Chapter Seven
Now
Jasper
“Of course, Gerald. I’m sure it’s going to be a fantastic event.” I lean back in my chair, tucking the phone into the crook of my neck. “Let me know if anyone at the chamber needs help from our office.”
“You’re the best, Jasper. Thanks,” he says. Just then, Gail scampers through the French doors of my office. Her face is flushed.
“We’ll talk soon. Take care.” I abruptly end the call, sensing Gail’s flustered demeanor. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“There’s someone here to see you.” She pauses to take a breath. “Harper, the new receptionist, said that the woman told her.” She pauses again with her arms bent while she twiddles her thumbs. “Her name is Mrs. Collins.
My heart stops. “I’m sorry, what?”
Gail cranes her neck, looking over her shoulder and down the hall. “She said her name is Mrs. Collins.”
I blink a few times, flipping through the possibilities of who this could be because there’s no way it’s Avery—not after eight years. I bet it’s someone messing with me.
“Okay, well, send her in then.”
Gail nods nervously. “If you need anything, Sheriff Wyatt is still in a meeting in the conference room.”
I chuckle. “No one’s going to hurt me. It’s probably just a joke.”
“I don’t know, Jasper. I was watching Dateline last night—”
Raising my palm to the air, I silence another one of her many true crime recaps. “I’ll be fine.”
“Alright.” She huffs, then swiftly exits my office.
I focus back to the never-ending tasks of things to complete before the annual Coconut Grove Days event this weekend, when I hear shuffling on the floor and a light creak of my office doors closing.
“I need a divorce.”
I feel my eyes widen, straining the top lids. Glaring at the unopened email at the top of my list, frozen in place and scared to look up.
A voice that I haven’t heard in years but one I will never forget. Am I hearing things? My throat runs dry—my heart pounds in my chest. I lift from my chair without looking up. If it is her and she thinks she can just come here without a hello or how are you then she has another thing coming.
“I need a divorce,” the voice repeats, firmer this time.
It takes less than a single second for my eyes to meet hers—those gorgeous hazel-green sparklers. I feel a smirk pull at the corners of my mouth as soon as I notice her annoyance. “I almost didn’t recognize you with your clothes on.”
“I’m surprised you own more than board shorts and a shell necklace,” she quips.
I slide my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “That’s not the only surprise I can give you, Arizona.”
“Alright, Jasper,” she says, crossing her arms at her chest. “You know what I’m here for.” Avery is still feisty. I’m not surprised at how much joy it still brings me to piss her off.
“Nice to see you too, wife.” I walk around my desk until I’m in front of her. She’s wearing a light blue sundress that hugs every curve—the same curves I’ve had my hands and mouth all over.
Damn, she looks good. I bet she still tastes the same.
Avery backs away, placing a hand on her hip. “I’m not here to play.”
“I think I can change your mind.” I smile widely, showing my teeth.
“Seriously?”
I lean against the desk with my legs crossed at my ankles, trying to seem casual and unbothered, even though my insides jump excitedly. “You want a divorce now?”
Her eyes dart away, then back to me. “Yes.”
“I have an extremely busy week ahead of me.”
Avery’s hand flies up in front of us. “You’re making excuses.”
“You can’t just come back into my life after nothing for years and expect me to drop what I’m doing to give you what you want.”
“It’s not what you want too?” A flippant response, which concerns me if she really is serious. “Don’t you want to move on with your life? I’m sure you have a girlfriend—or many you’d like to put a ring on.”
“Jealous?”
“Of course, that’s what you’d say.”
“How about this?” I attempt to harden my expression to seem more serious, even though I know she can see through it.
“We’ll discuss it after this week is over.
I have the Coconut Days event happening.
” I pause to wave at Gail through the glass in the doors.
“Let’s have my assistant check my schedule. ”
Avery’s mouth drops. “What?”
Gail slips through the door behind Avery. “Yes, Jasper?”
“Can you check my schedule for the beginning of next week, to see if I’m open for an hour-long meeting with Mrs. Collins?”
Gail smiles but is unsure of what’s going on. “Sure.”
Glancing back at Avery, I make sure she sees the smug expression on my face.
Her lips are set in a hard line, and her arms are crossed tight at her chest. “Dammit, Jasper. Why do you have to make everything so difficult?”
“That’s what I do.”
“I flew all the way out here to close this chapter and now you’re brushing me off?”
Pushing away from the desk, I return to my chair. “You didn’t have to fly out here. These things can be done electronically now.”
“I have tried to contact you!”
“When?” I bite back. She did it once, about a year after she left. I wasn’t ready to give up, so I ripped the papers and threw them into the trash.
She rolls her eyes. “You know when.”
“Maybe.” I cross my leg over the other.
“Don’t you want to move on?”
Suddenly, my phone vibrates. Perfect timing. “I have to get this.”
Her eyes grow wide. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
Raising the phone to my ear, I hold a finger up to her. “Gail will see you out,” I say, waving at my assistant again.
“Jasper,” she warns, her voice low with frustration.
I do want to see her again. She can’t leave town yet. Not until I get my closure.
