Jill headed to the stairs and was about to open the door when she remembered Ross’s instructions: Do not come up until I come and get you. It had to be safe with the Coast Guard there. She paused with her hand on the latch. His expression when he was leaving was one she didn’t want to cross. She decided to sit on the stairs and wait.
Thankfully she didn’t need to wait long. The door opened, but it wasn’t Ross. It was a man dressed in an orange wetsuit with a white helmet. “Miss, come with me. I’ll get you off the boat.”
She didn’t have to be told twice. Once on deck she saw the sails were down; Ross was still at the helm, struggling to hold it steady. He wasn’t winning the battle. Above them hovered a large white and orange helicopter. “Ross, come on, they are taking us off.”
He didn’t move. Maybe he hadn’t heard her. She pulled away from her rescuer for a moment, tried to make her way closer to him, and shouted, “Ross, they’re here.” It was a ridiculous thing to say; there was no way he missed the chopper overhead that was the size of the boat.
He gripped the wheel, holding it steady. “They’re here for you. I’m not leaving.”
There was no way she heard that correctly.
“Miss, we have to go now,” the man said, pulling her arm gently.
“Ross, let’s go,” she insisted and reached a hand out to him. He never even looked at it.
He responded, “This boat is everything to me. I’m not leaving her out here.”
He’s staying? Because of a boat? “That’s crazy. It’s just a stupid boat. You can buy another one.” The wind whipped and a large wave rocked the boat, sending her crashing to the deck.
Even in pouring rains she saw his jaw twitch at her comment. I’m not trying to piss you off, I only want to wake your dumb ass up.
“Miss, you need to decide now if you are coming because we cannot stay here any longer. The winds are getting too strong.”
She turned to him, then to Ross, who only said one word: “Go.”
Jill realized no matter what she said or did he wasn’t leaving unless she was willing to knock him over the head and drag him off the boat. Tempting. If she didn’t leave now, she might be lost at sea with him. Her eyes welled in tears as she followed the man to a lift that had been sent down. They were tied together and slowly hoisted in the air. Holding onto him she screamed over the noise, “You can’t just leave him there.”
He responded, “We can’t force him to come.”
Once inside the helicopter, the door slid shut. She looked out the window and saw Ross standing while getting slammed by another large wave. Jill pressed her hand against the window, her heart breaking, not knowing if she would ever see him again. The chopper turned and headed back to the mainland. As the boat disappeared in the distance the realization of what just transpired hit her. Damn you for choosing a boat over me. Now blinded by the flood of tears, she hid her face in her hands. God, please let him make it back safely.
Chapter Fourteen
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Jill sat on the floor of her living room, leaning forward onto her coffee table so her cheek rested on its cool surface. Every few minutes she would check her phone for messages, and when she found none, she’d put it on top of her closed laptop to stare at it absently.
Things hadn’t been the same since their last night on the boat, first the fight, then the storm. She was filled with relief when she received his text message less than twenty-fours after her rescue. Made it back safe. It’s what she’d been praying for, but she’d honestly expected more. A text—so damn impersonal! But it said a lot about how he felt about her. Out of sight, out of mind.
He may have survived the high winds and waves, but if she saw him again she wasn’t sure he would survive her wrath. Weeks later she was still torn about which part pissed her off more: the text or his final words, this boat is everything to me. It was a boat, just a stupid boat, and he was willing to risk his life for it. And us. Nothing could have been clearer—there was no future for them.
She wished she felt at peace with that knowledge, but she didn’t. He may have a clear understanding of his feelings for her, but hers were still a mess. One moment she hated him, never wanted to see him again, the next she was crying, wishing to hear his voice, be in his arms, feel loved. Even though he must have stayed in California, probably with that stupid boat, he still held a part of her. Would she ever get it back? Was this a hurt that would haunt her for a lifetime? She’d read about women who met the one, and never met another. Is Ross the one for me? Some moments it felt right. But that text . . . No, it was time to leave this wishful thinking behind and move forward. She didn’t have a clue what that meant for her.
Jill had spent the last few weeks hoping things would go back to normal. She was safe and sound in New York again, so why did her life feel like the rough seas of the Pacific Ocean? Closing her eyes, she knew the truth. Nothing’s the same. Not even the job. She loved working with Lizette and Elaine, but it wasn’t the same as when they worked for Another Chance. It was hard work and fun, but it was lacking something. Fulfillment.
Could that be why she felt miserable? Jill thought she finally got what she was looking for, business success, but she felt no joy in it. Maybe it will grow on me. So many different emotions ran through her in the past month; it was going to take some time to sort them all out.
She’d heard repeatedly that she’d done an awesome job with the fundraiser. It was exactly what she had hoped for. Business was taking off faster than they could have predicted. We want someone who can step out of the box, give us something new. She did that and more without even trying. What possessed me to let people bring dogs? Boy, did I get lucky. She planned what seemed logical to her, never thinking her choices were not what people expected. Thankfully she hadn’t known that ahead of time, or she may have lost what little confidence she had. People were now reaching out to them daily to plan their events. They even had to turn away customers. Things were going exactly as they’d all hoped. Business was good, no . . . great, but at the end of the day to her it just felt like a job. Better paying than any previous ones but still only a job.
