As Olivia pushed through the swinging doors, she glanced back to see Tessa Donovan watching her with complete confusion written on her face. Olivia didn’t respond, she just raced for the front door and the parking lot beyond.
Thank God she hadn’t fallen in love with him. She couldn’t handle being broken like that again. What had she done to deserve so many lies in her life?
She’d been the good girl, done the right things. She’d saved herself for love once and given in to passion the next time, and both had turned out the same way. With lies. And platitudes. And stupid, false reassurances that she was special and desirable and sexy.
Swiping tears from her eyes so she could see well enough to drive, Olivia started the car and pulled out. She drove deliberately, not speeding away, not trying to escape. She had nothing to escape from, after all. It was over with him.
It was over with all of them. She wasn’t getting involved again, not with anyone. In a few years, once she’d established her business and made her own dreams come true, maybe she’d think about dating again. After she had everything she wanted for herself, she’d consider seeing a nice man. Someone smart and shy. Someone who’d never offer sweet lies about other women just because the act of lying gave him some misguided thrill.
“I got what I wanted,” she said aloud, the words broken with tears. And she had. She just didn’t like feeling like a fool again. A stupid, blind, helpless fool.
Even though she was almost home, Olivia could no longer drive. She turned onto the very next street and pulled to the curb. One sob escaped her control, and then another. Olivia put her forehead to the steering wheel and let the tears come.
She’d wanted it to be special for Jamie, because it had been special for her. She’d wanted it to mean something to him, because for a few days, he’d meant the world to her.
And instead he’d taken her heart and—
But, no. No, Jamie hadn’t taken anything.
She swallowed another sob and shook her head. He hadn’t taken anything, because Olivia had given herself, and there was power in that. She was going to take that power and turn it into something amazing. She was going to emerge from this smarter and stronger.
But first she was going to cry like a baby and let herself mourn what she’d never had.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
THE TREES FLEW PAST HIM in a blur of cool green. Jamie steered around a sharp rock and balanced his weight on the balls of his feet as the bike dropped down a shallow ledge.
For a third time, he felt the vibration of the phone in his pack. For the third time, he ignored it. He was fifteen miles into a twenty-mile ride, and he’d come out here to not think about his family. Damned if he was going to invite them to join him. And who else could it be, calling over and over as if there was an emergency?
Shit. What if there was an emergency?
Jamie pushed on, splashing through a stream that tossed ice water against his legs. He popped over a disintegrating log and slid around a curve. A few yards later, the trail emerged from the trees into a wide turnout that seemed to hang in the air above the town. The sky went on forever above him, miles and miles of blue. Jamie propped his bike against a tree and dug the phone out. Three missed calls from Tessa. Before he could call her back, the phone buzzed again.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as he answered.
“Nothing,” she said. “What are you doing?”
Jamie let his head fall back and he sighed his exasperation into the sky. “I’m on a ride. Why the hell did you call me three times—four times—in a row?”
“I just wanted to talk.”
“Well, I’m busy.”
“Every time I call you you’re busy!”
Jamie paced to the edge of the cliff and back. When he didn’t acknowledge her complaint, Tessa pressed again.
“Can you come in today?”
“No. I’m busy.”
“Please, Jamie. I want to talk to you. And Eric wants to talk to you.”
Jamie took a deep breath. He paced to the edge a few more times, then sat down on a boulder that eased out even farther into the air.
They wanted to talk. A few days ago, he would’ve said no. He was done talking. He was done pleading for a chance.
But after his first days of outrage and fury had worn off, Jamie had felt a hundred different things. Determined, yes. And self-righteous. And scared. And hopeful. But at night, those feelings had slowly fallen away and revealed the one true emotion pulsing beneath it all. Grief. Grief for what he’d lost.
“Jamie?” his sister whispered. “Will you please come talk to us?”
He closed his eyes and listened to the silence around him. The peace. It sounded nothing like what was going on inside his head. “Tessa…I don’t want to talk anymore.”
“I mean, we really want to talk. Not argue. And not lecture.”
“Why?” he asked wearily.
“Because you’re a part of this place!” she yelled. “And we don’t want to do this without you.” Jamie heard Eric’s voice in the background before Tessa snapped, “Shut up. You’re on my shit list, Eric, so zip it.”
Jamie’s eyes popped open. Eric was never on Tessa’s shit list.
Tessa cleared her throat. “Please come in, Jamie.” Her voice was all sweet vulnerability again. “You’ve already quit, so what can it hurt?”
Crap. His pride told him not to go, but the truth was that he missed the place. He’d only been gone a few days, but the distance was there. He missed the brewery. He missed his place there. He missed his sister. For now he was leaving Eric out of it.
He’d tried to turn his mind to the future. This morning, he’d even gone to look at a few available properties, but it felt strange. It wasn’t the exhilarating passion he’d felt before. Jamie rolled his shoulders, trying to shake the feeling off, but even after fifteen miles on the trail, it was still there.
“Fine,” he bit out. “I’ll try to be there in an hour or so.”
“Thank you!” she gasped. “I’ll see you in an hour.”
