Chapter 19
S eb’s gaze landed on the ledger that fell out of Jade’s briefcase. His jaw dropped. He’d turned his office, house, and car upside down looking for it. All this time she had it, and he definitely, absolutely, without a doubt knew he wasn’t the one who gave it to her.
Jade fell to her knees, scrambling to pick up the papers. And his ledger. “I can explain,” she said, jumping to her feet.
His eyes narrowed. “You’d better.”
She paused, clutching the open case, loose papers and the ledger book pressed against her chest. “Can we talk somewhere else?” she squeaked.
He glanced at Mabel, who looked unsurprisingly confused. He and Jade were blocking the front entrance too. He gave Jade a sharp nod.
“We can go to my room—”
That was the last place he wanted to be right now, despite his yearning to have her alone and all to himself again the minute he drove away from the inn.
When he heard a phone ring in his car shortly after he left the parking lot, he saw her purse on the floorboard and quickly turned around.
Work could wait—it wasn’t going anywhere. They could start their date right now.
“No,” he said, then stalked off to the empty eating area. He heard papers rustling behind him as she followed. When he reached the other side of the room, he turned around. “How did you get my ledger?”
Her porcelain skin turned ashen, and she laid the briefcase and papers on the table but still held the ledger. She glanced at it and gave it to him. “I took it.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know it was wrong, but it was kind of an accident.”
“How do you accidentally steal something, Jade?”
Her hands were practically shaking off her wrists, but she didn’t bother to hide them. She told him about sneaking into his office, presumably to find out where he was so they could talk about Harrington again. She didn’t find a calendar—because he didn’t own one—and then noticed the ledger.
“I just took a peek,” she insisted. Her voice was trembling too. “Then Evelyn and Tyler showed up, and I panicked. I ducked under the desk—”
He held up his hand. She was sounding ridiculous, and he didn’t care about the rest. She went behind his back, stole his financial records, and kept them for days. Days. She had plenty of opportunity to tell him if it was just an “accident.”
His heartbeat ground to a halt. It had all been a ruse, and he’d fallen for it. He wasn’t crazy enough to think she ran into the burning building to save that baby so she could convince him to listen to Harrington. But she’d taken advantage. He’d even been aware of it at the time.
His mistake was to believe everything after that. That she cared about his determination to keep The Times alive. That she was interested in seeing and experiencing the community he loved. That she had kissed him... and meant it. A brick to his face would have been less excruciating.
“Sebastian.” Tears swam in her eyes—those stunning eyes he’d gotten lost in moments ago when she was in his arms. “I’m sorry. I was going to tell you—”
“When?” he exploded. “Tonight? Tomorrow? Were you even going to stay?” He shoved his hand through his hair, pulling at the ends. “I bet you were planning to get on a plane tonight.”
“I promise I was going to stay. I still am—”
“Don’t bother.” He blew past her, gripping the ledger. He had no idea if Mabel was still behind the counter, and he didn’t care. He had to get out of the inn. He had to get away from Jade. He had to figure out how to breathe again.
He jumped in his car, slammed the door, and drove off.
When the furious haze cleared from his eyes, he slowed down, pulled over to the side of the road, and stopped.
The ledger was still in his lap. He looked through it, making sure nothing had been removed.
Nothing had, but there were things Jade could have copied down.
Account numbers, notes Flora had written to help guide him.
She could have taken a picture of all of it. She probably had.
Seb threw the book on the seat, then slammed his fist on the steering wheel. He’d read Jade Smith all wrong, again. Forget his girl picker. His entire perception process was busted. He’d let down his shields and she plowed on through until she got what she wanted.
He’d been stupid enough to believe she wanted him. Not once, but twice.
A car whizzed by. He couldn’t stay on the road. He didn’t want to go to work. Or home.
Seb yanked down the gearshift and headed for the mountains.
* * *
“We’re ready to preboard flight 6845 to Atlanta. All preboarding customers proceed to the front.”
Jade crossed her arms as a woman in a wheelchair pushed by an attendant passed her, followed by two mothers with their young children.
She barely noticed them as she stared straight ahead, waiting for her turn to board, her suitcase next to her.
The briefcase had gone into the dumpster as soon as Sebastian left.
