Was his family right? Should he go after her?
Without giving himself time to change his mind, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed her number. Five rings later, her voice mail message played.
Nothing had changed. She still wasn’t taking his calls. His elation sank like a lead balloon. Instead of leaving a message, he hung up.
*
MARIANA SAT AT her desk, rereading the email from Jacob’s sisters for the third time. While it came from Carly’s account, all three names appeared at the bottom: Carly, Lizzie and Savannah.
They were being sweet. They’d thanked Mariana profusely for her help with locating their mother. Still figuring out their next step, they’d yet to make contact with Adele Black. That would come, however, they’d assured her. They also invited Mariana to Thanksgiving dinner at the Roughneck.
You’re family, the email had said.
In a roundabout way, Mariana supposed she was. Aunt to the oldest Baron grandchild. Had things gone differently with Jacob, she might have been related in another, closer, way.
Speaking of Jacob, the email continued with, Our brother is a jerk with the intelligence of a gnat.
Their support was also sweet. But Jacob hadn’t been the only one demonstrating a lack of intelligence. Their argument at the Valle del Sol Rodeo, and her behavior since, wasn’t exactly her most shining moment.
The most startling part of the email came near the end. Wasn’t sure if you heard, Jacob has quit rodeoing and was promoted to VP of Alternate Energy.
No, she hadn’t heard, and Mariana was admittedly curious about what had changed Brock’s mind. Jacob hadn’t finaled for Nationals, the condition placed on him. Instead, he’d walked away. Unbelievable.
Not for most guys. She’d expect most fathers to put their son first, hurry him to the hospital after a fall. But Jacob? He’d wanted that promotion more than anything. More than her.
When she’d first heard about Cody’s accident, her concern had been solely for her nephew. After learning the break was only a hairline fracture and would easily heal in a matter of weeks, her relief turned to anger. If Jacob had just let her take Cody home as she wanted to, none of this would have happened.
The anger phase didn’t last and was replaced by sorrow. She should be there. With Cody. With Jacob. Who wasn’t rodeoing anymore.
What if she’d waited and not been in such a damn hurry to move out of his house? What if she hadn’t made a scene at the rodeo? They might have survived this rough patch. Instead, she’d been—what were the words Jacob had used? Oh, yeah. Rigid and uncompromising. In other words, a control freak.
Great for an attorney. Not so great for a romantic partner. Or a parent. With an attitude like that, Cody would grow up to hate her. All right. Hate was too strong. But he wouldn’t love her to pieces.
Mariana had so much to learn. Fortunately, she still had a chance with Cody. But Jacob? She feared that ship had already sailed. Problem was, it might not have if she’d answered even one of his phone calls.
Staring at the email from Carly, she debated how to phrase her reply. The obvious response to their dinner invitation was to say she was visiting her mother and grandmother for the day. Jacob’s sisters would accept that excuse without question.
Except Mariana hadn’t exactly said yes to her mother’s request. Something kept holding her back.
She knew she should go. It wasn’t, however, what she wanted. The visit wouldn’t include Cody, who, by prearranged agreement, was spending the holiday with Jacob.
Two weeks ago, Mariana had imagined her mother and grandmother driving up from Austin, and all of them going to dinner at the Roughneck. It could have been special. Memorable. Their first Thanksgiving as a family. Now she was staying at home, alone and licking her wounds.
“You’re here!” Saul had popped his head through the door of Mariana’s tiny and cramped office at Hasbrough and Colletti. “Thought you might have left by now.”
“Soon.” She minimized the open window on her computer, hiding the email from Jacob’s sisters. “Just finishing up a few things.”
Three o’clock on Thanksgiving Eve, and most of the employees were long gone. Mariana hadn’t noticed anyone walking the halls for the past ten minutes. Then again, she’d been lost in thought.
“I’m glad,” he said. “Saves me tracking you down.”
“What’s going on?”
