by Lisa Plumley
“I’ll think about that on the plane.” Riley frowned, focusing on the task at hand like he usually did. “I can always come back for her.”
K.C.‘s eyebrows rose. “What if she’s not waiting for you?”
“Not waiting for…of course she’ll be waiting for me!”
But…what if she wasn’t waiting for him? Dread nailed him to the spot. Typically, when faced with a problem, Riley took action first and deliberated later. He acted on instinct. In the wilderness, slow contemplation got a person in trouble—sometimes lethal trouble. It didn’t pay to be Mr. Thoughtful when confronting a rock slide or battling rapids. His whole life had bowed to that philosophy.
He frowned. “You think she’ll wait for me, don’t you?”
“Dunno. Do you want to take that chance?”
Hmmm. Making amends later, after Jayne was calmed down and had gained some perspective—versus crawling back to her now, while she was still mad. Keeping his National Explorer commitment—versus potentially losing this and future assignments. It shouldn’t have been a difficult choice.
But it was.
Filled with good intentions but uncertain how best to realize them, Riley wavered. He glanced at the boarding gate, at K.C. waiting for his decision. He looked at Jayne’s book, and her photo on the back. Damn. What was he going to do?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Everything was quiet when Jayne reached the canyon lodge with Alexis in tow. Birds twittered in the trees, a gentle breeze blew, and sunshine sparkled from the two Hideaway Lodge vans parked in front of the log-cabin-style structure.
The return-trip vans, Jayne realized. Here to take everyone back to civilization. The adventure travel trip she hadn’t wanted—but which had given her so much—had already come to an end.
Feeling unexpectedly melancholy at the realization, she stopped for a moment. This might be her last trip here to Arizona. The last trip she’d be able to afford for a very long time, if things went badly in the next few minutes. She was risking a lot to come here this way.
But she was risking it all for Riley.
With a defiant lift of her shoulders, Jayne began walking again. She caught up to Alexis just as the girl ascended the lodge porch and reached for the door. No sounds came from inside, no laughter or conversation. Jayne imagined all her breakup-ees, all the guides, everyone, simultaneously frowning with their arms crossed as they waited to hear her explanation for having disappeared this morning. She quavered.
The screen door creaked open. “It’ll be okay,” Alexis whispered. “Whatever you have planned, it can’t be that drastic.”
Oh, but it was. Jayne knew it, just as she knew there’d be no avoiding it. Not now that she’d made her decision. Nervously, she swept her hair from her eyes, then licked her lips in lieu of lip gloss.
“I’m ready,” she said, and stepped inside.
Within, the common room held the sort of energy that told Jayne everyone had been watching her approach from the window—and had scurried for their seats when she’d ascended the steps. Curtains fluttered, rugs were ruffled from the passage of hasty feet, and chairs teetered with the impact of having been all but dove into. Now, though, everyone sat quietly, being studiously nonchalant as Jayne entered the room.
Doris and Donna glanced up from a crossword puzzle, seeming surprisingly at peace with each other. Bruce and Lance frowned at the checkers board between them, while Mack stood nearby pretending to study the game. Carla read a book—upside down—while Mitzi brushed her hair. Only Kelly happened to look at Jayne directly, and that was because she was very obviously interested in the time displayed on the wall clock behind Jayne’s head.
The time. She didn’t have much of that to lose. According to the information Alexis had given her, Riley’s flight had left over two hours ago.
“Hi, everyone,” Jayne said, waving awkwardly.
Two men she didn’t recognize—but whom she assumed were the return-trip van drivers—peeked around the kitchen corner, then disappeared. They’d obviously been drawn by the tension in the air. And scared off by it, too. Too bad. Their help could be important to her later.
“Hi?” she repeated.
“Oh, hi!” One by one, her breakup-ees and guides looked up from their individual activities. Each person feigned surprise.
She guessed they did it to spare her feelings, and was touched by their concern. Jayne hoped they wouldn’t be sorry for it, once they learned the truth about her. The last thing she wanted was to be a disappointment to even more of the people in her life. It looked as though there might be no help for it, though. She might as well forge on ahead, and get this over with.