Her chest tightened. Her throat too. The second Sebastian refused to listen to the rest of her explanation and apology, she knew it was over. And she only had herself to blame. She had to fight not to go after him. It would have been a waste of time.
There was only one thing left for her to do. Go back to Atlanta. Where she belonged.
She wasn’t sure if Mabel had witnessed her and Sebastian’s altercation, but the woman had been subdued when Jade settled her bill, and there was no, “Come on back, ya hear,” from her before she walked out of the inn.
She’d been able to get a last-minute seat on tonight’s final flight to Atlanta.
It had cost her a pretty penny, and she wasn’t going to expense it.
She’d take the hit, and any other ones that came her way. She’d earned them.
Her seat was in the last row on the plane, and she began to fidget.
She didn’t want to wait. She was in a hurry to leave Arkansas behind again, like she had ten years ago.
She wouldn’t look back. She hated looking back.
She would put Logan, Lydia, Clementine, and everything else behind her and not give them a single second thought. .. including Sebastian.
The pain in her heart deepened. It didn’t matter how much she tried, she couldn’t ignore the sense of betrayal in his eyes before he stormed off.
As she always did, she tried to rationalize.
Even if she hadn’t stolen the ledger, after three days she would still be here, waiting to board a flight back to Atlanta.
Spending more time with Sebastian would have delayed the inevitable.
Her cell rang, and she yanked it out of her purse and shut it off, not bothering to look at the caller ID. She still hadn’t called Miles back, but she’d see him tomorrow. She doubted it was Logan. He hadn’t tried to contact her since the hoedown on Saturday.
She knew for sure it wasn’t Sebastian.
A harried woman who looked to be in her early seventies sat down next to her. “Mind if I plop here?” she said, carrying a large tote bag and sounding a little breathless.
Jade nodded and returned her phone to her purse.
“Thank you. I ran all the way from the TSA checkpoint.” She took in a deep breath, then pushed her fluffy silver bangs from her forehead.
“I hope we don’t have to deal with those X-ray machines for much longer.
I miss when you could just come into an airport, check your bags, and get on the plane without standing in line and.
..” She sighed. “Sorry. I’m in a mood.”
Jade nodded.
“But it’s going to get better.” She grinned, revealing a gold tooth on her bottom left incisor.
“I’m off to visit my grandbabies. I haven’t seen them in years.
” She leaned closer to Jade. “Family feud. I shouldn’t have let it go on so long.
I missed their early years, and now they’re all teenagers. All because of a peach cobbler recipe.”
“Must be some cobbler.”
“Darn tootin’ it is. You have to use a certain kind of peach, you see. From Guy, Arkansas. The sugar-to-cinnamon ratio is the key—”
Jade’s stomach curdled and she tuned out the woman as she described her recipe. She didn’t want to think about food. Or pie. Or sharing a bite with Sebastian. Or his searing, toe-curling, earthquaking kiss—
“Anyway, I ended up calling my daughter and apologizing for getting mad that she put my recipe in her church cookbook without my permission.”
She glanced at the woman, who was smiling at her.
“Life is too short to fuss over peach cobbler, or anything else. Now I have no regrets.”
“Rows twenty through thirty, please board.”
“That’s me, twenty-nine.” She got up from her seat. “Safe travels, young lady.”
“You too.”
Jade watched her go, managing to be happy for her. But not seeing family because of a recipe sounded ridiculous. There were far more serious reasons to be estranged.
She stilled. Regrets. She had plenty. An entire past full of them. Some more recent now, and one that overrode them all. Weariness washed over her at the thought of adding them to the weight of the rest. What else could she do, though? She couldn’t fix the past. The doors were all closed...
Except for one.
“Rows thirty through forty, ready to board.”
Jade looked at her boarding pass. Row forty, seat C . She glanced at the line of passengers waiting to get on the plane. She needed to join them. She needed to go home.
She got up and grabbed her suitcase. But instead of getting in line, she left the gate, digging into her crossbody bag for her Razr. With one hand she pulled it out and flipped open the cover, then punched in a number and put it to her ear, never breaking her stride.
“Jade?”
Relief washed through her. She wasn’t sure he was going to pick up. “Hi, Logan.”
***