4
“Why did you have to do that?” Lexie snapped. She smoothed her hands over her hair to keep it from flying every which way, since he’d insisted on putting the top down on his convertible.
“Do what?” Colt asked, his face full of false innocence.
“Be a jerk for no reason,” she replied, her anger building as she mentally replayed the last ten minutes. “Jake is my friend, and you acted like a dalmatian that found a fire hydrant.”
She wasn’t really surprised—that was how Colt always acted when he found her talking to other men—but she’d been hoping Jake wouldn’t experience it firsthand.
“Your friend, huh? That’s interesting,” Colt said, cocking his head as if considering her words. “I hear about everything you do with Olivia and Kate and Robin. Is there some reason you’ve never, not once, mentioned the existence of this guy you work with in any of your stories from the past three weeks? Seems like if he were just ‘a friend,’ then I would have known about him before I waltzed in and found him pinning you to your desk.”
“He wasn’t pinning me to my desk!” Lexie huffed as she secured her hair with one hand and turned toward him. “And we are just friends. I’m allowed to have those, you know. I don’t have to tell you about every single one of them.”
“You have to tell me about the ones who are into you.”
“You think every guy is into me!”
“That’s because they are!” he shot back, and Lexie could tell he was getting angry. And maybe he had a right to; he wasn’t that far off, after all.
But then again, didn’t trust go both ways?
“Why do you have such a problem with this? I don’t get to pick my coworkers any more than you do, and I’ve seen your sales rep roster. Some of those women are gorgeous, and I’ve never complained about that.”
“I have a problem,” he said, smacking his hand on the wheel, “with you prancing around letting every guy in the county drool over what’s mine.”
Lexie knew she shouldn’t push him, but this time, her words refused to stay bottled up.
“What’s yours?” she spat, letting her hair go so she could gesture with both hands. “First of all, I don’t prance anywhere, and second, I am not an object to be owned! I do not belong to you or anyone else. And third—”
Colt’s hand snapped up and grabbed her wrist, squeezing hard enough to make her wince. He stopped the car at a red light, and his eyes were cold as he leaned toward her.
“I would wrap up this little temper tantrum, if I were you,” he said, his voice grating over her skin.
Lexie held his stare and forced herself not to shiver.
“You are mine if I say you’re mine, and I don’t share. You got that?”
Lexie simply blinked, too angry to let him win but too smart to disagree.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, throwing her arm to the side as the light turned green. He settled back into his seat and continued toward her apartment. “I was thinking about Barclay’s for dinner tonight, since we skipped it last time,” he said, as if nothing were wrong. “It can be just us. No boys.”
Lexie simply rubbed her wrist and stared silently out the windshield, letting her hair whip across her face. At the next light, Colt put the top up and reached across to tuck the errant strands behind her ears.
“Baby, don’t be like that. You can hardly blame me,” he said, running his thumb along the curve of her jaw before dropping his hand to her leg.
She looked over, studying the side of his face as he drove and feeling her frustration slowly drain away. He wasn’t entirely wrong. The line between her and Jake—the boundary between friends and more-than-friends—had gotten fuzzy, and that was her fault. She’d just have to keep him at arm’s length from now on. Colt wasn’t perfect, but he deserved that much, at least.
“I love you,” Colt said, catching her watching him.
“I love you, too,” she answered automatically, remembering a time when those words had felt like a fairy tale come true.
These days, they just felt like words.
Jake kicked back in a threadbare lawn chair, his shoulders braced against the warm brick of the house and his grass-covered sneakers propped on the splintered porch railing. A few bats chased mosquitoes through the branches of a tulip poplar tree nearby, their silhouettes flashing here and there across the gaps of summer sky that had slowly faded from gold to crimson. Someone down the street was grilling, and the smell of roasting hot dogs made his stomach growl.
“The yard looks good,” Conner said, letting the cockeyed screen door snap shut behind him as he sank into a mismatched chair.
Jake gazed out over the perfectly mown grass that only hours before had been a jungle of overgrowth. It had been so long, he’d had to mow twice. Then, he’d used the Weed Eater on every stray blade he could find before dropping to his knees and attacking a long-neglected flower bed on the back side of the house. Every muscle in his body ached, but he still wasn’t satisfied. The place was still a dump; it would always be a dump. It wasn’t the kind of place a girl like Lexie would ever set foot.
