by Liz Talley
Gage didn’t say anything. Mostly he watched her with gray-green eyes that seemed as impenetrable as Fort Knox. What was he thinking? He’d said he wanted all of her, but she had to get her shit together. She was fairly certain her shit was not together. Not even close. Instead she was worse than before.
“Why did you come?” she asked, setting down her buttered toast.
His shoulders may have twitched into a shrug. “I wish I knew.”
For a few seconds neither one of them said anything.
“Josh and I broke up. Turns out I don’t have the right equipment for him.”
“And how does that make you feel?” Gage asked.
What kind of question was that? How did he think she felt? “Hurt.”
“Because he couldn’t want you? Because he deceived you? Or because you’re no longer living your plan?”
“My plan?”
“You said you had a plan, and he—I’m assuming Josh—messed up your plan. Last night when you were crying, it didn’t seem to be over him, but over the fact nothing has worked out the way you planned it.”
Ellery looked down at her plate. “Well, yeah. I guess that’s some of it. I thought I loved Josh. He’s a great guy, and he always treated me like I was . . . I mean, now I can look back and see that he was doing what he thought a man does when he loves a woman. Maybe I was doing the same thing. I thought we made so much sense. Everyone said so. The things we wanted in life lined up, you know? But to answer your question, I wanted the life he and I had planned.”
Gage’s expression seemed to say, How’s that working for you?
“Nothing’s been going my way since last spring, Gage.” Other than meeting you.
That thought popped up out of nowhere, and before she could talk herself out of it, she knew it to be true. Ever since she’d fizzled in her career, she’d been making bad decisions, one right after the other. Or maybe some of it wasn’t because she’d made bad decisions. Maybe this was how life was—that in spite of one’s best efforts, things didn’t always work. Some of what had happened to her over the last few months was what life had given her. Another thing she knew for certain was that Gage . . . oh crap, she didn’t know his last name . . . was meant to be here in this time and place.
“I get it,” he said, tucking into his breakfast while still giving her cryptic looks.
“What’s your last name?” she blurted.
He chuckled. “Nacari.”
“Gage Nacari . . . you sound like a European race car driver or a soap opera star.”
“Nope. Just a guy who slings wine. Well, for another week anyway. I’m leaving for Seattle right before Thanksgiving.”
“What?” Ellery jerked her gaze from the pooling syrup on her half-eaten waffle to Gage. “You’re leaving?”
“There’s this job in Seattle. One I’ve had my eye on for a long time.”
“You’re leaving?” She knew she shouldn’t be upset. Gage was a guy she’d met exactly five times, if last night counted as a meeting. They’d shared a few kisses. That was it. But for some reason, his casual mention of leaving next week was like someone kicking her in the stomach. He couldn’t leave now. They had chemistry, the beginning of something that she wasn’t ready to put her finger on but that existed all the same.
“I started the interview process last month. The Seattle office called last week, and I have an interview. It’s the opportunity I’ve been lusting after for a while now.”
He was excited. She could see that in his eyes. “But you don’t have the job yet?”
“Not yet.”
“What if you don’t get it?” She knew how it felt to not get the job you thought you would. Sometimes it didn’t work out, so why move to Seattle when he didn’t have a sure thing?
“Then I’ll find something else. It’s time for me to go after what I want in life. I have a degree from UT in computer engineering, and I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity. This is it.”
“Well, that’s brave. Seattle’s a cool place. I went once when I was in college. Nordstrom is headquartered there.”
Gage’s gaze searched her face. “You should come with me.”
Ellery dropped her fork. The clatter was loud, and a few people in the next booth turned toward them. “Sorry.” She picked up the fork and set it next to her plate. “Are you crazy? I can’t go to Seattle with you.”
“Why not? You just said it’s a cool city.”
“It is, but you don’t have a job. I don’t have a job.”
Gage’s mouth quirked, and damned if it wasn’t sexy. “So? We’ll get some.”
“That’s . . . it doesn’t make any sense.”
“Because it’s not in your plan?”
Ellery stared at him like he was crazy. “That and I . . . I have a lease and a job . . .”
“Sublease your place and quit your job.” He gave her a shrug. “You’re young, probably too young for me even, but that’s the best reason to roll the dice. Why let life happen to you? Come with me to Seattle. You can sleep on my couch, put out some résumés, and start over.”
Let life happen to you.
Those words might as well have slapped her in the face.
She’d been letting life happen to her. What had she done to change her situation? Not much. She still hadn’t sent in the internship applications and had been avoiding everything that was difficult in life. Her life here in Shreveport was pathetic and safe. But moving to Seattle on a whim? That seemed extreme.
And somehow . . . exciting.
Gage was right—she was young, and if she were going to make mistakes, now was the time to make them. There was nothing left for her here . . . outside of parents she wasn’t talking to. Maybe a crazy, out-of-the-blue Seattle move was exactly what she needed. Maybe this was the break she’d been waiting on. No, it wasn’t a break. It was an opportunity. If things didn’t work out in Seattle, she could come back home. Or find a new opportunity. She didn’t have to have a plan. Ellery could create her life as she went.