Saul stepped into her office and lowered himself into the one visitor chair. The knees of his long legs bumped her desk. He swore under his breath.
“We’re going to have to do something about this.”
Mariana gestured to the piles of folders and documents, surrounding her like a castle wall. “I don’t think I can manage with a smaller desk.”
“What about a larger one?”
“Funny.”
“To go with your larger office.”
“A girl can dream,” she said offhandedly, part of her glad for the interruption, part of her longing for solitude.
“It’s no dream.”
At the strange note in his voice, she looked up.
“Congratulations, Mariana.”
“Congrat—” Her jaw dropped. “Are you...? Does this mean...?”
“The partners met after lunch.”
“But I...” She was still struggling to make her mouth work properly. “Paulo Molinas. The case is—”
“Going to be closed on Monday. His attorneys forwarded another settlement offer this morning.” Saul handed her a file.
She took it, not realizing until that second he’d been cradling several files in his arm.
Her pulse picked up speed as she quickly scanned the papers. “This is good.”
“Are you kidding? It’s freakin’ fantastic. Our clients will be thrilled.”
“I’m glad.” She let out a shaky breath. Her terrible Thanksgiving had just improved a tiny bit.
“I thought, as our newest junior partner, you’d like to place the calls.”
“I walked out of the depositions. I don’t deserve this.”
“That did tick me off. I won’t lie. But you went back and kicked some serious butt. Found the holes in their arguments and blew them wide-open. They were nervous after that and with good reason. You deserve the promotion, Mariana.”
She’d done it. Obtained a decent settlement for her clients and landed the promotion. It meant...
...not as much as it once had. Oh, she was happy. And her family would be pleased and excited for her. But calling her mother with the good news wasn’t the same as hurrying home to share it with the one you love.
Yes, she loved Jacob. If only she hadn’t let a passel of other emotions obscure the one that truly mattered.
“Thank you,” she said softly and laid the folder on her desk. “I’ll start making the calls now.”
“You’ll need a new case to keep you busy.” Saul handed her another folder. “One befitting a junior partner.”
Mariana leafed through the contents of the file, her initial excitement waning. The daughter of a state representative had possibly, might have, maybe-not-so-accidentally walked out with sensitive information from the securities firm where she’d interned over the summer.
“Thanks, Saul.” Mariana released a sigh. “You do know this isn’t the type of client I want to represent.”
“But it’s the type of client who comes to us. The type who pays our salaries and the ones you’re going to have to represent as a junior partner.”
Perhaps she should rethink her goals.
He smiled and handed her the third and last folder. “Which is why I’m giving you this case, too. Mr. Colletti thinks it’ll be good for the firm’s image.”
From the Heart, a small nonprofit support group for widows and widowers whose spouses had died from catastrophic heart attacks, had been forced to vacate their offices due to a questionable, and potentially unethical, clause in their lease agreement.
For the first time in days, Mariana f
elt the heaviness that was her constant companion lift. “Thank you, Saul.”
“It’s pro bono, of course,” he said.
“Of course.”
“We need people like you at Hasbrough and Colletti. For balance.”
“I’ll get started on both cases right away. After I make these calls.”
He rose. “Don’t stay late.”
“Sure, sure.” She was already making notes.
At her door, he paused. “For the record, burying yourself in your job isn’t a solution.”
Her head snapped up. “I’m sorry?”
“You’re not the first person who’s used work to escape grief, Mariana.”
Pain caused her throat to close. She needed a few seconds to recover before answering. “It was just a relationship, Saul. I’ll be over him soon.”
“I was talking about your sister.” His smile turned melancholy. “My dad died last year. It’s only recently I went from thinking about him every hour to only once a day. Give yourself a chance to heal, okay?”
Mariana wasn’t sure how long she sat there after her boss left. Five minutes? Ten?
Eventually, she pulled herself together and called her mother.
“Have you decided about tomorrow?”
