27. Devon
DEVON
Ember hasn’t answered her phone all night.
The longer time stretches at the B&B, the more worry courses through me.
What if she got sick of it all and left?
She wouldn’t do that, I tell myself, but at the same time, this was such a blow, and I couldn’t even stay and be there for her.
I half expected her to show up to help once the last time slot should’ve arrived at the manor, but nothing.
“You should go check on her,” Bea says as she catches me checking around.
“We’ve got the rest of this, Dev,” Rose agrees. “Cleanup is almost done. Go make sure she’s okay.”
A few minutes later, I’m pulling up to the manor.
My stomach clenches. Ember is on the porch swing in nothing but a long sleeve shirt.
The evening air has brought quite the punch to it.
As I enter the gate and walk up the steps, I realize she’s sleeping.
She looks peaceful, but her eyes twitch, and I can imagine she’s having nightmares about what happened tonight.
My first footstep on the porch creaks the floorboards underneath it, and her eyes fly open.
Confusion flickers across her face first. When she settles on me, the tension doesn’t ease like it has been for the last week or so.
Her face is pale and drawn like she couldn’t even escape what’s going on in her dreams.
“Hey.” I take my jacket off and hand it to her, but she stands, making her way to the front door rubbing her arms.
“I must have fallen asleep outside waiting for people to come just so I could send them away.”
“Everyone was very understanding.”
Inside, the manor is exactly like we left it.
The music is still going. The cider we had out in cups is still sitting there, probably gone bad by now.
She turns off the music first, then methodically goes through the house, turning off her flickering candles and lights, but leaving the booths as they are.
I stand behind her as she grabs a tray for the cider and starts placing the cups on it.
“Mom said you wouldn’t answer the phone for her.”
“I was too busy screaming into the void about why it feels like I’m the one being picked on, but then I determined that it’s actually all my fault.
A real businesswoman would’ve checked the town’s regulations.
She would’ve realized before she spent almost all of her money on the place that she couldn’t do what she wanted with it. ”
My heart breaks to hear her talk like that because if anything, Ember is a smart businesswoman.
I’m the grunt work guy. She’s the brains.
I’ve told her this so many times. “That’s not true.
Nichols is on a power trip. He’s making up these rules that sort of fit into the law that’s already there, even though what’s written was never intended to be interpreted this way.
Mom wants us to take this to a public vote, and we know we would win.
Everyone who stopped by the bed and breakfast tonight thought the whole ordeal was beyond ridiculous, Ember. They’re all behind you.”
For a moment, she seems to perk up, but it doesn’t last long.
“I should’ve realized, Devon. After the first time he gave me a hard time, you would’ve thought I learned my lesson, but no, I was too busy with my head in the sky and playing house with you that I completely lost my mind.
I’ll have to refund the tickets and probably pay a fine, but even that is the least of my worries.
I’ve made an enemy out of the man who can determine my future. ”
Her comment about playing house hits me square in the stomach. It wasn’t the emotional gut punch I wanted tonight since it has such a negative spin, the exact opposite of what I thought we were both headed toward.
Ember and I just click. We’re like halves of a whole. In the short amount of time I’ve known her, we can agree on almost everything. We’re compatible in so many ways.
I push those thoughts aside because tonight is definitely not about my ego.
“We can fight this.”
She turns toward me, all of the ciders on the tray, and I spot her lip trembling.
“Every time. It’s going to be like this every time.
I’m already exhausted. Not only did we work our ass off just to make tonight work, but I’ll have to ask permission to do what I want with my own house every time now.
That doesn’t even sound appealing. It sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through that shouldn’t be there.
I don’t know what I did to this guy, but I’m already over it.
How is anyone supposed to afford the upkeep of Sleepy Hollow Manor while not doing anything with it? ”
She rolls her eyes. “I guess if you’re independently wealthy, you could.
You could just live in it and not have to worry about making money.
I’m just so damn tired of it. I would’ve been better off staying at home.
At least then, the manor was still a dream.
I was still hopeful. This just feels like a kick to the gut. ”
She maneuvers around me without another word. I spy a tear escaping down her cheek from the side. She walks quickly toward the kitchen, and I’m right behind her as she dumps the tray in the sink, the cider spilling out into the stainless steel.
I grip her hip, moving up behind her. “What happened tonight wasn’t right. I understand why you’re feeling all these things.”
She wiggles out of my grasp, and I peer down at my empty hands. Lonely, discarded. Cast aside.
