by Drea Stein
Jackson indicated a stretch of the thin dividing wall he had started on, and Chase lifted the hammer, readied his stance, and swung a blow. There was a satisfying crunch as the thin materials crumbled against the onslaught.
Chase took a few more whacks and then stopped, looking at him. “So what is this all about? Why now? You stay away for years and now you’re back?”
Jackson said nothing, just glanced down at the plans he had spread on his makeshift desk.
“I heard the Morans are selling their house, moving. Is that it? Is it because her parents won’t be here anymore? You know they almost got divorced, but I hear they’re giving it another chance and want a fresh start.”
“I did hear that,” Jackson acknowledged. “Mom told me. You know, even though she doesn’t live in town anymore, she still manages to keep up on what’s happening.” Jackson ran a hand over his hair. “And maybe that was some of it. But finally, it was just time to come back.”
Chase looked at him. “I always thought there was something you didn’t tell me. I know you weren’t there that night, cause you were crashed on the couch in the basement. You got that phone call and you left. And then you asked me to not say anything.”
“I never asked you to lie for me,” Jackson said.
“I would have,” Chase shot back.
Jackson knew. He nodded.
“You weren’t there, were you? With her when she died?”
Jackson didn’t say anything, but he should have known Chase would have guessed the truth, or close enough to it.
“I was at the hospital,” Jackson said, clinging to the one bit of truth among the lies.
“But there was no way you were driving that car, was there?”
When Jackson said nothing, Chase just shook his head, “Man, she sucked you into her drama one last time didn’t she?”
Jackson knew his brother had never been a fan of Ashley, but after Jackson had kicked his ass over it one too many times, Chase had learned to keep his opinions to himself.
Jackson felt his pulse speed up, “You can’t…”
“I can. She’s dead but even when she was alive, Ashley Moran had her claws into you so deep and your head spinning you didn’t know which way was up. I’ve known you all my life and I know what you were like before she walked into your life when you were sixteen. She said jump and you said how high.”
Jackson didn’t say anything, couldn’t because it had been true. He had fallen under Ashley’s spell until the very end, until faced with a truth not even he could ignore. Still, a promise was a promise.
“Well, now she’s gone. I’m here—back, because I wanted to be, I’m ready to start over.”
“Are you? Don’t get me wrong. I want you here, more than anything. I just want to make sure you’re not going to disappear on me, ok?”
“I told you, I’m here,” Jackson said, one last time and knew it was true. He wouldn’t let anything drive him away from his home again.
Chase, too, seemed relieved. “Well then, why don’t we get started on getting you a real place to work.” He hefted the sledgehammer again and aimed at the wall. Before he swung though, he turned and looked at Jackson. “By the way, why are you so eager to kick the clinic out? And aren’t you letting the psychic stay? Seems like your priorities are all wrong.”
Jackson gritted his teeth. He had made his decision and to back down now would only make him look weak. The clinic would have to go if only to prove that he, Jackson Sanders, was a force to be reckoned with, not just Chase’s baby brother.
“My building, my rules,” Jackson said.
Chase shrugged. “Sure whatever you say. Though you know the clinic serves an important function providing important care…”
Jackson wondered just how many people the good Dr. Lynn Masters had given that speech to. His brother seemed to have it memorized.
“She’s gotten to you too?”
“What, who? Lynn?” Chase smiled. “Quite the little spitfire, isn’t she? Have you met her? You’re staying next door to her, you know.”
Jackson took the sledgehammer from his brother’s hand, spread his feet, and swung. The walls trembled and a large hole bloomed from the impact. He handed the sledgehammer back to his brother, went over to the radio, and cranked up the volume.
Chase smiled but got the picture. The subject of Lynn Masters was officially closed, at least for now.
