Chapter 8
Eight
JAKE
Aplan.
He needed a plan.
One that would at least buy him a few days to win Gia back. He knew it would probably take the rest of his life to earn her forgiveness. It was an impossible task.
Worry twisted his gut at the thought of what Gia was going through—she had been attacked, for fuck’s sake! Seeing the haunted look in her eyes had made his need to protect her surge to the forefront. He wanted to be there for her as much as he wanted to hunt down whoever had hurt her.
The odds were against him, but he couldn’t lose Gia a second time. He would never forgive himself if she walked away without knowing how much she meant to him.
Try as he might, he couldn’t come up with anything Gia couldn’t refuse. He needed something legitimate, so Gia had to interact with him so he could work his magic.
But what?
“So, what do you think? Do you think I have a case here?” Paul’s nasally voice pulled Jake back to the present moment, where a potential new client sat across from him in his office.
Unfortunately, Jake had not heard a single word the stout older man had said. Jake frowned, pretending to be deliberating. With a tanned hand, he smoothed down the red tie Marley had gifted him last Christmas.
Jake nodded as though a great idea had sprung to mind.
“You know what? Please send me an email with all the details you just provided so I can determine the next steps.” His offer was genuine, and it seemed to appease the old man.
“Yeah, okay, Jake. I seriously think we’ve got a case here.” His face flushed with excitement.
Jake schooled his expression, but internally, he grimaced. It was probably not a good idea to give Paul false hope if there was no case, but he’d have to figure it out later. Grabbing his business card, Jake leaned over his desk and extended it to Paul.
“Thanks for coming in. I’ll look out for your email.” Jake stood up, walked around his desk, and escorted Paul out of his office.
“Thank you, Jake. You’re a good man. Good man.”
Jake paused at the threshold of the doorway.
“Julie, can you take care of this young gentleman for me?” Jake nodded at his receptionist before turning to Paul and winking at him conspiratorially.
“Sure thing, Jake!” Julie turned her bright smile on their potential client.
Backing away, Jake turned to close his door when he spotted Marley lounging in the adjoining room.
She was drawing in her notebook with her headphones on.
He glanced at his watch and saw it was already late afternoon.
School had finished maybe an hour ago. He hadn’t heard Marley come in, but he’d been so distracted today.
Her wavy hair covered most of her profile.
She was so absorbed in her task she didn’t see him hovering.
Jake recalled their earlier discussion and how he’d gotten roped in to helping her build the little free library as a bid to keep her out of trouble.
Briefly, he wondered if it had been her plan all along, or if he was a sucker for Marley’s innocent, but enthusiastic, endeavors.
It was hard to say no to Marley when she set her mind on something.
A lightbulb clicked on—his answers were sitting right in front of him. Excitedly, he hurried over to Marley and knocked loudly on the doorframe to get her attention.
Startled, Marley glanced up from her doodling with a curious glance, eyebrows raised, and pushed her headphones off.
“What’s up?” Marley sat up and crossed her legs beneath her. Her notebook rested on her lap as she resumed her task.
“I need your help with something.”
Jake pointed to his office with his thumb and walked backward. Marley’s brow furrowed, but she climbed out of her seat and followed him to his office. Her curiosity outweighed her confusion.
Once inside, Jake shut the door behind Marley.
She strode past him and settled into the chair directly across from his desk.
Rather than go to his desk, he went to the matching armchair.
The worn leather groaned beneath his weight as he settled in and interlaced his fingers on his lap to calm his nerves.
It didn’t stop his right leg from bouncing.
Unfolding his hands, he turned his anxious gaze to the teenager whom he knew he should not be involving in his less-than-honest agenda.
“Are you okay?” Marley asked, worry clear in her tone.
“Um, yeah, totally fine,” he croaked before clearing his throat. “Listen, I need your help with something.”
“Okay… What?”
“You remember Gia?”
At the mention of Gia’s name, Marley perked up in her seat.
“Yeah, what about her?” Marley’s eyes widened with excitement.
“So, I did something terrible before she left Willowbrook—”
“What did you do?” Marley’s outraged shriek nearly shattered his eardrums.
“We were young and stupid.” Hands raised defensively, he continued, “I hurt her a lot in the past, and I want to make amends.”
“No wonder she hates you. Must have been really bad.” Marley crossed her arms defiantly across her chest. “What do you need me for?”
