She held out a cookie. “No.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, taking it before pressing my back to the wall and sliding down to sit on the floor. I crossed my legs, drawing them close. I was already ashamed of storming out of the kitchen, but couldn’t even think of another way that I could have dealt with the situation. I’d tried to keep my cool, but each word out of my father’s mouth just infuriated me further. What was he trying to get out of me exactly? Did he really believe that he could somehow convince me Jason was a good guy?
He should know the things I know about the man…
“Dad was being really pushy,” Claire said, settling down next to me.
“You stole the words right out of my mouth.”
“Sorry.”
I tugged on a strand of my hair and studied the tan cookie. “It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe it’s pointless to even say this, but he is just trying to look out for you. Dad’s version of a happy life includes partnership. As soon as he’s done bugging you about getting a boyfriend, he’s going to turn on me.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “You’re right. And I guess I should be used to it anyway. He’s like that a lot.”
“True,” she said.
“And it doesn’t usually piss me off so much. But this time, it just happened to send me over the edge.”
“Because it was about Jason?”
“Wow,” I breathed. “I don’t even want to answer that.”
“It’s okay. I think I know the answer anyway.”
I sighed. “God, I’m trying. I really am.”
“Hey, by the way… I’m sorry about earlier. You know, about losing it in the kitchen.”
“Me too. I need to stop blowing up. I’m about to lose track of how many times I’ve lost my temper today.”
She stretched her legs out, her feet bumping up against the other wall. “I get it. By the way, what did you just mean when you said you’re trying?”
“I’m trying to do what I know I should.” I looked at her. “I don’t want to waste your time here. I don’t know when I’m going to get to see you or Grandma and Grandpa again.”
She smiled, a tiny lift of her lip. “That’s true. We’re not the ones who are stressing you out, though. This is the first family gathering I can remember when you’ve been so…”
Her words died off. Whatever term she was looking for, it was probably a pejorative one.
I bit sullenly into the cookie, trying to distract myself with its sweetness. It was dry, though, and my sour mood made the treat taste all the more like sawdust in my mouth.
“So let’s talk about Jason,” Claire said. “The big elephant in the room.”
“Don’t even say his name.”
“Wow, you’re really angry at him.”
“He jerked me around like a freaking puppet. Actually, correction. He still is. Claire, he just came to me ten minutes ago trying to ‘explain’ some things to me, but you know what? I don’t want to hear anything anymore. None of this is worth it, and I can’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth. Not when he’s just going to turn around twenty minutes later and take everything he said back.”
“What did he say? I mean, ten minutes ago?”
“I didn’t really give him a chance to say much of anything.”
“So give him a chance.”
I stared at her. “Did you not hear what I just said?”
She cocked her head and gave me a look like I was stupid. “Yes, I did, but I’ve also been hearing what Jason’s been saying.”
I wrinkled my nose. “He confides in you?”
She laughed. “What is this, a Jane Austen novel? It’s still a pretty new thing, but as of today, yes, I guess he does confide in me.”
“Huh.” I took another bite of the cookie, opting to eat it simply because it was in my hand.
“Don’t you want to know what he said?”
I glanced at her. “If you must tell me, I suppose so.”
“Oh, whatever. I know you’re curious… Elizabeth Bennett.”
“You’re being mean.”
“I’m just trying to lighten the mood.”
I glanced at her again, unable to wait any longer. “So what? What did he say?”
“He’s falling for you, Gwen. Big time.”
My heart hitched, wanting to believe it but also not being allowed to. It’s not possible, my brain told my heart. Think about it.
“He can’t fall for me,” I said. “We barely know each other.”
“Don’t you remember when Mom told us she knew Dad was the one for her on their very first date?”
“So you’re saying Jason knew this about me the second he climbed in my car at the airport? Because I definitely didn’t have that sense about him. I thought he was a carjacker.”
She frowned, trying to figure that one out, then shook her head. “No,” she said, sounding exasperated. “But if people can know they’ve found their soul mates after only one night, a man can know he’s falling in love with a woman after only a few days.”
I studied her face. “Did he use that word?”
“The big L word?”
I swallowed hard, afraid to hear the answer either way.
“You’ll have to find out for yourself,” she murmured.
I swatted her shoulder. “Claire! Why are you doing this to me?”
“I’m not doing anything to you, and I’m not giving everything away. Jason wants to talk to you, Gwen, so go downstairs and talk to him. If you really want to know the details of what he’s going through, ask him. It really is that simple, and there’s nothing wrong with having a conversation.”
I shook my head and stared at my lap. “I can’t.”
“Really? Even after what I just told you?”
I pushed back tears. “It doesn’t matter what he says from here on. I can’t believe him.”
For a while, Claire and I just sat there, looking at the wall.
“Is this just about him?” she asked.
I blinked back a couple tears. “Yes. No. Shit. I don’t know.”