If anyone had told her she would miss the calls in the middle of the night about a family whose home just burned down and who needed housing, she would have said they were crazy. It had been nonstop, hard work twenty-four seven, but she’d never resented a second of it. Each year the needs of the community grew, but at the end of the day, she’d felt like she’d truly made a difference. Maybe that would come in time at E.L.J. Events and More. It had sounded so good when Elaine called and offered her a partnership. She had to admit, they did raise a lot of money in their first fundraiser. It wasn’t hands-on like she’d hoped, but at least she wasn’t stuck behind a desk all the time; she actually got to meet some fantastic people. Surprisingly she enjoyed many parts of the wounded warrior event more than she had expected. If only they all could be like that. Besides if she quit now, Elaine would kill her. The business cards were already printed and would be useless if the J of E.L.J. left. Nope, it’s too late. We can’t be wasting all that paper. She laughed softly at her lame excuse to stay in New York.
Her phone rang, and hoping it was a friend to pull her out of the funk, she checked caller ID. Great. This is the last thing I need.
“Hello, Donna.” Jill knew she needed to ask even though the answer was always the same. “How is everything with guys?” If she hadn’t beaten herself up enough yet, she knew Donna could fill in with whatever she may have missed.
“Good. I hear your event went okay. I also heard you had to be rescued from a sinking boat.”
More than three weeks after the fact but at least she called. “Hope I didn’t worry you too much.” Or at all. Donna didn’t appear to catch her sarcasm. She never did. She was not one to make a joke or tease. Even laughing seemed foreign to her, and her husband was the exact same way. Wouldn’t want to trade places.
“That is what you get for not taking work seriously. I tho
ught you were in California for business. How did you end up sailing?”
There was no way she was about to share the details of what transpired. She didn’t even tell her dear friends who would never judge her. “I was there to discuss future events,” she lied. One great thing about Donna was, while her calls weren’t sweet, they were always brief. All Jill needed to do was get the topic off her. “How is everything with you and the family?”
“We are good. We bought a few bonsai trees. The husband is warming to the idea of pruning, slowly.”
Boring. That wasn’t how she would describe her family if she had one. She would want to say, “The boys are driving me crazy tracking mud in from playing in the yard with their friends.” Or “We are just back from a family vacation at a water slide park.” Something that said they were happy and spending quality time together.
“Jack is doing extremely well in the private school we placed him in. Public school was not providing him the opportunities he was going to need later for success. You know how important it is to think about college, even at a young age.”
Oh yeah, he is seven, better keep him on track now before he ends up like me. Most people loved to spend time with their nephews, but she didn’t. Jack’s entire day was spent on his iPad and not playing games on it. When she took him to the park all he would do was swing, but only because she forced him. Those kids were going to be just like their parents: highly intelligent, totally predictable, and with no social skills at all.
If she hadn’t seen the pictures of her mother pregnant with both her and her sister, she would have bet they were adopted. The only thing they shared was their looks. Growing up in a household where your older sister is practically a genius was bad enough, but when you struggled to get C’s, it was beyond difficult. She still felt like she was living in Donna’s shadow. She could only hope for something different for her nephews. The youngest one was still little; she could only hope he knew how to have some fun.
“I’m glad everything is going well. Was there anything else you wanted?” She had long stopped pretending she enjoyed their calls.
“Have you signed up for classes yet? You’re already twenty-six. At the rate you are going, you will be lucky if you get your associates degree by the time you’re thirty.”
Ah, the real reason she called. “Donna, I have another call coming in. It’s business so I have to take it. We’ll talk again soon.” She didn’t even wait for her to say goodbye before she disconnected the call.
Sliding the phone across the coffee table, she sat quietly. Would it ever change? Probably not. Why couldn’t her sister be like Elaine? She was very intelligent, but filled with compassion and was always so supportive. Guess that is where the saying comes from: you can pick your friends, not your family.
She didn’t like to think Donna was right, not even in the slightest, but she was right about one thing. If she didn’t start classes now she would never finish. Should I move back to Rhode Island and go to the community college? Start taking basic courses? How would she ever get a business degree if she didn’t sign up for a class?
Jill spent the next several hours on her laptop, searching college sites but never applying. How did I lose my passion for this as well?
She felt as empty as when she was rescued off that boat three weeks earlier. The sadness she tried to ignore still filled her. Why hasn’t he called? Those days they shared on the boat must have meant nothing to him. If they had, he would have come with me. But no matter how much she had begged him to get on that chopper with her, he hadn’t. She had to find a way to accept that her feelings for him were not reciprocated. The problem was she had no idea how to do that.
Why can’t I push past these feelings? Picking up her cell phone, she was tempted to call him, yell at him, tell him where he could take his boat and shove it. Maybe that would close the door, which remained open, even if only a crack.