Conner offered him a long-necked bottle, the Coca-Cola logo faintly visible in the fading light, and Jake twisted off the top and took a long, cold swallow.
“I thought you’d be out on the town by now,” Jake said, rolling the bottle between his hands.
“So did I, but I lost rock paper scissors, so here I am,” Conner said, taking a drink from his own bottle. “We were afraid you might get the chainsaw out next.”
“I can use a chainsaw just fine,” Jake muttered darkly, and Conner snorted.
“The last time you tried trimming that tree, you nearly put a hole in the roof.”
“That’s because neither of you idiots would come out here and help me,” Jake snapped, setting his bottle on the faded porch boards below his chair. “Besides, the place is already falling to pieces. I doubt we’d even notice a hole in the roof.”
Conner chuckled. “Well, you’re the one who lives upstairs, so if you want a skylight, then be my guest.”
Jake snorted, the sound unexpected, even to him.
“You know, the house wouldn’t look quite so bad if you and Noah would stop trying to destroy each other. Haven’t you had enough of this prank war? I mean, seriously, I found him knocking holes in his bedroom walls the other day.”
Conner snickered, his whole body shaking. “You have to admit, that was a good one.”
“It was psychotic! Who hides a speaker in the drywall and plays creepy voices at all hours of the night?” Jake said, shaking his head in disbelief. “How do you think of these things?”
Conner howled with laughter, and Jake rolled his eyes. It had been a pretty good prank. Even he’d gotten a kick out of watching Noah slowly lose his mind.
“Relax. We’re just getting a head start on the demolition,” Conner said, taking another swallow. “Although I will be sad to see this old place go. Dad is thinking about putting a duplex here instead.” He looked wistfully around the yard, as if remembering all the cookouts the boys had hosted in the past two years.
“And besides, Noah deserved it,” Conner continued, getting back on topic. “That bucket he dumped on me the first day? It was olive oil! It took ages to get it all off. I was slippery in unspeakable places for a week!”
Jake shuddered, glad to be merely a third-party bystander to his friends’ hijinks.
“Just remember to leave me out of it,” he said, reaching for his soda again. He took another swallow as a bat swooped low, chasing a moth that fluttered around the outdoor light.
Conner grunted in agreement.
They sat in companionable silence while the last of the day’s light faded, until Conner moved as if to stand.
“Lexie is seeing someone,” Jake blurted, feeling some of the tension drain out of him.
Conner settled back into his chair. “She tell you today?”
“Nope,” Jake said, letting the word pop from his lips. “I was in the middle of asking her to dinner when some guy waltzed into the office and tried to swallow her face.”
Conner winced. “Ouch.”
“Yeah. The rich frat-boy type; a real piece of work, from what I can tell.”
“And you didn’t know?”
“Does it look like I knew?” Jake said, lolling his head to one side so he could look at his friend head-on.
“So, she’s never said anything?”
“Not a single thing.” Jake drained what was left of his Coke and leaned forward to set the bottle on the porch railing. “I mean, how hard would it have been to give me a heads-up? Just a simple ‘my boyfriend and I’ would have done it, you know? Anything to tell me not to make a fool of myself like an overeager puppy dog.”
“Maybe it isn’t serious,” Conner said, rolling his drink between his palms.
“Well, I don’t think Colt would agree,” Jake spat. Just saying the guy’s name left a bitter taste in his mouth.
There was a long silence, broken only by the cooing of a nearby dove and the slam of a car door down the road.
“In my experience, a woman who’s happy in her relationship will find a way to mention it,” Conner said, tilting his head back to stare at the sky. “And a woman who isn’t... won’t.”
Jake considered this, his mouth pressed into a hard line. Lexie certainly hadn’t been pleased to see her boyfriend, at least not in an obvious way. But then again, maybe she just didn’t enjoy public displays of affection.
Or being treated like property.
Or maybe Jake just didn’t know her at all.
He grunted, feeling agitation rising in his chest again. If it were simply about Lexie not wanting him, he thought he could get over it. But why would she want a guy like that?
Conner cleared his throat. “I wasn’t going to mention this, but one of Jasmine’s friends has actually been asking about you.”
Jake puffed out a breath, leaning his chair back on two legs and trying to remember Conner’s latest fling.
“Yeah? Which one?” he asked.
“Macy, the redhead from that barbecue we went to.”
Jake searched his memory and came up blank.
“She brought the watermelon?” Conner supplied.