“That’s not why I called, Mom. Saul just left my office. I got the promotion.”
“Oh, honey! That’s wonderful.”
“It is.”
“You don’t sound happy.”
“I’m thrilled.”
“Call him.”
“Who?” Silly question. Mariana knew exactly who her mother was referring to.
“He really cares about you. I can tell.”
“Mom.”
“Don’t live your life like me, always asking yourself the same questions over and over. And they always start with ‘what if.’”
“I need to go.” Mariana couldn’t continue the conversation. It was simply too painful. “Love you, Mom. Call you tomorrow.”
She barely hung up in time before the tears started falling. For Leah, for Cody, for Jacob and for the utter mess she’d made of her life.
Chapter Sixteen The Baron house had been taken over by an army. There wasn’t an empty chair to be found. Jacob stood off to the side of the great room, counting heads and then eventually giving up after thirty-six.
Their family was growing by leaps and bounds. In the past few months alone, they’d added Lizzie’s husband, Chris, and their baby; Savannah’s fiancé, Travis; Carly’s fiancé, Luke, and his daughter, Rosie; Jet’s fiancée, Jasmine, and her twin girls; and, last but not least, Cody, who refused to wear his sling. At the moment, he was stuck to Julieta’s son, Alex, like a second shadow.
Thank goodness the boy liked Cody and was willing to play with him. That didn’t stop Jacob from keeping a watchful eye on the pair of them. If they were anything like him and Daniel at that age, getting into trouble was simply a matter of time.
Friends were also here today, some of them business associates, others more like extended family. Only Mariana and her mother were missing.
They’d been invited by his sisters and by Jacob. Mariana had politely refused. On the plus side, she’d taken his phone call last evening. Their conversation had been cordial, though stilted, and about as friendly as talking to an IRS agent.
Jacob didn’t let himself think about whether or not he wanted her back. That would be self-torture, seeing as she’d made it clear she was done with him. The best he could hope for was an amicable relationship for Cody’s sake. Regardless of her refusal to come to dinner, Jacob was determined that Cody see his aunt and grandmother every holiday and birthday and as often as possible. In fact, if they got sick of seeing Jacob’s face, that was fine by him.
Luke sauntered over. “If you’d smile a little more your sisters wouldn’t fret so much about you.”
“Did they send you check on me?”
“What do you think?”
“That interfering is a habit they’ll never break.”
“They care about you, Jacob.”
“It’s mutual.”
The realization settled over him, warm as a winter coat. Sometime recently, the invisible barrier between him and the rest of the Barons had thinned, then evaporated. He still wasn’t quite as close to his adoptive siblings as he was to Daniel, but they were making strides. The thought made him happy and took the worst of the edge off missing Mariana.
“Actually,” Luke said, “there’s something I want to talk to you about. If you have a minute. Your sisters gave me an excuse.”
“What’s up?”
He nodded toward the patio door. “Can we go outside? I don’t want to humiliate myself in front of everybody.”
This was sounding interesting. Jacob recruited Savannah to keep tabs on Cody, then said to Luke, “Lead the way.”
The weather had cooperated for the holiday. It was cold but sunny. The two men kicked back on the wicker patio chairs, each with a beer in his hand. Jacob relaxed, an arm stretched across the back of the chair. Luke, on the other hand, fidgeted.
“What’s got you tied in knots?” Jacob asked the question in jest. To his surprise, Luke wiped perspiration from his brow.
“There’s sure an awful lot to this getting married stuff,” he said.
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“God, no! Carly’s amazing. I couldn’t have found a better woman.”
“Then what?” His friend’s behavior was so out of character, Jacob had to stop himself from laughing.
“I was thinking, wondering if maybe you’d be willing to...” Luke drew a breath. “I’d be honored if you’d serve as my best man.”
Jacob waited before responding, afraid his voice might betray him. “The honor is mine. Of course I will.”
