CHAPTER 20 JESSALYN
JESSALYN
The knock on the door came late, but I was still awake.
How could I sleep? Once again, my life had descended into an unholy mess, although this time it was a different type of upheaval.
I was scared for Amie, her fate still a mystery, and I was scared for Justin, because the police seemed determined to blame him for something that wasn’t his fault.
When I opened the door, I found him standing there with a bottle of wine and two long-stemmed glasses in one hand and a steaming mug in the other.
“You couldn’t sleep either?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I figured you might like a drink. I sure need one. But I also don’t want you to think I’m that guy, the one who tries to get a woman drunk and takes advantage, so…” He held out the mug. “Hot chocolate.”
That was perhaps the sweetest thing a man had ever done for me, although I couldn’t say I’d mind if Justin Norquist wanted to take advantage. And wasn’t that the revelation? Even though I’d mentally checked out of my marriage years ago, I’d only been free of Ridge for a week.
Could I really move on so quickly?
Saylor would say, “Hell no,” but my pulse fluttered frantically. Do it, do it, do it.
Not that Justin had given the slightest hint of being ready to move on himself.
I had to remember that I wasn’t the only person who’d experienced a difficult breakup recently, so I forced a smile and kept a respectable distance between us.
There was a time and a place to consider dating again, and this wasn’t it.
First, I’d need to strengthen the barricade around my vulnerabilities, and second, we needed to find out what had happened to Amie Carlson. Those were the priorities right now.
I accepted the mug. “That’s real kind of you.”
“And I also wanted to apologise,” Justin said. “This isn’t what you signed up for.”
“This isn’t what you signed up for either,” I pointed out. “Not the unexpected houseguests, not your assistant going missing, not the criminal investigation. Should I make breakfast for everyone in the morning?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t mind.”
And in a weird way, it was nice that Justin’s friends had swept into town with the firm belief that he was innocent.
They were good people. Okay, so Alexa was a little abrasive, but if I was in trouble—more trouble—she was the person I’d want fighting in my corner.
Although the biggest surprise was Violet Miller.
Not just the fact that she was here at all, but also that she seemed so sweet and down to earth.
She’d even ignored my protests and helped to load the dishwasher after dinner.
After we ate, Brax had left for his Washington, DC, townhouse along with Alexa, who’d begun complaining that Justin’s Wi-Fi wasn’t fast enough and how could anyone be expected to live in these conditions?
Chase had gone with her, a faithful shadow who carried her bags and bore her complaints without a murmur.
I figured she must pay him a lot of money.
“I don’t expect you to take on extra work,” Justin said. “That wasn’t part of our arrangement.”
“I enjoy cooking, and it’s only Violet, Dawson, and Ari here now.”
“I’ll be honest—I don’t like you being stuck in the middle of this. You’ve been through enough already.” He hesitated for a long moment before adding, “But I do like you.”
My heart skipped. “Uh… When you say ‘like’…”
“I’d never pull any sleazy moves, I swear, but if we were both in a better place, I might try my luck and ask if you wanted to have dinner with me someday.” He sighed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, but… Keeping quiet would have felt too much like a lie.”
This was the absolute worst case of meeting the right man at the wrong time. If only we’d crossed paths a decade ago, perhaps I’d be leading a whole different life now.
“If we were in a better place, I’d be tempted to say ‘yes.’”
He managed a soft smile, and I took a sip of hot chocolate because I didn’t know what else to say. Ridge had always done the talking for the both of us. Why were my eyes prickling? Fear of the unknown? Or was I mourning what might have been?
“Do you want me to rent a house for you and the dog?” Justin asked. “Somewhere you can hunker down until this is over?”
One of those darn tears escaped, and I wiped it with a sleeve.
“You don’t want me here anymore?”
“That’s not it. I…” Justin fished a bandana out of his pocket and offered it to me. “It’s clean.”
“Thank you.” He was so freaking sweet.
“I do want you here, but I have a bad feeling about this. About Amie’s disappearance, and about the way the cops spoke to me earlier.”
“But I know you weren’t involved. Out of everyone, I know that best of all.”
“Yeah, and if fate hadn’t sent you my way that evening, I’d be waiting for the click of handcuffs. If we ever find Tiffany or whatever her name is, I owe her a beer.”