That did it. This was the girl who found out Jake liked watermelon and spent the rest of the evening hovering nearby to make sure he never ran out. He’d almost had to beg her to stop.
He stifled a groan.
“I know, I know, she was a bit over the top, but I promise she’s usually cool,” Conner reassured him. “I think you just made her nervous.” He waggled his eyebrows, and Jake laughed skeptically.
“I highly doubt that.”
“Well, I mean, you’re not me, but you’re alright.”
Jake reached over and socked his friend in the arm, but Conner only laughed as he rose to his feet.
“Just think about it. If you’re interested, I can get you her number.”
Jake took a deep breath and tipped his face toward the dark sky. “I’ll think about it.”
“Lex? Lexie? Alexis!”
Lexie jumped, hearing her name repeated with rising irritation as Robin smacked her palm on the tabletop between them.
“Are you even listening?”
“Yes! No. Sorry,” Lexie stammered, rubbing her fingertips across her forehead. All she could focus on these days was the growing knot in her stomach. A crease formed down the center of Robin’s brow, but she didn’t press the issue. Instead, she simply picked up where she’d left off.
“As I was saying, we need to reserve our cabin if we’re going to the mountains this year. Is everyone still okay with leaving right after finals?”
“I’ve already told my parents I won’t be home that week,” Olivia said, sliding into the raised booth beside Lexie. She was lucky to have a seat at all since the Hawk’s Nest was particularly packed, even for a Friday evening. The humid September night seemed to have driven everyone inside for ice cream floats and burgers in old-fashioned plastic baskets.
Robin nodded, obviously pleased. “What about you, Lex?”
“I’ll have to check with Colt,” Lexie answered, swirling her straw in her chocolate milkshake.
Robin, Kate and Olivia shared a glance that was as heavy as it was silent, and Lexie pasted on a too-bright smile.
“We might be going to see his parents that weekend. Have you ever met the Derricks?”
“Have you ever met Colt?” Kate muttered, taking a long pull from her straw.
“What’s wrong with Colt?” Lexie asked, feeling her smile wobble. All three of her friends answered at the same time.
“Well . . . he’s just . . .”
“Very charming! Gorgeous, of course . . .”
“But he can be a little . . .”
“Sometimes he’s . . .”
“Oh, just spit it out!” Lexie snapped, looking at the girls around her. Robin and Kate gave Olivia pointed stares, and Lexie’s best friend sighed.
“We just think Colt could be nicer to you sometimes,” Olivia said, obviously choosing her words with care.
“Remember when you were rocking that orange dress at your birthday bash, and his first words when he saw you were ‘that’s not your best color’? What boyfriend says that?” Kate blurted, waving her hands in the air emphatically.
Lexie’s chest tightened with the memory.
“And didn’t he tell you your new job was good playtime? Like you’re a child he sends to daycare?” Robin butt in, dunking a few crispy french fries into a puddle of ketchup.
“He didn’t mean it that way,” Lexie mumbled, feeling her face get hot.
Kate opened her mouth to say something else, but the jukebox in the corner interrupted with the opening notes of “Sweet Home Alabama.”
“I love this one!” Robin gasped as she latched onto Kate’s forearm. “Dance with me!” she demanded, half-dragging her friend out of the booth with another look at Olivia—one Lexie heard loud and clear. It said “You handle this.”
The girls joined a growing crowd of Cypress Valley students on the makeshift dance floor between the restaurant booths and the pool hall. Olivia and Lexie watched them go.
“You know they mean well. We wouldn’t say anything if we weren’t concerned,” Olivia said, squeezing the top of Lexie’s leg.
“What’s to be concerned about?” Lexie snapped, her ego still stinging. “Colt is allowed to have opinions. He should be able to share them.”
Olivia stayed silent, snagging an onion ring from Lexie’s basket.
Lexie leaned back against the vinyl booth cushion, absentmindedly watching her friends jump and sway to the beat of the music. Her gaze drifted over their heads toward the pool tables at the opposite end of the restaurant, where she saw a familiar smile. Jake was leaning against a cue stick, one ankle crossed casually over the other as he watched a pretty girl line up her shot.
The knot in Lexie’s gut tightened instantly.
Their relationship had shifted dramatically over the past week. Where there had been a sense of camaraderie, there were now tense silences and awkward glances—that was, when Jake acknowledged her at all.
