Return by Land
Tracey Jerald
Copyright © 2020 by Tracey Jerald
ISBN: 978-1-7330861-8-9 (eBook)
ISBN: 978-1-7358128-0-9 (Paperback)
Editor: One Love Editing (http://oneloveediting.com)
Proof Edits: Holly Malgieri (https://www.facebook.com/HollysRedHotReviews/)
Cover Design by Tugboat Design (https://www.tugboatdesign.net/)
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
To my Jen.
I’m sorry they wouldn’t let me bring an actual lumberjack back from Alaska with me. But cruise ships and airlines are persnickety about things like body counts.
I hope this makes up for it.
Hold tight. You know where the magic is.
I love you. Always.
Contents
Prologue
1. Kody
2. Meadow
3. Kody
4. Kody
5. Meadow
6. Meadow
7. Meadow
8. Kody
9. Kody
10. Kody
11. Meadow
12. Meadow
13. Kody
14. Meadow
15. Meadow
16. Meadow
17. Meadow
18. Kody
19. Meadow
20. Kody
21. Meadow
22. Kody
23. Meadow
24. Meadow
25. Kody
26. Kody
27. Kody
28. Meadow
29. Kody
30. Meadow
31. Kody
32. Meadow
33. Meadow
34. Kody
35. Meadow
36. Kody
37. Meadow
38. Meadow
Epilogue
The End
Also by Tracey Jerald
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Prologue
Meadow - Seventeen years ago from present day
“I suppose congratulations are in order?” Kody’s voice washes over me.
I stepped away from the barbecue the Smiths were throwing because I need to get my bearings. My sister, Rainey, and her boyfriend, Brad, begged me to come and celebrate Jed and his friends being up from Ketchikan even though Mitch couldn’t join me. And tonight, it was the last thing I wanted to do. To be truthful, he wasn’t overly thrilled to be picking me up here when his shift ended. He wanted me waiting at my parents’.
But when I explained it would be just as easy for him to pick me up from the Smiths’ as it would be from my parents’ to leave for our honeymoon, he relented. “Of course, sweetheart. Go. Celebrate with your friends. After all, you may not have much time after tonight,” he teased before he hung up.
After all, everything changed from yesterday to today. I wasn’t Meadow Jones any longer. I’m now Meadow Borneman.
The cool, green grass beneath my toes feels more real than the fact I’m married or the fact Kody’s talking about it with me. So it’s no surprise when my voice sounds like it’s asking a question. “I guess?”
Even though I don’t look at him, I can feel the warmth of his body as he steps up next to me. “Is this what you want, Meadow?” Between us lies the unasked question of “Is he who you want?”
And therein lies the reason I fought coming tonight. I’m still fighting a war inside myself because there’s what I want and what I have. And only I know they’re two entirely different things.
What I want is to sink down to the green grass with the man next to me and forget about yesterday and tomorrow. I didn’t put much stock into when I caught Kody sizing me up year after year as we’d sit under the midnight sun talking for hours.
Over the years, he’s told me about what it’s like to have sisters who range from a year older than me to his mother’s pregnancy with the youngest. I told him about my dream of working in hospitality, of getting to know people from all over the world. It’s incredible how on so many different levels we connect: friends, family, our desire to raise large families. And yet, we’re so different. He’s meant to change the landscape of the world while I’m meant to live in my piece of it.
Hell, we’ve even talked about our past relationships. He knew—he knew—I was dating Juneau patrolman Mitchell Borneman for the last six months. Which is why anger spikes as I whirl around to face him. “You don’t get to do this.”
“Do what?” His hair matches the sunset that’s finally starting to lower behind us.
“Question me about whether Mitch is the one when…”
“When what, Meadow?” His voice is rough. “What did I have to do to make you realize I was interested in you beyond friendship?”
“Maybe tell me? Maybe ask me out?” I yell.
He shakes his head. “I couldn’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because the one thing we agreed upon when we talked all those nights, lying right fucking here, was that we both abhor cheating. And if I finally worked up the nerve, what would you have thought I was asking you to do?” I feel the blood drain away as his words penetrate. “That’s right, Meadow. I couldn’t do a damn thing. Not unless you did.”
God. I turn away, pressing the heels of my hands to my eyes.
“Is he who you want?” Kody’s question comes at me again.
“He’s who I married.”
I feel his hand on my shoulder, warm and strong. It’s not a sexual caress, but my body doesn’t understand that as his simple touch sends fire through every nerve ending. A shudder races through me. His fingers tighten down in response.
Turning, I meet his glorious eyes. I want to apologize for being so blind, for not understanding. I open my mouth, but he just lays the finger of his other hand on top of it.
