Page 85 of Carry Me Home
Maya sighed. “I’m not really hungry anymore. I just like the crunch.”
Janie laughed. “It’s the best part.” She took a bite of eggs. Good. She spent mornings in the office, but she was on her feet all afternoon once the bar opened. She needed the fuel. “So, what wonderful things do you have planned for today?”
“I want to go to the zoo.”
Janie lifted an eyebrow at me. “What do you think, Jack?”
I think I’m so in love with you it hurts. I matched her cheerful tone. “Sounds fun.”
“Great. I’ll buy tickets.”
Maya shot up from her chair. “I’ll go get ready.”
“We’re not leaving for another hour, at least,” I called as she darted down the hallway. Rush hour traffic heading into Denver was something I preferred to avoid at all costs.
“Jack.”
Janie’s soft voice had me snapping to attention. “Yeah?”
“You weren’t wrong.” She picked up her fork, set it down again. “All those things you said. You weren’t wrong.” She pursed her lips. “I wasn’t either, for the record. That was a shitty thing you did. But…” She sighed. “For anyone else, maybe it would have been a nice gesture. I know you meant well.”
“I was out of line,” I said bluntly.
She pointed her fork at me. “You absolutely were. But you weren’t wrong.”
My heart thumped hard. I couldn’t breathe for hoping. “So what now?”
She chewed her cheek like she was weighing her next words carefully. “I spoke to Brax yesterday about the trust and the contract I signed. We’re meeting with Rupert, my parents, and their lawyers on Friday.”
Janie sure did have a knack for surprising me. I had so many questions, but with things the way they were between us, it wasn’t my place to ask. I wished I knew what was going on inside that brain of hers. What she was feeling. What she was thinking.
“What can I do to help?” I asked.
Apparently that was the wrong question because her lips flattened. “Stay out of it. I need to do this on my own.” She paused. “Well, I need to do this with Brax, but still on my own, if that makes sense.”
“It does.” I still hated it. If she would just let me?—
“Jack,” she warned because the woman was a damn mind reader.
Shit. “I won’t interfere. I’ll handcuff myself if I have to.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “You know how to get out of handcuffs, don’t you.”
“Well…yeah,” I admitted.
She swallowed a laugh. “Anyway. We don’t have anyone to cover my usual shift at the bar, so the Painted Cat will be closed for the morning. It will be fine. The bar doesn’t get busy until after five anyway. I might be home early. Brax doesn’t expect the meeting to go past one or two.”
“I’ll handle it,” I said before I could stop myself.
“Jack.”
“Janie, it’s a scheduling issue at my bar. The Painted Catismy business.” And so was Janie, whether she admitted it or not. “One way or another, your shift and Maya will both be covered. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but you have a whole pack of friends who would do anything for you. Me, included. So let us help with this one little thing. Let me handle it.”
Her expression softened as she considered. “All right,” she said at last. “Thank you.”
I pushed from my chair. “Wait a minute. I have something for you.” I grabbed the deck of cards from the drawer and flipped through them until I found the cards I needed. “Here. For luck.”
She looked at the cards and then back to me. “Four aces? How is that lucky?”
