Chapter Four #3
“Cammie, you still there?”
“Yeah, boss. Ready to make a deal?”
“No. I want you to take the property off the market.”
There was a beat of silence, then some whispering to someone nearby.
“Say what?” she finally asked.
“I want you to block my calendar for two months.”
“What about the audition? If it happens, it’ll be next month.”
Jace let that settle while he sat on the porch, crowbar back in hand.
This was the crossroads he’d been on his whole life: a simple life of ranching, the days repetitive but never quite the same, or the high-octane life of a Hollywood star.
He’d always been a man divided, but now, it wasn’t so simple.
Banberry had been easy to walk away from at one point, but even with the role of a lifetime at his fingertips, he couldn’t muster up the courage to leave again.
Is this because of her?
No. He’d be lying if he said she hadn’t had any effect on him, but he barely knew her. Yet, her passion had reminded him of what really mattered. What he’d been missing his whole life: community.
And they were in danger, still, even if not from him.
“Block it.”
“Jace, I have to ask you to reconsider. I know you’re grieving, but—”
“It’s done. Block my schedule and let people who need to know I’m off all projects for now.” Maybe forever.
“Consider it done.” He heard the resignation in her voice. This affected her ability to earn a living, something he didn’t take lightly since he was her biggest client by a landslide.
But he couldn’t care more about that than he did about the result of his decision. Suddenly, his future was open, free. A rush of excitement took flight in his heart.
Until he realized he had a bigger obligation to the town than just his presence and work on his father’s ranch. He had to play a part in fixing whatever assholery was happening to his town.
His town. Hmmm. That sounded good to him. If anyone had something to lose by a shit-ton of tourists piling into Banberry, it was Jace. He didn’t want them there any more than Aurelie did.
“Before you hang up, I need you to do some digging.”
“What am I digging up, exactly?”
“There’s someone here, a business tied to one person in particular, who’s buying up farms for half what they’re worth and planning to level them to put up hotels.”
“Hotels in the middle of nowhere?”
Jace ignored Cammie’s insult of the place that had raised him. Never mind that he’d had the same impulse when he’d heard the news. But that was the way of it, wasn’t it? There was LA, New York, Chicago, even, and then the rest of the country with their small, non-city lives.
“You’ll want to look at the holdings. Most likely, there’ll be a shell corporation, but what I want to know is, who’s behind it?
I think this guy’s threatening my dad’s property, and I don’t think he’s gonna stop there.
I need to get a line on why he’s keeping his name out of the game. It’s a little too suspicious.”
If he was going to make a go of this, he needed a clear path.
“Wow. I didn’t see anything about any of this when Anna set up the sale of your dad’s estate.”
“You wouldn’t have. Whoever is behind this is going to great lengths to keep it a secret for now. My worry is why and what’ll happen when he decides to come out of the shadows.”
“I’m on it. Can I get back to you tonight? I have some friends who owe me a favor, but they’ll need a couple hours.”
“Thanks, Cammie. You’re really helping me out here,” he added.
“Anything for my favorite client.” He swallowed the hint of guilt. She was handling his news with as much grace as he could have hoped, given he was taking away a substantial part of her livelihood by stepping out of the limelight.
Jace hung up the phone and grabbed a board on the deck, ready to tear it to shreds. But where he’d been fueled by memories of his past, a reckoning between who he’d been and could be, now he was on edge, not sure where to go or what to do while he awaited news that would affect his future.
Before he knew it, the crowbar, fueled by his anger and other more complicated emotions, had torn apart the whole east end of the deck.
The sun was long past overhead and had begun to make its way toward the western hillscape.
His stomach roared as he sat back on his heels and stretched his shoulders.
Fuck, he was hungry.
“This thing’s still gonna be here if you take a break, you know.”
Jace glanced up and was met with a broad-shouldered cowboy backlit by the sun. More importantly, the hand extended to him held a bag he recognized from his childhood.
“That Joe’s?”
Brad nodded. “Couldn’t have my childhood friend starving out here in the sun.”
“Thanks, man. You have no idea how much I needed this.”
“Beers later if you’re interested.”
Jace smiled. Beers with the guys was a good way to start this half-hatched plan.
“I definitely am. Just need to get a little further down this line before I take a break.”
Brad patted him on the shoulder and laughed. “How far you planning on going with this?”
Jace shrugged. “All the way I guess. Hadn’t given it too much thought.”
“You know, it’s gonna cost a fortune and take years to reno this place the way you’re going about it.
” Jace hadn’t seen the second cowboy, Paige’s husband.
What was his name again? Owen? He seemed to be a good guy, albeit with a wary eye for what was going on around him.
No one had said anything, but Jace got the sense he’d been military.
“Money, I got. Time’s something I’m working on.”
“You sticking around, then? Sounded last night like you were farming this out, no pun intended.” Brad smiled warmly as he sat in the dirt next to Jace.
Owen remained standing, arms crossed over his chest. Jace leaned back against the post he’d torn the last boards away from.
He didn’t know when he’d been so damned exhausted. Peaceful, too.
“Was the plan. Plan’s changed, though. Think I owe it to myself to fix up my dad’s place myself.” Jace tore into the sandwich from Joe’s like a man possessed. It felt good to be home, eating from a place that tasted like nostalgia as much as it did steak, peppers, and onions.
“Owe yourself or him?” Owen asked.
The whole thing—the sandwich, the questions, the sun on his shoulders, the feel of his father’s work being undone at his hands—it was raw, real.
He shrugged a second time. Words resembling nothing close to answers lodged in his throat somewhere between regret and guilt.
“Hmmm. We’ll check in with you in a sec, right, Owen?” Owen nodded but didn’t comment.
“Thanks again, guys. The sandwich was nice, but the company was nicer.”