It was probably what she deserved, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
Jake’s date knocked one ball into a side pocket and a second into the far corner before throwing her hands into the air victoriously. Jake tossed his arm around her shoulders in a familiar sort of way, and Lexie could almost hear his laughter from where she sat, like a memory played on repeat. Whoever the girl was, she was soaking up his attention like a sponge, flipping her hair over one shoulder and standing with her hip popped to the side.
“What are you watching so intently?” Olivia asked, leaning against her friend’s shoulder to follow her gaze.
Lexie jerked her eyes back to their table and then rummaged through her basket as if trying to find the one perfect onion ring.
“Nothing in particular,” she said, trying to keep her voice neutral. What Jake did in his personal life was none of her business. Why should she care who he dated, or if he dated at all? But even so, something sharp pressed against her breastbone when she glanced up and saw the pretty girl bump Jake with her hip as he bent flat over the pool table. He paused his shot and turned his head, narrowing his eyes at the girl, who laughed.
“You know, if seeing him with someone else bothers you this much, that probably should tell you something,” Olivia teased, as though she’d found the answer to her own question.
Lexie dragged her attention back to her friend.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she insisted, her grip tightening on her glass.
“Sure you don’t,” Olivia said. She rolled her eyes. “And I bet you don’t care at all that Miss Priss just planted a big one on your boy.”
“She what?!” Lexie exclaimed, jerking her head up.
“Down girl! I was only teasing,” Olivia said with a satisfied smirk.
Lexie closed her eyes and fought the hot flush rising in her face.
“Although I think you’ve proven my point,” her friend added before crunching another onion ring.
Lexie ignored her and tried not to watch Jake prowl the edges of the pool table, studying his options. The girl didn’t take her eyes off him as he moved, her face full of challenge, and Lexie was struck by the sudden urge to yank her cue stick out of her stupid hands and beat her with it.
Which was ridiculous, because what did it matter if some floozy chick threw herself at Jake? Good for him. Maybe he’d take her home at the end of the night.
A wave of nausea washed over Lexie, and she put her last onion ring down. The fried food was obviously getting to her.
Jake drummed his thumbs against the steering wheel of his truck as he headed northwest along a series of back roads that might as well have been tattooed onto his skin. He could have driven this route between Cypress Valley and Copper Hill with his eyes closed, but instead, he watched the bean fields fly by and wondered what his mother might be cooking for dinner.
He was not going to think about Lexie. Enough was enough. She was with someone, and he was going to move on with his life. End of story.
And yet the scrap of paper Conner had given him with Macy’s number on it still sat in the cup holder of his center console, untouched since he’d jammed it in there last week. He just couldn’t bring himself to call a girl he already knew he wasn’t interested in, even just to have fun; he wasn’t a “just have fun” kind of guy. Noah and Conner gave him endless grief for it, but Jake believed you could meet a person and instantly know whether or not they would fit into your life. He couldn’t explain exactly how you could know, only that you could.
And Macy the watermelon girl just wasn’t the one.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled into a long, dusty driveway that wound across acres of soybean fields, finally parking in front of a two-story farmhouse, its green roof and shutters crisp against classic white siding. His truck had barely come to a stop before a brown basset hound stood up from his sunning spot on the wide front porch and threw his head back, baying as though to wake the dead.
Gomer trotted down the porch stairs, his ears flopping with every step, and made a circuit of the truck, stopping to smell all four tires. Jake descended from the driver’s seat and crouched to give the dog a good scratch behind his ears.
“Is that who I think it is?”
Jake looked up as a woman in blue jeans and a floral top pushed through the front door and stepped onto the porch, her white apron covered in streaks of bluish-black. “Hi, Mama,” he said, his voice taking on a softer quality that only came out here on the farm. This was where his roots grew deepest.
“Don’t you ‘Mama’ me,” the woman called. “I don’t know who you are! I sent my little boy to kindergarten just this morning.”
Jake smiled as he stood and jogged over to the porch. He mounted the steps and wrapped his mother in a bear hug. She smelled like sugar and blackberries, scents that hinted at jam-making in progress.
“Well, alright then. I guess you can come inside,” she said, feigning reluctance. “Your daddy will be in later.”
Jake nodded, looking toward the field where he could hear the sound of heavy machinery. His father, uncles and cousins were hard at work planting winter wheat, and he felt a familiar pang of guilt for not being there to help. Farming was a family business for the Tanners and had been ever since Grandma Ruby’s father bought the first acres in the early 1900s.