Chapter 19
“Thank you for meeting me.” Lynn didn’t know why she suddenly felt shy but she did as Caitlyn Montgomery Randall, looking luminous after having given birth just a few weeks ago, strode forward and shook Lynn’s hand. Caitlyn was wearing a stylish dress and heels, and Lynn wished that she’d had something more dazzling to wear. She had scrounged together a pair of black slacks, a silk blouse with a small stain that she hoped wasn’t noticeable, and her one pair of serviceable pumps for this meeting, trying for what she hoped was a grownup, ‘I’m a professional’ trust me look.
“My pleasure. I was delighted when you called. It’s never too early to start planning for the future. But come, let’s go to the conference room so we can talk.”
The offices of Queensbay Capital were in a four-story building set back on the hillside that led out of town, one that looked ordinary enough from the outside. However, once you stepped off the elevator and onto the main floor, Lynn could feel the energy.
The whole office was light and bright, not what Lynn expected from an investment firm where people took money seriously. She had thought there would be lots of dark wood and old men in suits. Instead, most of the staff seemed on the younger side, and though there were plenty of suits, there was nothing stodgy about them. Colorful art, many of them waterscapes with a modernist touch, lined the wall, and instead of old-fashioned polished mahogany desks, they were all light blond wood or glass and metal contraptions.
There were tablets and sleek computers and there was just enough bustle going around in the air to make the place seem vibrant and electric.
Caitlyn, not slowing down at all, led her into a glass-walled conference room where a bank of windows commanded a distant view of the harbor.
“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.”
“Always a pleasure, Lynn. I hear that you took a permanent job at the clinic. How wonderful.”
Caitlyn Montgomery Randall was a few years older than Lynn and had grown up in Queensbay. She was married to Noah Randall, a technology entrepreneur, who had also grown up in town. Now, she ran a successful investment firm, while her husband advised other start-ups. They’d just had a beautiful baby boy, Lucas, and they lived in a beautiful house on one of the bluffs that ringed the harbor. Lynn had been there once for a cocktail party, a fundraiser for the hospital. You could have hated them for their obvious happiness and good fortune, but you wouldn’t. They were generous to a fault, and Caitlyn was vivacious and striking so that you couldn’t help but be drawn into her orbit.
“Thank you.” Lynn felt a moment of guilt. Caitlyn had offered to help Lynn get started investing when she was ready and Lynn had used that as a pretext for this meeting. Still, that wasn’t the reason Lynn had come, instead hoping that Caitlyn’s reputation as a philanthropist might serve her instead.
“I imagine this isn’t quite a social call or a let’s set up an IRA account type of visit.” Caitlyn looked at her shrewdly, one eyebrow raised above her luminous gray eyes.
“Not exactly.” Lynn felt a sense of relief that she wouldn’t have to beat around the bush. “I am so sorry to bother you, but I couldn’t think of anyone else who might be able to help. See, we’re also under a time crunch. At the clinic, I mean; and I need your advice.”
“What sort of time crunch?” Caitlyn asked.
“The landlord wants us out.”
“Duane Peterson is kicking you out?” Her voice was filled with surprise.
“It’s the new landlord. Jackson Sanders.”
Caitlyn’s face registered surprise. “He bought
the building?” Her face turned serious. “I hadn’t heard that.”
“I think it was the first thing he did when he got here. I think Chase is pretty surprised too.”
“Aren’t we all,” Caitlyn said in a low voice, almost to herself. Lynn wondered if Caitlyn’s bewilderment had something to do with what Tory had told her about Jackson’s fiancée.
She looked up, shaken out of her thoughts. “But I don’t see how I can help with that.”
“It’s your advice I need. See, it’s not so much the clinic I am worried about. I’m sure we’re already looking for some new space, but it’s about my program—Healthy Kids Now.”
Caitlyn nodded. “I remember you mentioning it.”
“I wanted to formalize it, set it up as a real program, not a business necessarily but maybe more like a charity. I have some money to start up with, and now that I’ve had some success, I want to put together a real plan that can be used by other clinics and hospitals in the area.”
“Sounds impressive.”
