Dan (The Hometown Heroes Series Book 3)

by Leigh Duncan

  “I’m sure,” she said, working up a small smile. “Word might get around.”

  They mapped out a plan to fish off one of the spoil islands where trout always bit. When they were done, she looked up from the spot she’d circled on the chart to find Sam studying her face.

  “You sure you can’t make things right? He’s always struck me as a man you could reason with.”

  “Trust me on this,” Jess said, echoing the words she’d heard Dan use. She’d hurt him as much as he’d hurt her. There was no going back. Once Sam gave Dan this final lesson, it would sever the last of her ties to him. She’d be free to move on, if she could. “It’s over between us.”

  “You’re the boss.” Sam sighed heavily. He rolled the chart and slid it into a waterproof tube. “I don’t mean to add to your troubles, but you did hear he walked away from Connections House, didn’t you?”

  It was news to her, though the move made sense. George and his friends hadn’t acquired their considerable clout by associating with criminals. Rather than see his dream suffer through guilt by association, Dan had let it go, placing it in other hands for safekeeping. Which did nothing for her goal of falling out of love with the man. She checked her watch. She was going to need a new timetable for getting over him.

  With the map under one arm, Sam edged toward the door. “Okay if I call the doc now?”

  No, it wasn’t okay, but she whispered, “Go ahead.”

  Business was, after all, business. And without Phelps Cove to protect or Dan to love, she’d do what had to be done to keep On The Fly in the black and to raise her son to be an honest man.

  The next morning, she answered the phone at On The Fly with her standard greeting.

  “It’s about time I caught you,” Bob said. “I’ve been trying to reach you all week.”

  The head of POE sounded far too upbeat for a man who’d had two years’ worth of work ripped out from under him. Of course, his ties to the organization went a lot deeper than one piece of property. Bob’d probably already lined up a replacement for Phelps Cove and was calling to enlist her help in securing it. If so, she hated to be the one to break it to him, but she didn’t have enough fight left in her to lose again.

  “Are you sitting down?” he asked. Before she had a chance to remind him he’d called her at work, Bob continued, “Estelle Phelps has given us an extension on the contract for Phelps Cove. Is that fantastic or what?”

  The words blew a hole in the fog of pain that had enveloped her ever since the breakup. Her mouth dropped open, but no sound came out. Trying to pull her thoughts together, she could only manage, “What? How?” before numb shock shut her down again.

  “Look, POE wants to move fast on this. A couple of weeks, tops. I’ve spoken with our lawyers and they’re already finalizing the paperwork.”

  “But how? We still don’t have the money. The legislature—”

  “Where have you been this last week? On Mars? You haven’t heard the news?”

  “I’ve been a little, um, under the weather.” She was pretty sure that didn’t count as a lie. Broken hearts had a lot in common with the flu, and every time she thought of Dan, she felt nauseous.

  “So you don’t know what’s going on in Tallahassee,” Bob said. “I haven’t seen this much turmoil in years.”

  “Give me the condensed version,” she suggested.

  “You got it. The governor is up in arms about the budget. He’s hauling the legislature back into session next week. And now that Estelle Phelps has removed her objections, the purchase of Phelps Cove will sail through.”

  “You can’t be serious.” Jess went so weak in the knees she leaned against the counter.

  “No lie,” Bob answered cheerily. “Look, I didn’t want to say anything until we were certain, but Phelps Cove is going to need a full-time manager. Someone to oversee construction of the visitors’ center and guide our efforts to protect the habitat. Think about it, Jess. You’d be perfect for the job. I gotta run, but I’ll get back in touch soon.”

  “Yeah, sure, Bob. Thanks for letting me know.”

  Slowly she lowered the phone into the cradle. She’d never imagined success would taste so bittersweet. She’d achieved everything she’d set out to do. Adam was growing into a bright, articulate child. Sales were up at On The Fly. And not only were the two years she’d devoted to Phelps Cove finally paying off, but the perfect job was hers for the asking.