Then he destroys me.
“I have to tell you once while we’re standing in the place where it happened that I fell in love with you, Meadow Jones. I only hope that today, tomorrow, twenty years from now, he appreciates the heart he won. Just know I’m going to be in love with you long beyond that.”
Tears stream down my face as Kody leans down and brushes a kiss on either side of my face. Lingering for just a moment, he whispers, “Be happy, Flower,” before he steps back.
Just as he does, I reach out and capture his hand. “Kody, wait. I…”
But as if he can read my mind, knowing I’m about to offer the unthinkable less than twenty-four hours after promising to love, honor, and cherish another man, Kody whispers, “You can’t. You’d hate yourself. And eventually, you’d hate me for encouraging it.”
Dropping my hand, he turns and walks away, each step slow and measured. I fall to the earth and let the grass absorb my tears. After all, the earth below me listened to so many of my dreams, maybe they’ll use the water from these to eventually grow them into something.
When
Mitch finds me hours later, ready to drive off for a few days for a quick honeymoon, I’m just lying on my back. “Meadow? What are you doing, honey?”
“I’m just wishing on the stars,” I tell him honestly. I don’t mention that every wish I’ve made since I’ve calmed down is for Kody.
“Well, it’s time to go grab our stuff if we’re going to catch the early ferry. Hop to it.” He reaches his hands down to pull me to my feet.
“Give me just a moment,” I beg. Finding the last star in Ursa Major I haven’t wished on, I wish that Kody Laurence finds the right woman to love. After all, a man who has a heart as big as the land I’m standing on needs to move on.
He needs to forget about me and find happiness.
That’s all I want for him.
Kody
“Will someone turn down that fucking music?” I bellow out as I step into the great room of the estate my crew should be finishing the punch list on. I’m left with a headache as I try to figure out how we’re going to deliver this home on time. The pounding baseline of Linkin Park abruptly dies as I step carefully over extension cords and cables leading to air compressors. “Everyone stop what you’re doing and go home until you receive a call to get your sorry asses back here.”
Bravely, my site foreman Shane says, “Kody, man, calm down.”
I shoot him a fulminating glare. “It’s not your money that’s going to be tied up in court if we don’t have this house ready to deliver. Meanwhile, what the fuck is happening here? If the city came by and saw what I just did, we’d lose our permits.”
Hands up, he backs away. “Point taken. You know I just got here myself.”
As he drove over with me from one of the other builds on-site, I let out an aggrieved sigh. “It’s the only reason I’m not firing you when I threw the subs off the job.” I point out the window at the van carrying three subcontractors, who were caught using as Shane and I pulled up, peeling away. “Now, I need to check everything they were responsible for. Do you want to have that on your conscience?”
“No, but wouldn’t it be quicker to keep a small crew of us here to run through their list?” Shane’s calm logic in the face of my fury irritates me because I’m not this guy. I’m the person my crew relies upon for everything from picking out gifts for family members to helping them inspect homes they want to buy. I’m the nice guy who always has a smile on his face.
Just not today.
“Fine. Keep the crew here. I need a few minutes.” Without another word, I storm out the open triple slider and stand on the intricate paver patio. Knotting my fingers behind my head, I tip my head back and let out a frustrated growl.
“Why can’t people do what I want them to do?” My face is misted with cool rain that reminds me of the tears I’ve shed in private so many times this past year ever since I learned one of my “brothers” died suddenly in a tragic car accident. Jedidiah Smith slipped away from us way too early. And my mood is probably not helped by the fact that today would have been his fortieth birthday.
“Goddamnit, Jed. We should be somewhere celebrating. I shouldn’t be here fixing yet another fucked-up mess. I should be giving you a raft of shit for being old. Instead, there’s no explanation for your tomorrows being gone.” My voice cracks at the end of my whispered tribute.
When the reminder popped up on my phone this morning with a crazy as hell photo of Jed grinning at me, the world stopped moving. My heart stopped beating before pounding so hard, I thought it was going to burst from inside my chest. The agony of loss was so intense, it was just like that moment I received the letter from the lawyer in Juneau a little over ten months ago notifying me Jed was gone.
Losing Jed was sheer devastation. He was the only person who understood what it was like for me to walk away from the woman I loved without a fight. Our lives have bumped against one another occasionally over the years, making me feel at peace knowing the dreams she shared with me have come true.
