Chapter 13
Ville
Iwatched Jenn interact with the new cook as I sipped my lemonade. They were bantering as if they’d known each other for years instead of half an hour, and that made me gradually relax.
I was still pissed off, though. I wasn’t sure how much Emery had noticed, but I was pretty certain nobody else had.
Still, I really, really needed to talk to Carter.
Finishing my drink, I got up and squeezed Jenn’s shoulder in passing.
I put my glass in the dishwasher and then slipped out of the kitchen.
Carter was talking to Bodhi in the living room.
“Carter? Can I borrow you for a minute?” I asked, hoping I was coming across neutral.
Bodhi frowned, while Carter got up from the couch and walked with me out the door and onto the porch.
“What’s up?” he asked, looking more curious than anything.
I leaned my hip to the railing and took a deep breath to stay calm. “Why wasn’t I told that there was a new person coming in?”
He frowned. “Because we talked about me hiring someone until Jenn feels better. He works for the ranch.”
I felt my jaw tense. “I get that. But I expected people to give me any potential new hire’s information for a background check.”
“It was done. My assistant put out feelers, found Nick, did a background check, and told him to head over.” Carter frowned more. “I don’t see the issue.”
I licked the corner of my mouth as I held tighter on the reins that kept my brain from going ballistic. “It didn’t cross your mind to tell me all this before this man arrived here?”
“Why would it have? He was for me to hire for the ranch. That has nothing to do with what you’re here for.”
The door opened and Bodhi stepped out.
“What’s going on?” It was a question, I suppose, but it came out as a demand.
“Ville doesn’t like that I didn’t give him a heads up before hiring Nick.”
Before I had time to say anything, Bodhi snorted, then addressed me, “You’re not responsible for any of the hiring here. You’re here to make the place safe. That’s your job.”
Yeah, that did it.
I pushed away from the railing and just held myself back from getting into the asshole’s face.
“I’m here because Wren asked me to secure the place for your family.
In addition to that, my only job is to keep your supposed best friend safe.
How am I going to do that when I don’t know who the fuck you people hire?
How long they’ll be here? When Wren is set to arrive in a couple of weeks?
” I threw my hands up and turned away, before whirling back.
“I get that he doesn’t seem to mean much to you these days—”
“What’s going on here?” I wasn’t sure where Mike had come from, but there he was anyway.
“Difference of opinion, that’s all,” Carter said smoothly. “Nothing to worry about.”
Mike walked up the stairs and stood next to Bodhi and me, looking from one to another. “Is that right?”
In another situation, it would’ve been comical how quickly we both uttered “Yessir.”
In this one? I turned on my heel, muttered something along the lines of “Excuse me” and headed to the cabins.
As I walked, I got my phone out and called Wren without thinking.
It took long enough for him to answer that I’d just come to my senses about disturbing him when I heard the call connect.
“Ville, what’s wrong?” he asked, as if somehow telepathically connected to me.
“What, I can’t just call you?” I asked, my voice a bit snappier than normal.
I heard him sigh. Then a door opened and closed, and there was a telltale sound of a creaking chair as he sat down. “Talk to me.”
It wasn’t a request. I sighed as if I was some delayed echo.
“This thing with Jenn has gotten to me more than I thought it would,” I found myself saying.
I’d called Wren after we knew she was going to surgery, and then I’d kept him up to date every step of the way after. Wren was the type to listen to the doctors and he’d been pretty relaxed about the whole thing, especially after he’d talked with Emery, too.
Wren hummed. “She’s a bit magical, isn’t she?”
“They both are.” Jenn and Mike. “I’m not…. It’s weird.”
He chuckled, low and raspy in the way that told me he’d been recording songs for days, take after take after take until he was happy with the final result. “You know I understand that more than most.”
I did understand. Wren’s parents had been mentally absent at best, neglectful at worst. Mine… well, mine had been abusive either directly or indirectly.
“Mom wants me to go help her with shit.”
“You’re not going.” The words didn’t come out harsh, but they were quick, filled with conviction and love.
My eyes brimmed with tears in a way that made me very happy to see the cabins. I’d speed-walked there and hadn’t even been paying attention.
“You’re not going, Ville. That woman doesn’t deserve you.”
A lump formed in my throat. It wasn’t the first time Wren had told me this, but I guess I needed to hear them again just to get an emotional whiplash today, goddammit. I entered my cabin and kicked off my shoes, then walked straight to the back and sat on the bed.