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Twenty-nine,” he said.
“That’s not too old for me,” she said.
His answer was a small smile.
“Are you flying to Seattle or going on your motorcycle?”
He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Well, I sold my bike to Evan, so I thought I would rent a car. I’ve already shipped my computer and most of my clothes to the one-bedroom loft that’s costing an arm and a leg.”
“If I come, I can bring my car, so we have transportation. Once I get a job, I can help with rent and stuff.”
“We can figure it out,” he said.
“Are you sure you want me to come with you?” she asked, wondering if she had lost her mind. Because she was seriously considering going to Seattle. With a man she barely knew. With no job. She was crazy, but this kind of crazy felt good.
It felt right.
Everything about Gage had felt right. The first time she’d met him, she knew he could see through her outside veneer. He challenged her on every level, and he was a hell of a good kisser.
When Gage smiled at her, she felt something inside her snap into place. “Weirdly enough, I do want you to come with me. We met for a reason—fate, kismet, whatever the world puts out there that makes things happen. That’s why I came here last night. Because I can’t seem to get you out of my head. When I said I wanted all of you, I meant it. Thing is, Ellery, you have to decide if you want to take a chance on Seattle. And on me.”
His words were like magic. He wanted all of her—the good, the bad, the Ellery who threw up in the bushes. This man who she knew next to nothing about, had too many tattoos, wore concert T-shirts, and kissed her like the devil could never be planned for. Didn’t matter. She wanted him. She wanted a new life with him in it.
“Okay,” she said.
“Okay, what?”
“I’m going with you to Seattle.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
&nbs
p; Daphne stared at the email on her computer and tried not to scream and dissolve into a puddle beneath her desk.
Her daughter had lost her effin’ mind.
Skipping Thanksgiving? No Christmas? And Ellery was resigning as her assistant?
“What in the hell is wrong with this girl?” Daphne said, releasing the mouse and spinning her chair toward the large window that framed November leaves whirling against the gray sky. Thanksgiving was two days away, and she’d given her daughter plenty of space to absorb her mother’s transgression and come to her senses. Of course, Daphne wasn’t sure Ellery would, in fact, come to her senses. Or ever be accepting of what her mother had done, but as Clay had been so fond of saying, they were adults and it was just sex. Ellery would get over her mother’s poor decision, even if it remained a pebble in her shoe on the road of life. After all, Daphne was Ellery’s mother, and her daughter loved her. This she knew. Still, skipping the holidays and resigning at the first of the year felt spiteful and not the decisions of a woman who had had enough “space” to figure things out.
No one figured life out anyway.
Daphne clicked off her email, making the resignation letter disappear.
But maybe this wasn’t solely about Daphne and what she’d done with Clay. Josh had texted her last weekend and told her that he’d told Ellery about the affair he’d been having with his study partner, and that they’d both agreed to end the engagement. Daphne had wanted to respond with something flippant about how of course they’d ended it. Who wanted to be married to a guy who was unfaithful and not in love with her?
Ellery hadn’t called her, crying, wanting her mother to give her comfort like Daphne had hoped. No, Daphne’s texts had gone unanswered unless Ellery was responding to something to do with Dixie Doodle. Her daughter had continued to answer email, monitor social media, and conduct contests. But that was all.
No doubt Ellery’s decision to remove herself from the holidays was more about grieving the loss of her fiancé and less about her mother. In that, Daphne understood. Nothing fun about eating turkey while avoiding prying questions and pretending away whispers about what had gone wrong. Broken engagements were no fun.
Still, after three weeks of silence, it was time for Daphne to face her daughter and end the stretch of discord. Time healed wounds, but Ellery ignoring the elephant in the room and avoiding the one person who loved her beyond all others wasn’t going to help anyone move ahead in life. Besides, a girl needed her mother.
Daphne grabbed her purse, pulled on a jacket, and headed out to the carport. The Realtor was showing the house later that afternoon, so Daphne would have to be out anyway. Might as well go to her daughter and get the tears, anger, and reconciliation out of the way. She missed Ellery and couldn’t stand this breach between them. Daphne had to fix what was wrong so she could move forward. Evan McCallum waited in the wings, and Daphne wanted to stop treading water with him. She enjoyed their friendship, long talks, and getting to know one another, but she also wanted that second kiss.
Twenty minutes later she pulled into the cul-de-sac where her daughter’s town house sat. Two unfamiliar cars sat in the drive, and a guy Daphne didn’t recognize came out the front door carrying a box. Ellery’s work friend Rachel emerged from a U-Haul truck, carrying a laundry basket full of pots and pans.
Daphne parked and climbed out, walking toward the front of the house so she could intercept the woman. “Hey, Rachel, you remember me, right? Ellery’s mom?”
The young woman smiled. “Of course. How are you?”
“Fine. You moving in?”
She nodded, her face flushed from the exertion. “Yep, finally getting out of my parents’ house. They’re thrilled.”
“That’s great. I’m glad Ellery found someone so quickly.” Daphne took a few pots off the top, hoping to lessen the weight for the girl. “Here, let me help you.”
