Chapter 38
RAQUEL
The delivery van I’d just bought was a piece of junk. A beautiful piece of junk, but a piece of junk all the same.
I stared into the open engine bay and used the back of my wrist to wipe sweat from my brow. Instead of taking the van to the shop to work on it there, I’d brought it to my house, a decision I was truly regretting right about now.
Where I was standing in my driveway, midday sun beat down on the back of my neck. The metal body work was hot enough to fry an egg. I was seriously missing having a roof over my head and AC running.
Either way, I needed this van to stop being difficult and start proving that its previous owner hadn’t been a complete liar when he’d sworn up and down that it ran great.
So far though, I had the distinct feeling that before I would be able to start my new job, I was going to need more than a few skills I’d learned in the old one.
I was still cataloging the components I’d need to replace when I heard a truck peeling onto my property. Well, it looks like my brother has once again invited himself over.
Avery was the only person I knew who’d take a turn like that on gravel, and when I looked up, my suspicion was confirmed. He was racing toward me, not even taking a second glance at the van as he climbed out of his truck before the dust of his arrival had even started settling.
Our relationship still hadn’t recovered. We spoke to each other only when strictly necessary and even those interactions were cold. It kind of felt like we were standing on opposite sides of a divide neither of us knew how to cross.
“What?” I called over as he slammed his door behind him. “Don’t tell me you found Dad in your office again.”
Since he was wearing sunglasses, I couldn’t be sure, but I definitely thought he’d just rolled his eyes at me. “No, it’s not that.”
“Oh.”
I pulled off my work gloves and turned to face him, crossing my arms lightly over my chest and bracing myself for another argument.
While Avery was still working out all the legalities surrounding having the business transferred to him, he was already acting like he owned it and he wasn’t subtle about his management style either.
So far, he’d commandeered Dad’s office as his own, claiming to need it in order to save us, and just about freaked out every time Dad set foot in there, which was pretty much every day. Since it was technically still his office—and his business—and all.
“Why are you here, then?” I asked. “I don’t really have time to listen to another tirade about how you’re handing things.”
“It’s not that either.” He came to stand in front of me, crossing his own arms to mirror my posture and not lifting the sunglasses off his eyes. “I came to tell you that I’m probably going to sell the shop. There’s finally someone who’s interested in buying it.”
“What?”
My ears were suddenly ringing, my head feeling like it was swimming.
Or maybe just floating somewhere far above my body.
That shop had been like our second home since we’d been old enough to hold a wrench.
I couldn’t believe that he’d just toss a grenade like that at me without any warning whatsoever.
I’d known he was trying to get an investor. We’d talked about that. Someone to buy into the place. We had not, however, discussed it being sold outright.
Avery finally slid the sunglasses off, just holding them in his hand as he glared at me. “What do you mean, what? I’ve been working on this for weeks, Raquel. You knew that.”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat and my hands started shaking, a sick feeling sinking to the pit of my stomach. A dozen different arguments surged into my head, but my feelings didn’t matter to my brother. Not anymore. “Alright. Well, it’s up to you. You’ve made that very clear.”
His jaw flexed, his eyes narrowing as they held mine, but he didn’t argue either. Instead, he just huffed out a breath and shook his head. “Okay, then.”
Without another word, he spun on the heels of his work boots, stalked back to his truck, and drove away with a cloud of dust billowing out behind him. Meanwhile, my heart was still hammering in my ears, and despite the heat, my extremities had gone cold.
I honestly couldn’t believe he was going to sell our father’s shop just like that. It was our family legacy. Avery and I had both spent our entire lives working there, learning there, and gearing up to make it ours someday.
It didn’t matter that I was now also starting a contracting business. Hell, part of the reason I was doing it at all was for the damn shop. That place meant everything to our dad and it’d meant the world to our mom too.
And yet, at the first sign of trouble, rather than accepting help, Avery was selling it. My eyes slid shut as I tried to process that, but there was just no way of getting my head wrapped around it, so instead, I went back to the van and focused on getting through one thing at a time.
All my life, Avery had been more than just my brother. He’d been one of my best friends. Now we couldn’t get through a single conversation without wanting to rip each other’s faces off. After the sale, I wasn’t even sure we’d ever talk again.
God, I just wish things could go back to normal between us. At least then, I wouldn’t have lost him too.
A few hours later, I’d made some progress with getting the van running again, but I’d also realized there was a lot more work to be done than I’d originally thought.
There was no way I was getting it running today, so I finally dropped the hood and headed inside, sweaty and in desperate need of a shower.
My back was aching, my face was slightly sunburned, and my heart was still absolutely crushed.
