Chapter 4
I hope you enjoyed breakfast, Ms. Smith.”
“It was delicious.” Jade dabbed at the corner of her mouth with her napkin as she looked at Mabel, owner of the Clementine Inn.
The inn was expectedly small, with only eight rooms, and each one had a different country theme.
Jade was in the cowboy room, and she had to admit that while it wasn’t her style, it was tastefully done.
Although she could do without the steer head hanging on the wall above her bed.
“Clyde is famous for his biscuits aro
und these parts.” Mabel beamed with pride as she referred to her husband, a slim man who was just as friendly as his wife. She straightened the black napkin holder on the table. “Are you here for the hoedown this weekend?”
Mabel was friendly, but Jade wasn’t in the mood for a chat.
She’d planned to get a cup of coffee, her normal breakfast of champions, but she’d skipped dinner last night and the scent of biscuits and gravy from the modest breakfast buffet had been irresistible.
Sausage gravy was her weakness. “No, just a meeting.” If only it were just a meeting.
Her nerves started up again. Ugh, she shouldn’t I have eaten so much for breakfast. When she stood and started clearing her plate, Mabel intervened.
“Don’t worry, hon, I’ll clean this up. Just let me, Clyde, or the staff know if you need anything else.”
“Thank you.” Jade forced a smile at Mabel’s kindness, even though she could barely contain her anxiety.
“Sure thing. You have a blessed day.”
Jade’s smile relaxed into something more natural.
Even though she still lived in the South, she missed this kind of sweet Southern hospitality that was in short supply in a large city.
She was certain she could find it in rural Georgia, but she never ventured past the Atlanta suburbs.
She never had the time. Or made the time.
She had twenty minutes before she needed to leave for downtown Clementine where The Clementine Times office was located, so she hurried back to her room.
She half expected Logan to call her back, but so far he hadn’t.
She felt some relief that he was respecting her boundaries, but there was a part of her that wondered if she was doing the right thing by not listening to what he had to say.
He didn’t ask her for anything, just to talk, and that was new. What if... ?
No. There were no what-ifs when it came to Logan. For her own sanity and financial health, she had to keep her distance, even if he was telling the truth. Even if she missed him. Even though it hurts.
Blocking off her feelings about Logan, she went into the bathroom to touch up her hair and makeup, pausing to stare in the mirror.
Her hair had been short ten years ago, and now it was shoulder length.
Despite watching her diet—that went out the window this morning—and exercising when she could, she wasn’t as thin as she was a decade ago. Would Sebastian notice? Would he care?
And why was she wondering whether he would or wouldn’t?
Shaking her head, she left the bathroom.
All she needed was to look presentable and professional, which she always did.
Even on business casual Fridays, she still wore her power suits and sensible pumps.
She grabbed her briefcase filled with spreadsheets and other persuasive sales collateral, just in case Sebastian had questions.
The latch opened on its own, her papers falling to the floor.
“What in the world?” She looked at the latch.
It seemed fine, and it had never failed before.
She grimaced, picking up the papers, organizing them in their original stacks, and putting them in the case, making sure it fastened tightly.
Giving it a shake, it stayed shut. She must not have closed it properly the last time she opened it.
Mustering confidence she didn’t feel, Jade marched out of the Clementine Inn to her rental car, a black two-door Nissan that had a little pep but not much room.
She hadn’t expected Miles to splurge on a Cadillac or some other luxury rental, but the Nissan seemed cheap.
Fortunately she wouldn’t be in Arkansas for long.
Despite it being mid-May, it was already humid and warm, making her sweat. Or was it her nerves? Probably both.
The drive from the inn to downtown Clementine was quick. Too quick, and when she pulled the Nissan into one of the three parking spaces in front of The Clementine Times office, she didn’t get out of the car. Instead, she put it in Park and flipped the air conditioner dial to its highest setting.
Only the quaint, historic building separated her from Sebastian, and she felt her tenuous resolve slip away.
What if he refused to see her? What if he was still angry about the past?
What if he agreed to see her but simply wouldn’t listen to reason?
She might not be able to get him to talk to Miles or anyone else from Harrington Media.
