Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Luke
Wednesday night was the first opportunity I got to see Magnolia again. The week so far had nearly driven me out of my skin with wanting to see her, touch her, reassure myself that last weekend was real, but not surprisingly, my busy life had other things to say about that.
I’d kissed Addie good night, told my dad I was going out, and driven straight to Magnolia’s apartment. I wasn’t ashamed to admit I’d been here less than five minutes when I had her naked and under me. She didn’t protest.
We’d both just come apart simultaneously, telling me we were perfectly in tune with each other. I rolled sideways and pulled her into me as I caught my breath.
“That was quite a hello,” Magnolia said with a satisfied grin.
I laughed. “So how’s your week been, since we skipped the small talk earlier?”
“Better now. Yours?”
“So much better now, and I’ve had a decent week so far as it is.”
“Yeah?” she purred lazily, running her finger back and forth over my chest.
“West and I got all the drywall finished last night. Wiring’s done. Water line is run. I need to paint and do a dozen other tasks, but we’ve got complete walls.”
“That’s exciting, Luke. How does it look?”
“Not like my old barn,” I said. “In a good way.”
“I can’t wait to see it.”
“Come out anytime.”
“I just might. But does your family know about us?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. I didn’t want to jump the gun.”
She nodded. “I told Presley, because I tell Presley almost everything. She won’t talk though.”
“Are we a secret?” I asked.
“Not on purpose. It wouldn’t take much for someone to see your truck outside and figure it out. It’s different when it comes to your family though.”
“Right. I’ll have to figure out when and how to let Addie know. I haven’t dated much.”
“That’s your call,” she said. “I can handle being hidden away for a while if you want to protect her.”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to hide Magnolia away, not for any longer than necessary.
I believed I could talk to Addie and set her expectations so she wouldn’t jump ahead to me getting married or her having a stepmom.
I’d let Jessie know I was introducing our daughter to someone I cared about, just to be transparent, but I didn’t expect her to object.
My bigger hesitation was Magnolia herself.
Though we’d texted every day since Saturday, we were in that awkward period where it was too early to call it a relationship.
Not without a conversation first. As ready as I was to jump in with both feet, I was doing my best to take it one day at a time as we both made the mental adjustment from hating each other to sleeping together.
“We’ll play it by ear,” I said, determined not to overthink it. “I’ll be right back.”
I headed for the bathroom. When I came back, Magnolia had crawled under the blankets and held them up for me to join her, giving me another view of her body.
That’s all it took for me to want her again, but just like I could be an adult and enjoy dinner before jumping to dessert, I could spend time with Magnolia without ravishing her.
Well, at least for a few minutes and after I’d had my way with her once, I thought with a grin.
“What are you smiling about?” she asked as I moved up against her under the blankets, soaking in her warmth.
“Just happy to see you,” I said. “So tell me about your week. Busy one?”
“Not overly busy. I’ve only booked one new event, the one for Earthly Charm. I have a feeling I’ve hit that point in the season where I won’t book anything else until the new year.”
“You don’t think you’ll get some last-minute holiday parties?”
She shook her head. “Most of those are corporate, and they start preparing months in advance.”
“I had an idea,” I said. “I’ve had a couple inquiries for holiday parties in the barn.”
“That’s amazing, Luke. Congratulations.”
“Thanks. I had to tell them it won’t be ready in time this year, but what I was thinking is, what if I had a policy where people need to contract with you to plan their event if they want to use the barn?”
“So you’d force them to hire me?” she asked, frowning.
“That’s sort of harsh phrasing, but we could work a deal.”
She was shaking her head before I could say more.
“No?” I asked. “It might get you more bookings.”
She propped herself up on her elbow, and I fought to keep my eyes on her face instead of her gorgeous breasts. “You’re sweet, but I need to get business myself, Luke. I can do this.”
“I never said you couldn’t,” I said quickly. “I was just trying to help you solve a problem.”
She smiled and kissed me, and I got the impression that was her way of dismissing my idea.
