Page 32 of Love and Loathing

His smile fell a little, uncomfortable with her flirting. “Well, I’m impressed.”

They all went back to their meals. And for a time, they were silent. Jessie was glad. She just didn’t have it in her to be merry now.

* * *

After dinner, and much pestering of Jacob by Sophie and Jessie’s younger sisters, Jessie walked Jacob to his beat up ol’ truck. The stopped under the halo of a streetlight.

“Thanks for coming.” She pointed over her shoulder. “I know they can be a bit much.”

“It was nice,” he said. “We didn’t have anything like this growing up. Our dad was dismissive at best. You remember that.”

She nodded.

“It was nice to feel a part of a family.” He stepped off the curb.

A cool breeze brushed by, and she folded her arms. “I’m glad.”

His face went serious. “Listen, there’s something else about this.” He pointed to his eye. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of your family, not until I got your opinion on this.”

She lifted her brows. “Okay, shoot.”

He glanced down and kicked at the curb. “I overheard Alex and Beaumont talking at the construction site. They’re planning on buying up all the property along the river and putting up one hundred houses.”

“What?” She stepped off the curb. “Is this a joke? Because it’s not funny, Jacob.”

“It’s not a joke. I saw the blueprints—made copies, actually—and absconded with them.”

Her mind was awhirl with thoughts. This made no sense. Eight houses. They’d told her that, both Alex and Charlie. Why would they lie to her? Especially when Charlie was dating Caroline. She closed her eyes. That was a couple months ago. Charlie had only been out with Caroline a few times. They probably hadn’t expected to get attached. Well, at least one of them had been right.

She shook her head. “You have copies?”

“I took pictures.” He pulled them up on his phone and showed her.

“What are you going to do with them?” she asked. They were going to destroy Harvest Ranch, her beloved hometown, without a thought. How could they do this? She was so mad, she started to shake.

“I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it.” He spread his arms wide and looked up and down the street. Trees lined the road, many in full pink and white bloom. Others had Spanish moss hanging from them. Cast-iron streetlights lit the road, and though the houses on this street weren’t particularly grand, they were quaint. “This is Harvest Ranch we’re talking about. I’d hate to see it destroyed like that.”

Jessie felt her chest clench tight. He was right; they couldn’t let this happen. She lifted her chin. “Give it to McGee.”

He took a deep breath. “Yeah, maybe. No matter what he did to me, I don’t think I can do this to him. I know what it’s like to have the wrath of the whole town on you. And it could ruin his business.” He shook his head. “I’ll give it a couple weeks and confront him. If they’re still going through with it, then I’ll take it to McGee.”

Jessie’s eyes watered. “I’m sorry that happened to you, Jacob. I’m sorry I thought the worst of you. But I think you’re being kinder to him than he deserves.”

“Maybe, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Maybe, but she wished he’d give the pics to McGee anyway. How was she supposed to keep working for Alex now? The ten thousand would just feel like she was selling out her town. She couldn’t do it. But she’d keep her mouth shut for now. For Caroline’s sake and for Jacob’s.

Chapter 13

Alex and Charlie sat in front of a large desk in the offices of Collins and Brown Attorneys-at-Law. The desk had been pushed against the wall, and two metal chairs faced theirs. Charlie’s knee bounced nonstop, his face was blanched, and he kept humming some off-tune song Alex couldn’t make out. His friend who rocked at karaoke was humming off-key. While Charlie was a mess on the outside, Alex was the picture of calm and collected—inwardly, he was just as unhinged as Charlie.

It’d been three weeks since Alex had sacked Jacob. He and Charlie were no closer to resolving a deal with Kevin and Steve, and they were finally to the point where they had to decide to use them or drop them. Alex was firmly in the drop category. Charlie wasn’t, even though the very fact that he wanted to keep them was causing his personal life huge problems.

The two attorneys running the business—one about Alex’s age and the other in his forties, probably—came in and shook their hands. The older one was Ryan Brown. Alex had talked to him on the phone earlier today and months ago when he’d purchased the land they already had.

The two attorneys sat down, and Brown pointed to the other. “Gentleman, this is my partner, Liam Nicholls.”

“Not Collins?” Alex asked.

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