“I think I know what this is leading back to. Mike told you he loved you, then he left.”
Emotion threatened to choke me, but I swallowed it down — somewhat. “Yep. And all within a week.”
“What do you mean? You guys were together for a long time.”
I shook my head. “I mean, one week everything was normal. He was telling me he loved me and that he would always be there. Then the next week, he was gone. There were no signs. Or at least if there were, I didn’t notice them. Everything was the same as it always was… until it wasn’t anymore.”
“What an asshole,” she muttered.
“Jason has been even worse when it comes to keeping his word.”
“That’s because he’s been struggling. He’s been trying to fight his feelings for you.”
I sniffed. “Is that what he told you?”
“I can just see it. Sometimes people, especially guys who have a lot going on, hold back their feelings because they’re too much to deal with.” She snorted. “Heck, it’s not just macho guys. It’s me too. Maybe everyone.”
I thought about that for a minute, tugging harder on my hair. “Well, that just means one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“He’s going to keep fighting those feelings.”
Claire shook her head vehemently and sat up straighter. “No, I don’t think so. He seemed really serious about it, Gwen. Serious about you, I mean. Maybe you two getting together would be the thing to help him stop bottling up his emotions.” She gave me a long look. “It might be the thing to help you stop bottling them too.”
I dropped my hand and sighed. God, I wanted to believe her.
“Why not just go for it?” she asked.
I didn’t answer.
“I know I’ve said some things about him in the past,” she continued, pressing her fingertips to her temples. “But I also know that he was always such a h
ard ass at work because of what he was going through. And I know that he’s been opening up these last few days. He’s really changed. Being here has brought out this whole new side of him, and it’s actually kind of awesome. So take a chance!”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t have your heart on the line.”
Her cheeks puffed up as she exhaled. “What about this one? I bet he’s exquisite in bed.”
I almost laughed. “I’m sure he is, but that doesn’t help at all.”
Claire groaned and collapsed on the floor, her back flat and her face towards the ceiling. “Really? If that’s the case, then I don’t know what else to say.”
“Don’t say anything. This whole thing is as good as over.”
“I think you’re going to regret not taking a shot,” She told the ceiling. “I mean, look at it this way. If you don’t take the leap, you know exactly what will happen. He’ll leave, and you’ll go on with your life as normal. Everything will be just the way it was before, except you’ll spend a long, long time thinking about him and wondering what could have been. If you do take the leap and get together, who knows what will happen? The opportunities could be endless.”
“God,” I muttered. “Why are you always so right?”
She rose up onto her elbows. “So you’re going to do it? Talk to him?”
“No.”
Her mouth fell open. “You want to be unhappy.”
“What? No, of course not!”
She shook her head. “Then explain it to me.”
“I already did!”
She jabbed a finger at me. “And then you admitted that I was right!”
A familiar tune began, coming from our old bedroom.
“That’s my phone,” I said, standing up.
Her nose wrinkled. “Who would call on Christmas Eve?”
“I don’t know.” My heart rate picked up slightly. Who would call on Christmas Eve, unless it had something to do with an emergency? A vision of Freddy’s burning to the ground — the image I saw whenever my phone rang at an odd hour — flashed across my mind.
My phone was laying on the bedside table, where I’d plugged it in to charge before going downstairs earlier. The number calling was a local one, though I didn’t recognize it.
“Hello?” I said.
A woman’s voice came over the line. “Gwen? This is Kathy from across the street.”
My brain must have been a little warped from the tiring conversation with Claire because I assumed she meant across the street from where I was at that moment — my parents’ house. Which didn’t make sense, because a couple named Louisa and Stan had lived across the street for almost ten years.
“Oh,” I said, finally realizing who it was. She meant across the street from Freddy’s. There was a little cafe there called The Spotted Cow, which Kathy and her husband had been running for years.
So it was about Freddy’s. I took a moment to mentally brace myself before speaking.
“How are you, Kathy?” I asked, a slight shakiness in my words.
“I’m just fine. Listen, I just came in to the restaurant to pick something up, and I saw that an accident had happened.”
A cold hand tightened around my heart as time slowed down. I was frantic for her to tell me exactly what happened and yet desperate to put off hearing the news as long as possible.
“An accident?” I slowly asked, trying to make my words sound steady but failing.
“Yes, hon. There’s an awful lot of snow out, and one of the power lines couldn’t take it, I guess. It fell right down and crashed through the front window of Freddy’s.”
“Oh my God,” I gasped.
I heard Claire come into the room behind me. “What is it?” she asked.
I ignored her and spoke to Kathy. “When did it happen?” I asked. “Are the police there? Is the power out?”
“Power’s out at my place, and it looks like it just happened. I called the fire department right before I called you. Someone is on their way over now.”
I rubbed my forehead and sighed. “Thank you. I’m going to get my coat on and walk right down there.”
“Do you want me to wait for you?”
