An hour later, I was standing in the living room of my grandfather’s home. A nurse was there, fluffing a pillow and making sure he had everything he needed on the table beside his elegant, oversized chair.
The last thing I wanted to do was upset him, so I sat in the chair opposite and asked as delicately as I could, “Do you think it’s a good idea to be home so soon, and not in the hospital?”
He glanced up. “The doctor said I’ll heal faster at home. I already agreed to lighten my workload. Besides, I highly doubt my job is what caused the stupid heart attack in the first place.”
I raised my brow but held my tongue. I knew exactly what he was doing. He was blaming me . Deciding to let that go, I looked around the room. It was filled with expensive furnishings and artwork. I knew my grandfather was much wealthier than the Shaw family, but they were still rich by anyone’s standards. They just didn’t flaunt their wealth like Granddad did.
Letting out my breath, I stood. “What is it you need me to do?”
“Go to the office and meet with my assistant.”
“Which one?” I asked.
He didn’t bother to look up from his morning paper. “Joyce. She has a contract she’ll need you to go through with a fine-tooth comb. We need to make sure everything is in order before April first, or this particular deal is off.”
“What’s the deal for?”
“I’m trying to acquire some land in west Texas. The family’s playing hardball because I think they know they have oil on their property. The offer we gave them is a good one, so make sure they take it.”
Confused, I said, “Granddad, I don’t work in the real estate arm of the company. Why isn’t Lenard handling this?”
That time, he did look up. “Because I don’t trust Lenard, I trust you . You’ll have another partner on the deal to help with things, but the faster we get that land, the better. I have a feeling they’re about to change their minds.”
All I could do was nod. Once I got to the office, I’d make sure someone from the real estate side was handling things and let them continue to do so. That was one area I hadn’t ever worked, and with Rachel working over there, I wasn’t going to touch it with a ten-foot pole.
“While you’re at it, get that woman back to help you.”
“Whom are you speaking of?” I asked, slipping my hands into my jeans pockets.
He shot me an annoyed look. “Kelsey.”
“She’ll be back from vacation next week.” He opened his mouth to argue, but I held up a finger. “She’s on vacation.”
Scowling, he turned his attention back to the newspaper.
When it was clear he was dismissing me, I turned on my heel and headed to the office.
I dropped back onto my bed and groaned. I’d been back in Texas for three weeks now, and my grandfather had finally gone back into the office today. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to test me to see what I could handle, but it didn’t really matter. This wasn’t the life I wanted. That much was made clear to me the second I stepped into the large office building in downtown Dallas my third day back.
As I walked from the elevator to my office, I came to a dead stop when I saw Kelsey standing there holding a cup of coffee. That could only mean one thing. She didn’t have good news for me. “Do I want to know?”
She raised a brow. “My guess is no.”
Closing my eyes, I shook my head. “I’m so sorry, Kelsey. Did he stop by already this morning?”
She smiled. “Your grandfather? Yes, he did, but he isn’t the problem.”
I took the coffee and asked, “Is there anything hard in here?”
Fighting a smile, she replied, “No. But you do have a bottle of whiskey on your desk that a gentleman by the name of Dirk Littlewood sent. There’s a note on the bottle.”
I grinned. “Thanks, Kelsey.”
As I made my way to my office, she reached for my arm. “Beck, the problem?”
Her voice had gone low, the lighter mood gone.
“Yes?” I asked, looking at her with a worried expression. “Is everything okay?”
With a frown in the direction of my office, she replied, “Rachel is here, waiting in your office. She insisted you wouldn’t mind if she waited there.”
“Oh my God,” I said, scrubbing a hand down my face. “What is she doing here?”
“Sorry, but I don’t know. She told me to sit my secretary ass down.”
Jerking my head back, I narrowed my eyes. “She said that to you?”
“She did.”
I slowly shook my head. “Kelsey, I’m really sorry, and I’ll make all of this up to you. I swear.”
She waved off my concern. “Don’t worry about it.”
All I could do was nod. “I guess I need to get this over with. Do me a favor and buzz me in about three minutes with a reminder of a meeting.”
She smiled. “Will do.” Setting a timer on her Apple watch, I chuckled.
Taking a deep breath, I walked into my office and saw Rachel sitting behind my desk, her feet propped up.
I raised a single brow. “Did you forget the real-estate offices are on a completely different floor?”
She swung her feet off my desk and stood. Smoothing her hands down her skirt, she looked at me and grinned. I tried not to notice the low-cut dress. “Of course not. I was waiting for you.”
“Why?”
As she made her way toward me, I moved to the other side of my desk, set my briefcase down, and was about to sit. She managed to quickly reverse course and get behind my desk, leaning against it, preventing me from sitting down.
“Rachel, I don’t have time for your games. What do you want?”
