Chapter Eleven
What was left of Jace’s shattered heart slipped down into his stomach as he walked down Paige’s driveway. Where the fuck was he even heading? He was quite literally homeless, since he’d assumed he’d be shacking up with his wife.
His wife. The words sounded hollow now that the meaning had been stripped of them.
And him? A husband? It was just another role for him to play, with another co-star who wasn’t reading her cues.
He’d thought they’d crossed over the liminal space between real and fake two nights ago, if not sooner. But no.
The gravel crunched under his feet, exacerbating the physical feeling of crumbling to dust. He’d let another woman go too far in thinking he could love her but this time, he’d been the one to fall, not her.
Aurelie had made him want more, made him long for something beyond his career aspirations. She gave him purpose.
Well, not anymore, his asshole of a subconscious added.
When the door behind him opened, and the unmistakable sound of Aurelie’s grumbling about the chill pierced the air, his spirits lifted.
He wheeled around, a smile tugging reluctantly at the corners of his mouth.
She’d made a mistake by sending him away.
He’d known it the second he’d walked out the door.
So what if it had taken her a quick second to realize it? At least she had.
“Aurelie,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—” he started, but she put her hand up to stop him.
“I wanted to give you the keys to my apartment. I promised you could stay there when you’re in town, and I feel bad taking that from you just because, well, just because.”
And with that, the last shred of hope he’d been clinging to evaporated, leaving his hands and heart empty. He cleared his throat, swallowed back the lump of heat that had built up since he’d left Paige’s.
“I’m going to be in town longer than just a few days, Aury. I meant what I said; I’m rebuilding the ranch and staying on to work it.” He hadn’t said that last part out loud to anyone, but it was one more truth this place had dug out of him.
“That’s fine. Stay as long as you like.” She wouldn’t meet his gaze, a small mercy as far as he was concerned. God knew looking into her deep-green eyes would only make things worse.
“Where, um, where will you be? I don’t want to put you out.” And as far as he could recall, there was only one bed in that apartment. He was strong, but only a class-five-hurricane-strength force would be able to keep him from her if they were still living in the same space.
“I’m going to stay days with Steve, be there on call at the hospital with Jackie at night, so Steve can rest. I’ll be back every now and then to change out my clothes, if that’s okay.”
If that was okay.
None of this was okay with him. He wanted to see her every day, and not just in passing. He longed to fall asleep beside her and have her face be the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes in the morning.
Dammit. Why wasn’t this truth one he could have said earlier?
He was good and fucked, that was for sure.
“That’s fine, thanks. If your feelings change, let me know. I’m happy to get a hotel.”
Or have her move right back in with him. If her feelings oscillated in that direction, he’d be a made man.
“No, I promised. And feel free to bring Max. I know how small the apartment can seem without company.”
Hearing his second-favorite name on his first favorite’s lips was like a punch to the gut.
If she could start acting like a world-class bitch right about now, that’d be helpful.
This let’s-stay-friends shit was gonna kill him.
Still, the idea of Max up here didn’t sound half bad.
It might be just enough to keep him sane while he caught glimpses of his wife around town.
“Thanks. I’ll do that.”
He had no idea what else to say to the woman standing in front of him that wouldn’t sound like a plea.
To stay.
To give them a chance.
To love him back.
But no matter how he sliced it, it was his fault. He’d offered her a way out of a crappy situation, but he’d been the one to set such insurmountable boundaries. He didn’t think he’d ever get over the ache that permeated his veins, his chest cavity, his limbs at how bad he’d effed this up.
She hesitated before closing the distance between them and stretching out on the tip of her toes to press her lips to his cheek. They were warm, like heated pillows that carried the scent of coconut on them thanks to her lip balm. Christ, now she’d ruined one of his favorite beachy smells, too.
“Thank you, Jace. You saved my life.”
And you’ve damned mine, he thought, though he’d keep that to himself. None of this was her fault. She turned to go, her gaze still on him, a look he didn’t recognize on her face. Was it hurt? Regret?
