“I don’t know what I’ll do if the library closes.” Paige twirled her straw in her drink.
“You can teach your classes anywhere,” Brooke reassured her, but Paige was already shaking her head.
“It’s not just my classes I’m worried about,” she said dully. “It’s the library itself. It means a lot to so many people in Rocky Valley. Not to mention the building itself. It’s been here almost as long as Rocky Valley has existed. To think of it just—“
“Hang on,” Brooke interrupted. “You’re right. It has been here almost as long as the town.”
“So?” Paige frowned.
“So, you can’t just develop historical buildings,” Tara blurted excitedly.
They all turned to look at her in surprise, and she coloured slightly under their scrutiny.
“I — ah — I had some experience in that stuff before I moved to Rocky Valley.”
She didn’t expand so Beth figured she didn’t want to. But she wondered why Tara was waitressing if her experience was in historical buildings. Or at least knowing the rules around them.
“What exactly has Mason said about it?” Brooke asked after a bit.
“Nothing past telling me to get used to the idea. Pointing out that I’ll never be able to raise enough money to stop him and Damon.”
“We’ll see about that,” Brooke said ominously. “Damon Wakefield deserves to be taken down a peg or two. No offence, Jenna,” she tagged on.
Jenna shrugged. “None taken,” she grinned. “If you can take Asher down while you’re at it, so much the better.”
“You’ll help me then?” Paige asked.
“Of course we’ll help you,” Zoe said, reaching over and squeezing Paige’s hand. “As soon as the festival is over, we’ll make a plan to save the library from Mason Decker’s gorgeous clutches.”
“Gorgeous?” Paige scoffed.
“But evil,” Zoe added quickly.
“You really think he’s gorgeous?”
Zoe looked at Paige as if she’d grown an extra head. “Honey, I think my husband is the most beautiful man who’s ever walked the planet,” she said. “But I still have eyes. Girl, you know that man is crazy gorgeous.”
“He knows it,” Paige argued. “I don’t like conceited men.”
Beth noticed that she hadn’t denied it though. Not that she could. There was no denying that Mason Decker was movie-star-good-looking.
But while Zoe claimed Beck was the most beautiful man on the planet, secretly, Beth had to disagree.
“Let’s do shots!” Jenna suddenly exclaimed. “Beth, come help me.” Without listening to anyone’s objections, she dragged Beth through the unusually busy bar.
With the matchmaking festival still on, Joe’s Bar & Grill was doing a roaring trade, and Beth could see that there were definitely some couples forming.
But it seemed to be the place for singles too, since there were lots of people milling around in small groups, chit-chatting and just hanging out. Beth recognised some of them but not all.
As she and Jenna waited for the attention of Joe, Jenna turned and wiggled her eyebrows. “So, Dr. Larson. We haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.” She grinned.
Beth laughed at Jenna’s expression.
“Well, we—“
“Excuse me. Sorry for interrupting, but I couldn’t help overhearing. Are you talking about Josh Larson?”
Beth turned to see a stunning redhead looking politely between her and Jenna. She was wearing a dress that looked as if it cost more than Beth’s entire wardrobe. Thin as a rail, she towered over Beth. Even Jenna didn’t match her for height.
“Uh — yeah, we are,” Jenna answered with a quick look at Beth.
“Oh good.” The redhead laughed. “I thought I was never going to track him down. Do you know where I could find him? The doctor’s surgery was closed by the time I found this place,” she said a little disparagingly.
“Um…“ Jenna hesitated and looked to Beth again. For some reason she couldn’t put her finger on, a stone of dread had popped into her stomach. “He has an apartment down the street,” she said now, saving Jenna from any awkwardness. “I’m sorry to be forward but — how do you know Josh?”
The woman looked Beth over from her simple pink shirt, to her well-worn cowboy boots before smiling in a way that said she was beyond unimpressed with what she saw.
“Did you work in Chicago together?” she tried again in the face of the woman’s icy silence.
“No, I’m not a doctor.” She laughed like the idea was ludicrous. “I’m his wife.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Josh had gotten back from his dinner with Beck filled with an optimism for the future that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Maybe ever.
He would have spoken to Brooke since she was the realtor here, but she was at girls’ night, and besides, he wanted it to be a surprise for Beth.
Beck owned a lot of properties around Rocky Valley, including the apartment block Josh was currently staying in, but more importantly, he had just finished building his own house and had happily given his architect and contractor details to Josh. Even better, he was selling a few acres near his own property and was happy to have Josh come take a look at them.
He’d been genuinely happy to hear Josh’s plans to stay, which just solidified Josh’s feelings on it.
He couldn’t wait to tell Beth. Part of him wanted to tell her as soon as she walked through the door. But no. It would be better this way.
He planned on asking her to go with him next Sunday morning to see the land. He’d tell her that he wasn’t going anywhere. That he wanted to be here, with her, for as long as she wanted him.
Tonight, he’d just make good on his promise to show her how much he missed her.
His phone started ringing beside him, and he picked it up hoping it was Beth.
Ellen’s number flashed up on the screen.
She’d been calling with increasing frequency.