“Don’t do that,” his mother said sharply, her eyes missing nothing. “I know what you’re thinking, and we’re not going to discuss it again. There are plenty of strong young men around here to carry on with, and another one would just get underfoot.”
Jake pressed his lips together, familiar with the sentiment but still feeling its sting. Thankfully, three of his cousins had been born with soil in their veins and seemed happy to carry the family business into the next generation. For that, he was grateful.
“Now, what would you like for breakfast?” his mother asked, shooing him through the open screen door and toward the kitchen. “And don’t tell me you ate something at school, because I know those protein bars and sugary cereals just don’t cut it.”
It was nearly ten o’clock in the morning, but Jake chuckled, knowing that protest would be worse than futile. If there was one thing Kathleen Tanner did well, it was feed people, and if you didn’t eat willingly, she would hound you until you changed your mind. He watched her unhook a large pan from a rack above the stove before reaching into the refrigerator for eggs. Truth be told, his stomach had started growling the moment he’d turned into the driveway.
“Where’s Ash?” he asked, turning to look out the picture window into the backyard. A tall row of sunflowers reached for the sky along one side of the garden shed, while a flock of birds harvested the seeds that had fallen to the ground.
“Your sister has a new ‘beau,’ as Grandma Ruby says,” his mother announced, obviously pleased. “Do you remember Tommy Garland from a few farms over?”
Jake turned, his brows raised. He texted his sister a few times a week and saw her on campus periodically. She definitely hadn’t mentioned a boyfriend.
“Of course I remember Tommy; he was the same year as me in school. Don’t tell me she’s taken up with him?” He scoffed. “Tommy was the biggest idiot I’d ever met until Conner James came along.”
“Well,” his mother said, smiling, “Tommy has turned into a respectable young man. He’s finishing up business school in Hampton and works at an office down the street from where Ashlyn teaches at the daycare. They make a smart couple, if I do say so myself.”
Jake made a face, trying not to picture his baby sister making a “smart couple” with anybody.
“Anyway, I expect they’ll both come for dinner tonight,” his mother finished as she flipped a few pieces of bacon. They sizzled loudly in the hot pan, and Jake did all he could not to drool.
“How did Brooklyn’s campus visit go yesterday?” she asked, without looking up.
“Well, I had to peel her off some guy on a motorcycle, so I’d say she had fun.”
His mother’s hands stilled over the stovetop, and her eyes cut over to him suspiciously. Jake laughed.
“Mom, seriously, I took her to dinner at the Hawk’s Nest and lost miserably at pool. I’ll have to throw her in the pond the next time I see her, but she enjoyed herself,” he said, leaning back in his chair. It was a bad habit he just couldn’t seem to kick.
“Good. Christy and Rob will be glad you took care of her. That’s what cousins are for, you know,” his mother said, retrieving a plate and glass from the cabinet to her left. “So,” she went on, leaving an obvious pause, “your girlfriend was okay with you taking another young woman to dinner?” She cut her eyes toward him again, a hopeful smile flickering on her face.
Jake knew exactly what she was fishing for.
“No, Mama. There’s no girlfriend,” he answered, leaning forward again so that all four legs of his chair were back on the floor.
His mother rapped the wooden handle of her spatula against the counter with an intensity that made him jump.
“Jacob Ryan!” she said, exasperated. “You are a kind, decent, handsome young man with excellent career prospects and an almost-finished college degree. You explain to me right this minute why you can’t seem to find a nice young woman to bring home to your mama.”
Jake started to laugh but stopped short when he found the business-end of his mother’s cooking spoon pointed in his direction.
“This isn’t a laughing matter, young man. I didn’t raise you to be a perfect gentleman just to waste all those good manners on a hunting dog,” she said, shaking the spoon as she spoke.
Jake worked hard to keep his amusement contained; he’d seen enough of that spoon as a child.
“I know you’re still young, but one of these days, I’d like to have grandchildren,” she went on. She turned back to the stove and loaded a plate with scrambled eggs and crisp bacon.
“Sounds like you’ll have Ashlyn and Tommy for that,” Jake quipped, letting his grin rip open. His mother pressed her lips together, and he knew she was trying just as hard not to laugh. Her eyes softened as she brought his plate to the table and set it down in front of him.
“Jacob, I just want you to find someone who makes you happy, who lights up your heart and makes you glad to come home at night. I want to know that someone will take care of you after I’m gone.”
Her words made something tug inside Jake’s chest the way only a mother’s could.