“Oh, no. Thank you so much, but no, you don’t have to wait.”
“All right, dear.”
“How bad is the damage?” I asked, wincing in preparation for her answer.
She let out a low whistle. “It looks like the whole front window is shattered.”
I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from letting out a whole slew of curses. “Okay, thanks again,” I told her.
“Bye, hon. Merry Christmas.”
Claire spoke as soon as I hung up. “What happened?”
“A pole fell down and broke Freddy’s front window.”
She made a pained face. “Damn.”
“I know. Apparently, it’s pretty bad.” I hurried past her. “I’m going to go down there now.”
She followed me back into the kitchen, where a big pile of fully decorated sugar cookies sat in the middle of the table. Everyone was laughing over something or another, but they stopped when they saw my face. Jason stood up, his eyes glued on me.
“The front window of Freddy’s is broken,” I announced.
Mom’s eyes went wide. “Someone broke in?”
“No, thank God. It was a pole. All this stupid snow made it snap or something, I don’t know. But I need to get down there before someone does break in and loot the whole place.”
Dad stood up. “I’ll walk there with you.”
“Me too,” Claire said from behind me.
“I’ll go too,” Jason said. “There’s going to be a lot of cleaning up to do.”
I opened my mouth to tell him to stay but knew there was no point. My feud with him had taken a backseat, and he was right about there being a mess to deal with.
The four of us pulled our coats on and headed outside. The snow had stopped coming down, but the drifts were even higher than I thought they’d be. They scraped against my thighs as I plunged ahead, leading the way downtown.
The journey took twice as long in the snow. I kept the pace up, though, leading the team. By the time we got to the block Freddy’s was on, I was panting from the exertion of the walk. The street had been plowed, but there was still a layer of slush and ice on top of the asphalt. The only car in sight was the firetruck parked outside of Freddy’s. Two firemen in coats stood near the front of the shop, talking. The fallen pole had already been moved to lay perpendicular to the shop. I held my breath as we got closer and told myself to expect the worst.
Just like Kathy had said, the entire front window was destroyed. Not a shred of glass remained in the panes. The window had been a big one, covering most of the storefront. I cringed at the thought of all the little flecks of glass littering the inside of the shop. It would take forever to get them all, and even if I was super meticulous, I would probably still miss some pieces. One time, a vase shattered behind the counter, and I ended up still finding pieces of it three or four weeks later.
And then there was the cost of getting the window fixed. My insurance would no doubt cover it, but would the accident make my insurance rate go up?
I gnawed on my lip. It really shouldn’t since the accident wasn’t my fault, but then again, I didn’t really know. The whole business insurance thing was still fairly new to me.
And of course, there was the issue of it being Christmas Eve. What window repair company was even open?
I recognized the taller of the two firefighters as the chief, Robert Jones. He nodded when he saw me and stepped forward.
“Kathy called me,” I told him, still trying to catch my breath.
“I’m sorry to say your window is toast, Ms. Lawrence.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I see. Do you know anyone who can come and fix it?”
He pursed his lips. “I can have one of the boys make some calls if you like. It’s unfortunate
it had to happen today, of all days.”
“Yeah,” I murmured, not able to take my eyes off the ravaged storefront. “I can’t leave it like that overnight. Someone could come in and take everything.”
He nodded. “Let me see what I can do.”
“Thank you,” I said, hoping he understood just how grateful I was. “And thanks for coming down here.” Once the whole debacle was over with, I was going to give him a gift certificate to Freddy’s that would last him all year.
“Oh, man,” Claire said, stepping up next to me. “That’s awful.”
I fished in my coat pocket for the keys. “I might as well start cleaning up.”
“What will you do if no one can replace the window today?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Sleep here and guard the place?”
Her lips turned up slightly, but we both knew I was only half joking.
I opened the door and went inside, leading the other three.
“Where’s the broom?” Dad asked.
“Behind the counter, near the back. Grab both of them.”
He hustled away, and I stayed planted near the couch, trying to ignore Jason and Claire’s sympathetic looks.
“Well,” Claire said. “At least there are two brooms. We’ll get this cleaned up faster.”
I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t snap at her. She was only trying to cheer me up. Dad came back, and I took one from him, and we got to work sweeping the floor.
“What can I do?” Claire asked.
“Get some paper bags to put the glass in,” I told her. “And some rags from underneath the sink. We’re going to need to wipe everything down to get as much glass as possible.”
I braced myself behind the red couch and pushed it to the side to sweep underneath it. The door clanged, and I looked up to see Jason going outside. He walked over to the chief and engaged him. They were standing close together and far enough away that I couldn’t pick up even a word of what they were saying.
“There’s some glass jammed into the wall,” Dad said.
“What?” I asked, snapping to attention. I looked at where he pointed. Sure enough, a few shards had been driven straight into the wall. I reached up and angrily yanked them out.
Damaged (Crystal Brook Billionaires) Page 19