After I pulled myself together, I immediately reached out to Brad, Jennings, and Nick—my other “brothers.” I didn’t say a word, merely sent a screenshot of Jed’s face and the reminder proclaiming, “Happy Birthday, you crazy bastard!” Jennings replied with a picture of his wife and son standing at the beach near their home in Florida, wrapped tightly in each other’s arms. Brad texted, “I feel like we need to see each other soon. It’s been too long.” After quickly agreeing, I waited to see if Nick would respond. After a few hours of nothing, I stopped checking my phone every few minutes. I’m not surprised, and to be honest, Jed wouldn’t be either—not from the infamous former MMA fighter Nicholas Cain. Nick holds every emotion too close to the chest, including how Jed’s death affected him. It’s only when we’re together that he lets that control slip, as if it’s safe for him to do so.
The mist of the rain mingles with my tears. “What I wouldn’t give for one more day, a chance to say goodbye.” I scrub my hands roughly up and down my face before I head back into the house.
Shane is frowning, never a good sign. And the lack of noise almost makes it eerie. “Why don’t I like the expression on your face?” I approach warily.
“We passed inspection on the wiring, right?”
“Yes. Why?” Suddenly a churning begins in my gut I can’t suppress.
He flicks open a switchblade and bends down from his great height to unscrew an expensive wood outlet cover. I wince as his knife makes scratches, but that’s forgotten as he pulls a twisted mess of wires out when he yanks out the wires behind the outlet themselves. Crouching next to him, I hiss, “Are you kidding me?”
“No. And I’ve looked at three in this room alone. We’re going to have to check every damn outlet. In fact, we need to close off the breaker. Now.”
“Right.” The fact is, we’re operating as a fire hazard. “Do you want to shut down operations until we check everything?” I trust Shane’s judgment.
He nods. “I don’t want to do any more finish work before we check to see if we need to take any wallboard down, Kody. It might be those assholes just took what they could reach because of the fact the split bolts and screws were copper, but still.”
“Still,” I agree. “Who do you trust to stay?”
“You, me, Lenny, Bob, Jimbo,” he declares immediately. I’m not surprised by his choices as the five of us have worked together as long as I’ve owned Laurence Construction.
Using a closed toolbox to stand on, I let out a piercing whistle. “Everyone is getting off but Lenny, Bob, and Jimbo. You will receive a call as soon as we know you’ll be able to come back on-site. I can assure you that you will all be paid,” I address the immediate question I know will be asked as there’s a buzz forming in the room. “But before you leave, I need you to go through every room and make certain all equipment is unplugged.
The men and women who had congregated in the great room immediately scurry. Stepping down from the toolbox, I tell Shane, “Let me go out to the truck and get the blueprints.”
He scoffs. “Kody, we know this house like the back of our hand.”
Raising my brow at the mess of wires he’s holding, I say softly, “Do you want to be responsible for us missing a single outlet and it torching because of that?”
“Damnit, no.”
“I’ll be right back.”
“Those motherfuckers took the copper floor-plate covers.” Shane is still astounded.
I swallow another drink of my beer to wash away the bitterness of the day. Well, I wanted something to distract me from Jed’s birthday. “Be careful what you wish for.”
“Why do you say that?”
“It started out being a shitty day and just got worse. So, the grand total was we checked 280 boxes and found they stripped ten from the great room,” I conclude.
“Including the copper floor-plate covers.”
I bark out a laugh. “I swear I’m going to get you some engraved for Christmas, the way you’re acting.”
“You do that, I’m going to make you eat them
,” he grumbles before finishing the rest of his beer. “So, tomorrow’s Sunday.”
“Back on for Monday,” I confirm. My phone buzzes against my hip. Pulling it off the clip, I’m shocked to find it’s Nick. “I have to take this.”
Shane stands and holds out his hand. I clap mine into it as I stand. “Thanks for everything.”
“You never have to ask, Kody.” He shoots me a low wave as I press Connect.
“This is a surprise,” I start to taunt Nick, but I’m floored when he begins to sing.
“Happy Birthday, to Jed. Happy Birthday, to Jed, Happy Birthday, that-crazy-fucking-bastard-we-miss-every-day, Happy Birthday, to him.” His voice is slurred.
“Jesus, Nick. Where the hell are you?” I drop back into my seat and reach for the water. No way am I drinking more tonight.
“At s’haunted house.”
“Huh?”
“My house,” he enunciates clearly.
“Why did you say it’s haunted?”
“He’s everywhere. If it’s not him, it’s her. I can’t escape them.” Just then my waitress comes back with a flirtatious smile and points to my beer.
“No. Check, please.”
Her eyes wander up and down me before she sashays off. Christ, she’s barely older than I was when I met the drunk man on my phone. I roll my eyes before focusing on Nick. “Have you talked with…”
Return by Land (Glacier Adventure Series Book 2) Page 1