“We could make it work both ways,” I said in one last try. “Reciprocal agreement kind of thing.”
She shook her head. “People don’t want to be forced to work with certain businesses. Especially me in some cases.”
“But if they come to me and I recommend you—”
“Luke.” She kissed me again. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I need to make my own way. And I’m doing it. Every month my revenue increases. I’ve got this.”
“Okay, okay. I wasn’t saying you can’t do it. I know you can. You’re amazing.”
“Oh, yeah?” she said, her voice going flirty. “Tell me more.”
Somewhere in the apartment, her phone sounded with a notification. Magnolia glanced toward the love seat, where it looked like she’d been sitting before I got here, based on the half-full cup of water on the table and a planner and her phone on the cushion.
“I’ll see who it is later,” she said, snuggling back into me.
The phone sounded again, two times in quick succession. She sat up and sent me a puzzled look, as if I would have any idea who it was. I shrugged.
“Go check it,” I suggested.
“I’ve got this hot farmer in my bed,” she purred, tracing my lower lip with her finger. “Do I look stupid?”
Shaking my head, I grinned and growled, “You look gooooood.” I leaned in to kiss her.
Another notification came from her phone, then two more in rapid succession before we could say more.
“I hope nothing’s wrong,” she said, sitting up again and breaking out of the sexy haze we’d both been falling into. She climbed out from under the blankets and walked over to the love seat.
I was immediately sidetracked by the view even as there was another alert. There wasn’t much that would prove worthy of pulling my attention from her exquisite body.
She picked up the phone. “Chloe. Oh, and Presley too. They both texted…”
She swiped and read for a few seconds. When she turned back toward me, her mouth gaped open, her attention still on the screen.
“What?” she said in an astonished tone. “No way.” She hurried back to bed and slid under the covers as she continued to read.
“What’s going on?” I asked, concern creeping in.
She let out a howl of laughter as she continued to read. “Look at the Tattler.”
“My phone’s in my pants.”
Rolling to her back, she moved next to me, holding her phone up where both of us could see it.
She pointed out an anonymous post in the community news thread that said Felix James had been fired from Lansford Development.
The poster claimed to be a friend of someone who worked for the company in Nashville.
“You think it’s true?” I asked.
“It’s almost unbelievable, maybe too good to be true.
Except the timing… My mother intended to tell my grandfather everything, from my paternity to the fact she’s filing for divorce.
If anything could convince him to get rid of Felix, that would be it.
He has a thing where he insists on the company staying in the family.
A divorce and no blood ties would mean Felix is no longer part of the family in any way. ”
“But Felix has been with that company for years, hasn’t he?”
“Since before my grandfather arranged for him to marry my mother.”
I reared back mentally, trying to wrap my head around that. “Arranged? Forced?”
“The same way Felix attempted to force me to marry Rick.”
I knew she’d been engaged to this Rick prick, and that when she’d broken the engagement, Felix had cut her off and kicked her out. Rumors had circulated suggesting the engagement had been arranged, but I’d not really believed that was realistic. “I wasn’t sure if that was true or a rumor.”
“It’s true,” she said. “Welcome to the James family. We put the F-U in dysfunction.” She laughed dryly.
I thought about Addie and her future. My biggest wish for her was a happy, productive life, whatever that looked like for her.
I couldn’t fathom how a parent could manipulate and discount their child’s life to that extent.
For business? You built a business up to give your children the best life you could, not the other way around.
Magnolia continued to read the comments on the app as I tried to grasp the difference between our families. Hers was more like the soap operas my mom had sunk into in her last few years when she wouldn’t get out of bed. Crazy, unbelievable stuff. That was Magnolia’s reality.
My family might’ve been stretched for money more often than not, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. A good family was worth a hundred times more than a huge bank account.
I noticed Magnolia tapping away on her screen.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Texting my mother to see if she knows whether it’s true. I know it’s late, but I need to know. If Felix was indeed canned, who knows what he’ll do?”