“It’s a start. Really, it’s not so hard, knowing what to do. I mean the information is out there, but there’s almost too much of it. I found when I started to give my patients—the kids and their parents—some simple guidelines, like just one or two behaviors to modify at a time, there was a much higher success rate than berating them on all the things they were doing wrong. Soon I was seeing more active, healthier kids. I was sort of just trying it out at the clinic, but I want it to be independent of it, so if the clinic closes all of the work I’ve done isn’t for nothing.”
Lynn realized she had been sitting on the edge of her chair, so excited to talk about her ideas that she couldn’t relax.
“You sound like you have this all thought out,” Caitlyn said.
Lynn leaned back a little in the comfortable leather chair, trying to appear professional. “Thought is just about all I’ve done.” It had been Phoebe who had inspired her to take this next step, and together they had decided that Caitlyn was the perfect place to start.
Caitlyn leaned forward. “I like it. I think you’re on to something. Of course, there would be some start-up costs, even if, as you said, you want to incorporate it as charity. Nothing too substantial, but you will need to make it official, and you’ll need a lawyer. Don’t worry, I know someone who will be very reasonable. I also know a woman who started a non-profit to make school lunches healthier. I’ll give you her name too so you can chat. She’ll have a lot more practical advice than I can give you. And of course, you’ll want to set up some banking accounts.”
“I have the money.” Lynn said, thinking of what her grandmother had left her. It wasn’t much but it would probably be enough to get the project under way. And if Lynn had to move in with her parents to make ends meet, well then that’s just what she would have to do, until she found another job.
“I know you do, after all you do let us manage it. But while I admire your desire to build this on your own, I think you may have more success if you reach out to others for support. And becoming an official entity will be a step in the right direction. It will make everything more official, but it will also make sure the rest of the world takes you seriously.”
Lynn leaned forward in her chair. She had known that coming to Caitlyn would be a good idea. The woman knew everyone, or so it seemed. Inspired, Lynn asked for a pen and a piece of paper and started to make some notes so she wouldn’t miss anything. For the first time in days, she began to feel a glimmer of hope. Maybe something good could come out of this situation.
Chapter 20
Lynn walked past the batting cages, trying to make it seem like she couldn’t care less who was there. Overall, though, she was in too good of a mood, riding high off her strategy meeting with Caitlyn, to let the thought of running into Jackson Sanders bother her.
Still, there was no harm in being prepared for a rogue sighting, since it seemed to be happening quite frequently. Especially if she was going to do a workout that would leave her sweaty, she wanted to ready. Ready for what? She sighed. Jackson had made it clear that he thought she was a nuisance in scrubs. Smelly workout clothes wouldn’t help her case either. Too bad Queensbay was only big enough for one health club. And there was no way she was going to let the fear of Jackson seeing her hot and sweaty keep her out of it. Especially since hitting the gym seemed to be the only action that was happening lately.
Somehow the twin thoughts of Jackson and hot and sweaty made her stomach do a flip-flop, and she had a brief, intense image of naked bodies twisting together. She wondered what he would look like out of his work suit. She’d hadn’t caught more than a glimpse of him when he’s been here with Jake, only that his shoulders had seemed broader than she remembered and the muscles in his arm had all but rippled when she had turned to catch him swinging the bat. She shut down her hormones with a groan. Really, you would think there was one only one thing she thought about.
Swallowing, she told herself to stop thinking that way, but still she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw no tall, lanky blondes at the batting cage; only some middle-aged dads and their kids. She planned on a good, long workout and didn’t want to be disturbed.
She went to the locker room, changed, and headed out onto the main floor of the gym, to the rock-climbing wall, which in her opinion, was the place’s best feature. She fairly tingled in excitement looking up at it now, noting the pattern of the toe and handholds. She had climbed it a hundred times, but that didn’t mean she could be lazy about planning her route.