Rachel grinned. “Thanks, these are heavier than I thought.”
Daphne eyed the basket. “You must cook a lot. Ellery will probably appreciate that.”
Rachel looked confused. “Yeah, but she’s leaving, so I doubt she’ll get much of a chance to sample my bad cooking. I have to tell you that I’m going to miss her. If you had told me I would have gotten to be close to someone like her, I would have thought you were crazy. I’m bad about judging people sometimes. I hope I can go see her in Seattle. Never been there before.”
Daphne stopped in the middle of the yard. “Seattle? What are you talking about?”
Rachel’s steps faltered and she turned toward Daphne, her eyes panicked. “Oh shit. She didn’t tell you.”
It was a statement, not a question.
“Tell me what? I assumed Josh moved out and you were moving in to room with her. Why would Ellery leave? Seattle? Did she get a job?” Daphne felt weak in the knees at the thought. Ellery was leaving Shreveport without telling her own mother?
Rachel bit her lower lip and rested the basket on her knee, shifting the load to her other arm. “Um, I think you better talk to Ellery.”
“I think I should talk to her, too.” Daphne set the pots back on top of the pile in the laundry basket and stalked inside her daughter’s town house. Sure enough, the couch and chair she’d tried to talk Ellery out of financing had been replaced by a faux-leather monstrosity that Fiona was wiping down.
The woman paused and watched Daphne as she ascended the stairs.
Anger, shock, and hurt increased with each step she took. Her daughter was moving to Seattle? And she forgot to mention that little detail in her letter of resignation? And how about not bothering to mention it when she told Daphne not to expect her for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year? How dare Ellery think she could up and move away and not even let her own mother know. Who did something like that? After all she’d done for Ellery, this was how her daughter treated her?
With each step she grew more and more aggravated at her immature, spoiled daughter.
Daphne rounded the corner and entered Ellery’s bedroom, but it was empty. A bed frame sat propped against a wall, little bits of paper were scattered across the floor, and a few boxes marked with the name Fiona sat stacked in a corner. The bathroom was bare, hooks hanging from the shower-curtain pole. Her daughter had indeed moved out and left nothing of herself behind.
When had this happened? Why had she done such a thing? To punish Daphne? Or was the broken engagement actually that humiliating? She had no clue why her daughter was doing this.
“Mrs. Witt?” Fiona called from the doorway. “I’m Fiona. We met before.”
Tears threatened to choke Daphne. “I remember.”
Fiona walked inside the room. “I’m sensing you didn’t know that Ellery moved out?”
Daphne shook her head. “I don’t understand why she didn’t tell me. Rachel said she was going to Seattle. I have no idea why she would do such a thing.”
Fiona paused for a few seconds. “She’s young, and Gage is easy on the eyes. After getting her heart broken, maybe it’s not such a bad idea to start over in a new place with a new guy.”
“But she and Josh broke things off just a little over a week ago,” Daphne said, turning a full circle in the empty room. “And who the hell is Gage?”
Fiona’s eyes widened. “Uh, she met him in Texas. At the vineyard?”
“Evan’s nephew Gage?” Daphne asked, her voice rising with each syllable. She felt as if she were in an alternate universe. Her daughter was running off with Evan’s nephew to Seattle? It didn’t make sense. “This is ridiculous. Do you know where she is right now?”
“I’m not sure. I think she went to Texas yesterday. Rachel said she was staying at the vineyard for a day or two before making the drive.”
Daphne brushed by the woman. “Sorry. I have to go.”
She ran down the stairs, nearly knocking over Rachel in the process. “Sorry. I have to find Ellery and stop her before she does something idiotic.”
She hurried to her car, pulled out her cell phon
e, and sent Ellery a text.
Call me. Now!
Then she called Rex as she turned the car toward the interstate. He answered on the third ring. “Hey, Daph.”
“Did you know that Ellery is running off to Seattle with some man she barely knows?”
“What? Running . . . Seattle?” Rex’s voice rose in alarm.
“Yes, Seattle. I just went by her house because I’m sick of this silly silence between us, and two of her coworkers were moving in. They said she had gone to Texas, and that from there she was going with Gage, a bartender from the vineyard, to Seattle.”
“You’re joking. A bartender?”
“I wish I were,” Daphne said, driving west, hoping she could get to One Tree Estates before Ellery left. She had to talk sense into her daughter. Obviously the events of the last few weeks had driven her to lunacy. Quitting her job, running away with a virtual stranger, going to a place where she had no job and no support? She’d lost her damned mind.
“What are we going to do?” Rex asked.
“I’m going to Texas to stop her.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
“I don’t have time. I’ll call you when I get there. I don’t know what is going on with our daughter, Rex. I think I’m responsible for this.”
“No, Josh is responsible for this. Don’t blame yourself.”
Daphne shook her head. This was partly her fault. Her actions had kept her daughter from her at a time when she had needed her mother the most. This was what she’d reaped from her mistake with Clay—a dangerous gulf between her and Ellery that had driven her into the arms of a stranger and onto a desperate path.
When she didn’t answer, Rex said, “Let me know what I can do to help, Daphne.”