“I’ll find her, Mama. And I’ll let you know the moment I do,” he promised, trying not to think about Lexie.
His mother ran her thumb across his cheek the way she had when he was little.
“See that you do. Now,” she said, changing the subject as she turned away, “take your food and go see your great-grandmother. She knows you’re here, and your presence is expected in the throne room.”
Jake chuckled at this mention of Grandma Ruby’s add-on suite, where she’d been holding court since moving in with his parents almost five years before. Picking up his heaping breakfast plate, he leaned in to kiss his mother on the side of her head.
“I love you, Mama.”
“I love you, too, pesky boy,” she said, returning to her jam jars.
Jake smirked and stole a handful of freshly picked blackberries from a basket on the counter, quickly darting out of reach of the wooden spoon his mother still held in her hand. Heading down the hall, he popped the berries into his mouth one at a time, letting the late-summer sweetness burst against his tongue. The last closed door muffled the familiar whistle of the theme song from The Andy Griffith Show as Jake stopped to knock.
“Grandma Ruby, it’s me!” he called loudly, opening the door a crack. Grandma Ruby was ninety-four years old and seemed to be very hard of hearing, except at times when it suited her to be otherwise.
“Come in, dear,” came the reply, and Jake entered the softly lit room to find his great-grandmother’s tiny frame half-absorbed by a reclining chair in front of the television. Despite her currently prone position, her suite sparkled in the morning light and smelled like a whole bottle of lemon furniture polish. Grandma Ruby, as usual, had been hard at work.
She smiled when he appeared, her wrinkled face taking on new light. Jake set his plate on her coffee table and stooped to kiss her forehead, soaking in the cool feel of her papery hand against the side of his face. Grandma Ruby had nearly thirty great-grandchildren from her four boys and their offspring, but she and Jake had always been particularly close. The first Tanner boy of his generation, he was named for her late husband and, truth be told, looked a lot like him, too.
“Let me see you,” she said, taking his chin in her small hand and turning his face from side to side. “You’ve forgotten how to shave, I see.”
Jake rubbed one hand over the week-old scruff that darkened his jaw.
“You’ll look like a bear soon, if you aren’t careful,” Grandma Ruby said, though her eyes were playful.
Jake laughed, sinking onto the sofa while she used a remote control to bring her chair back to a sitting position.
“Tell me what you’re up to these days,” she ordered. “And don’t leave anything out! You know how I love all the nitty, gritty details.”
Jake grinned and reached for his breakfast plate. He settled it on his knees and began to eat, pausing between bites to tell Grandma Ruby about classes and his senior portfolio, about shooting from the sidelines at football games and coaching bumblebee soccer. He talked about his favorite new photographs and the magazine he hoped to work for after graduation, and the whole time, Grandma Ruby studied his face with the intense concentration of someone searching for the truth.
“And there’s a girl,” she said as he finished. It was not a question but a statement of fact.
Jake rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, setting his now-empty plate on the coffee table and flopping back against the couch.
“Why does everyone think there’s a girl?”
“You’ve got that look,” Grandma Ruby said confidently, her thin mouth curving into a smile. “I raised four boys; I know that look. Don’t lie to your grandmama.”
Jake crossed his legs at the ankle and frowned down at his boots for so long that Grandma Ruby reached for her walking stick and used it to rap him lightly across the shins.
“Ouch! Alright, yes, there’s a girl,” he admitted as he sat up.
“And?” Grandma Ruby prompted.
“And she’s dating a guy who thinks he’s entitled to whatever he wants, including her—some rich jerk who will inherit his daddy’s multimillion-dollar company,” he said bitterly, scuffing his boot across the floor. He may or may not have Googled Derricks Pharmaceuticals in a fit of insecurity, though it had done nothing but remind him he could work his whole life and never measure up.
Grandma Ruby pursed her lips. “I don’t see the problem.”
Jake stared at his great-grandmother, open-mouthed. “She’s with somebody. He owns an entire company,” he repeated uselessly. “What would she ever want with me?”
“So, you’re telling me this girl of yours is so shallow that the size of a man’s wallet is more important to her than his character?”
“Well, no, but...” Jake trailed off, surprised by the sharp question. Lexie wasn’t that kind of girl; he was sure of it. “Okay, so what am I supposed to do?” he asked.
“That’s easy, Jacob,” Grandma Ruby replied with a soft smile. “You show up.”