by C J Marie
“She didn’t want to leave apart, Zac,” Rafe said. “You keep saying it wasn’t permanent, but maybe it could have been. But not with how you left it. Trust me, it’s all Olive’s been talking about.”
“Let it go, guys.” Zac stomped back toward the tire and crouched down, but didn’t do more.
“Then you let it go.”
Everyone stopped when Mouse stood and wiped his hands on his coveralls. “Mouse?” Zac said. “Even you have an opinion, huh?”
The man who never spoke pinched his face tight, and stomped around the car. “You move on and we’ll all move on. But you’re not letting it all go. I reckon that means there’s something not sitting right with you then. Fix it, or let it go and live with your choices. Cause I swear by all that’s holy if I have to watch you mope around anymore I’m gonna get that mama of yours in here to set you straight—that or cash in all my vacation days. Now, can we stop the lady-talk and get back to work?”
August laughed and clapped Mouse on the shoulder before the older man slipped beneath a Toyota and set back to work. Andy flipped the radio back on and handed Mouse a wrench. Zac shook his head. It might seem simple, but not one of these guys had been there that night. And what sort of guy would ask a woman to give up her life’s pursuit for him? Dot had confirmed the clinic would be closing at the end of the month, and Jo would’ve ended up doing something she didn’t love every day just like she did in Boston.
Rafe hadn’t budged. Zac shot him a look which was met with equal fervor. “I can’t just fly up there and beg her to come back.”
Rafe shrugged. “You can, but you won’t.”
“Flip the tables, would you ask Olive to give it all up?”
“I did,” Rafe muttered. “You know that. Olive was at risk of losing her inheritance, family, friends, all because she wanted to marry me. How did it work out for us?”
Zac closed his eyes. “Fine, bad example, but Ollie lived here. Jo, doesn’t.”
“You’re going to let a few states keep you from at least telling her how you feel? Look, Zac, I’ve known you for a long time, and that woman changed you. In a good way. I don’t know if it’ll work out, but I’d think less of you if you didn’t at least try. Seems you gave her up pretty easy.”
“I’m not going to let her settle for something she doesn’t want.”
“Yeah, you sound a lot like I did. Take some advice from someone who almost lost the girl too, don’t pretend to make decisions for them. Maybe put it all out there, and let Jo decide what’s best for her without you thinking you know it all. Hey, if you decide to go for it, put me in charge of the shop—August turns into a dictator when you’re gone.”
Rafe offered a half-grin before turning back toward the grease and parts. Zac tried to work on the tire for what seemed an eternity before he jolted to his feet. It was nearly time to close up by the look of the sun. Mrs. Bowen had left an hour ago, no new customers were in line, and Zac couldn’t focus if he wanted to. Mouse, Rafe, even August’s occasional glances had unnerved his brain to the point he couldn’t focus on anything but her eyes and the scent of coconut from her shampoo.
Zac slapped the hood of an SUV on the lift. “I’m taking a day or two off.”
August shot a fist in the air, but didn’t look up. “Good. About time. Try some chowder for me.”
Andy said something crude, but Rafe grinned and nodded. Zac took a deep breath. “Rafe’s going to be in charge.”
“What?” August replied with a moan. “No way.”
Rafe folded his arms with a smug smile. Zac laughed as he slipped out of his jumpsuit. “Deal with it, Aug. I’ll be back.”
Chapter 19
Jo tapped the end of her pen against the solid cherry wood desk. The office was small. Exactly the same as when she’d left it nearly two months ago. Strange how perspectives could change in such a short time. The day she’d filed away her folders for Greta, Jo had been dreading facing the jerk who’d pressed charges, now her heart was empty without him. Hope that her absent thoughts about Zac would bring him to call her, she glanced at her phone. Nothing. Not a text, not a call, in nearly two weeks.
With a swift shake of her head, she glanced at the computer screen before signing off on a hefty prescription and emailing it to a nearby pharmacy. According to Emmitt, the new clinic wouldn’t be up and running for another four months. Doctor Reswell wanted to make certain Jo was completely on board. Final papers needed to be signed, all that.
She glanced out her open door at the wrong time. Greta rustled by, and they locked eyes. Greta’s mouth widened, a cherry flush filled her cheeks, but the woman had guts when she stood in the doorway.
“Josephine, can we talk?”
Jo rose from her chair, holding the files in her hands, and headed to the nurses stations. “Nope, I’m busy.”
Greta sighed, and moved aside so Jo could pass by. “Come on, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.”
A skinny nurse took the files, but kept her eyes trained on Jo as Greta inched closer. A few more nurses pretended to find important duties that fell near the upcoming confrontation. So everyone in the office knew. Fine, she’d talk if Greta wanted to talk. Jo straightened her shoulders and faced the woman.
“Greta, since everyone clearly knows you slept with my boyfriend and you insist on being unprofessional, I’ll sink down to your level too. Please, say what you want to say. I’m all ears.”
Greta’s face flushed, and her eyes narrowed into slits. “I’m sorry for what happened because it was a betrayal to a colleague. But you have some ownership here too. Emmitt wasn’t happy with everything you were trying to change. You don’t know how good you had it, but you never appreciated what a great guy he is, and took him for granted.”