  So, why couldn’t she summon up enough emotion for one lousy “yippee”?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jess locked down the zipper on the slim skirt of her best black suit and checked her image in the mirror. The subdued and professional look she wore to camouflage her broken heart stared back. She added a dusting of blush over her wan cheeks, a shimmer of gloss to her pale lips. Wispy curls escaped her businesslike French twist, but at least the circles under her eyes had faded.

  She had the recent increase in sales at On The Fly to thank for a string of long days with no time for might-have-beens. But fatigue hadn’t kept her from dreaming of a certain dark-haired man who had swept her off her feet. She knew her dreams would fade…eventually. She’d give it a year.

  Or maybe ten.

  She noted the time and slid her feet into the kick-ass heels that gave her morale the boost she needed. Holding a civil conversation with Henry’s niece had been a challenge from day one and, despite the woman’s recent change of heart, Jess didn’t trust her. If Estelle pulled a last-minute trick at today’s ceremony, she’d have a fight on her hands.

  “Gotta love the cool, calm and collected new you,” Jess told her reflection. When her laugh fell flat, she drew in a steadying breath. “Ready, Adam?” she called.

  “Yep. Is this okay?”

  Her boy, who was growing up far too quickly, skidded into the room. His comb had left wavy teeth marks in wet, slicked-back hair. Water dribbled past his ears and trailed down his cheeks. His shirt was half-tucked, and she’d bet the socks beneath his Sunday pants didn’t match.

  For Adam’s sake, she mustered up a smile. “Perfect. And me? How do I look?”

  Her quick spin failed to impress the going-on-six-year-old. He leaned back, arms folded across his chest.

  “Those shoes are too tall,” he said with all the solemnity of a judge.

  “That’s why they call them high heels.” Balancing on one foot, she danced the other through the air. “I like them. They make me feel pretty.” Something she hadn’t felt since the last time she’d seen herself mirrored in Dan’s eyes. But thinking about their lost love would only lead to tears and she’d sworn today’s events would seal her heartache in the past.

  There’d be no looking back.

  Despite Bob’s assurances that everything would turn out well, a series of minor snafus had delayed the transfer of Phelps Cove for six long weeks. At last, the big day had arrived, and, with it, her determination to move forward. She’d do it the way she’d done everything else since that fateful night when she’d let her mouth get ahead of her heart. She’d do it by focusing on the details.

  “Is your bag by the door?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Do you have enough books and toys?”

  “I could prob’ly use more cars.” Adam’s mouth slanted to one side.

  “Better get them,” she advised. “We’re out of here in two minutes, and you won’t be able to talk to me during the meeting.”

  On the way there, she searched her heart for the giddy joy she’d always imagined at this moment. Instead, she found the same low calm that lay across the river on either side of the causeway to the mainland. The glassy surface of the water made a perfect day for fly fishing, and she knew without checking the forecast that reds were feeding on crabs in Phelps Cove.

  Six weeks ago, she would have called Dan on a day like this. If he was free, she’d take him out on the boat to hunt for reds. But those days were over. She told herself it was time to get used to her new reality, the one that didn�
��t include the hunky doctor.

  Within minutes, her heels tapped against the marble floors of an old bank building in downtown Cocoa. Adam skidded to a dead stop beneath the lobby’s vaulted ceilings.

  “Whoo-whooo,” he said tentatively. Echoes bounced around him and his eyes grew wide. Louder, he said, “Whoo-whoo-oo.”

  “Shh,” Jess cautioned. “Not now.” If things went well enough upstairs, they’d both have something to shout about after the meeting. She crossed her fingers and hoped for the best.

  Once Adam was playing contentedly under the secretary’s watchful eyes, Jess hurried to the conference room. There, everyone who had anything to do with Phelps Cove held their breath while Estelle completed her portion of the paperwork. A round of handshakes polished off the anticlimactic transfer of assets and, soon after, people began slipping out the door. The group dwindled down until only Jess and Estelle lingered over coffee.

  “Congratulations,” Jess offered while they waited for copies of the signed contracts. “Henry would be proud of what you did here today.”

