Page 16 of The Heiress

I liked that he rested his chin on the top of my head just like old times. If I closed my eyes I could pretend we were teenagers again. It was the weekend and he was giving me a hug goodbye after a baseball game. My parents were alive and ready to lecture me about staying out too late.

Those days were long gone but Jace was right here.

“I missed you too.”

5

“How often did you see them?” I asked Jace.

He stood in front of the wall of photos. He was in several. “Intentionally? About once a month. They’d invite me over for dinner or we’d grab a meal out. Sometimes I joined them kayaking. They really never told you?”

I shook my head again, still surprised my parents were so good at keeping secrets of all kinds. There was the obvious—me—but also the subtle. It seems the rift between Jace and me was just between the two of us. “Nope. Not a single word.” To be fair, I never asked them about Jace, so I suppose they weren’t technically lying. But keeping details like that quiet was as close to lying as you could get.

Not that I blamed them. Jace was like a son to them. Just because I was mean and ended our friendship didn’t mean they had to give him up too. He lived here after all. What were they going to do? Run the opposite direction when they saw him at the grocery store?

“Are you mad?” He glanced out to the screened porch where Hazel was having a lively conversation over video with Yara.

“Not at all. Just surprised to find something else I didn’t know about them.”

He winced. “It’s not the same.”

“It’s a disturbing pattern.” Maybe I didn’t know them at all. It was too late to change any of that though. All I could do at this point was deal with the consequences and not repeat their mistakes, which was why I was determined to be a better friend to Jace. “So tell me about your work. Your office. What made you pick finance out of all of the things you could have done?”

He had the vacuum cleaner in pieces on the living room floor. Hazel and I had managed to get through all of the boxes so there was space to do things like clean the vacuum enough to get it through a couple more months. If Ihadto buy a new vacuum I would, but Jace was sure he could get this one back in working order.

“Well,” he twisted a screwdriver as he spoke, “I took as many college classes as I could while figuring out a way to get a degree in something that interested me, but would also be of interest to Todd. Todd likes money, I like solving problems and don’t mind numbers. A few business classes led to a few more.” He righted one part of the vacuum and flipped over another. “I make the club a lot more money than they used to rake in, so Todd’s a happy camper. He doesn’t bother me about having a job that’s not under his thumb.”

“So are all your clients rich? And they let you play with their money?”

He smiled, eyes focused on the parts in his hands. “Rich is a relative term. All my clients have lots of money that needs handling. For some it’s business interests, for others it’s more wealth management. And yes, they let me play with some of their money.”

I bet Jace was great at it. “And...the club?” I bit my lip and held my breath.

“A lot’s changed, Sam. We’re not based on the island anymore.”

“You moved to the mainland?” Now that was surprising. Todd used to rave about this being his island.

“Yep. We’re in Tampa now. We’re diversified into a lot of interests. We own a bar, a restaurant, several other businesses between here and the city.”

All at Jace’s talented hands no doubt. I should have known he’d find a way to make things work in his favor. “But you live here.”

He nodded, closing up a part and picking the screwdriver back up. “I do. I like my space. I’ve earned that leeway from Todd.”

I could ask a million questions about the club, about the things he might be doing that were illegal, but there was only one thing that truly mattered. “Are you happy?”

He kept twisting the tool in his hands until the screw was tight, then he set it and the vacuum aside, giving me his full, somewhat overwhelming attention. “I’m content. When we were teenagers I had zero control over anything. I’ve spent the last nine years taking that control back. I may work for the club, but I’m my own man. I’ve put things in place to ensure that remains true.”

“Well then I’m happy for you. I know now there is no such thing as perfect, so I’m glad you’ve found a way to make things work for you.”

There was something in his eyes I couldn’t interpret. They unfocused a little as I spoke, took on an almost sad quality. His lips pinched together like he was trying to keep himself from saying something. “Look, Sam. There’s more. I can’t tell you what, but trust me, there’smore.And I’m hoping one day it will all pay off and release me from everything.”

“What do you mean—?” Before I could finish my sentence Hazel pushed the sliding glass door open.

“Oh man, it’s fuckinghotout here! I know you keep telling me it’s hotter south of Gainesville, but damn I didn’t believe it was actually true. There’s no sea breeze. It’s just stagnant awful heat!”

Jace went right back to assembling the vacuum, the conversation over. He barely made eye contact with me again until it was time for us to pack the car and head back to Gainesville.

“You ladies drive safe.” He lifted his tool boxes into the bed of his pickup truck.

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