“
Harsh,” Sam whispered, sitting back and crossing his arms.
“
I think he couldn’t afford it anymore. He was building this house around that time. And getting ready to run for mayor.”
Sam shrugged as if maybe, just maybe, that made it okay. “Speaking of this house. Why don’t you let me make your mortgage payments and then you can sell it easier. Your sister said you’re not getting any offers. Pay me back once it’s sold. Or, not, whatever. It’s bugging me, worrying about you.”
After the day she’d had, she seriously considered his offer. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“
My brother moved to Cincinnati,” he said. “You remember Jack? I’ve been getting calls right and left. He’s getting married and selling up. He’s not coming back.”
“
Oh, well that’s great,” she said. “Or, is it bad news?” She couldn’t gauge his mood. He seemed distracted.
He turned to face her. “What I was thinking is, what if we get you and Ethan, and your sister, moved out to his house? You’ve packed up most of your stuff anyway. I’d feel better with you there, where that Stewart idiot can’t find you.” He held up a defensive hand. “I’m not trying to rush things. It’s just Jack’s house is sitting empty and I keep seeing that damn Porsche around. I passed it on my way here earlier this afternoon.” His cheeks darkened. “Before the incident.”
Brandon’s last text had haunted her all the way home.
Still not done
. Did that mean one day soon they would be done? Through? Did he have one big, final and terrible plan for her? Was Ethan safe?
Brianna called them in to eat and she stood to lift Ethan off his tricycle. He ran ahead to the kitchen. “I may just take you up on that offer.”
Sam walked close behind her, holding on to her waist. “Besides, and no offense to your dad, but this place gives me the creeps.”
She slowed so he’d press up against her back and wrap his arms around her. “Really? Why?”
“
Everything is white. I’m half-afraid to even sit down. I don’t see how you keep it clean with a kid here.”
“
It’s a chore.” She’d always preferred their other house herself, the cozy home she’d grown up in, but was used to the sterile, airy feel of the house now. Her father’s idea of opulence and prestige. “Your brother’s house. Is that the place with the pond and the lights?”
“
That’s the one.”
Remembering the beauty of the place seemed to ease the tension of the day and she imagined the look on Ethan’s face when he saw all the sparkling lights in the trees. The colorful lights around the landscaped lawn. The large lighted fountain in the middle of the pond. Like Christmas every night.
They gathered at the kitchen table, like a family, and chatted. Sam told them about Ethan’s day playing with his cousins and riding a horse. Brianna told about her day, about how she’d filled out ‘like a million applications,’ but hadn’t heard back on anything yet. She was starting with the jobs she actually wanted and working her way down to whatever she could find. With some prompting, Ethan told them about his adventure riding Froggy. But all Jenna could really think about was the house on the pond.
She imagined sitting on the back porch at night with Sam and gazing out at that pond, where Ethan was conceived, and somehow it seemed like going home. Like finally finding the home she’d wanted all her life.
The phone rang from her purse, over on the table by the garage door. Bri was closer and jumped up to get it. Her sister came back to the table with the phone. “For you,” she said, handing Jenna the phone.
She spoke briefly then handed the phone back to Bri. She looked up to find everyone staring at her. “Just the office,” she told them.
“
What are you sorry about?” Bri asked. “Was that you-know-who?”
“
Who?”
“
Buttface. You weren’t apologizing to him, were you?”
“
No,” Jenna told them all again. “It was the office. Mr. O’Hara had a stroke. He’s in the hospital.”
“
Oh,” Sam said, giving her knee a pat under the table. “He’s your boss, right? That’s too bad, baby.”
“
Yeah. I mean, I didn’t really know him. But he defended me. In a way.” He’d mostly been defending the firm, but he’d been willing to give her a chance. Of course, none of that mattered now.
“
You look upset,” Bri said, squinting suspiciously as she stood to take her plate to the sink. “Your face gets all red.”
“
I’m just surprised.” But she didn’t want to talk about it yet. She needed time to think. She didn’t know what to do now. The news she’d just received changed everything. She turned her attention to Sam. “How soon could we move to your brother’s house?”
Sam smiled and gave her a little punch in the arm. “Soon as you want. Tonight.”
“
Then let’s do that. I need to make some kind of change. I’m stuck in a rut. I need to change something. My outlook or my location. Something. I can’t keep going on this way.”
Sam sobered and leaned forward. “What’s this about?”
But she could only look at her son, who was carefully stabbing a small chunk of chicken with his fork, and shake her head. “We’ll talk later.”
“
We’re moving somewhere?” Brianna whirled around suddenly, as if finally catching up to the conversation. “Where are we moving?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Once they’d finally lugged all the bags upstairs, most of which were Brianna’s, Jenna toured the house. Ethan had crashed out in his car seat and was asleep upstairs in a spare room. Bri had taken one of the other three bedrooms. Jenna unpacked her things along with Sam’s in the master bedroom.
The house was much larger and nicer inside than she’d imagined. Very clean and tidy, thanks to a housekeeper who came in twice a week, Sam had told her. The kitchen was modern with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Big enough for a large oblong table, with a matching granite top, in the middle. Travertine tiles decorated the floor. The kitchen was mostly in golden tones, much cozier than her white and gray kitchen at home.
Throughout the house, golden hardwood floors gleamed and the furniture in the living room, while stylish, was warm and comfortable, decorated in browns, gold and greens with accents in reds. Jack’s girlfriend, now fiancée, she’d been told, had decorated the house herself and it reminded Jenna of the house her mother had decorated in similar warm tones. The house where she’d spent her happy childhood. Before her mother had died and she’d discovered just how serious and distant her father really was.