Placing the phone down again she knew—jerk or not—she still cared about him, and that upset her. And he could tell her he didn’t care, but she knew he did. He’d kept her safe in the cabin and had made sure she was removed from the boat. That said something, what that was he was going to have to figure out for himself. It was beyond her why he wouldn’t let himself care. There was something deeply rooted in him that wasn’t about to change because of anything she did, no matter how much she wanted it to.
Jill knew if she wanted change she was going to have to make it happen. Looking at her computer, she pulled up the last site she had searched. She enrolled in two online courses, hit save, and closed the lid. A beginning.
“Have you seen her?” Ross asked Jon.
“Yes, I have. Question is: why haven’t you?”
He wanted to. It took everything within him to stay away. Jill deserved more than he could give her. She’d been right the last night when she’d yelled, Fix your own issues and stay out of mine. He was the last person who should give anyone family advice. She knew firsthand just how messed up his was. How she put up with it all was beyond him. First his mother’s bad behavior and then his own. She probably wishes she’d never met me. “I’ve been busy and didn’t want to disturb her.” He knew the words were a lame excuse. Jon wasn’t going to buy it.
“Is there something you want to talk about? Lizette is worried; she says Jill hasn’t been the same since she got home. What exactly happened between the two of you?” Jon asked.
He was close to his friends, but unlike what people thought, they didn’t kiss and tell. Actually they tried to stay out of each other’s personal affairs as much as possible. They treated each other how they wanted to be treated. Of course, if they knew he’d bedded Jill, took her innocence, and held her captive at sea to satisfy his own needs, it probably wasn’t the time or topic to break that ice. The less people who knew, the less chance it would get back to Lizette and Elaine. Because if it did, whatever chance he had to make amends with Jill would be gone.
For all he knew, Jill had told them everything. Those women were close. Maybe that was why Jon was questioning him. Until he knew for sure he would avoid the answer. “The storm was really bad. I’m sure given time she will forget all about it and move on.”
“Storm, huh? Okay. But, Ross, you need to figure out something quickly before the storm leaves a lasting effect on her, one you can’t fix.”
Jon was right. He needed to confront her, explain his behavior. There was one thing to be done first—figure out exactly what made him do the things he did. Only then could he face her with the truth. Whatever that ugly truth may be.
Chapter Fifteen
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The noise was driving her crazy. She picked up her cell phone, but that wasn’t it. Maybe it’s a dream. Rolling over, she pulled the blankets over her head when she heard it again.
Buzz, buzz.
Pulling herself up, it dawned on her. The doorbell. The alarm clock read eight a.m. What the hell? Dragging herself out of bed, she half stumbled to the door, wearing nothing but an oversized T-shirt.
She was half-asleep, and without checking the peephole, she opened her door. There stood Ross, dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt. He looked good. Obviously I am dreaming. She didn’t even bother to say anything and made her way to the couch, eyes half-open.
“Jill, you shouldn’t open your door without checking who it is. You’re lucky I wasn’t someone out to hurt you,” he said firmly as he shut the door and followed her.
She knew then this wasn’t a dream. “You mean more than you did?” she asked sharply.
After a brief moment he answered. “I deserved that. It was never my intention to hurt you.” She pulled the throw from the back of the couch across her legs to cover herself up. “I wanted to get to know you, enjoy spending time with you . . . and I thought you were enjoying yourself as well.”
He wonders if I was enjoying myself? Which part? She was tempted to get off that couch and show him the door. She wasn’t about to lie to herself, she had enjoyed many parts of
their time together. He’d made her laugh and could be so sweet and gentle. What she didn’t like was his control of the entire situation. It had been all about what he wanted, never asking what she preferred. Whether she enjoyed it or not wasn’t the issue, and she wasn’t sure he understood that now. “Are you here to ask if I had a good time?” she asked accusingly.
“No. I’m here to apologize.”
He was a few weeks late, but she still wanted to hear it. It was owed to her, and she wasn’t about to let him off easily. Saying nothing, she continued to sit, staring at him.
“I shouldn’t have taken you on the boat. That was a mistake.”
That’s an apology? No way. She wanted him to take responsibility for her ordeal, not turn the blame to her. Crossing her arms over her chest, she began ranting, “So, let me get this straight. You only invited me to the boat to bed me.” It wasn’t a question.
“It wasn’t exactly like that.” Ross tried to stop her, but she was on a roll.
“Once you had your fun, you made some lame excuse about the dangers of sailing at night.” Shaking her head because she couldn’t believe she’d fallen for that one. “Then you lied to me about my cell phone slipping overboard.” Which, thankfully, he had only hidden. She should have searched the boat. So damn trusting. Look where it got me.
He opened his mouth to interrupt, but she raised her hand up, shaking her head. “I’m far from finished. You held me hostage for days, refusing to take me back to shore. You did all this because you wanted to get to know me? That’s funny because when the storm hit, you decided you cared more about a boat than me.” Her breath huffed in disbelief. “But you’re only sorry that you brought me to the boat.” Her voice filled with anger. “Have I missed anything?”
The Billionaire's Longshot: Betting on You Series: Book Three Page 10
