28. Troy
August, Present Day
Maple Ridge
I siton the grass with my crew for lunch, the five of us appreciating that the weather isn’t cold or wet. Butterscotch flops down next to me.
The houses in this neighborhood are newer—two decades old—and larger than most in Maple Ridge. Other than a few middle-aged individuals walking their dogs, the street is quiet. The opposite to Jess’s this morning.
“I heard there were protesters outside of Jess’s house yesterday.” Lance purses his lips and a frown creases between his eyebrows. All hint of the man who loves to mock and tease is gone.
“That’s right. The idiots were harassing her. And someone vandalized her front door. She hasn’t done anything wrong, and yet it feels like she’s in the middle of a witch trial.”
Lance grunts. “No one ever survived those unscathed.”
“I’m not sure anyone survived those period. Innocent or not, you were burned at the stake.” The protesters haven’t tried to burn her, but how far will they take things if they’re trying to force her to leave Maple Ridge?
A red Honda Civic pulls in front of Lance’s truck. A minute later, Nova comes bounding toward us.
I push to my feet and scoop her up. She giggles. The sweet sound of it is the best part of my day so far, other than when I made love to Jess this morning. I tickle Nova’s side, and she giggles and squirms.
Olivia walks over to us, a blanket under one arm. Her other hand carries a picnic basket.
A lovesick sigh comes from one of my crew, but I don’t turn to see which one.
“So, when are you and I gonna make sandcastles again?” I ask Nova. “Or do you wanna see if we can find any teddy bears having a picnic this afternoon?”
Nova bounces in my arms, her small hands on my chest. “Teddy bear! Teddy bear!”
“Hey, Nova.” Lance waves at her, a goofy grin on his face. She waves back, her smile just as goofy.
“Are you gonna be Goldilocks?” I tickle her side again.
Giggling, Nova rapidly shakes her head.
“Oh, that’s right. You don’t like porridge.” I lower her to the ground, and she toddles over to where Butterscotch is snoozing.
“Hey, Aramis. Wasn’t expecting to see you until later—when I pick up Nova.” I hug Olivia and give her a friendly kiss on her cheek.
Lance squints up at us, the sun in his eyes. “Do I get a kiss on the cheek?”
“Man. Didn’t realize you felt that way about me.” I start to lower to my knees, knowing full well he doesn’t mean me.
An abrupt laugh erupts from him. “Not you, dumbass.” He looks up at Olivia, the grin back on his face. “You.”
She rolls her eyes as I straighten, and she gives him a quick peck on the cheek. He smirks at her, but I swear he’s blushing under his tan.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Her question is directed at me.
“Of course. What’s on your mind?”
“I meant in private.”
“Sure. Let’s go inside.” I turn to Lance. “You okay with Nova for a few minutes?”
The owner of the house we’re renovating doesn’t have any kids…just lots of breakable items they probably wouldn’t appreciate Nova’s fingerprints on.
“No problem, Boss.” He gives me a swift salute, then offers his palm for a high five from Nova. She smacks him one and grabs a dandelion from the grass. She hands it to him, seeming much more interested in him than her mother was a moment ago.
Olivia usually laughs when the guy we’ve known since elementary school calls me boss. She doesn’t so much as crack a smile this time. “Be good for Uncle Lance, sweetheart,” she says to her daughter.
“We’ll be fine.” Lance exchanges a quick glance with me. Uncertainty wars in his expression, but I don’t think it has anything to do with Olivia leaving Nova with him.
I take Olivia into the house. We go into the partially renovated kitchen and stop next to the cabinet doors stacked on the newly installed green tile floor. “So, what’s up?”
She scans the room, checking it out, before returning her attention to me. “I heard you brought Jess with you last Tuesday when you and Nova went to the beach.”
I shrug, not getting why she wanted to talk to me about that in private. “That’s right. We built a large sandcastle.”
Olivia folds her arms across her chest. “That was supposed to be your quality time with Nova. Not time spent with your girlfriend at my daughter’s expense.” Her tone isn’t annoyed, but it is venturing close to that territory.
“I didn’t think you’d have a problem with it. Jess likes kids, and she’s great with Nova.”
Olivia chews on her bottom lip the way she does when she’s stressed about something. Colton used to say it made her look sexy. I’m not as easily distracted by it as he was.
An uneasy feeling pokes at my gut. “Spit it out. What aren’t you saying?”
“I don’t feel comfortable with my daughter being around your girlfriend.” The snappish tone to Olivia’s voice is one I haven’t been on the receiving end of for a long time. The unease poking at my gut switches to the sharp press of a knife blade.
I frown. “What are you talking about? You’ve met Jess. You didn’t have any problems with her when she was interviewing you for the article. Why the change of attitude?”
Olivia and Cora have always been close as sisters. If Cora thought Savannah was a risk to Nova, Cora would have said something when she’d first suspected Savannah was Jess—wouldn’t she?
“God, Troy. When were you going to tell me that your girlfriend”—Olivia practically spits out the word—“spent the past seven years in a maximum-security prison?”
“It was five.” My voice is low and thick with warning. Not that it makes a difference if it was seven or five years. Either number will be bad in Olivia’s eyes. “What does that have to do with anything? If you know about that, then you know Jess wasn’t the one who murdered her abusive husband.”