She licked her lips slowly as she looked down at my groin, then back up to me. “I want you , Beck. I made a terrible mistake, and seeing you again these last few weeks, it just brought back memories of all the fun times we had together. Don’t you miss that?”
“Honestly? No. I don’t.”
A look of hurt passed over her face before she pushed off the desk, sighing and walking around to the other side. “Your grandfather told me why you went to Montana.”
That caused me to snap my head up to look at her. “Did he?”
She smiled. “He did. So, did you connect with your family?”
Tilting my head, I said, “I’m sure you already know the answer to that.”
The phone on my desk buzzed.
I pressed a button for the speaker. “Yes?”
“Mr. Dahlstrom, would you like me to get your first meeting on the phone?”
Rachel smirked. “I can take a hint.” She turned and made her way to the door, swinging her hips a little more than necessary. Before she opened it, she looked at the sofa, then back to me. “Do you remember when you fucked me on that sofa, Beck? How good it felt?”
Moving my gaze from her to the sofa and back again, I smiled. “That’s a different sofa, Rachel. I had Kelsey donate the other one to Goodwill.”
Her smile vanished. She jerked open the door, then slammed it behind her as she left.
“That is the same sofa, and eww! I didn’t need to know that!”
“Thanks, Kelsey,” I said, then disconnected the line.
I pulled up my schedule and saw my grandfather had it jam-packed with meetings, the first one starting at nine. Taking out my cell, I pulled up Avery’s name and tapped it. She answered after three rings.
“Hello?”
She sounded sleepy, and I couldn’t help but smile. “Did I call you too early? I figured you would be up for work.”
I could hear her small grunts and sounds of movement. Closing my eyes, I imagined her rolling over and staring up at the ceiling.
“The boutique opens at ten, Beck. It’s seven in the morning.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I just got to work, and it looks like my grandfather has my schedule packed for the entire day. I wanted to make sure I spoke to you before things got crazy.”
“Are you having to fill in for him?”
“Yeah, even though he’s back to work as of today. No wonder he had a damn heart attack.”
“That’s terrible, Beck.”
I suddenly felt an odd ache in my chest, and I rubbed it. “I miss you, Avery.”
“I miss you too.”
Clearing my throat, I lowered my voice, though I wasn’t sure why. “Do you have plans for tonight?”
“Nope. It was supposed to be family game night, but it’s been canceled. Stella said that she wasn’t feeling very well.”
I straightened. “Is she okay?”
“She is. But I’ll be honest with you, I think she misses you something fierce.”
Closing my eyes, I said, “It was so hard to say goodbye to her and Ty. Almost as hard as it was to say goodbye to you.”
She let out a soft laugh. “Well, back to your question. I’m not doing anything. Staying home and packing.”
“So you are going to move out?”
“Yeah. I figured the three weeks I’ve stayed since I told my parents was good enough. What are you doing?”
Glancing at the calendar, I replied, “I should be home around eight my time, maybe we could watch a movie together and then…I don’t know. Revisit that first FaceTime call.”
She laughed. “I love that idea. My mother and father are going to a friend’s for dinner tonight, since game night was canceled, so I’ll have the house all to myself.”
“Perfect. I’ll call you when I get home.”
“Okay. Have a good day, Beck.”
“I will. You too, sweetheart.”
The call ended, and I put my elbows on the desk and dropped my head into my hands. “Today is going to suck.”
By the time I got home, it was nearly ten-thirty at night. I had already texted Avery that I was running behind. She was so understanding, and that made me miss her even more. Dropping everything on the table the second I got in, I started for the kitchen. I pulled out a beer and started to pull my tie off as I walked to my bedroom.
Kicking off my dress shoes, I pulled my shirt out of my pants as I took a long drink. Setting it down, I called Avery.
“Wow! You have to be exhausted.”
“You have no idea. The last meeting was at a restaurant, and I swear to God, the way these men drink, it’s a wonder they get any business done at all.”
“Did you drink?” Avery asked.
“No. That’s one thing my grandfather always told me, stay sharp no matter what. But I don’t want to talk about my day. Tell me what you did,” I said, lying back on my bed.
When she started talking, I could hear the smile in her voice.
“Emily and I had a business meeting at my house over some takeout Chinese. We’ve got another few rows of seeds and seedlings to plant in Mom’s greenhouse, then we’ll be finished. I’m so glad she is here to stay! My father got a contractor over to give us a bid for the high fence we’re going to put around our garden.”
“Mmm,” I said, barely hearing what she was saying.
“Beck?”
“I’m here.”
“Thought I lost the signal for a minute. I’m going to move into the apartment above the boutique this weekend. At least I’ll have an easy commute to work, but not to the farm, but that’s okay. It will be worth it to have my privacy.”
Her voice started to slowly grow more distant, until the only thing I heard was…nothing. Blissful silence.