  Estelle’s smile barely reached her eyes. “I’m happy enough with the way things turned out. And you? I hear they’ve put you in charge.”

  “The job is a dream come true,” she admitted. Sam had jumped at the chance to run On The Fly. With that settled, she’d accepted Bob’s offer. Volunteers and construction crews would be busy for a year restoring the riverside to a pristine wilderness and erecting the necessary facilities. After that, she had plans for an eco-center where school kids would learn how to protect their environment. “The offer to name the sanctuary after you still stands.”

  “No thanks,” Estelle answered. She helped herself to more coffee. “The Henry Phelps Center has a nice ring to it.”

  Jess supposed that two and a half million dollars gave one the right to be magnanimous. But now that the papers had been signed and there was no backing out, her curiosity surfaced.

  “What changed your mind?” she asked. “The Aegean’s offer fell apart, but you could have held out for a better price. Sooner or later, you’d have gotten it.”

  A sigh worthy of a New York stage passed through Estelle’s lips, and her hair fell forward. She tucked it behind one ear. “It was never about the money. It was about my children. I wanted to ensure their future.”

  She rolled one ultra-thin shoulder. “Seeing a man like Bryce Jones arrested gave me second thoughts. It made me think that setting a better example might be the best thing I could do for them.” She blew a cooling breath across her beverage and took a sip. “It is what Uncle Henry wanted. And who knows? Maybe he’ll put in a good word with the man upstairs and I’ll get a star in my crown.”

  She paused and her smile turned crafty. “That young doctor friend of yours seemed to think so.”

  Fine china rattled as Jess lost her grip on the handle of her cup.

  “Oh. Wasn’t I supposed to mention that?” Estelle snapped her perfectly manicured fingers. “That’s right. He asked me not to. But a guy who would go so far out on a limb for a gal deserves a little credit, doesn’t he?”

  “Dan.” Jess flattened her palms against the table so her fingers would stop shaking. There wasn’t anything she could do to mask the way her voice trembled. “Dan Hamilton called you?”

  “He did more than call,” Estelle said with a marginal lift of one eyebrow. “Remember that escrow account I asked you to fund? He offered to do it for you. Of course, it wasn’t necessary. I’d already made my decision by then. But it was a nice gesture.”

  One tiny sprig of hope poked through the shriveled husk of Jess’s heart. “And when, exactly, did this take place?” Before the breakup made it the nice gesture Estelle thought it was. After meant there was a chance he still loved her.

  “Let me check my calendar.”

  While the other woman rummaged in a bag that probably cost more than Jess’s checking-account balance, her heart began to race. She chewed on her lower lip while the heiress flipped the pages of a gilt-edged notebook.

  “Let’s see.” Estelle pointed to a date. “He and I met two weeks after all The Aegean mess hit the news.” With a coy look, she asked, “Does that help?”

  Jess gripped the table to ward off sudden vertigo. When her head cleared, she searched Estelle’s sharp features. She had never known Henry’s niece to show one hint of embarrassment. Yet, the face across the table took on the faintest pink tinge.

  “Well,” Estelle announced. “I think I’ve exhausted my daily quota of good deeds.” Standing, she transformed from nearly human into her old self. “If you’ll excuse me, I must be going. Be a dear and have them mail everything to me, won’t you?”

  The world took on a dreamlike quality as Estelle left without the paperwork she’d declared too important to relegate to a courier. Jess remained where she was, her head in her hands, her thoughts a jumbled mess. She looked up as Adam rushed in.

  “Mama, the lady at the desk says it’s lunchtime.” He slid to a halt in front of her. His head tilted. In a voice filled with wonder, he asked, “Are you crying?”

  She quickly wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands.

  “No, honey,” she answered. Not anymore. But if her son suspected tears, she hadn’t kept her emotions in check as well as she’d given herself credit for. She’d do a better job, she promised, right after she cleared the air with the handsome doctor who might, just might, still be in love with her.