In the last couple months, I’d learned that we’d be losing my dad slowly from here on out, I’d lost the man I loved, and now, I would be losing the shop—and that was without even touching the subject of the current state of my relationship with my brother.
It was just too much.
As excited as I was about working on the motel, I also just felt drained. I hadn’t expected today’s hit to come and it’d knocked me straight off the pedestal of hope that had been keeping me going since I’d spoken to Frieda.
I stood under the warm spray of the shower for much longer than I probably should have, but at least it helped soothe my sore muscles a little bit.
When I was done, I changed into an oversized shirt and a pair of shorts, then padded barefoot to the kitchen to see what I could rustle up for dinner.
I was still sleeping in the Airstream, but one of my bathrooms and the kitchen in my house were fully functional now.
That helped a lot.
On my way to the fridge, I grabbed my phone off the counter and unlocked the screen, figuring that I could put on some music while I made food, but as soon as I unlocked the screen, my footsteps faltered. At some point during the afternoon, I’d missed a text from Theo.
It’d been almost a month since he’d left, and in all that time, neither of us had reached out to the other. I couldn’t count the number of times I’d been tempted, but I’d resisted the urge with everything I had.
While things in Quartz Pass definitely hadn’t been all sunshine and roses, I still couldn’t leave here. At least, not until Dad?—
Nope. I’m not even finishing that thought.
The point was that Theo still couldn’t come back to live here forever if he wanted to remain a part of his family, and I couldn’t leave while Dad was here. Even so, tears burned the backs of my eyes as I read his message.
Theo: Frieda called and told me the big news. I’m so happy for you. Hope that’s what you’re spending the money on and not bailing Avery out.
A shaky smile formed on my lips, my gaze lingering on the words he’d written. I could practically hear his voice in my head as I reread them, but before I could decide if I was going to respond, another message popped up and my stomach flipped over.
Theo: I’m sorry about everything. I really wish things could’ve been different.
My eyes slid shut as the ache I’d been carrying around for a month grew sharper behind my ribs. In the wise words of Kelly Clarkson, my life had sucked without him. These last twenty-seven days had felt like an eternity, every hour dragging and absolutely nothing feeling right.
Miley had been trying to keep my mind off it, inviting me to go hiking or for drinks at the bar when I wasn’t working, but so far, nothing I’d tried had made it better. My thumbs hovered over the screen to tell him that things could be different.
I didn’t care about money, or what Avery thought, or what Theo’s family expected from him. I just wanted him, the man who’d spilled paint all over my floor and nearly drowned trying to stand up on a paddleboard.
The man who’d listened to me when it’d felt like my world was falling apart and who’d somehow become part of the very fabric of my life in only a couple of months. That was all I wanted.
Theo.
My phone buzzed again before I could muster up the courage to tell him any of that, though.
Theo: One more thing, then I’ll leave you alone. Promise. I have someone who’s interested in the shop. If you meet a man named Colin, he’s a good one. You can trust him.
My eyes widened as it dawned on me what that meant.
The realization instantly collided with the heartbroken misery I’d been indulging in.
One by one, pieces of the puzzle started snapping into place in my head, and I was suddenly one hundred percent confident that Avery’s news and Theo’s texts were related.
Avery’s miracle buyer hadn’t dropped out of thin air like he seemed to believe. Theo had sent him. He might’ve left to go back to Chicago, but he was still trying to help us. He was just doing it from a distance now after Avery had nearly bitten his head off for it the first time around.
This interested buyer of Avery’s was almost definitely the man Theo was referring to. Someone he seemed to trust enough to vouch for personally, even if it meant breaking a silence we both knew was vital for our survival at this point.
It was extremely unlikely that there were suddenly two people interested in the shop, but I highly doubted Avery knew that Theo had sent him this buyer. If he found out Theo was behind this?
Oh, God.
I dropped my head onto the kitchen table, already knowing that it was going to be an absolute disaster. This was a terrible plan, letting Avery sell to someone Theo had sent his way. It was the worst plan, actually, but it was also the only plan.
As I lifted my head and glanced back at my phone, no new messages had popped up. It seemed he was keeping his word about that being the last one, but I still had so much to say. I wanted to tell him how much I missed him and let him know that I still thought about him every day.
I wanted to make sure that he was happy and that he knew he could always come back if he wasn’t. More than anything, I wanted to tell him that I loved him too, but I didn’t type any of those things.
In fact, I didn’t say anything at all. Theo had reached out to congratulate me on the new business and to let me know that we could trust this Colin person. That was all there was to it.
There was no use in trying to turn the exchange into more than that. Nothing had changed.
Except for the fact that sooner or later, I would have to talk to Avery about this buyer and I had a horrible feeling that neither of us was going to enjoy that conversation. I just hoped it wouldn’t be the blow that tore us apart forever.