Chapter 53
My heart was pounding so fast I thought I might actually have a heart attack. What was my dad doing here?
“Your dad?” Jay asked, looking over at the dock. I could’ve sworn I saw his face go a little pale.
“I don’t know how he found me,” I said, frantically paddling back toward the dock. If he’d come here to drag me back to Riverside, he was in for a rude awakening. Showing up like this, completely unannounced, was extremely rude and crossing a major line.
We made it back to the dock, and Jay jumped out first, helping me out as my father stood there waiting for us.
“Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise?” my father said as I shrugged off my life jacket and stepped toward him.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
My father had the same muddy brown hair as I did and the same dull blue eyes, but right now they were bright with rage. If anyone had a reason to be angry, it was me, not him.
“I know you submitted a complaint against Dr. Pike.”
A bitter laugh escaped me. “You’re kidding, right?
” I snapped. “You came all the way here to confront me about Conrad?” I glared at him.
“How did you even know where I was?” I lifted a hand, stopping him from answering.
“Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know who you paid off.
I’m not coming home, Dad, and I’m not apologizing for turning Pike in for what he did. ”
“Do you have any idea what’s going to happen to my reputation and my business if he gets his license suspended?” He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair, messing it up and making him look a little unhinged. “I told you I would deal with him quietly.”
“You didn’t,” I said flatly. “That’s why we’re in this mess, Dad. There were zero consequences for what Pike did to me.”
“Hope. Stop playing games. Please. Your mother is worried sick about you. You’re throwing away your future as a dentist, and you’re damaging our family name. This little runaway act has to end, and I came here to tell you that the little incident with Conrad isn’t worth all this.”
“Little incident?” My mouth dropped open. It was official. He was insane.
“I’m not going to dental school, Dad,” I spat. “And quite frankly, I don’t care if losing his license hurts you. As your daughter, you should care more about me than your business partner. And as for Mom—if she really cared about me, why hasn’t she tried to call me? Even once?”
My dad shook his head. “We do care about you, Hope,” he insisted.
“So much that we don’t want you to ruin your future.
” He sighed, then turned to Jay suddenly.
“Dr. Alarcón, when I called you, I thought you would at least be able to help convince her to return. But it seems you’ve only made her more stubborn. ”
I went rigid. “Hold on,” I said slowly, turning toward Jay. “What?”
Jay’s jaw clenched, and he shook his head. “Hope—”
“You two know each other?”
I felt like I was in a bad dream.
I wanted to wake up so badly.
I was screaming at my body to wake up.
Please, please wake up.
But I didn’t wake up, and the scene didn’t fade. My father stood rooted in front of me, and I felt my world start to crash down.
“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” My dad’s face twisted into a smug smirk.
“Dr. Jay was a student for a time when I taught a semester at UCLA on implants. When he told me he was moving out here to Big Bear to start a clinic, I reached out to Mason—he’d been searching for cheap properties in Big Bear for his survival cabins—to see if he knew of a place. ”
The world around me started to close in as I watched a flood of emotions flash across Jay’s face.
It was true. It had to be, otherwise Jay wouldn’t be reacting like that.
“You didn’t tell me you knew each other,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
Jay opened his mouth and then closed it again. His face held a mixture of pain and regret that I would never be able to unsee.
Something in my heart felt like it was splintering. The pain was so sharp I felt tears prick my eyes.
“I called him when you first pulled your little runaway stunt,” my father continued.
“Mason told us you were hiding out at his cabin in Big Bear, and I remembered Jay lived nearby. I knew he had his clinic in town. So I called him up and asked him to look out for you, give you a job if needed, and convince you to come back to dentistry. I didn’t want you giving up on everything we’ve worked for. ”
I couldn’t breathe. The pain in my chest was so intense I almost couldn’t stay standing.
The perfect little world Jay and my father had built for me shattered into a million pieces. He’d been my father’s puppet this whole time. My dad had been pulling the strings from miles away, still controlling me.
Everything between us had begun based on a lie. And I didn’t know whether some or all of it had been a lie.
Unable to be anywhere near Jay or my father any longer, I headed toward the cabin and started into a run back down the dock.
“Hope, get back here!” my father called after me.
I ignored him. My bare feet slapped against the wooden slats, my heart thudding painfully in rhythm.
“We are not done talking!” he shouted.
Oh yes, we were.
I didn’t answer. I just kept moving. The tears that had pooled in my eyes were spilling down my cheeks now as I stumbled up the steps of the deck and toward the side apartment.
The moment I got inside, I grabbed my suitcase and frantically started tossing things into it. I threw in clothes, toiletries, and whatever essentials I could grab the fastest. I didn’t care about anything else. I just needed enough to leave.
I zipped the bag and hauled it down the stairs, then went out through the garage toward my car.
Of course, because this was in fact a nightmare, Jay was there waiting for me. My father hadn’t seemed to catch up to us yet, and I was grateful, because already this moment was going to be horrible. I just knew it.
“Hope,” he said, slightly breathless from running. “Please stop.”
I shook my head, gritting my teeth and swiping at tears that were streaming down my face.
The sweet, romantic feelings from fifteen minutes earlier were gone. Hadn’t I told myself this would all go up in flames? I’d always known this wouldn’t end well.
And I’d been right.
“Hope, don't go. Please.”
“I can’t believe you’d betray me like this.” I spun around not bothering to hide the pain on my face.
“I—”
“No,” I cut him off. “No, there’s no explanation that can explain away what just happened. He told you to give me the job! And you never once said anything to me about it!”
I turned around again and headed for the trunk. I opened it and threw my suitcase in it.
“Hope, when I first agreed to help, I had no idea how bad your relationship was—”
“I poured my heart out to you!” My voice cracked as I yelled.
“I told you everything, and you still never told me he planned this entire thing. I thought I was doing this on my own. I thought you actually wanted to help me. That you actually felt something for me. And now I find out you were just doing a favor for my father.”
“I do feel something for you!” he said, matching my intensity. “Hope, I love you.”
I wanted to scream and rip my hair out. I stormed over to the driver's side door and gripped the handle so hard my knuckles went white.
“If you truly loved me, you would have been honest with me,” I whispered, too broken to yell anymore.
“I know,” he said, regret heavy in his voice. “I should have. But when you told me how much you hated your father…” He trailed off, jaw clenching. “I didn’t want to lose you.”
“Well, it’s too late for that,” I spat harshly, feeling like I was unraveling.
“Amor, please—”
“I’m leaving Big Bear,” I cut him off while opening the car door roughly. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
I slipped into my seat and tried to slam the door, but his hand came out, gripping the door, temporarily halting my escape.
“Please,” Jay begged, desperation thick in his voice.
“Jay,” I said firmly, finally daring to look at him. “Let me go.”
“I can’t,” he said, and I felt my heart crack into what felt like a thousand pieces. It hurt so badly I almost reached up to clutch my chest to try and make it stop. “I’ll be here. Waiting for you,” he said softly. “When you want to talk. When you’re not so angry.”
“Jay, please,” I begged this time, tugging on the door again.
“I love you,” he said one last time. “And I know you don’t feel the same right now. But I fell in love with you, Hope. Your father had nothing to do with that.”
“Goodbye, Jay,” I said, and it took every ounce of willpower I had to slide into the driver’s seat and force the door closed.
He stepped back, finally letting me leave. And that’s when I saw tears shimmering in his dark navy eyes.
I didn’t allow myself to look at him for long. To keep myself together, I faced forward and didn’t look back, barely containing my sobs until I reached the main road, where I finally let myself break apart.