His heart twisted inside his chest. Marley’s defensiveness over someone she hardly knew made him feel like he was doing a good job raising her. She had a compassionate nature, and her willingness to protect a practical stranger from a potential threat was reassuring.
Jake smothered a wince under Marley’s scrutinizing gaze. Her stern expression revealed her disappointment in him. He didn’t like how it made him feel—like he was inadequate.
Not worthy.
It brought back memories of his childhood.
Determined to win back Gia’s trust and Marley’s confidence in him, Jake straightened in his seat and met Marley’s brown eyes. What came next could change everything.
“I need you to help me win her back.” A simple request. An impossible task.
Marley considered his words in silence. Anxiously, he watched as her expression changed from hardened and untrusting to contemplative. It was almost as if he could see the wheels turning as she thought about what he was asking.
He almost sagged with relief as her warm eyes met his, a bright smile lighting up her face.
“Okay. I’ll help you.” Marley paused for dramatic effect, and Jake held his breath. “On one condition.”
“What condition?”
Jake wasn’t sure he wanted to find out what her condition was.
Rolling her lips together, Marley uncrossed her arms and leaned forward. Planting her elbows on her knees, her eyes shone with mischief.
“We need a cool name. Like Mission Impossible, but… cooler!”
Baffled, Jake sat back with a chuckle. Of all the scenarios, he hadn’t expected this.
“Okay, what should we name it?”
“I don’t know. Operation Gia seems too obvious. We need, like, a super stealthy code name. What does she like?”
Fingers tapping on his seat, Jake thought back to the Gia he knew and the Gia he met the other day. While she was still the same person, she was obviously different.
Does she still have the same interests? Or is she a wildly different person now, with different tastes and worries?
“Hmm… Gia’s always reminded me of a cat that’s always getting into trouble. These days she seems more… feral.”
“I think she just doesn’t like you.”
Jake nodded in agreement. “Fair.”
“Okay, so, like, you know how feral cats have to be trained to be around other cats and people? Like a socialization process?”
“Yeah…”
“Feral cats need constant exposure to other cats or people to learn how to behave around them. It’s basically the same thing with Gia. We have to get her used to you, so… you have to always be around her to do that.”
“Okay, but… how are we going to do that?”
“Hmm…” Marley tapped a finger against her pursed lips.
“This is hopeless,” he lamented, scrubbing a hand down his face.
He was being dramatic, but he couldn’t think of any way to get on Gia’s good side again.
Has the ship sailed for us?
No. He refused to believe there was no chance left.
“Oh! I have an idea! Hang on.” Jake watched as Marley jumped out of her seat and ran out of the room. He heard her rustling through her backpack for a few moments before coming back with a piece of paper gripped tightly against her chest.
“What’s that?”
“Okay, so the community center is trying to raise money for charities around town, but Miss Lina will need some volunteers to help organize it. Miss Diem is letting people use the Willowbrook Inn once they’re finished renovating the event space.”
“Okay…”
“So, I was thinking maybe we could sign Gia up to help plan or host an event! She’d have to work closely with us, and the two of you would have to set aside your differences to make things work. Plus, we’d raise money for charity, so it’s a win-win!”
Compared to his plan, which involved kidnapping Gia and keeping her hostage in a secluded cabin until she developed Stockholm syndrome and fell in love with him, this was a much better idea.
“I like this idea—”
“Oh! And you remember the cat I’ve been trying to trap at Griffin’s garage?”
“Yeah…” He was almost scared to hear what she had to say.
“She’s feral. We could do that thing where we trap and spay it while raising funds for the animal shelter!”
“I’m afraid to ask this, but…” He paused for dramatic effect. “You’re not planning on keeping the cat, right?”
“Pssh. Of course not. Just trying to be a good Sumerian.”
“A Good Samaritan?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Marley continued, hands gesticulating excitedly in front of her as she talked. “Anyway, before I was rudely interrupted, I was saying I think it’s perfect. Who doesn’t like cats? Who doesn’t enjoy helping a helpless teenager whose parents abandoned her?”
“Marley—”
“I don’t think Gia is one of those celebrity actresses who is only nice on camera and is a raging super bitch—”
“Marley! Language!”
“Sorry. I meant a raging super diva. I think she’s actually a really nice person.” Marley paused in her tirade as if a thought had occurred to her. “Well… maybe not to you. Because she seems to like really, really not like you. You never told me why.”
“And I’m not going to because it’s nonya.”
“Nonya? Seriously? How old are you?”