“You don’t think he’d blame you, do you?” I frowned, uneasiness swirling in my gut. I didn’t trust that son of a bitch for anything.
“If anyone, he’d blame my mother,” she said distractedly. “Or my grandfather.”
I rolled toward her, my arm across her belly, content to breathe her in and hold her while she got to the bottom of the latest chapter of her family’s drama.
“My mom told my grandfather everything a week ago,” Magnolia read from a new message. “He told her he was going to ‘make some changes.’”
I lay there listening to her periodic comments as she scrolled and texted, content to be a sounding board and a personal heater while she unraveled the truth.
I couldn’t help thinking how incredible it was that she was relatively normal considering her background.
I knew when we’d been kids that lots of people called her a mean girl and talked behind her back.
Others hadn’t fully embraced her but accepted invitations to her parties because those were the places to be seen.
Even back then, I’d seen beyond all that to the girl beneath the surface.
It had all started in sixth grade when I’d forgotten my lunch one day. I’d elected not to call home to see if my mom could deliver it, knowing she and my dad were hard at work and didn’t have time to make up for my mistake.
I’d been out on the playground after the lunch break, and Magnolia had pulled a bag of chips out, smiled at me, and given them to me.
They were salt-and-vinegar flavor, which she’d said she didn’t like, but those chips had made an impression on me and helped fill my empty stomach that day.
Allowed me to see beyond the rich-girl exterior to the kind gesture.
As we got older, I wasn’t blind to some of her antics, but I sensed somehow that there was a girl beneath all that who was hurting.
I’d had a crush on her from that day in sixth grade forward.
By the time we were juniors, when one of our old family cars quit and was beyond repair, I was allowed to use my mom’s car to get to and from school and football practice as long as I picked her up from her cleaning job each night.
I remembered the first time I’d caught a glimpse of Magnolia driving her little sports car past me, up the long driveway and into the six-car garage.
Instead of being intimidated, I’d been captivated.
A few months passed before the opportunity to speak to her had finally arisen.
It had blossomed into a tentative, fledgling relationship.
One that I’d fucked up, not her. Felix was the culprit and the liar, but I’d been the fool who jumped to wrong conclusions.
I should’ve known Magnolia wasn’t the bad guy.
I’d gotten to know her, had started to think we might have a special kind of connection.
The firing of my mother had highlighted that we were from two different worlds and played on my every insecurity.
I could see it clear as day now. She might’ve come from a toxic environment, but she wasn’t to blame for our adolescent ending.
I was. I’d stopped believing she was good and kind and succumbed to everyone else’s opinion of her.
I couldn’t fix the past, but I could try to give us a chance at a future.
“It looks like it’s true,” she said, her tone confident. “I found an article from a business journal dated today. ‘Felix James Out as the Number Two Guy at Lansford Development.’” She laughed. “He must be losing his mind. What a glorious bit of long-awaited karma.”
I kissed her cheek, sharing in her joy that the bastard had gotten what was coming to him.
“I have one question for you,” I said as she sent Chloe and Presley a link to the business-journal article.
“Yeah?”
“How is it that you’re so normal compared to the shit show you grew up in?”
She laughed again, quieter this time. “Normal? I’m far from normal. I was good and screwed up, but I’m working on it with my therapist every week.”
She handed me her phone to set on the nightstand. I did so, then rolled on top of her, bracing my weight on my forearms as I peered down at her pretty face. “I think you’re amazing,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Could that be because I’m naked and under you?” she teased.
“I love it when you’re naked and under me, but I’d think just as highly of you if you were on top, riding me into the sunset.”
“Mmm,” she said, grinning. “Maybe we should test that theory. See if it’s true.”
I rolled to my back, taking her with me, drawing more laughter from her and loving the sound. Loving the way she felt on top of me, particularly as she kissed me and ground her hips against me.
When she stretched over to the nightstand and took out a box of condoms, I watched her hungrily. Impatiently.
Once she had me sheathed up and we slid our bodies together, I caught my breath, then said, “Yep. I was right. Pretty fucking amazing.”