Josh knew he’d have to talk to her. Steeling himself for whatever news she would have about Elaine, he hit the answer button.
“Ellen? Sorry I haven’t answered I just— What?”
Josh listened with growing horror as Ellen filled him in on what had been going on with her daughter.
“She was doing really well, Josh,” Ellen sounded apologetic. “She had gotten out of rehab and had moved back home. We thought… we thought that this time she would pull herself together. Then we saw Dr. Abad at a luncheon, and he mentioned your moving. It was like a trigger for her. Her doctor has been calling as have I, but she won’t answer.”
Josh felt the tension radiating down the phone.
A part of him wanted to tell Ellen it wasn’t his problem anymore, but that damned sense of responsibility reared its head again, and he was dragged right back to two years ago when everything had finally fallen apart.
The rain… the dark… the screech of tyres… the news that Elaine had lost her baby…
“What do you need me to do?” he asked dully.
“We don’t know where she is,” Ellen answered. “But we’re tracing her credit card, so as soon as we can—“
Josh’s doorbell rang, and he swung his eyes to clock on the kitchen wall.
Shit!
It could only be Beth, even though it seemed early for her to be done. The panic clawing at him made it hard to think.
The bell went again, and he moved to answer the door. He couldn’t exactly leave her standing in the hallway.
Ellen was still talking, but Josh was only half listening. He didn’t know what to do. Should he just come clean right now? Tell her everything? Should he pretend everything was ok and deal with it tomorrow when she’d gone to work?
Josh swung open the door and froze.
Beth stood there staring at him with eyes that were nothing more than huge pools of hurt.
And beside her was Elaine.
“Ellen—” He interrupted the agitated chatter on the phone.
“—she’s here.”
Beth heard Josh’s words, and the last, tiny bit of hope in her died. She’d thought she couldn’t feel worse than she’d felt back at the bar. But seeing Josh’s face and hearing him say “She’s here”? That was worse. Way worse.
She had just stared at this woman back at Joe’s, not even able to contemplate what she was saying before Jenna stepped in and questioned her again.
His wife.
His wife!
Beth had stood there feeling about an inch big while this woman, Elaine, talked about coming to surprise him. About how they’d hit a bit of a rough patch but were going to work everything out.
And the entire time, Beth had felt as if she was falling apart.
When Elaine had asked for Josh’s address Beth had finally woken up and offered to take her. She didn’t listen to Jenna’s objections. She didn’t go back to the table to collect her purse. She wouldn’t have been able to face it.
“Josh, darling.” Elaine pushed past Beth and threw her arms around Josh’s neck, pressing her mouth to his.
Beth didn’t wait to see any more. Turning, she ran down the steps leading to the street door. She could hear Josh calling after her, but she ignored him, worried she was going to burst into tears. When she burst onto the street she did burst into tears.
Zoe, Tara, Jenna, Brooke, and Paige were all standing outside, waiting for her like a wall of support.
Zoe came forward and wrapped Beth in her arms. “Come on, let’s go,” she whispered.
Before they’d taken a step, the door flew open, and Josh was there. “Beth,” he rushed over to her, pulling her out of Zoe’s arms to face him. “Please, let me explain this. I know how it looks but—“
“You know how it looks?” she repeated with a laugh. “You’re married, Josh. Married!”
“Is that what she told you? Beth, I’m not married to her. Not — not anymore.”
She could only stare at him.
Was that better? Moderately, she supposed. But to keep something that big from her? Why? She didn’t understand it. And if he was divorced, why was she here saying they were working things out?
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she hissed. “How could you not have told me something like this? What is she doing here?”
“I-I don’t know,” he said. “It’s complicated. She’s — she’s had some problems.”
“Yeah, she told me,” Beth pulled her arm from his grip. “Told me how you went through a rough patch, and you’re working things out. So that’s why you spent a year not wanting me? That’s why you said you couldn’t be with me, right? Why you couldn’t offer me anything?”
“Beth, please. I know how it seems.”
“Just answer me, Josh. For once, just be honest.” She knew that this wasn’t a conversation they should be having in front of witnesses, but she was too upset and angry to care. “Is she the reason that you didn’t want to be with me after that first night?”
He stared at her, his jaw tense, his eyes filled with pain. “Yes,” he finally answered. “But you don’t understand!”
“No, I don’t,” she said. “Because you never told me, Josh. You never told me any of it. Good luck working things out with your wife.”
She turned and walked away, not even knowing where she was going.
“Beth—“
She heard him move toward her again, but someone obviously stopped him because it was Zoe’s arm she felt around her shoulders as she cried her way down the street.
“I don’t even have my purse.” She sniffled.
“I have it,” Zoe said. “Come on, honey. It’s all going to be ok.”
But it wasn’t. Beth thought of all those books she’d read where the characters talked of feeling their hearts breaking. She never thought it could really, truly happen to a person.
But it could. And it hurt like hell.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“What the hell did you do, man?”
Josh looked up from his desk to see Grayson Carroway standing in the doorway of his office.
He jumped to his feet. “Have you seen her?” he asked, hearing the desperation in his voice. “She won’t answer the phone, and she’s not at the bakery.”
