Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Evelyn had happened. Like a hurricane, she swept into Adalyn's life then left her to pick up the destruction she left in her wake. Inhaling deeply, Adalyn swallowed down her frustration. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine.” Jaxon eyed her like she had two heads. “She insulted you, insulted our daughter…”
Adalyn knew all that. She’d been dealing with the same thing for twenty-six years.
If she’d learned anything during that time, it was that her mother loved to fight.
She thought she was always right, and she’d argue until she was blue in the face—or until the other person gave up.
Which happened far more often than it should.
Adalyn had no desire to engage in any kind of confrontation with her.
It was easier to just let her spout her opinions, then leave.
She waved a hand. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter.”
Adalyn bristled. “She just…” She just what? Jaxon wasn’t wrong.
He continued, undaunted, when she remained silent. “She’s manipulative, and you don’t have to put up with that. Especially from your own mother, of all people.”
Adalyn could feel her emotions shutting down. Tired of conflict, she turned toward the sink and busied her hands rinsing the dishes. “Okay.”
Jaxon let out a growl behind her. “Don’t do that.”
“What?” Adalyn heard the flat tone of her voice, but she refused to let him get under her skin.
All of a sudden, he was beside her. Cupping her elbow in one huge hand, he turned her to face him. “Don’t shut me out like that.”
“Like what?”
“That same crap you just pulled with her where you close yourself off and say something just to appease me.”
Adalyn dropped her gaze and studied the grain running through the wood planking beneath her feet.
“Adalyn.”
She flinched at his hard tone. “Please stop yelling.”
Out of her peripheral vision, she watched Jaxon’s mouth open, then slam shut again.
His huge hands gripped her upper arms, demanding her attention, and she reluctantly lifted her eyes to his.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m not yelling at you.
I just… Help me understand. Because I don’t get it.
Why do you let her talk to you like that? ”
“It’s just how she is.” Adalyn shrugged, and he released his hold on her. “She’s done this for years. She has an opinion about everything.”
“That’s more than opinionated, and it’s a terrible excuse for her behavior.
” Jaxon pointed to the bag of frilly pink dresses on the counter.
“She thinks that buying you things gives her the right to say whatever she wants. That’s not okay.
Love doesn’t come at a price, Adalyn. You do something nice for someone because you care—not so you can manipulate them. ”
Adalyn swallowed hard. “She likes to buy Jaclyn things…” Because it was all she had to offer. She didn’t spend any quality time with Jaclyn, instead showing up with gifts, breezing in and out of their lives every week or so.
Her mother was a pain in the ass. Adalyn knew it all too well, and now, so did Jaxon. She wasn’t ever going to change, so Adalyn wouldn’t waste her breath trying to reason with her.
“You’re so smart and strong and independent.” Adalyn’s cheeks heated as Jaxon began to speak. “You can’t let her make you feel bad for any of those things.”
Adalyn’s mother’s words from the past came floating back to her.
I only want what’s best for you. But that wasn’t quite true, was it?
Evelyn wanted what was best for her. Tears pricked Adalyn’s eyes and burned the back of her throat.
Not because Evelyn’s words had made her angry or upset—but because of Jaxon.
Even still mad at her, he hadn’t hesitated to support her.
It felt good to have someone to hold her up instead of tear her down.
He met her gaze, studying her for a long moment. He lifted one hand and brushed a thumb over her cheek. “Don’t ever sell yourself short. You’re incredible, Adalyn, just the way you are.”
Adalyn swallowed hard, completely unsure of what to say. No one had ever stood up for her this way before. Not even Shawn. He’d seemed to care for her, yes, but he had the same pretentious air that her mother did. He was constantly trying to change her.
“Thank you.” She whispered the words.
He was silent for several beats. “You’re her daughter; why would she think it’s okay to talk to you like that?”
Adalyn hung her head, ashamed. “Because she can.”
He eyed her for a long moment. “What is she holding over you?”