  “That lady gave me donuts,” Adam said. “She said they’d tied me up, but they didn’t.”

  Jess clamped a hand over a laugh that bordered on hysteria. “Tide me over,” she corrected. “She meant you wouldn’t be hungry for a while.” Platters of donuts had gone practically untouched by the people who’d gathered for the closing. She’d told the secretary Adam could have one. “How many?” she asked with sudden suspicion.

  “Three,” he answered, holding up stubby fingers.

  “Yeah, no lunch for you for a while. Let’s get your stuff and head downstairs. You can shout in the big room like I promised.”

  She might even join in. A couple of rebel yells in the lobby would let off some steam and serve as a warm-up for the words she intended to say as soon as she saw Dan.

  Dan scribbled notes in the thick folder of diagnostic reports he’d been studying for the past twenty minutes and shoved it to one side. The surgery next week was routine. A good thing because, ever since the night Jess had left, even his morning shave taxed his concentration skills.

  He drummed his pen against the desk, wondering how long he could go on this way. He’d been certain he could wait Jess out, that she’d eventually come to her senses. That was before the hours had stretched into days, the days into a week. Even then, he’d thought they had a chance…until she’d sent Sam to teach his last fly fishing lesson. After that, he’d accepted the obvious—she’d fallen out of love with him, and he had only himself to blame.

  The door to his office burst open, and he swung away from the window. His pen clattered to the desk top.

  As if his thoughts had summoned her, an irate Jess Cofer marched into his office, a woman on a mission. She stood with one hand propped on a slim hip, and there was no mistaking her fiery temper. Or the chorus of hallelujahs that played in his head when she practically shouted, “What were you thinking, letting me walk away from you like that?”

  If that wasn’t an invitation to make things right between them, he didn’t know what was.

  But his gut clenched when he took one glance at the little boy who clung to Jess’s side with a thumb in his mouth. Adam’s insecurity raised the ante in a game where everything was already at stake and made Dan fume. He’d been mourning the breakup so much he hadn’t stopped to consider how it affected the boy he’d grown to love.

  “Hold on a sec.” He directed the comment to Jess.

  In his bottom drawer rested a video he’d purchased for Adam when he thought they’d be spending a lot more time together as a family. He took it
out, saying, “Hey, tiger. There’s a TV in the corner there. Want to watch while Mom and I talk?” He held up the latest G-rated release.

  “Okay.” Adam scuffed one foot against the carpet, a move so much like his mom’s that Dan blinked his eyes to clear them.

  “Now, what’s all this about?” he asked, once the boy was so engrossed in the show that a herd of ponies could have stormed through the room without breaking his attention. Not taking any chances, he stood between them, his body a shield against curious young eyes.

  Jess scrubbed her hands on her skirt. The way she bit her lip told him she was so nervous that if her hair hadn’t been pulled back in some elaborate do, her fingers would be twisting through her curls. Wanting to get past this part, he spoke first.

  “I lied to you. You know that, don’t you?”

  Sure, his intentions had been good. And his lies had been more omissions than out-and-out falsehoods. But knowing how much she loathed deceit, he also knew this was their biggest stumbling block.

  “You did.” She sighed. “You did that.”

  “And I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.” He waited, afraid to move, almost afraid to breathe. If she forgave him now, they’d find a way back to each other. If she didn’t, it was over.

  Her weight shifted atop impossibly tall heels. Instead of accepting his apology, she said, “You knew I wasn’t being fair. You should have stopped me.”

  Dan propped one arm against the window a safe distance from the woman he’d loved and lost, and, heaven help him, wanted to love for the next fifty or sixty years.

  He couldn’t, however, shoulder all the blame for their breakup. She’d had a part in it, too.

  “I tried,” he said simply. “You wouldn’t let me get a word out. You saw the news and you concluded…” Jess’s eyes widened. Her hands unfurled.

  “Jumped,” she corrected. “Go ahead and say it. I know you’re dying to.” A glimmer of a smile crossed her lips. “You think I jumped to a conclusion.”