She’d have been happy to be in the house if it hadn’t been for the niggling fear pestering her mind.
She looked through the screen door, to check in on Brianna and Sam, who were chatting. Or, rather, Bri was chatting and Sam was listening, or being polite and pretending to listen.
The sparkling lights in the backyard held Jenna’s attention for only a moment before she started pacing again. She peaked in on a dining room with a large table with eight chairs, a china cabinet and sideboard. A large potted tree in the corner and decorative landscapes on the wall. The china cabinet was empty and she decided to pack up her grandmother’s china and bring it out. She didn’t want to go home again, to her father’s house, back to the place where everything seemed to go wrong. She wanted to stay here, forever, and start over. And try to make things right again.
Wandering back upstairs, she checked on Ethan then crossed over to the master bedroom. Lights blinking in the window caught her attention and she went over and opened the blinds. She had a great view of the backyard and lights from there, of the pond where Ethan was conceived.
She lifted her foot and dropped it to the floor, a little stamp, claiming this room, this place, as her own. For as long as she could hold on to it.
She heard a light knock on the door and Sam strolled in, smiling. He joined her at the window and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Not bad, huh?”
“
Did Bri talk your ear off?”
He chuckled. “She started texting and I made my escape.”
“
I’m sure she has to tell everyone where she is.”
He moved around her and sat on the wide windowsill. “Wanna tell me what’s really going on? Something’s wrong. Who called earlier?”
She backed up and sat on the bed. “My boss. Just like I said. Apparently, the stroke is pretty bad and Mr. O’Hara won’t be coming back to work. My promotion is off.”
“
What do you mean?”
“
Mr. Brandt, another senior partner, said Mr. O’Hara created the position for me. Which, I guess explains why people believed the rumors. He said they didn’t need another paralegal and couldn’t afford to pay my salary.”
“
Oh.”
Her stomach tightened and she had to force herself to say the words aloud, knowing they would become real the moment she spoke. “In fact… they’re downsizing. Mr. O’Hara’s secretary and assistant are being moved to other positions and I’m pretty far down on the ladder.”
Sam leaned forward, frowning. “So, what are you saying?”
The air around Sam’s face was suddenly filled with little dancing stars. “I’ve been fired.”
“
Damn,” Sam whispered. He came over, sat on the bed with her, and put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
She held back tears. “I can pick up my stuff at the guard desk tomorrow morning. At least they offered to give me a good reference. I’ve been sending out resumes for the past couple of months, but I haven’t had any luck so far. Maybe I can find a job with a law firm in Nashville.”
“
Is law what you really want to do?”
“
It’s where my experience is.”
Sam shook his head as if disgusted with her. “You’re living your dad’s life. A really rough version of it, too. You said it yourself. You’re doing what he wanted you to do. Now’s the time while you’re still young. What do
you
want to do?”
She wanted some control over her life again. She wanted to get a job and support her son and sister. She wanted to earn a living. She looked at this man she loved. He’d had freedom handed to him and couldn’t understand. She had to support Ethan somehow.
Except…. She wasn’t alone anymore. And neither was Ethan.
“
I used to have this stupid idea,” she said. “I always thought it would be nice to run a riding school like the one I attended. I heard it had shut down so maybe there’s an opening in this area. I was never good enough to seriously compete, but I was pretty good. It was the only time I ever felt free. When I was riding horses.”
Sam raised his eyebrows, his face brightening. “Then do that.”
She shook her head. “It takes money to start up a business like that. I’d need the land and stables, and… it’s impossible.”
“
Not impossible at all.” Sam thought for a moment, and then chuckled. “In fact, it’s very possible. My dad has everything you need. He’s got the land and the stables. He’s even got the horses. All you’d have to do is buy a sign and advertize.”
Her pulse sped up at the thought of taking advantage of such an opportunity, but something held her back. Her need for independence. “Then it would be your dad’s school, not mine.”
Sam sat still staring straight ahead so long Jenna had decided he’d given up. She patted his knee and was about to stand when he grabbed her hand. “No, actually it would be ours,” he said, turning to face her. “Dad’s looking to retire. He asked me to take over the horse farm.”
“
Really?”
“
He’s sixty-six. Mom wants him to spend more time with her. Do some traveling while they still can. He fell when he was younger, when he was working on Granddad’s ranch in Texas, and his back is starting to give him problems now.”
“
Is that how they met?”
“
Yeah, he set out on his own when he was eighteen and went to Texas. Mom’s parents weren’t really happy about it, her marrying a ranch hand, but they’ve made it work. The point is, he needs to slow down. So, I’ll take on his farm and you can have your riding school.”
Again, she let herself entertain such an exciting and inspiring notion, but only for a moment. “No. It’s stupid. I haven’t ridden in years and I don’t know anything about teaching.”
“
Neither did my brother, Boone, and his wife, but they both do it.”
“
Really?”
“
Boone was in the air force and runs a flying school and Becky runs a cooking school. You’ll learn. The trick is to hire the right people to help you.”
“
More money,” Jenna mentioned. “More of your money.”
Sam sighed, quietly, but she heard him. “Then we’ll have a partnership,” he said. “Or, if you’re gonna be stubborn, it’ll be my school and I’ll hire you to run it.”
“
That’s better, I guess. Except that you’re only doing it for me. You’d never do it otherwise.”
“
So what? Now I like the idea. I’ll do it whether you want in or not.”
“
Now you’re being stubborn,” she said, but couldn’t hold back a smile.