Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
RHETT
That afternoon, I was called out to site to deal with some issues with one of the new ski lifts, so I didn’t get back into the office until after five.
Piper was already gone. I glanced in her office on the way to mine, my chest tightening.
Sitting behind my computer, I focused on the things I could control, like work, and tried to forget about a blue-eyed firecracker who had me twisted into knots.
The scuff of a boot against office carpet made me look up. Ollie stood in the doorway, chocolate-brown hair in its usual disarray. He wore a quilted jacket, worn jeans, and an old pair of work boots. “All that luck and still not happy, huh?”
I scoffed. “Have you seen the place?”
“Owned by Arthur Fielding, right? The old guy with a bad attitude?”
“Died angry and alone,” I grumbled with a nod, wondering if I would share that fate. “Apparently his daughter didn’t want to deal with the trouble of fixing the house, so she donated it. Place is about to fall down.”
“She moved away ’bout ten years back now. Wonder what she’s up to that she didn’t even want to step foot back in town to see her old childhood home.” Ollie wandered closer and slumped down in one of my visitor’s chairs.
“Maybe she had it right,” I grumbled, and Ollie laughed. I frowned at him. “What?”
“It’s not that bad, Rhett. You just won a house. If I had one-tenth of your luck, I’d be set for life.”
“I won half a house,” I corrected, thinking of Piper, “and like I said, it’s not as good as it looks.”
“Kind of like you. Nice and pretty on the outside, but a real shame about the personality.”
“Screw you, Ollie,” I shot back, but my lips twitched.
My cousin’s eyes glittered. “And your co-owner feels the same way about the place?”
Even an oblique mention of Piper made my jaw tighten.
I glanced out the window at the gathering dusk, trying to figure out what to say so Ollie wouldn’t see right through me.
“She thinks the house is perfect. I think I broke her heart when I reminded her we’d have to pay taxes on the win.
She wanted to buy me out before I crushed her dreams.” The sour feeling in my gut seemed dangerously close to guilt.
Why had I wanted that house at all? I should have let her take it. It had seemed so important not to let her get the better of me in that moment, but what had I really been worried about?
Ollie hummed. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Sell the house,” I replied. “She can’t afford to buy me out, pay the taxes, and make the place livable. I sure as hell don’t want to keep the place, so it’s the best option.”
My cousin’s brows jumped. “Oh yeah?”
“Why? What’s wrong with that?”
“Mila told me Piper’s looking for a new place to stay. Her lease is up at the end of November. She probably thought all her problems were about to go away.”
“What’s that got to do with me?” I answered, voice harsh.
Ollie put his palms up. “Just thinking out loud.”
“What’s Mila doing telling you Piper’s business, anyway?”
“Relax, Rhett,” Ollie said, which made my blood pressure go up a few notches. “Mila was just asking if my place on Willowbark Avenue was available. She’s trying to help Piper find somewhere to live.”
The guilt in my stomach began to pulse, and I worried I might throw up.
I hadn’t known Piper’s lease was up so soon.
She only had until Thanksgiving to find a place to stay.
With the ski season starting, that would be tough.
Every bed in town would be full, and most people would want to cash in with short-term rentals.
“She can’t stay in the house. It’s not safe, and she can’t afford it.”
“But you can.”
My eyes snapped up. “What’s that got to do with Piper?”
“She’s not Sarah, Rhett.” Ollie’s voice was so gentle that it made the anger detonating inside me seem that much more extreme. I tried to control it, tried to wrestle it down so it wouldn’t show on my face, but Ollie had known me since we were babies. He could tell.
“This has nothing to do with my ex,” I grated out.
“Doesn’t it?”
“No,” I spat back.
“Sarah took advantage of you, but not everyone else will. You’ve got more than enough money for ten lifetimes, Rhett. Why not let Piper have the house?”
“I’m not giving a house away,” I said, even though I’d just been wondering why I hadn’t done just that.
But I knew why I hadn’t let her have it.
It was because when you gave in to a woman with big, tear-filled eyes, she sank her claws into your chest and squeezed your heart until you felt like you were going to die.
She reminded you that you were worthless and that no one would really love you. Not when they really knew you.
That would never happen to me. Not again.
Ollie looked like he wanted to say more, but all that came out was a heavy sigh.
I knew what he was thinking. I was different before Sarah.
More generous. More trusting. She was the first woman who’d shown me a bit of care, and I was so starved of affection that I clung to her harder than I should’ve.
I gave her everything she demanded. I worked myself sick to provide for her.
All for her to betray me in the end.
Now I knew what people were really like, deep down inside.
My parents and Sarah weren’t the exceptions—they were the rule.
People were selfish and cruel and didn’t hesitate to stab you in the back.
They hurt you when you needed them, just because they could.
They took pleasure in making you feel small and afraid.
The only way to protect yourself was to be the strongest person around. To never let someone in to all those awful, mushy, vulnerable parts of you.
I wrapped myself in armor made of money and reputation. No one got in, and that was how I liked it.
Finally, Ollie stood. “How’s the cat?” he asked.
“I got rid of it,” I muttered, staring at my computer screen until my cousin finally walked away. Then, body aching like I’d just climbed to the summit of the Peak, I stood up and headed out, turning all the lights off and locking the office up as I went.
My house was a wonder of glass and timber, perched on the side of the mountain overlooking the town, in the heart of a beautiful, ten-acre property lush with virgin forest. I’d built the house when I’d come back to town, and from the moment I walked in, I wondered why I’d built it so damn big.
The echo of my steps greeted me as I walked in. Outside the wall of windows in the huge living room, the shadow of thousands of trees loomed, and then disappeared when I flicked on the lights. I stared at my own reflection for a beat, then turned at the sound of an outraged meow.
The orange critter stared at me from beside his empty food bowl. I pursed my lips. “Still here, huh.”
He meowed again and nudged a paw against his bowl.
“That thing dispenses food on a schedule, you know,” I pointed out.
The cat didn’t seem to care. He complained again, then came over to butt his little head against my leg.
“All right, all right,” I grumbled, and got the bag of treats Jed had convinced me I needed.
Somehow I’d come out with a truck full of toys, scratch posts, treats, food, bowls, and all the other accoutrements that cat owners wasted their money on.
I was pretty sure I’d gotten swindled. Whether by Jed or by the cat, I wasn’t sure.
Three or four treats clattered against the bowl, and the cat pounced on it like I hadn’t just fed him a few hours ago. I refreshed his water, then opened my fridge and grabbed a slice of cold pizza. We ate under the harsh kitchen lights, ignoring each other.
“So,” I said after a while. The cat continued to ignore me. “My cousin thinks I’m heartless, but I’m just being pragmatic. Besides, Piper would never accept the house from me. She barely accepted a ride to the hospital, for God’s sake.”
The cat sat back and started licking himself.
“I’m not giving her a house,” I told the cat. I ripped off a piece of cold, tough crust and chewed, scowling. “I know it would be the nice thing to do, and it would probably go far with everyone in town. But last time I gave a woman more than she asked for, she nearly wrecked me.”
The cat stopped grooming himself and stretched out on the kitchen tiles. His back arched, long ginger tail flicking back and forth. On dainty paws, he approached me, sniffing delicately around my legs.
“Besides, she works for me. How could she walk into work after getting a house from her boss? It would undermine her. So really, I’m doing her a favor by forcing her to sell the house.”
The cat looked up at me then, blinking, and turned away to go hop onto the couch and curl into a tight ball.
“That’s not helpful,” I observed, but the cat was done with me. I ate another slice of pizza and considered the inside of my fridge for a while, then swore under my breath, grabbed my keys, and headed out.