“No, she’s at home.”
Josh ran a hand through his hair. “I figured,” he said. “I half thought I’d get shot if I went near the place.”
“You might,” Grayson said, unsmiling.
“Look, I don’t know what she told you, but—“
“She didn’t tell me anything,” Grayson spat. “She came home with Zoe Beckford last night crying her eyes out and locked herself away. Didn’t leave for work. Hasn’t left her room. If you hurt her—“
“What? No, of course I didn’t hurt her.”
But that wasn’t true, was it? He had hurt her, just not in the way Grayson was implying.
“I’ve never seen her like this,” Grayson said. “Not about some guy.”
Josh looked helplessly at the man he’d considered a friend but who was every inch the big brother of the woman he’d hurt right then.
“I messed up, Grayson,” he said honestly. “But if I could just get the chance to talk to her—“
“That’s not up to me,” Grayson cut in. “But you’re a decent guy. At least, I think you are. So maybe if you do come by, we’ll hold off on the shooting. Unless Beth decides otherwise.”
There was a clear warning in Grayson’s tone, but at least he’d promised not to shoot him. At this point, Josh would take what he could get.
Grayson turned to leave, but before he was out the door, Josh called out to him. “I want to fix it,” Josh said sincerely. “She’s important to me, Grayson. The most important thing to me.”
Grayson stared at him, but Josh held his gaze.
After a while, the other man nodded. “I’m not the one who needs to hear that, Doc,” he said.
No, he wasn’t. But the one who needed to hear it wouldn’t take his calls.
Please just give me some time to explain. Whenever and wherever you want. I never wanted to hurt you, Beth. It was the last thing I ever wanted.
It had been a long-ass day, and the hard part wasn’t even starting, Josh thought as he put his phone in his pocket.
He was pretty confident that if Beth were to show her phone to Sheriff Callahan, he’d be arrested for harassment.
He wanted nothing more than to drive out to the Big Sky Ranch and try to see her, but he couldn’t risk going out there right now. Not with Elaine still to deal with.
Josh stood outside his door and took a deep, steadying breath. He had no idea what he’d find on the other side. He could only hope that Elaine would keep her promise to stay put.
After he’d gone back inside last night, she’d been acting like the last two years hadn’t happened. She’d talked about finding herself in LA and being ready to get back on track.
He’d looked closely at her pupils, and they hadn’t been unusually dilated. As far as he could tell, she wasn’t on anything.
But the truth was he’d been so devastated by that look in Beth’s eyes, and knowing that he’d been the cause of it, that he hadn’t particularly cared one way or another.
Elaine had been relatively calm, but completely delusional. That wasn’t talking as a doctor but as an ex-husband whose life had just imploded because of her. Even as he thought it, Josh knew he wasn’t being entirely fair. If he hadn’t been dishonest with Beth in the first place, Elaine’s arrival couldn’t have broken them apart like this.
Her parents were due to fly in tomorrow to pick her up. She needed help, Josh knew that. And whether he should or not, he felt like he needed to help her now.
Having met Beth, he knew that he’d never loved Elaine the way a husband should love his wife. But that didn’t mean that he hadn’t cared a lot about her, loved her in some way. Not in the all-consuming way he loved Beth, but enough to want her to live happy and peacefully.
He’d moved on
enough from her infidelity to only wish her well.
Steeling himself for whatever he was about to face, he opened the door to the apartment. She wasn’t on the couch, but the blankets he’d used last night were folded and stacked neatly on one of the cushions. He’d given her the bedroom last night, having refused her less-than-subtle efforts to get him to join her in there.
“Elaine, you know we’re divorced,” he said, trying to stay calm while inside he was in turmoil.
He felt a furious, black anger toward his ex-wife. But more so toward himself. However, he didn’t know her mental state and couldn’t risk her leaving and endangering herself.
Her smile was smug and confident.
“We’ll see,” she said. “Night, darling.”
That was the last he’d seen of her. She’d been asleep when he left that morning.
In between calling Beth, he’d called Elaine to make sure she was still in the apartment. But the number for her had been disconnected.
There was music coming from the sound system, so he hoped she was still here. Dropping his bag and keys, he stepped farther into the apartment.
“Elaine?”
“Darling, you’re home!”
She appeared from the kitchen, wearing an apron. Did he even own an apron? Josh had no idea.
“Dinner will be in about ten minutes, so you have time to freshen up a little.” She smiled.
What the hell?
“Er — you cooked?” he asked, keeping his tone even, studying her for signs that she was on something.
Her cheeks were a little flushed, but her eyes were clear, the pupils a normal size. Her hands seemed steady.
She didn’t appear to be agitated. But he felt unsettled.
“Of course I cooked.” She laughed airily.
In all their time together, he’d never known her to cook. Not once.
“Dessert was beyond me, so I stopped by that blond woman’s place.”
His blood froze in his veins, thinking of her at the bakery.
“She wasn’t there. Some snooty Englishwoman served me.”
That would be Zoe. Josh could just imagine how Zoe felt about his ex-wife waltzing in the door of Beth’s place.
Can’t Hurry Love Page 13