She pressed her fingertips to her temples.
The spiral was getting her nowhere. Miles had faith in her—why didn’t she have it in herself?
And if she did fail, it wasn’t like she was going to be fired.
.. right? Oh no. What if she was? She couldn’t afford to lose her job.
She still had a loan and credit cards to pay off from trying to help Logan and Lydia—
Thump. Thump.
She jumped at the sound on the driver’s side window. When she turned, she could see only the beltline on a pair of well-worn khakis. “Can I help you?” she asked through the glass. Years of living in a big city had taught her to be cautious.
“You can’t park here.”
Jade froze, recognizing the man’s voice before he bent over and peered at her. And when she raised her gaze— oh ... my —she was face-to-face with Sebastian Hudson.
* * *
Seb blinked as he stared at the auburn-haired woman in the car.
When he saw she’d taken his reserved parking space—the only perk he allowed himself as publisher and editor in chief—he was irritated.
Everyone in Clementine knew not to park here.
Then he saw the Illinois plate on the back of her car, and he settled down.
He couldn’t blame an out-of-towner for stealing his spot.
He parked in the next space, got out of his thirteen-year-old red Nissan Altima, and knocked on the window.
When she turned and faced him, he froze.
She looked familiar—so familiar that he.
.. no. It couldn’t be her. And for a minute he was sure she wasn’t.
The Jade Smith he remembered had a short pixie cut, and this woman had long hair with luxurious waves that fell past her shoulders.
Yowzah. Green eyes too, but green eyes and red hair weren’t a rare combination.
Besides, there wasn’t a single reason on earth for Jade to be in Clementine, much less Arkansas.
She’d shaken off the dust of the state over a decade ago. This must be her doppelganger—
Honk!
He jumped and pressed his body against the woman’s car as an old truck almost hit him.
He spun around and saw the vehicle slow down, hitch and jerk, and finally park crookedly in one of the last empty spots in front of the news building.
He peered at the truck. Hold up. That was one of Bo’s junkers.
But his friend wouldn’t drive like that unless he’d been drinking, and that was impossible. Bo had been a teetotaler all his life.
Knock. Knock.
The woman seated in her car now at his back tapped on her window a third time. Oh, right, the Jade look-alike. He stepped aside as she opened the car door. “Lady, I know you’re new here, but this is my—”
“Hey! Are you Mr. Hudson?”
Seb turned as a very young woman advanced toward him. So Bo wasn’t driving the truck, thank goodness, and this must be Kalista, Viv’s stepdaughter—
“Sebastian?”
Slowly he turned. This was no doppelganger. This was Jade. His Jade. He shook off the thought. She’d never been his.
“Mister?”
Kalista’s high-pitched question pulled his attention away again. He glanced at her, seeing her tapping one sandaled foot. How did he manage to get sandwiched between these two?
“Excuse me, we were talking before you pulled up,” Jade said, peering around Seb.
“Whatever.”
Seb’s gaze bobbed between them as they stared each other down. Jade’s cool-as-an-ice-bath expression had met its match in this high-and-mighty teenager. He’d seen Jade in this mode plenty of times at work. Business Jade was all business, and she could be a bit intimidating.
Kalista was undeterred. “I have an interview.”
“I have a meeting,” Jade responded.
Meeting? What meeting?
“And I was here first,” Jade added.
“Beauty before age, right?”
“ Excuse me?”
Unnoticed, Seb slowly backed away, hurried into the building, and went straight to his office, quickly shutting the door behind him.
He sank on the chair behind his desk. Now that he’d met Kalista, he wasn’t impressed.
She was haughty, and he wasn’t about to subject any of his employees to her entitlement.
Besides, she probably wouldn’t take a lowly delivery job anyway.
Then there was the fact that she seemed to be a terrible driver, at least with Bo’s truck.
He’d go through the motions of the interview for Bo’s and Viv’s sakes, then move on to finding someone else.
But he had no idea what Jade was talking about.
Surely, she wasn’t here to meet him. But who else would she be meeting with?
Evelyn Margot was working from home this morning— something she did fairly often.
She could call advertising leads from her apartment just as easily as she could from her office here.