“I…have something to tell you,” she said, dropping her backpack to the floor. Nervousness assailed her, and Jayne fisted her hands tightly. “It’s not going to be easy, but I hope you’ll all keep open minds.”
In his creaky suburban, Riley bounced over the unimproved Northern Arizona dirt roads, hands fisted on the steering wheel. He’d left the Sedona airport a short while ago, encouraged by shouted well-wishes from K.C. and the gang. After a short stop in town, he’d motored on toward the canyon lodge with only one thought in mind.
Jayne.
He hoped he wasn’t too late. She hadn’t been there this morning when he’d found Bruce and Mack to tell them he was leaving, and he had no idea where she’d gone—only that she’d, miraculously, decided to hike there. By now, Jayne might be miles down the trail.
Well, if she was, he’d just have to follow her, Riley decided. At a run. With that thought in mind, he patted the container housing the surprise he’d brought for her, and drove a little faster. It would be tough to bring his surprise on the trail, but he’d do it if that’s what it took.
Fifteen minutes later, Riley parked his suburban in a cloud of dust outside the canyon lodge. He eyeballed the waiting vans with an acute sense of relief. At least the whole crew hadn’t already left. That meant—maybe—that Jayne was still here, too.
He hefted his surprise and carried it toward the lodge. All around him, it seemed mysteriously quiet. No music from Alexis and Lance’s radio wafted past on the breeze. No giggling came from Mitzi and Bruce. No laughter from Carla and Kelly. No bickering from Doris and Donna.
Something was definitely wrong. Had Jayne gotten hurt on the trail? Were they all huddled worriedly around her, waiting for an airlift helicopter to arrive? He never should have let her go on her own, no matter how proficient she’d become at wilderness skills. Worried now about more than reaching her in time, Riley quickened his pace.
As he ascended the porch steps, awkwardly juggling his surprise, Jayne’s voice came from inside the lodge’s common room. To his relief, she sounded fine. Better than fine. Remarkable. Her voice drifted strong and firm through the screen door that opened onto the common room, and she was saying something about…her book?
Frowning, Riley paused with his hand on the screen door’s metal handle. He listened, not wanting to barge in if she was conducting important anti-heartbreak book business. If there was one thing he was sure about, it was that Jayne’s work was important to her. Maybe the most important thing to her.
“I know you all came here to learn how to cure your broken hearts,” he heard her say. “I wanted nothing more than to teach you. Heck, my whole hands-on workshop-in-a-book concept was designed so people like you could learn what to do! And I’m so grateful to you all for coming here. For listening to me. For giving me your ideas. They were all wonderful. I can’t tell you what a fabulous second book they would have made.”
Would have made? Riley thought. What was she talking about?
He heard Jayne clear her throat, as though she was getting choked up about something. Curious, he edged sideways on the porch, silently, until she came into view through the screen. Her shoulders were straight, her hands clasped, her head momentarily bowed. All the guidance groupies, all the travel guides, Lance and Alexis…everyone sat with their gazes fixed on her as she stood, h
esitating, in the center of the room.
“I say ‘would have made,’” Jayne continued, “because there won’t be a second book. There won’t be a Heartbreak 202: Hands-On Help. I’m so sorry to disappoint all of you, but I was the wrong person to write that book. I was the wrong person to write Heartbreak 101! When I tell you what I’m going to do, you’ll understand why.”
There were murmurs of surprise, sounds of people shifting in their chairs. Needing to fidget off some of the tension inside him himself, Riley instead stood still to hear more clearly. He shifted the surprise in his arms, then tilted his head and waited. Jayne’s success as a self-help guru meant everything to her. What could possibly have convinced her she needed to sacrifice it?
“It turns out,” Jayne said clearly, “that I’ve violated the most basic tenant of Heartbreak 101. I’ve fallen in love with one of my exes. Again.”
Fallen in love? Riley clenched his surprise harder, stunned by this news. With who? Bozo Boy? Someone else?