He listened to me gather myself, staying quiet whenever he wasn’t humming a tune under his breath. They were new melodies, which was what got me out of my funk—for the most part anyway—in a few more minutes.
“I’ll call Janne,” I told him.
“Good. As you should.” Then, because my best friend knew me too fucking well, he asked, “Now what else is this mood about?”
I sighed, then got off the bed to go blow my nose while he listened and protested, laughing a little.
I went to sit on the couch next, trying not to be a total sad sack. “Carter hired someone who just showed up today. Nobody told me about the guy.”
Wren hissed. “That’s kind of shitty, but I do see both sides.”
I snorted. “I almost decked Bodhi.”
He groaned. “Ville….”
“No, I know. I’m trying to be good, but we don’t get along, and I don’t care about him enough to actively try to change that.
” I immediately knew I’d said the wrong thing when Wren went completely silent.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I don’t mean it like that.
Of course I care.” Not about Bodhi, we both knew that was true, but I cared deeply about Wren which should’ve been enough for me to at least try harder to be civil with Bodhi.
“Okay.” He was hurt, and while I knew not all of that hurt came from me—a lot of it was due to Bodhi—it made me feel like shit.
“I’ll try harder. I promise.”
“I got to go; I have Merle in the studio today.” Merle was one of the best country music producers and it had been Wren’s dream to work with her.
The fact that he had answered my call told me how important I was to him.
“Wren, I’m sorry—”
“No.” The tone was his serious one that brooked no argument. “Call your cousin.”
Then he ended the call before I had time to say anything more.
Sighing, I did the math. It would be late at night in Finland, but my cousin was nothing if not a night owl.
The phone rang for only a while, before I heard a surprised, yet pleased, “Ville? Mit? kuuluu?”
I chuckled immediately. He was one of the people who asked me how I was doing and never made me feel annoyed about it.
“Ihan ok,” I lied. Then made a face at myself and switched to English, because it was easier for me. “Actually, not really. My mom wants me to come over there to help her with the cottage.”
Janne hummed. “I can do that for you next week, whether she’s there or not. Hell, I’ll take the kids and they can swim while I do the chores.”
I slumped forward, elbows on knees as relief swamped me momentarily. “Kiitos.”
“Hey, I know why you don’t want to come. Don’t forget that. There’s no need to thank me. I’m only doing it as a favor to you and because my mom would want me to help her out.”
Janne had been one of the only people in our extended family who’d ever seen my dad hit me, and how my mother had done absolutely nothing but turn her back to us both to avoid doing anything about it.
“Yeah, but I’m still thankful.”
“You should come visit us though. Not your mom but like us, all the cousins. Sanna started to listen to country because of Wren. I blame you.”
I laughed at the distaste in his tone. Finland wasn’t a place where country music was popular.
“No, you blame Wren. Maybe one day I can bring him over and you can push him into the lake or something.” It had been our cousin group’s favorite way of messing with one another during the summers at a number of summer cottages.
Janne laughed. “Fine. I’ll forgive you for corrupting my sister, but I won’t forgive Wren.”
“Deal.” I smiled. “But honestly, man. Thank you.”
“All you had to do was ask. I’ll let you know if there’s anything I need your input on.”
“Thanks. Talk to you later.”
“Moi.”
“Bye.”
I ended the call and put my phone on the coffee table.
There was a sudden, hesitant knock at the door.
“It’s open,” I called out, too wiped out from all the emotional upheaval to get off the couch.
Emery peered in. “Hey.” He looked like he’d just woken up. “You okay?”
I shrugged. “Are you?”
He closed the door and came to sit next to me. “I was napping when I got a text to come check up on you.”
I hung my head. Wren. Of course. “You didn’t need to do that.”
“I know. But I wanted to.” He leaned into my side and I lifted my arm for him to come closer. “Before I left the house, Carter told me what happened, too.”
I snorted softly.
“I think you forgot to adjust your expectations,” he said after a while.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re used to being in charge. Sure, you have to collaborate with the label, but you run the whole operation that’s Wren’s security.
” He took my hand and began to play with my fingers.
“They weren’t trying to be disrespectful, Ville.
They’re just doing things like they’ll do them after you and Wren leave.
Nick called the number at the gate and someone answered before letting him in. They weren’t being unsafe.”
Sighing, I squeezed him a little. “I know.”