Adalyn took a deep breath. “She loaned me the capital to open the salon. I didn’t want to lease the building, and I managed to negotiate a good deal to buy it right after the recession.
But…” She blew out a breath. “I needed twenty percent down, and I didn’t have it.
There was no way I could’ve afforded it otherwise, and… ”
Jaxon spoke up as she trailed off. “She offered up the money.”
Adalyn nodded at the rhetorical statement. Evelyn never failed to throw that back at her anytime she wanted something. “You have to give to get,” her mother had remarked more than once. It gave her free rein to demand whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and expect Adalyn to jump at her whim.
“I should have known,” Adalyn continued. “Maybe I did. I set up a payment schedule so I could pay her off a little bit at a time as I started making money.”
“What do you owe her?” His brows drew together.
Adalyn shifted on her feet. “A little over fifteen thousand.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Adalyn’s eyes widened. “No.” She held up her hands. “No way.”
There was no way she’d ever let him offer up money. That would be like jumping out of the frying pan and into a freaking volcano. She didn’t want to owe this man anything. There was already so much between them; she didn’t need to muddy the waters more than they already were.
Jaxon reached out and grasped her hands. “As long as you owe her, she’ll control you.”
She would always control Adalyn; that would never change.
Adalyn had made a deal with the devil just by accepting the money from her in the first place.
Now Evelyn would forever be able to tell Adalyn that she owed her because she’d funded her salon.
Adalyn needed to break free, but she couldn’t. Not yet.
She shook her head and tried to pull away, but he held her firmly in his grasp. “I can’t take your money.”
Jaxon squeezed her hands. “You will.”
“Please don’t.” Adalyn’s gaze skittered away, focusing on the wall behind him. “I don’t want to fight.”
“Adalyn…” Jaxon trailed off, then drew in a deep breath. His thumb rubbed small circles over the inside of her wrist, right at the pulse point. “I’m not trying to fight with you. I want to do this for you.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.”
Blue eyes stared into hers, and Adalyn’s breath caught.
His words from just a few moments ago rose up in front of her.
You do something nice for someone because you care—not so you can manipulate them.
Did that mean he cared about her? No, he couldn’t possibly.
He was only offering because she was the mother of his child.
Shaking the stupid thought from her head, she refocused on the situation at hand. “I won’t take money from you.”
“Then don’t. We’ll make it a business arrangement.
” Adalyn barely refrained from rolling her eyes.
Yeah, because that had worked out so well for her in the past. She was already shaking her head when he continued.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to give you the money to pay your mother back.
I opened an account in Jaclyn’s name at the bank.
Each month, I want two hundred dollars deposited into an account until you pay off the original amount. ”
Adalyn felt her mouth fall open. Was he serious? He wasn’t even getting the money back. “But—”
He placed one finger over her lips, silencing her protest. He shot a look toward the living room where Jaclyn played quietly. Cerulean eyes cut back to hers. “Let me do this. I missed so much with her, and I want to make sure she’s taken care of.”
Tears burned Adalyn’s eyes and clogged her throat. Unable to speak, she just nodded. How could she say no to that?
Sensing her unease, Jaxon dropped his hand away and changed the subject. “So. Why does she hate this place so much?”
Adalyn let out a soft, unladylike snort. “Probably because it’s not the half-million-dollar home that my ex had picked out.” That seemed like so long ago now. He lifted a brow, and she continued. “My ex—Shawn—”
“The one who ended up with your best friend?”
Adalyn’s gaze jumped to him, startled. “You remember that?”
Cerulean eyes bore into hers. “I remember everything about you, Adalyn.”
Heat licked over Adalyn’s flesh at his statement.
The words were so simple, yet there was a wealth of information lying just beneath the surface.
She barely repressed a shiver as his gaze skimmed over her like a lover’s caress.
She couldn’t lie—she still remembered the feel of his hands on her body, the way he touched her, demanding and impatient and tender all at once.
She cleared her throat. “Shawn was—is—a lawyer. That’s how he and my mom met,” she clarified at Jaxon’s questioning glance. “He was one of the lawyers who presided over her divorce when she left husband number two.”