Then he realized he was Bozo Boy, according to the revelation she’d given him this morning. It was possible Jayne meant him, meant that she’d fallen in love with him. A rush of hope filled him as Riley went on listening. He didn’t want to be Bozo Boy. But if he had to be, he wanted to be the Bozo Boy she loved.
“No, not really ‘again,’” Jayne was saying. “The truth is, I’ve loved Riley Davis since the day he saw me get soaked by a runaway wave, and did everything he could short of barricading the ladies’ room to get me dry. I’ve loved him since he left me, and all the time he was gone. I’ve even loved him since we got thrown together on this crazy trip.”
Riley blinked, an unbelievable happiness soaring through him. Jayne loved him. She really loved him. In spite of everything, she loved him.
Damn, he was a lucky man.
“I know this makes me a fraud,” Jayne went on, her voice quavering. “I’m sorry. But Riley means more to me than any book, any job, ever could. I love him and I don’t think I’ll ever stop. So even though it means leaving you all in the lurch, I’m going after him. I have to.”
In the silence that followed, she grabbed her pack from the floor. Riley saw Alexis give Jayne a two-thumbs-up sign, and they exchanged teary-eyed smiles. The rest of the group only sat there, probably too astonished to speak, as Jayne headed for the door.
“I’m going to Antigua,” she announced as she did, “providing the van drivers will take me to the airport so I can catch a flight. Otherwise, I’ll walk! I have ATSes. I can do it! And when I get to Antigua, I’m going to track down Riley. And if he’ll have me—”
“Hell, yes,” Riley said loudly, opening the door at last. He stepped into the common room, bowled over by the beautiful, longed-for sight of Jayne in his path. “He’ll have you.”
Okay, she was going to pass out, Jayne realized. She was going to keel over, right there in the lodge’s common room in front of everyone, and spoil this movie-perfect moment.
“Riley?” she asked, gaping at him. “What are you—how did you—how much of what I said did you—”
“Enough,” he said, and came to her.
He looked big and strong and beloved. Also worn and battered and broad. His dark hair was mussed. His clothes looked slept in. But when she gazed into his eyes, Jayne saw love there, and that was all she needed.
“I’ll have you,” Riley went on. “Thank God you still want me. I’m so, so sorry for everything. For hassling you about your book—which is excellent, by the way. I just read it. And for not helping you more on this trip, when I know it was hard for you. And for botching my explanation this morning. I just froze, Jayne. It happens. It doesn’t mean I don’t need you to forgive me. And, most of all—” He set down the thing in his hands, which looked like a plastic-and-wire carrier of some sort. “—I’m sorry for leaving you. I was an idiot. Please, please forgive me.”
Stunned, Jayne gawked at him. Vaguely, she became aware of all her breakup-ees, all the travel guides, even Alexis and Lance, turning their heads back and forth like spectators at a tennis match, following her conversation with Riley. Now, they all turned expectant faces toward her.
“I’m sorry, too,” she said. “For everything. Oh, Riley, I would go anywhere with you. I would survive nature breaks and fish whacking and tent building. I would go places with you that didn’t even have a Nordstrom’s. That’s how much I want to be with you.”
He grinned. “Is that an ‘I forgive you?’”
“Yes,” Jayne said, smiling back. “If you forgive me.” Then something else occurred to her. “But aren’t you supposed to be in Antigua?” she asked. “You were supposed to have left already. I was supposed to run after you and make a dramatic appearance. It was my plan. My insanely romantic plan.”
He smiled. “I couldn’t leave without you. I couldn’t leave without setting this right.”
“Well, I have to say, I feel a little gypped,” Jayne told him lightly, still grappling with what all this meant. “My big dramatic gesture was going to be really spectacular for you, and—hey, what about your National Explorer assignment?”
“Reassigned.”
“What about your job?”
“I’ll handle it. Nothing matters more than you.”
“Oh, Riley.” Tentatively, Jayne took his hands. They wove their fingers together, and a giddy feeling filled her like bubbles of happiness. “Do you mean it?”