At the time, losing so much money had left me feeling sick.
Now? Now, I wished I had her real address so I could mail a thank-you card.
She’d accidentally sent me into the arms of a decent man, one who’d stepped up to support me even though we barely knew each other.
Okay, not into his arms, exactly, but having the run of his beautiful kitchen was almost as good.
“I’ll make her a cake to go with it.” Shiro was lying on his new bed by the balcony doors, alert but relaxed, and I settled into one of the tub chairs arranged to give a view over the yard in daylight.
Justin understood the invitation I was too nervous to put into words and took the other.
“Although I can’t help wondering how many other people she’s scammed out of their savings with fake room listings.
Thanks to you, my mistake wasn’t a total disaster, but other women might have ended up homeless. ”
“Once we’ve found Amie, I’ll ask Alexa to take a look. If anyone can track down a person on the internet, it’s her.”
“She makes me nervous,” I confessed.
“She makes all of us nervous. Her moral code is…interesting.”
“So I should steer clear of her?”
“No need for that. Just be aware that she doesn’t respect boundaries, and she’s undoubtedly run a background check on you already.”
A chill ran through me. “You think she knows about Ridge? That I left him behind in Maine?”
“By morning, she’ll probably know his work history, his golf handicap, his inside leg measurement, his bank balance, any indiscretions he committed in college, and the contents of his colon. But she’ll hold that information close unless she sees a way to use it in the future.”
His freaking colon? I put down the hot chocolate and poured a glass of wine instead.
“Like she might blackmail me?”
Justin shook his head. “More like she’ll fuck with him if she sees the opportunity. Think of it as a hobby.”
“No, no, no. If she messes with him, he’ll lose his everlovin’ mind and serve her with a lawsuit.”
“Good luck to him. The last guy who tried that ended up losing his house. But in all seriousness, she’s careful and she won’t get caught, but if you want me to warn her off, I will.”
The idea of Ridge losing the house… Hmm.
Married or not, I knew damn well I’d never get a dime from it.
Even if I eventually had the guts to divorce him, he’d hide our assets and plead poverty and make sure I walked away with nothing.
I just freaking knew he would. But I wasn’t ready to face him, not yet.
The wounds were still too fresh—quite literally; my bruise still showed in bright light—and I needed to find a permanent place to live.
Make sure I had an income. A safety net.
My next fight with Ridge would draw blood.
“Maybe you could ask her to hold off for a while?”
Was I imagining it, or did Justin look slightly disappointed?
“I’ll do that.”
I didn’t want him to be disappointed in me.
“Is there a plan for the morning? For Amie, I mean? Is there anything I can do to help?”
“I’ll try calling Sophy again. Ari wants to look at Amie’s belongings, just in case there’s a clue there.”
“Did you hear from her parents yet?”
He shook his head. “If they don’t get back to me in the morning, I’ll see if Alexa can find a number for Amie’s sister. But they don’t get along, and from what Amie’s told me, Saige is a real drama queen. Calling her is a last resort. Do you have any siblings?”
“Technically, I have a half-brother, but I’ve never met him. And he’s also my first cousin once removed, so the less we say about that, the better.”
Justin stared at me for a moment, and then his face screwed up involuntarily in the same “eeuw” reaction that I’d had when I found out.
“So that means…”
“My dad had an affair with my cousin. She was twelve, and I was eleven at the time. After the divorce, Mom and I moved to Maine, and I haven’t seen anyone from that side of the family since.”
“Well, damn.”
“Yes, exactly. So, how about you? Do you have siblings?”
“Also an only child.” Justin hesitated for a moment. “I was supposed to have a brother, but my mom miscarried. My dad’s fault.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Maybe I’ll have a glass of that wine.”
He filled the glass almost to the brim and drank half of it in one go. I couldn’t lie—that made me nervous. Ridge had always been a mean drunk.
“Mom was never the same afterward. That was when she started drinking.” Justin glanced ruefully at his glass. “I’ll stop after this, I swear. Alexa brought the bottle.”
“It’s good wine,” I admitted. “I wouldn’t use it for cooking.”
“Nolan made it. Not sure I’d pay five hundred bucks, but he gives it to us cheap.”
I nearly spat out my mouthful. “Five hundred bucks?”
“For the cheap stuff.”