His brow scrunched. “How many times has she been married?”
“Three.”
He let out a little laugh rife with disbelief. “Jesus. She might want to make friends with the lawyer.”
“Husband number three was the lawyer,” Adalyn deadpanned.
A smile cracked Jaxon’s face and he shook his head. “Unreal. Anyway, go on.”
“Right.” Adalyn took a deep breath. “So, Shawn made a good living and he’d bought this huge house for us when we got engaged. I never lived there—he moved Jessica in after…” She waved a hand, not wanting to think about it. It’d been two years, but the hurt was still there, just beneath the surface.
“After I got home from Vegas, I started looking for a place to live. You remember my neighbor Wendy from yesterday.” Jaxon nodded.
“Well, I met her at the salon about a year ago when her daughter got married. I was pregnant”—his eyes darkened a bit at the mention of her pregnancy—“and needed a place to live. She and her husband, George, own this duplex. She convinced me to come look at it, and I fell in love with it.”
As she spoke, Jaxon cracked open one of the takeout containers.
“She said she’d rather rent it to me than anyone else.
Besides, her daughter and son-in-law were moving to Oklahoma to follow his job.
” Adalyn opened the cupboard behind her and passed him a plate.
“She and George helped me out a lot, moving furniture and stuff.”
Jaxon piled food onto the plate, then passed it back to her with a nod, indicating she should eat it. Adalyn handed out another plate, then slid a fork over to him. “When Jaclyn came along, she kind of became a surrogate grandmother.”
He paused in the act of scooping rice out of a container and met her eyes. “I’m glad you had someone you could count on.”
His words hit Adalyn like a blow to the chest, and guilt immediately assailed her. “Jaxon, that’s not—”
He held up one hand and gave a curt shake of his head. “It’s fine. And I mean that—I’m glad you have people here who care about you and Jaclyn.”
Adalyn nodded, then silently dug into the plate he’d thoughtfully prepared for her. Over the next hour, they made small talk, sharing laughs and swapping stories until Adalyn glanced at the clock on the far wall.
“Oh, wow. I didn’t realize how late it was.”
Jaxon pushed up from the couch. “Guess I should get going.”
The words sent a little pang of disappointment through Adalyn. She’d actually been enjoying herself for the first time in a long while, and she was kind of sad that it was over. They weren’t perfect, but they’d come to a kind of understanding at some point during the evening.
Scooping Jaclyn up, Adalyn propped her on her hip and followed him to the front door. “Will you be stopping by tomorrow?”
Adalyn prayed he wouldn’t hear the faint breathlessness of her voice, as if her reaction hinged completely on his response. He met her gaze and studied her for a long moment before giving a slight nod. “Same time okay?”
Adalyn swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry. “Sounds good.”
Jaxon stood in the doorway, illuminated by the glow of streetlights behind him. He bent and pressed a kiss to Jaclyn’s downy head. “Good night, sweet girl.”
He lifted his gaze to Adalyn, those liquid blue eyes sending a spark of warmth through her. Silence, thick with anticipation, fell between them, and Adalyn’s heart raced. Was he going to kiss her, too? Finally he dipped his chin at her. “Night, Addy.”
Adalyn’s heart dropped to her toes, and she couldn’t squelch the disappointment that assailed her. He wasn’t going to kiss her after all.
Not bothering to correct him, Adalyn swallowed over the lump in her throat, her voice raspy. “Night.”
Closing the door, Adalyn fought against the tears burning the backs of her eyelids.
It was irrational, but she couldn’t help it.
Part of her wanted him to kiss her as he had years ago.
She should be happy that he hadn’t. Jaxon had been true to his word, spending time with Jaclyn, trying to get to know her and be part of her life.
Yet, after spending time with him tonight, it seemed as if time had slipped away.
Adalyn felt… something between them. Did he not feel the same?
Of course he didn’t. Pushing down her insecurities, Adalyn shoved the thought away. She didn’t need any more complications in her life.