Luke grinned and wiped his brow again. “It’s kind of involved. Tuxes. Rehearsals. Carly has these ideas about exactly the kind of wedding she wants. You might regret your decision.”
“Never.”
“Thanks.”
Jacob did laugh then. “Don’t know why you were so nervous.”
“Like I said, there’s an awful lot to this wedding stuff. But man, it’s going to be great once we’re married.”
Jacob listened quietly as Luke outlined some of his and Carly’s plans. Try as he might, he could only think about him and Mariana. They might have been the ones picking out new furniture. Buying a vehicle suitable for a growing family. Looking at preschools. Combining households and joining bank accounts.
“I could have lost her, you know.”
Jacob mentally roused himself. He should have been paying better attention. “I doubt that would have happened.”
“Naw, it’s true. Luckily, I came to my senses and swallowed my pride.” Luke stared intently at him.
“Do I sense a lecture coming?”
“I’m not the lecturing kind. But there might be a lesson in there I’m trying to convey,” he conceded unabashedly.
“I must have called Mariana fifty times.”
“Did you go see her?”
“Wha—? No.”
“Pride.” Luke leaned back in the chair and folded his arms over his middle. “A damned inconvenience.”
“You’re wrong.”
“It’s easier to hide behind a phone call than face someone in person.”
Jacob would have objected, except his friend was right. His efforts, though many, were token at best.
“She’s told me time and again that I’m not the kind of man she’s looking for. Nothing I’ve said or done has changed her mind.”
“You are that guy, Jacob. Look at you. Great dad. Great job. Great future ahead of you. Except that part where you screwed up and let Mariana go. Could that be what she’s talking about?”
“What am I supposed to do? Knock on her door and say, ‘Hey, sorry about that fight we had. Thought you should know, I did it. Baron Energies’ newest VP. Now you don’t have to worry about me rodeoing.’”
Luke shrugged. “Do you love her?”
“Hell, yes.”
“Then what are you still doing here? It’s Thanksgiving. You should be with her.”
Jacob had carefully planned every step of his life since high school. Junior rodeo. College. Working for Baron Energies. Returning to rodeo in order to win a title and Brock’s approval. Then one day, Mariana had appeared in his life, telling him he was father to a little boy. Nothing was the same since.
And he wanted that craziness back.
He stood, nearly knocking the wicker chair over in his haste. “I have to go.”
Luke also stood. “I’ll tell the family.”
In the kitchen, Jacob apologized to Julieta. “I have a favor to ask.”
She readily agreed. “Anything.”
Looking around at all the food, he asked, “Can I take some leftovers with me?”
He supposed, since dinner had yet to be served, the food wasn’t technically leftovers. Julieta didn’t split hairs and quickly assembled enough food for six people, packing the plastic containers into a paper bag.
Jacob grabbed Cody on the way out, nearly forgetting the diaper bag.
Brock appeared before they reached the door, blocking their way. “Where are you going?” he demanded.
“To beg Mariana’s forgiveness and ask her to take me back. I’m bribing her with food and Cody.”
“Well, don’t just stand there.” Brock clapped him on the back. “Daylight’s wasting.”
“Bye-bye, Gampa.” Cody gave Brock his trademark squeezing fingers wave.
Brock grinned and ruffled Cody’s hair. “Is it too soon to get him a pony?”
“Let me work on Mariana. First things first.”
*
BECAUSE HE CARRIED precious cargo, Jacob obeyed the speed limits, though it was hard not to put pedal to the metal. Traffic, however, was light. He didn’t panic until he reached her duplex. The place had the quiet look of no one home.
“Mama?” Cody asked, peering out the window.
“Yeah, Mama’s house.”
They stood at Mariana’s front door. Jacob carried the bulk of the food. Cody had been given responsibility for one container, and clutched the mashed potatoes to his chest. After the second time ringing the doorbell, Jacob’s spirits sank. She must have gone to Austin after all.
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