“I might just have to give up the manor, Devon.” She gives me a watery smile that doesn’t last long. “Know anyone who wants it? It’ll be cheap.”
I take a step back. For her to think I would actually buy the manor from her is preposterous. I would never buy her out of her dream. I’ll fight for her, but not any of this crap. “You don’t mean that.”
“Right now I do.” She scrubs a hand down her face as more tears fall.
“I’ve let down the town. I’ve made an enemy of the man who can help me.
I’ve proven I’m not up to the task of being the steward of the manor time and time again, and the more I think about it, the more I think my parents were right to ask me what good could come from this. Because right now, nothing has.”
“Well, now you’re just hurting my feelings.”
She gives me a half smile but it’s clear she doesn’t have a sense of humor right now.
“I think I’m done.”
“Ember…” I reach for her, but she pulls out of my grip for the second time. “Not tonight, Devon. I need to spend some time by myself. Can you lock up before you leave?”
I watch her dry her hands on a towel and then walk down the hall. Her footsteps echo through the small space, and then soften the further they get away from me.
Stunned, I stand where I am. I’ve never heard her talk so defeatedly. In fact, she’s the most upbeat person I know. I could punch that asshole for turning her into this. How is anyone supposed to make a go of it in Harvest Falls if Nichols treats everyone like this?
I know my town, and I know they would rally behind Ember if she gave them a chance.
Tomorrow, I promise myself. Tomorrow, she’ll feel better.
She’ll be willing to listen to reason. I can talk her into fighting, and we can get the code changed with my mother’s approval and oversight from the different boards townspeople sit on.
If I’m at all lucky, I’ll get Nichols out of his seat, but at the very least, we can get him to take a chill pill and stop pulling his weight around like he’s somehow President of the United States.
This is Harvest Falls we’re talking about here. This is insane.
I scoop up my jacket on the way through the foyer and take a peek upstairs.
Ember is nowhere in sight. I hate leaving her like this, but she didn’t really give me a choice.
I check my watch. It’s nine thirty. I could stop by and give Nichols a little visit and tell him exactly what I think about him.
Jackass.
I lock the door from the inside, and then pull it shut, making sure Ember will be safe all night, and then jog down the steps and sidewalk to my truck.
I aim my truck toward Nichols, but think better of it, knowing anything I do could make things worse for Ember, and that’s the last thing she needs right now.
Instead, I take a left at the square and head toward home. After parking, I saunter across the sidewalk, still worried about Ember when my feet fly out from underneath me. My knee pops, and searing pain radiates outward. I land hard on my knee and hip.
Pain ricochets through my body, sending me backward to a different time, and I instantly clam up, holding my left leg.
This cannot be happening again.
A myriad of emotions sweep through me that have nothing to do with physical agony.
Last time this happened, my entire career flashed before my eyes.
Athletes talk about what tearing an ACL could mean for their career.
For me, it ruined my whole life, and here we are again, rocking on the ground as the familiar pain ricochets through me.
Just when I might have more to fight for—something more important than a sports career—I’m going to be useless again. A failure. How can the world be so cruel?
“Devon? Are you okay?”
Mr. Donahue comes out of his house. He has a history of watching his doorbell cam for fun, but this time, it might have worked in my favor instead of the other times where he calls to remind me to put out my garbage can on trash day.
I groan. “My leg.”
“Can you get up?”
His hands reach for my forearm and squeeze like he’s going to try to lift me. No way I’m getting up with his help. He’s almost as old as Harvest Falls itself. “I don’t think so,” I moan as more pain shoots through my knee until it feels like it’s on fire.
I shake my head, swallowing. They said it would be easier to tear it again once I’ve already torn it, but I’ve been fine for years. But now…now, when Ember really needs me… When the town needs me…
It might be the emotions of today, but Ember is right. Defeat falls over me like a wet blanket. I’m just not destined to be anyone, I guess. Not a hockey player. Not a boyfriend or a husband.
“I’ll call an ambulance, son. Unless you want me to disturb the neighbors.”
“An ambulance is fine,” I croak.
He leaves me for a little while, plodding along to his house so he can use his house phone to call an ambulance, but he comes back out after, letting me know it’s on the way.
Somehow, I get myself up to a sitting position and rub my head. In the distance, the sirens sound, and it puts me right back in the ambulance that I rode away from the arena that night. That night, I lost everything.
Tonight, I might have lost everything again.