“Leave your number with Gail, and I’ll call you.”
“Fine.” She lowers her eyes, flexing her posture. “If you don’t, I’ll be back.”
“Mayor Collins,” I answer the call, then quickly hit the mute button. “Considering how well that worked for me last time, I doubt it.” I know she will, and I hope she does.
Avery’s mouth is pulled to the side, the outline of her plump red lips turns white. “Asshole.”
“Love you, too, wife,” I call out in a low voice as she stomps out of my office.
As soon as I’m alone, I hang up the phone. It was just a telemarketer, but oddly, this time, I’m grateful it was a call like that.
I jog around my desk to shut the doors, then scan the hallway for any sign of her.
She’s gone. There are so many different emotions colliding into one another inside me.
I’ve always hoped I’d see Avery again, but I also knew she’d probably have moved on.
I haven’t pursued a divorce, and I’m not sure why.
Maybe because the thought of hope is too much to lose?
Or maybe not having some type of connection to her feels incomprehensible.
I spend an unclear amount of time staring at my computer screen, contemplating life if I am to lose her again.
Gail pops her head in. “Was that Avery? Like the Avery?”
I nod.
She scrunches her nose. “What’s she doing here?”
Letting out an audible sigh, I shrug my shoulders.
“You don’t know what she wants?”
“I do.”
Silence.
She rests a hand on my wooded desk, cocking a hip. “But you’re not going to tell me, are you?”
I glance over with a side-eye. “Nope.”
“Well, you’re no fun.” She huffs.
“It’s not what you think.”
“Maybe you should invite her to the Coconut Grove Days?”
“I don’t think she’s in town for pleasure,” I mumble under my breath.
“It’s worth a try,” she replies in typical Gail fashion—kind, sweet and optimistic.
I shrug my shoulders.
“Okay, I can take a hint,” she says before leaving my office and closing the door behind her.
My heart never slowed for the remainder of the afternoon.
Walking to my car, I scroll through my phone, searching for Avery’s number.
It was surreal putting it in after Gail read it off to me before I left.
As soon as I heard the first three numbers, I recited the rest in my head.
I’ve had it memorized for years. I figured she’d have changed it, but she didn’t.
Is it too soon to call her? I can’t let her know I’m anxious to speak with her.
Maybe I can chalk it up to being respectful of her time.
No, she’ll never believe that. Ugh. I wipe a palm down my face and hit send on the number that’s been tattooed on the back of my eyelids for most of my adult life.
“Jasper,” she says my name in a breathy tone as if she’s relieved to hear from me but annoyed by it simultaneously.
“Don’t act like you’re not happy by my call. I know you’ve been waiting for me all day,” I quip, keeping my voice low.
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” She sneers.
“What are you doing?” I ask, starting my car.
She pauses before answering. “My takeout just arrived, so I’m sitting on the deck eating dinner.”
“Are you staying with Helen?”
“I’m not, but oddly enough, just down the way from her house in a vacation rental,” Avery replies.
While taking the last left into my driveway, it quickly dawns on me Avery might be staying at the Hannah family’s beach house. They spend the summers in Seattle and rent out the small bungalow while they’re away.
“Isn’t that the Hannah family beach house?” I ask, walking inside and heading straight for the bay windows toward the water.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
As if fate couldn’t have planned it better, my new place is exactly three houses down from the Hannahs—which means less than a two-minute walk from Avery right now.
Opening my balcony doors, I stare down the beach at the row of cottages and bungalows, letting my eyes land on hers.
I can see the lights on, but I can’t make out if she’s on the back deck or not.
I bite back a satisfied smile. “Where did you get takeout from?”
She sighs. “Did you just call me to chat?”
Getting comfortable in one of the chairs on my lower-level deck, I prepare to keep her on the phone as long as possible. The sound of the waves is now amplified through the phone because we’re both listening to the same ones.
“I haven’t decided yet.” Propping my feet up on the opposite chair, I smile at her annoyance. “I’m the mayor, you know, so I have a personal interest in all the businesses in this town.”
“Yes, I realize that.” Her words are tight. She’s smiling. “Are we going to talk about a divorce?”
I’m not going to make this easy on her, but I am surprised at how fast she got back to the topic of divorce. I might have to save this little game for another day. “I have another call coming in. I’ll contact you tomorrow.”
“Jasper!” she exclaims.
“I promise. I’ll call you in the morning,” I tell her, then end the call. I glance over at her cottage to notice the light is now out. She’s pissed.
Now that I feel like I’ve done my part for the day and stalled her attempt to leave town so soon, I can focus on what I plan on doing to ensure she stays. Do I want her to stay? I do, but in what context? She left me once, and I’m pretty confident she’ll do it again.
I lift off the chair, close the doors, and head inside to make myself dinner.
Walking through my three-story beach house, I imagine what it would be like to have someone to share it with, but the solitude of being alone is hard to let go of.
Avery extinguished those dreams long ago.
By now, we’d have a child with whom to run through these halls.
I’d teach him or her how to surf and raise them in this small coastal town I love so much.