“Doesn’t matter. She still spent the last five years in that prison, fighting to stay alive. Fighting, Troy!” Olivia stabs me in the chest with her finger, punctuating each word.
I have no idea what she’s talking about, but I suspect whatever it is, is based on lies and half-truths.
“Jess was a victim of a system that was supposed to protect her,” I say. “But instead of protecting her, it did nothing but fail her. You want to know how she ended up with PTSD? That’s how. She was abused by her husband and she was abused by inmates. Why? Because she never fought back. You know what would’ve happened if she had fought back in prison?”
“No. What?” The pitch of Olivia’s voice jumps an octave, and her volume explodes another notch.
“If the system decided Jess was the instigator, her sentence might have been lengthened. So, she never. Fought. Back.” I pound my fist on the countertop to emphasize my words.
“I’m sorry, Troy, but I can’t let you spend time with Nova if you keep hanging out with that woman. Colton wouldn’t want you to be with his daughter, either, under those circumstances. It’s my job to protect her since he isn’t here to do that.”
Fuck.“Colton would never feel that way. He would’ve seen the good in Jess you’re refusing to see.”
“Well, I guess we’ll never know which of us is right. Because he’s not here.” Olivia’s voice splinters, but her volume doesn’t waiver.
“You’re being unreasonable, Olivia.”
“I’m watching out for my daughter’s safety, Troy. Your girlfriend was responsible for Sophie Wilson’s kidnapping. Who’s to say she won’t kidnap Nova?”
“For Christ’s sake. Jess didn’t kidnap Sophie. She was helping protect Violet and Sophie from Chief Wilson. He was abusing Violet, and she tried to escape with Sophie. What did you expect Jess to do? She knew what it was like for Violet. She knew how difficult it was for Violet to get away and start over when she was married to someone like Chief Wilson.”
The air between us remains charged, each of us staring the other person down. The electrical current arcs and flares and sparks. Then the air molecules shift unexpectedly, the movement subtle. A surrender of wills. A stepping down.
“I’m glad Violet and Jess no longer have to deal with their abusive husbands,” Olivia says, her tone softening a tiny degree. “I really am. But that doesn’t change where Jess was staying before she moved to Maple Ridge. I can’t risk my daughter’s safety. I thought you of all people would understand.”
“Nova’s safety is important to me too.” I can’t believe Olivia’s acting as if it isn’t.
“If that’s true, you’ll understand why I’m doing this. You have to make a choice, Troy. You can spend time with Nova or Jess, but you can’t be with both at the same time. If you want to spend time with Nova, Jess can’t be with you. And that’s final.” The harshness in her voice is gone, replaced with a plea for me to understand. It’s clear I won’t win this battle.
Shit.I promised Colton I would be there for both of his girls. I can’t go against my promise just because Olivia is being stubborn and can’t see reason. And I can’t do that to Nova. For now, I’m the only father my goddaughter knows. I can’t turn my back on her, especially after I failed her father and mother.
“Okay.” I release a heavy breath. “I won’t include Jess when I spend time with Nova.” A calm I don’t feel levels out my tone, masks the clash of emotions inside me. “It will just be Nova and me and no one else. But I’m asking you not to jump on the bandwagon of believing the worst about Jess like your sister. Jess has done nothing wrong. Think how you would feel if your places were reversed, and you lost everything due to the actions of someone else.”
Except…Olivia did lose everything due to the actions of someone else. If the driver of the transport truck had stopped at the stop sign on the highway like he was supposed to, the bus carrying the hockey players wouldn’t have collided with the truck. Colton wouldn’t have been a first responder at the accident site, and he would still be alive.
“Jess didn’t lose everything. She has a house and a job and a boyfriend.” An unnamed emotion swims in Olivia’s eyes, but I’m too pissed at the situation to figure out what it is.
Olivia walks out of the kitchen. I turn to the counter and clutch the edge of it, my head bowed, my back to the doorway.
Jess doesn’t want anyone to know about Amelia, but if Olivia knows the truth, realizes how big a sacrifice Jess made for her little girl’s happiness, maybe Olivia will then see Jess the same way I do.
Maybe then she’ll give Jess a chance and stand by her side like my brothers and our friends do.
“She lost everything that was important to her,” I say quietly, but not too quiet that Olivia can’t hear me. “She lost her freedom…and she lost her daughter.”
The front door clicks open, but it doesn’t close right away. I wait for Olivia to ask me what daughter, but I’m met with silence.
I close my eyes, inwardly cursing myself for revealing the secret. A secret that wasn’t mine to share. I had taken a gamble it would change Olivia’s mind about Jess. Hopefully it’s not too late—that the silence means she’s thinking about it.
The front door clicks shut, and I know without a doubt Olivia has made her decision and my final words didn’t sway her.
Dammit. Dammit to hell.
Now I’ll have to tell Jess she can’t spend this afternoon with Nova and me. Tell her even though Jess had been excited to hang out with us at the beach again.
And I have to pray to God Olivia doesn’t tell her goddamn nosy sister the truth about Amelia.