“Or so,” he clarified, unwilling to leave an opening for Eric’s criticism. The phone clicked off. He got back on the bike and headed downhill. None of his worry had left, but at least he felt as if he was heading in the right direction.
Exactly one hour later, he stepped through the front door of the brewery. His timing was no accident. He hadn’t even bothered to dry his hair after the shower. He wasn’t going to give Eric the chance to aim that familiar look in Jamie’s direction.
“I’m here,” he said flatly as he stepped into Tessa’s office.
She jumped up from her chair and shooed him out. “Eric’s office.”
“Fine.” He stalked into his brother’s office and dropped into a chair. Eric looked exactly the same—stern. Jamie met his eyes and said nothing. If Eric wanted to talk, let him talk.
The door behind him closed with a snap, and Tessa dropped into the last chair. “Okay,” she said, taking his hand into her smaller one.
“Okay, what?” Jamie asked.
Her hand squeezed his, and for one heartbeat, everything was quiet inside him. Then Eric pushed something across the desk.
Jamie looked at it but didn’t understand. This meant nothing to him. At first it was just a flat brown rectangle with a white square in the middle of it. Then he saw the Donovan Brothers logo inside the square. Then the black stripe of fabric that ran up one edge of the book.
Jamie raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
Eric looked…surprised? “I understood that this was yours.”
“I’ve never seen it before,” Jamie said.
Yes, he definitely looked surprised. “You’re sure?”
Tessa reached for it. “Look.” She opened the book and laid it back down.
Jamie’s heart jumped so hard that he nearly choked on it. It was the menu. Olivia’s menu. “Where the hell did you get this?”
“Olivia brought it in,” Tessa said softly.
“Ow!” Tessa complained, wriggling her fingers free of his. “That hurt.”
“What do you mean? She gave this to you?”
“She gave it to Eric,” Tessa answered.
Jamie couldn’t believe his ears. He shook his head to try to clear them. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“She came in today,” Eric said. “She brought me this. Told me I needed to give you a chance.”
“Well, I didn’t know a damn thing about it!” His eyes were drawn to the laminated menu, which stood out in contrast to the thinner pages behind it. “She had no right to give you this.”
“You didn’t recognize it,” Eric said. “She told me it was your work.”
“It is my work, and that’s why it’s none of your business.” He started to reach for it, but Eric slid it back. “Hey!”
“We need to talk about this,” Eric insisted.
“Like hell we do.” Jamie surged forward and snagged the book from his brother’s hand. When he stood, Tessa stood too.
“We like it, Jamie.”
He glared at her.
“We like it.”
“Oh, yeah?” he snarled.
“We like it?”
She nodded. “Eric. Tell him.”
“I was…surprised.”
“Eric!” Tessa snapped.
Jamie rolled his eyes. “Look, I’m not interested in watching you twist his arm, Tessa. Just let it go.”
“I was surprised,” Eric repeated, “because it’s really, really good.”
“Gee, thanks.” But even as Jamie fell back on his normal tone with his brother, his pulse sped with something far less cynical.
“If we were going to serve food here—if—then this would be a good idea.”
He didn’t like the way his pulse leapt with hope, so he tamped it down with a snarl. “Let’s not pretend you can change your mind that quickly, Eric. Let’s not pretend you could take one look at this portfolio and see the light.”
Eric arched an eyebrow, but Tessa was the one who answered. “We want to talk about it, Jamie. If you can give me some time to go through the numbers, if you can let Eric and I have some input, then—”
“No. I’m not going to let you lure me back here with scraps like a damn pet. You’re right. This is a good idea. It’s my good idea. And I’m not interested in having Eric smash it down until it’s safe enough for him. I’m not interested in giving up bits and pieces of it while you orchestrate a negotiation between us, Tessa.”
“We’re partners,” Eric snarled. “We all get a say.”
“You mean you get a say. You always get a say. When have you ever asked for my advice or permission?”
“I always run things by you—”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know the difference, Eric. You run things by me and Tessa on a fast train with no brakes. You keep us notified for courtesy’s sake. You don’t ask us shit.”
Eric leaned forward, his mouth opening on a response, but Jamie cut his hand through the air to stop him.
“If you deny it, brother, you’re a goddamn liar and we both know it.”
He watched the anger creep up Eric’s face in a tide of red. His hands turned to fists. But he didn’t deny it. He was too honest for that.
“If I come back—if—then this is going to happen.” He slapped his palm against the cover. “It’s going to happen my way, and I’ll be in charge of it. All of it.”
“Jamie,” Tessa cautioned.
“No, Tessa. No. I’m not going along this time. I’m not worried about keeping the peace. This idea is solid. It hardly requires any investment at all, and there’s no significant remodel. It’s a goddamn gift, is what it is.”
Eric huffed. “You can’t really expect us to make a decision like this on the spot.”
“Of course not. And the same goes for you. I meant it when I left here. If I’m coming back, then I have to be sure.”
Eric’s eyes slid to Tessa. They stared at each other for a long time. Finally, Tessa’s hand curved over his arm. “You’re serious? You’ll think seriously about coming back?”
“I will.”