He didn’t need to wait too long for more of that. Just moments later, Brad and Owen were at his side, hammers and crowbars in hand.
Jace didn’t think in his whole life he’d been close to tears more times than he could count on one hand. And here he was, heat seemingly permanent behind his eyes since arriving in Banberry. He wasn’t at all sure that was a good thing, but right now it didn’t feel too bad.
“You sure?”
Brad nodded, ripping off a board in half the time it’d taken Jace. He watched Brad’s technique and copied it. Well, hell…
“Yeah, brother. What else we got to do?”
“Manage our own farms?” Owen quipped. Jace opened his mouth to tell them not to bother with his dilapidated porch, then, but Owen continued. “But the quicker we get you to a stopping spot, the quicker this guy buys me a beer, so I’m happy to help.”
The words were gruff, a rancher’s directness. But Owen clapped him on his back and got to work, a gentle smile on his face. First, he tossed Jace a pair of construction gloves.
“Don’t want those pretty hands of yours getting scuffed up. They’re probably insured for more than my barn.”
Jace laughed long and hard at that one. “Not sure whether to thank you or not. You teasing me ’cause I kissed your wife when I was five?”
“Nah. I’m the one that gets to kiss her now, and that’s all that matters.
” They all three chuckled, and Jace could see the love in Owen’s eyes when he talked about Paige.
Owen grew serious, then. “The teasing’s ’cause I want to see how serious you are about this.
It ain’t easy here, and most people leave.
These guys may have grown up with you, but I didn’t.
I wanna make sure you aren’t one of the quitters before I decide I like you or not. ”
Jace put on the gloves and pulled a couple boards off the base of the deck before replying.
“Fair. Hell, I’m interested in finding that out, too.”
The men worked in silence until the sun hid behind the peaks, staining them purple and the sky a deep magenta in the late afternoon light.
By the time they laid down their tools, most of the deck was torn down, and the still-okay boards salvaged.
Jace would need a dumpster delivered, not to mention the laundry list of machines he’d need to rent if he was going to tackle this project himself.
To that end, he had a few more pressing questions.
“You guys know a few ranch hands I can get to manage this place and keep the cattle on schedule while I work on tearing this place apart and rebuilding?”
“We do. Actually have a few we don’t have work for right now if you want us to send ’em your way.”
Relief settled over Jace’s sore shoulders. “Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks again. I’m buying beers tonight. What’s still around?”
Not that he knew the bars from before he’d left.
He’d been way too young to go, so any Shiners he and his buddies had enjoyed were usually consumed down by the creek at the base of his dad’s property.
His dad never overtly said anything, but Jace always found the empties recycled and bottle tops in the trash.
His old man had been pretty damn cool, hadn’t he?
“If you’re buying, we’re going to Joe’s,” Owen said, brushing off his jeans and wiping the sweat from his brow.
The dude was built like the result of a truck and a Hemsworth brother having a baby.
He and Paige, who more closely resembled Tinkerbell, made a cute pair.
Jace’s chest ached. He longed for companionship, but where the hell in LA could he find anything close to authentic in that department?
“The lunch spot?” It’d been good, but he didn’t want it twice in one day.
“Man, you really have been away a while. Joe built a live music venue to keep locals in town on Friday and Saturday nights, and it’s kinda hopping.”
“No shit?”
“Nope. Anyway, they’ve got a helluva food menu, too, but don’t let any out-of-towners know. We wanna keep this place sacred.”
Jace smiled not just at the idea of a cool local place where he could join the boys for some grub and grog, but at the idea that they’d lumped him in with the locals and not the out-of-towners.
“You bet. I’m gonna shower off, and I’ll meet you there. Like twenty minutes or so? And I’m buying dinner, so come hungry.”
“Good man.” The guys took off, and Jace rushed through the cleanup.
Some things were the same whether he was in Montana or LA.
He’d be going home alone, for one. But that didn’t bother him as much as it might’ve in the past. For the first time in a long time, he found himself looking forward to an evening after work, good banter with some great guys, and hopefully, enough food and drink to ease his already aching muscles.
It might take a bit to get used to the demands of physical labor, but he didn’t mind it.
It was so much different than a good burn from the gym.
Brad and Owen didn’t get their physique from supersets on a bench press.
He showered and dressed quickly. In the garage, he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.
His dad’s old Chevy sat under a thin layer of dust, but otherwise still looked like it was in good shape.
His old man had always been a helluva mechanic.
The hunk of metal would be hell for commuting—if the old girl still had it in her—but it would be a good truck for the ranch, for hauling shit and checking perimeters when a horse wasn’t an option.
A small thrill whistled through his nervous system. He hadn’t ridden outside extremely curated sets, where every move on a horse had been watched and assessed, in years. The freedom he’d feel when he could get out on the trails and open up made him smile.
And the truck was perfect for tonight.
As he maneuvered around the ridiculous rental Cammie had set up for him, he thought about the mystery surrounding Aurelie, of all people. Not his father, not his new-again neighbors, not the unnamed guy buying up properties around Banberry. Just…Aurelie.
Her hair, wild as her eyes, that fell most of the way down her back in soft waves.
The way she stood, chest forward, like she was leading an infantry to battle.
Her lips, like liquid rubies cast into plump pockets of satin…
Then of course, her sass. Her energy alone could power the city of LA for a month. Too bad so much of that ire was leveled at him at the moment.
Everything about her took over his senses, his good sense included.
Maybe tonight he’d be able to get some insight into the woman from his new friends.
All in all, it was shaping up to be a helluva first two days back in Montana.
Hopefully, luck would stay on his side; God knew he’d need it while he remembered everything he’d pushed to the back of his mind about ranching and construction.
Too bad that information was competing with another mystery: Aurelie.
This wasn’t going to be a drama-free trip, that was for sure.