“You’re welcome. Take care of your friend and her husband. He’ll need all the support he can get. And hey,” he added. She stopped, a hopeful look in her eyes. “Make sure that kid grows up to know this isn’t his fault.”
She nodded, the corners of her lips and eyes falling again.
“I will.”
And with those two words, she strode back into the house. He closed his eyes against the heat that built behind them.
Fuck. How the hell had he inadvertently met the woman of his dreams, married her, made love to her in an act filled with more intimacy than he’d ever shared with anyone, and lost her, all in the span of less than two weeks? He was a record-breaking chump, wasn’t he?
He shook his head, willing the pain and images of Aurelie from his head. He had shit to do if he was still going to make this his home, and not a lot of time to do it.
In a matter of minutes, he had plans to fly Max up here, as well as a realtor to put his apartment in LA on the market. All without Cammie’s help.
He liked knowing that his efforts to make a new life for himself were on his shoulders.
It brought him back to before he’d headed out to Hollywood with nothing but a backpack of clothes and dreams and a handful of cash to keep him afloat.
Every single thing he’d achieved had been through hard work and a fierce determination not to end up back in Banberry. The irony wasn’t lost on him.
That led him to his next call. Or rather, string of calls.
Now that he had a name, tracking down Isaac Puckman’s contracts wasn’t all that hard. Hell, in this day and age of technology, it was a wonder the asshole’s plans had stayed as hidden as long as they had.
Jace ignored the scent of coconut and lime assaulting his senses when he stormed through the door of his new apartment. In mere minutes, he had an appointment with Puckman under the guise of becoming a silent business partner.
The only thing left was a call to his lawyer.
He got the list of properties Puckman had scooped up from failing ranches and the pending negotiations Puckman’s shell corporations had on the chopping block next.
“Are you sure you wanna go down this road?” his lawyer asked. “You’ve worked your ass off to get where you are. Is this worth it?”
Jace pinched his eyes shut, breathed in the overwhelming scent of Aurelie that he couldn’t shake no matter how hard he tried.
She’d infiltrated him on a cellular level, and even though two weeks ago he’d have been asking himself the same questions Randall asked him now, something had fundamentally changed.
Simply put, he’d fallen in love.
Not just with Aurelie; he’d fallen in love with the beauty that surrounded Banberry, with the quiet that crept up on him from all sides of the expansive forests, the rugged peaks that promised adventures he’d found only during his trips to Europe.
He’d even fallen in love with the quaint and charming town for the first time in his life.
“I’m as sure as anything I’ve done before. Hell, what’s the good of all the money and street cred if I can’t use it to my advantage every now and then?”
Randall laughed. “Okay. Give me a couple hours. I want to make sure we don’t miss anything. If we show our hand too quickly, we lose the element of surprise. If I’m right about my hunch, he’ll only get bolder, especially if he hasn’t been caught this far into his master plan.”
“You bet. I’ll wait for your call.”
Jace hung up the phone feeling more than a little optimistic. Besides being surrounded by the home of his new bride while she was nowhere in sight, he had a feeling this would work out. All of it.
Damn his eternal optimism, but it coursed through his nerve endings now.
When he walked back to the bedroom, he noticed the closet door Aurelie had accidentally taken off its track was shoved to the back of the small room.
He rolled up his sleeves, intent on fixing the door for her, but when he saw the track itself was damaged, he typed out a list on his phone of parts he’d need to fix it for her.
He’d need some new tools, too, since his dad’s were older and more in line with ranch needs; damn, he didn’t think his father had updated a single thing in the now-demolished ranch house.
But the cows and horses bedded down in a state-of-the-art stable and barn.
He shook his head. At least he’d prioritize some of the right things this go-around. To that end, he might as well add some power tools and essentials to his repertoire.
If memory served him right, there was a hardware store in town he could swing by while he waited to hear back from Randall. He went to the bathroom and washed his hands, only to find the shower stuck on a slow drip. Damn, it wouldn’t budge, either. Well, add it to the list.