“All right. Then Eric and I will go through this line by line. We’ll need at least a few days to consider it.”
Jamie recognized that tone. He heard it every day while Tessa was on the phone with suppliers or distributors. It was the voice she used when she meant business.
Suddenly, this was real. It wasn’t another family argument. There was a deal on the table. His deal.
“All right,” he said quietly. “Call me when you want to meet.”
Tessa reached for the portfolio and Jamie stepped back, nearly falling back into the chair.
“We’ll need to review it.”
“Oh, right.” His hands tightened on the rough texture of the cover. He hadn’t even seen it yet. Olivia had done this. His mind couldn’t figure out what he felt about that. “Would you mind if I take it to my office for a minute? I haven’t seen it like this yet. There were only loose pages before.”
“Sure. Of course.”
Jamie walked slowly to his sparsely furnished office and closed the door behind him. He collapsed into his chair before he finally let out a shaky breath. He’d stepped into a rabbit hole. None of this made any sense. Maybe he’d been thrown from his bike and was still lying up there on the mountain with a giant lump on his head.
Watching his own hands carefully, he slowly opened the cover of the portfolio and began to review it. She’d done an amazing job. That night at her apartment he’d barely been paying attention, but now every page stood out in vivid detail. It was all here, every idea he’d gathered. Every number he’d researched, plus some of the things he hadn’t gotten to yet. It was all there in full color on glossy pages. By the time he turned the last page, his hands shook.
Why had she finished it? More important, why had she given it to Eric instead of Jamie?
Before he could overthink it, Jamie pulled out his phone and dialed her number. The phone rang five times before it went to voice mail. Jamie hung up. He had no idea what to say. Was he thankful or pissed? Had she violated his trust and privacy or had she done something amazing?
Jamie had no idea. But when he stood up, he felt stronger than he had in years. He felt…proud.
Tessa was waiting for him when he stepped into the hallway. He handed over the book without a twinge of reluctance. “Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be in touch in a few days.”
This time when he walked out, he didn’t look back because he knew he’d return. It was a good idea, and they’d be fools not to go with it. They might drive him up the wall 365 days a year, but his brother and sister weren’t fools.
In a few months, Jamie would be running a restaurant.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
WHEN THE DOOR OF HIS OFFICE opened, Jamie held up a finger and pressed the phone harder to his ear. “Well, I’m glad you’re doing well enough to be busy, but I need you out here to give me an estimate tomorrow. If you can’t do it, I’ll find someone else.”
The electrician sighed. “How late are you guys there?”
“It’s a brewery, man. If you can make it before nine, we’re good.”
“All right. Let’s say six-thirty.”
“Perfect. And another guy is coming at one, so if you want the job, you’ll be sure the estimate is competitive.” He hung up, glad he’d overheard so many of Eric’s phone calls over the years. Jamie was damn good at being the nice guy, but nice didn’t get you anywhere in the world of electricians and plumbers and equipment salesmen.
Someone cleared his throat, and Jamie glanced up to see Henry standing there. “Oh, hey. Thanks for coming in, man.” He stood up to shake Henry’s hand, which seemed to make the young guy nervous. “Sit down. I heard you filled in at the bar a couple of times while I was gone.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you like it?”
“Sure.”
“I want an honest answer about that, Henry. Enjoying what you do is really the number one qualification for tending here. There are no mixed drinks to remember. There aren’t a lot of complicated bills. You’ve just got to be friendly and happy to be here. Did you really like being at the tap?”
Henry’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down when he swallowed. “I was a little nervous, but I liked it.”
“Okay. You can work with Chester tonight. Close down with him. See how it feels. If Chester give you the thumbs-up, I’ll give you a couple of day shifts this week so I can keep an eye on you. How does that sound?”
“Great!”
Henry scrambled up from his seat and headed back out the door. “Hey, I’m glad you’re back,” he added before he slipped away.
Yeah, Jamie was, too. It felt good. It felt great.
Before he could forget, Jamie opened the Twitter application on his phone and began to type. We’ve got a new guy behind the bar. Come meet Henry tonight. But be gentle. He’s just a pup. He retweeted a couple of kind posts about the new wheat beer, then tweeted that the new apricot hefeweizen would debut next month.
He was actually having a good time, getting things done. In fact, he would’ve been in heaven if thoughts of Olivia hadn’t been niggling at the back of his mind. She hadn’t returned his calls for five days. She hadn’t come to book club. It seemed she hadn’t even been home for the past week. According to the school, she’d canceled class on Thursday due to “an unexpected personal development,” and she wasn’t expected back until to morrow.
Unexpected personal development. What the hell did that mean? He refused to believe it could have anything to do with Victor. Whatever that man wanted from Olivia, she’d been clear that she wanted nothing from him. Hadn’t she?
Jamie cracked his neck. He just wanted to see her. Any sense of betrayal over what she’d done had disappeared. It’d been pretty half-assed in the first place. Now he was back at the brewery and it seemed like last Tuesday was a hundred years ago.
Still, he couldn’t do anything more than drive by her place each evening to see if she’d returned. Jamie forced his mind back to the tasks at hand.
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