“Do I mean it?” Riley lowered his brows, gazing down at her seriously. His hands felt warm and steady in hers, and wonderfully familiar. “Jayne, I need you. I need you like I need a tarp in a mountain rainstorm, like I need an oar for my kayak, like I need…like I need friends gathered around on the happiest day of my life.”
Everyone around them sucked in a surprised breath. Jayne only snuggled closer, having already fully understood the truth. Riley was just a big mushball at heart.
“Please,” Jayne said, “say we can try again.”
“Please,” Riley said at the same moment, “say we can try again.”
“Yes!” they both yelled, laughing aloud with happiness. “Yes, yes, yes!” Riley pulled her into his arms and kissed her, and the instant their lips met, everyone in the room shouted out.
“Yay!” they yelled, feminine voices mingling with gruff male ones, younger with older and loud with quiet. “Yay!”
Apparently not a man to be dissuaded by a little thing like the overwhelming approval of their friends, Riley tilted up her chin with his hand and deepened their kiss. It felt like a homecoming, like a reunion of the best kind…like a promise to never be separated again.
And this time, Jayne knew, they’d both learned enough to keep that promise. Forever.
Finally, Riley raised his head. He bracketed her face in his hands, and gazed down at her with remarkable tenderness. “I love you, Jayne. I always have, and I always will.”
“I love you, too. So much.”
The cheering resumed. Their friends surrounded them, the men slapping Riley on the back and the women hugging Jayne with squeals of joy. Thoroughly taken aback, Jayne shook her head. They really approved? She couldn’t believe it. She’d been so sure they’d be disappointed in her.
Another thought occurred to her, and Jayne squeezed Riley’s hand to get his attention. Instantly, he gave it to her.
“Riley,” she began quietly, “are you sure you want me? Even if I don’t have a ‘gift?’ Even if I can’t help people with a second book?”
He frowned. Everyone grew silent, including Jayne. She bit her lip, waiting nervously for his answer.
“You do have a gift,” he said. “A gift for caring about people, and a gift for helping people. A gift for making me a better man. That’ll never go away.”
Jayne promptly burst into tears. He was so sweet.
“Besides, we’ll have none of this ‘no second book’ nonsense,” Doris interrupted, giving Jayne a stern look. “There’s got to be a second book. It’s already in great demand among certain circles. Lik
e right here.”
She nodded, exchanging a meaningful glance with her sister. Donna spoke up next. “Yes, I agree with Doris,” she said to Jayne’s utter astonishment. “We can’t wait to read it. We need that book, so you can’t stop now, Jayne.”
“What do you mean?” Mystified, Jayne dabbed her eyes, then searched the faces of everyone around them. “What book?”
“Hell, True Love 102: Living Happily Ever After, of course,” Bruce said, slinging an arm around a smiling Mitzi. “With the two of you for an example, what else could it be?”
Hey, that wasn’t a bad idea, Jayne thought, reassured that her breakup-ees seemed to have happier futures ahead of them, just like she did. Maybe she had done some good here, like Riley had said.
She just might consider that True Love 102 book idea further, she decided. Later. After she had Riley had done some more personal celebrating. She gazed into his face, and found him already watching her. A smile tipped his lips. It probably matched the one she wore. Their gazes caught and held, united in rediscovered love.
“I almost forgot,” Riley said suddenly. “My surprise.”
He bent to the container he’d brought, a container nearly knee-height and almost perfectly square. A faint scuffling sound came from inside it as Riley worked at the latches.
“I wanted to make sure you knew I was serious about this ‘forever’ stuff,” he said as he crouched. He hesitated, and directed a meaningful look at Jayne. “I wanted you to know I had plans for our future already. So I brought you…this.”
He unfastened the latch all the way and reached inside. Riley stood, cradling something small and tan against his chest. He turned to face her, and….
“A puppy!” Jayne stared at the tiny, wriggling bundle of furry puppyhood in Riley’s big hands. Her heart melted. “You got a puppy?”
“For us. To raise together.” He stepped nearer so she could pet its soft fur. He raised his eager gaze to her face. “Someone at the airport recommended a private breeder to me when I asked where I could get one. Once I saw this little guy—”
