“Jace—”
“Please . . . let me do this for you. I’m your family, whether you like it or not.”
“This is a terrible idea,” she whispered. Like it was her last plea.
“It might be the only good one I’ve ever had.”
Twelve
Faith
“What am I gonna do?” I flew into the small realtor’s office like I was running from a rabid skunk.
Basically, that was what I was doing. It was the only way I’d been able to get away from him, the overbearing man not even wanting me to go into town to get groceries without him tagging along.
I’d barely convinced him I had to remain standing. Continue living. Besides, it wasn’t like Mack wasn’t watching my every move. There was a cruiser sitting right outside to prove it.
And God, I was grateful for it. The fact that this town had rallied around me. The hardest part was the fact there was a reason for them to have to do it.
Courtney’s attention flew up from where it’d been buried in the laptop on her desk, her voice all sorts of wry. “I might be brilliant, but I’m not psychic, so you’re gonna have to clarify.”
Rolling my eyes, I plopped down onto one of the chairs on the opposite side of her desk, blowing out the biggest breath from my lungs. “Jace Jacobs.”
Her face pinched into a sour expression.
Apparently, she didn’t need any more clarification than that.
“What’d that dog do now?”
“Oh, you know, nothing much . . . he was just there when I couldn’t find Bailey this morning and freaked out. I mean, really freaked out, Court. I started shouting and screaming and carrying on, but it turned out she was just fine. Of course, while I was getting her to take a nap, he went and fixed up all the locks in the entire house so no one can get in or out, and then he turned right around and told me he was moving in so he can watch over us. That’s what.”
It all left me on a rush of incredulity.
A tumble of confusion and frustration and this niggle of need that I sure didn’t want to feel.
Her eyebrows lifted for the ceiling. “Excuse me?”
“You need me to repeat it?”
“Just rewind to that part where you said something about him movin’ in.” She spun her index finger in the air.
“That’s right.” I hugged my purse to my chest as if the thing might be a shield. “He said he’s moving in.”
Chin angling away, she laughed a short sound. As short as the shake of her head. “You’ve got to be shittin’ me. That man has a lot of balls, doesn’t he?”
That was what I was worried about.
She swung her green eyes back toward me. “So, what’d you tell him?”
“What do you think I told him? I told him no chance in hell.”
“And how’d he take it?”
The vigor in my voice faded out, and I started fiddling with the strap of my purse. “He said he’d be back with his things later. That man just doesn’t take no for an answer.”
A low chuckle rumbled from her.
Why was she grinnin’?
“Oh, you’re in so much trouble, Faith Avery.”
I frowned at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know full well that man would take no for an answer if you really meant it. He knows you better than anyone.”
I jarred back with her statement. “He doesn’t know me.”
“Really?”
Shit.
I gnawed at my bottom lip.
“See?” she said, as if that was my answer.
“I just . . . what if something really would have happened to Bailey? What if she really had been in danger? It’d be nice to have someone else there, looking out for us.”
“And the man looks pretty nice, too.”
“Courtney,” I chastised.
“Faith,” she shot back.
“Where is Button?” she asked.
“She went to the park with my mama. I’m trying to keep things as normal as possible through all of this.”
Courtney nodded and then didn’t say anything for a second, clearly chewing on her thoughts as she worked her jaw.
“Come on, Faith,” she finally broached. “Are you really gonna sit there and pretend you two didn’t have all sorts of unfinished business when he left?”
“Oh, I think he finished me off just fine the first time around.”
“Did you ever really blame him?”
Offense churned in my blood. “Of course, I blamed him. He left me.”
“Didn’t you ever think he might be doin’ it for you?”
Unease rippled in with that offense. Courtney never did hesitate to put me on the spot.
She just loved playing devil’s advocate.
“It didn’t matter why he left. The only thing that mattered was he did.”
She grabbed the pen that was on her planner and thumped the end of it against the thick paper. “I’m not saying what he did was right. I’ve just always wondered if he might have had reasons for it.”
“I thought you hated the man?”
“Oh, I hate him plenty for the fact he hurt you. Doesn’t mean I didn’t see the same things in him that you did.”
I pushed out a heavy sigh. “Well, none of that matters now, does it? I think it’s plenty clear the only reason he’s back is out of obligation to Joseph.”
As if I could handle anything else, anyway.
“He didn’t even come back for his funeral. He’s feelin’ guilty, that’s all.”
“Maybe.”
She thumped her pen again before she rocked forward and settled her forearms on the desk. “The question you need to ask yourself is if you’re willing to accept his help and how that might make you feel.”
Anxiously, I tapped my toes on the floor, and I looked out the windows into the blinding light.
Warily, I looked back at my best friend. “Is it wrong that it might feel good to have someone there? I really feel like I might lose it, Court. That I can’t keep juggling all this sorrow and worry and fear and remain standing on my own two feet. I’m scared.” The last was a whispered plea.
Understanding climbed to the features of her pretty face. “No, Faith. It’s not wrong that you feel more comfortable with someone there. Not at all.”
What worried me was it felt like more than that. I was worried the reason it felt good was the fact it was him.
I pulled my thumb to my mouth and chewed at the nail. “What’s the town gonna say if I let him do this?”
“When have you ever worried what the town had to say about him?”
“Things are different now.”
“You’re right. They’re different, and everyone here knows you’re gonna have to move on with your life. Whether that’s today or tomorrow or five years down the road, you’re gonna have to move on. And you know my offer still stands. You want me to come stay with you, and I’m there.”
Her eyes narrowed in speculation. “Though it seems like you’re gettin’ all kinds of tempting offers. It has to be a bear to choose.”
She hiked a nonchalant shoulder. “I mean, Jace is no ninja like me, but I’m sure he could hold his own.”
There she went again, making me smile when it should be impossible.
“You’re terrifying,” I told her.
She grinned. “Deadly.”
I jumped when the glass door flew open.
Felix loped in, all casual smiles as his massive body filled up the doorway.
He was a new officer on the Broadshire Rim force. He and Courtney had met just a few weeks ago when he’d come by to check up on me at the plantation while Courtney was visiting.
Their attraction had been instant.
“Felix, baby, what are you doing here?” Courtney asked, her eyes raking over him as if he’d just dropped by to offer himself up for lunch.
With the way they were looking at each other, I was pretty sure that was the case.
“What, I can’t drop by to see my girl when I’m missing her?”
“Oh, you can drop by any time.”
How the hell Courtney managed to make talk about dropping by sound dirty, I didn’t know.