“Hey, Lynn. Haven’t seen you in a while.” Bode Weller, one of the gym’s personal trainers, came over and gave her a hug. He had longish brown hair, bleached blond at the tips, brown eyes, and a body like a Greek Adonis. She let herself enjoy the hug for a moment, feeling his muscles squeeze around her like a python, and then gently pushed him away.
“Bode, how have you been?”
“Great,” he said. “Even better now that I’ve seen you.” He gave her a puppy-dog sad look from underneath his eyes.
“Oh please! Like you even noticed I was gone.” She shook her head. Bode was one of the more popular trainers at the gym and had a regular parade of women, young and old, salivating over him. Lynn herself had looked at him quite a few times as well, but that was all. Bode was a little too relaxed and easy going for her to think of him seriously. And he was a notorious flirt, but she knew that she had no problem allowing him to practice his charm on her.
Unbidden, she found herself doing a little comparison of Jackson to Bode. He probably wasn’t as bulky or a ripped as Bode, but there had been the hint of decent musculature underneath that nicely tailored suit. Of course, he was pretty tall, so that meant that any weight he did carry would be nice and evenly distributed, probably leaving him long and lean like a cat. She gave a mental shrug to clear the image of Jackson from her mind. She was here to focus, and to climb.
“Here, let me get that harness rigged up for you.”
Lynn was perfectly capable of doing it herself but she let Bode check her equipment, smiling a little as his hands lingered in all the right places. After all, he was only doing his job.
“All set here,” Bode said.
“Thanks,” Lynn said, going up to the rock wall and locating her first hand grip. She’d been delighted to find that a gym with a large indoor rock-climbing wall was opening up near Queensbay. She’d been one of the charter members, figuring that if she couldn’t go out and climb the real thing, this was almost as good.
Focused, determined, Lynn started her climb. She didn’t try to do it fast; rather, she took her time, letting her mind both wander and focus. One part of her concentrated on the different handholds and footholds while the other half ruminated the other issues facing her.
Even though it looked like The Healthy Kids Now program might take off on its own, she was still left with the problem of the clinic closing. So far, Sadie had made no progress on finding a new place for them to go. Time was counting down and somehow s
he had managed to tick off the only person who might be able to help the situation. Jackson Sanders.
It was his eyes that gave her hope, she thought. Sure, most of the time they were indecipherable, like a cat’s, but occasionally she thought she saw flashes of…what? Hurt, compassion? Maybe, but Jackson always seemed alert, tightly wound like a leopard or a lion. Waiting to pounce.
Lynn almost had to laugh at that. There was no one who would ever accuse her of being catlike. Or waiting to pounce. She was more like a puppy in that regard. Ready to play, ready for action.
She was almost halfway up the wall when she became aware that there was someone else on it with her. She could hear Bode coaching the climber from below, but she could also sense a presence, fast approaching.
It wasn’t long before a hand, large and well formed, at the end of a long arm, appeared at her side. In a moment, the rest of the climber came into view and she swiveled her head to see who it was.
The surprise caused her to falter, and it was only when the large hand reached out and steadied her that she was able to catch her balance.
“Are you ok?” Jackson asked her.
It took another moment before her mouth and brain connected and started to work together again.
“What are you doing here?”
He looked at her from underneath his helmet. Yup, definitely the blue eyes of a predator, Lynn thought.
“I believe it’s called climbing,” he said, his leg pushing him up and propelling him forward so he was able to climb ahead of her.
“Is this your first time?” she asked. She would not have pegged Jackson as an outdoorsy type.
“No, not quite. But don’t tell the instructor. He seems intent on giving me directions I don’t need.”
Lynn frowned. Bode generally knew what he was doing; and if he thought that Jackson needed instructions, then he probably did.
“I didn’t figure you for a climber,” Lynn said, looking up. She pulled herself up so she was more evenly matched with Jackson. It’s not a race, she told herself, but it didn’t seem quite fair he had come out of nowhere to pass her by.