It felt good to get moving on something that would warrant some immediate results, something that would keep his hands and mind occupied so he didn’t go crazy thinking about Aurelie.
Before he knew it, he was in Mike’s Hardware store with a cart and a half of supplies, including every tool he thought he might need on his farm once the house was built.
Where the damn hell he was gonna store all this crap until then was beyond him, but at least he didn’t have to worry about Aurelie coming home to a leaky nozzle and broken door.
He wasn’t a journeyman or anything, but he could be handy if the situation called for it.
Banberry and his father had done their best to leave a mark on him, and at least this time it would benefit someone he loved.
Randall called back before he’d driven home. That was quick, just under two hours. That meant either really good news or the opposite. Given his luck of late, it was the latter.
“What’s the word, good man?”
“Word is, there’s more than just farming properties at risk here. Puckman’s buying up businesses that are failing, not to mention the couple places he’s made offers on for way more than they’re worth. Luckily, those folks aren’t all selling, or you’d be living in Puckmantown, not Banberry.”
“You mean to tell me he’s buying places that aren’t anywhere near his original hotel plans?
” Jace’s stomach dropped. This didn’t add up.
He threw a couple bags in the back of his dad’s truck, glad again for the utility of the beast. There was no way he’d be bringing this payload home in the sports car Cammie had rented on his behalf.
“Nowhere close. I think this asshole’s buying up half the town because he can. Some of them are smart, and they’ve told him to eff off, but there are a few of them desperate enough to sign on the dotted line.”
“Shit. How many are we talking about?”
“Half a dozen so far, a few more pending.”
“Jesus.”
“From what it looks like, only one has signed, but apparently he’s made more than three other offers that have been declined, and two more that are on the fence.”
“What two?”
Papers rustled; Randall had done his research in the time between calls. “Um, it looks like an art supply store and an auto shop.”
An auto shop? What were the chances this small town boasted two of those? Hopefully good, because otherwise that spelled disaster for Aurelie’s friends.
“Do you have the name of the auto shop?” He crossed his fingers, held his breath.
“Yeah, Steve’s. Looks like the guy accepted an offer, but no final paperwork has been signed. If the deal isn’t stopped, he’ll be Puckman’s most recent victim.”
“Shit. Is it a done deal?”
“The contract looks pretty solid from what I can tell, but nothing’s ever done where money’s concerned, and the final approval from an inspector has to be waived or signed. Why? Anything I can do?”
“Go ahead with the legal ramifications about his purchases bordering on monopoly. That’s our only hope of skinning this guy alive. I’ve got to go see a guy about an auto shop.”
“Sounds good, Jace. And good luck. I hope this all works out in your favor.”
“Me, too.” Jace hung up. He couldn’t even call Aurelie, not without looking like a desperate man in search of a way to keep contact with her.
Shit. What should he do? No doubt Steve was in debt up to his eyeballs paying for fertility treatments to try and have a family, and there Jace was, actively avoiding one of his own.
And Jace may have inadvertently started one anyway.
Only another week or so and they’d know.
Damned if he hadn’t found himself growing not only used to the idea, thanks to Maddie, but fond of it.
Now, he couldn’t imagine not wanting Aurelie and a child of their own to run around, to teach and laugh with.
Any optimism he’d had evaporated like the chill in the spring sun.
He plugged Steve’s into his GPS. Aurelie’s shower and closet door would have to wait.
Right now, saving Steve’s shop and stymying Puckman was a double win he and the town desperately needed.
Not to mention, he found himself pulling for Steve in another way as well.
Steve was in the same place his father was thirty years earlier: faced with the prospects of raising a baby alone when the mother was too stubborn to see that her death wasn’t saving a child, it was saddling a father with a responsibility he hadn’t asked for.
He couldn’t do anything to stop that train from crashing into a brick wall, but he did have the resources to help in another way. And, he may have just found a great way to use his money and invest in Banberry, starting with Steve’s shop.
He only hoped he wasn’t too late for them—any of them.