Jo’s chest tightened. Truer words had never been spoken. She had lost a great guy. “Are you done, Greta?”
Greta tossed her hands over her head. “I don’t get you. After all those years, you’re hardly upset, but then you give me the cold shoulder.” She stepped closer before she dipped her head. “You don’t deserve Emmitt, Josephine.”
Jo laughed. A true, toss-her-head-back laugh. She’d lost it, like Zac would say—Jo was flying off the handle. Jo rested one hand on Greta’s shoulder and wiped a tear from her eye. “Oh, Greta. I deserved Emmitt, but you know, the more I think about it, he didn’t deserve me. You have a great day. Oh, and don’t forget to bring back those patient files from when I was gone. I need to check and make sure all the notes are solid—you know—because some people aren’t as trustworthy on their own as others.”
A few nurses clapped and snickered as Jo lifted her chin and stalked back into her office. Once the door was closed, she plopped into her chair and massaged her forehead. One positive of partnering to run the heart clinic would be leaving Greta behind. Though she didn’t exactly want to see Emmitt either.
The man must have had a sixth sense because he knocked on her door frame one minute later. Emmitt beamed and even winked. Since Jo had come back to Boston, he’d behaved as if he hadn’t slept with someone else. He was attentive, complimentary even, despite Jo’s coldness. He was everything she’d always wanted in her boyfriend before leaving for Honeyville. Except now, he was missing one critical feature. He wasn’t Zac.
“Hey,” he said. “Did that really need to happen in the office?”
Jo glared over her shoulder. “No, but when she corners me in the hall, I’m going to stand up for myself. She’s your fling, why don’t you talk to her about office etiquette.”
“Come on, Jo. Let’s not go there right now.”
“Okay, we’ll wait until you’re ready, right? Or are we going to just shove the hard stuff under the rug like always?”
Emmitt’s arrogant grin faded. “We can talk, just not at work.” He shuffled in the doorway for a moment before holding out a few stapled packets. “Here are those papers I told you about.”
“Explain what they are again, and why it needs my signature.”
“This is your partnership agreement.” He smiled and set the folder on her desk before he leaned against it. “Are you excited?”
She shrugged. “I would feel better about it if Reswell talked to me before I sign anything.”
“I told you, there are time constraints, and he’s at a conference in California.”
“So, it’s called a phone.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll all meet when he gets back.”
Jo scanned the paperwork. She was intelligent, but understood little about legal jargon. Lots of words regarding investments, accounts from last name GRAHAM, Emmitt’s signature, and talk about partnering with the Family Heart Clinic attached to the regional hospital. Emmitt tapped his toes—she must’ve been taking too long—and watched her as she slowly penned her signature beneath his.
“There,” she muttered, and handed the file back.
Emmitt seemed pleased, but he didn’t leave. “Jo, I was wondering if we could get dinner sometime. So we can talk like you want.”
“Like I want,” she scoffed. “You know what, Emmitt? I don’t care to talk. Really.”
He glanced toward the tiled ceiling. “We gave each other some good years. Maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to throw it all away.”
“We weren’t quick to throw it away. You were.”
“I know,” he said with a sullen glance. “I know everything falls on me, Jo. Truly. If you’re willing, I’d just really like to talk. That’s all, I promise.”
“Maybe. Not now, but maybe.”
He nodded and crossed his arms so the white coat over his shoulder pulled tight around his biceps. “I understand. I’m going to keep trying, Jo. The feelings are still there.”
He slipped out into the hallway as Jo shook her head and let her chin quiver again. She wouldn’t cry at work—it had happened too much already—but it didn’t mean it took all her strength to keep it together. Emmitt was right, feelings were still there, hers were just for a different man.
Jo stalked toward Emmitt’s office with reports he needed to sign off on, though she took the scenic route when she caught sight of Greta. Since the hallway showdown, it had been a back and forth dance with the two women. Jo didn’t want to speak with her, and every time Emmitt spoke with Jo and Greta was near, the woman shot daggers as if she actually believed Jo would let him back into her life so easily. She knocked at the office door, but there wasn’t an answer. Shoving inside, Emmitt’s things were gone. She rolled her eyes. He was supposed to sign the reports before leaving. Dropping the files on his desk she was preparing to leave, until she caught sight of a stack of papers. To one side were the papers she’d signed a few days earlier. Curious though, on these papers it said co-founder beneath her name. She wouldn’t consider herself a founder of the clinic, and was almost positive it hadn’t said that before. But the statements and headings on the papers next to the stack were what brought her to pause.
Jo knew she shouldn’t pry, but it was a document for acquiring investment funds. On first glance she’d assumed it would be Emmitt’s investment in the building of the clinic, except it wasn’t Emmitt’s name on the withdrawal statement. A withdrawal of substantial means, and there on the bottom line was her signature.
Now, Jo wasn’t always one to read the fine print, probably a bad habit, but she knew for certain she’d never signed for such a hefty sum, because frankly, she didn’t have that many zeros to her name. Jo took a seat in Emmitt’s soft leather chair and studied the statement in more depth. Every sound outside in the hallway made her jump as though she were crossing a dangerous line and the villain were about to walk in any moment. Gathering the files, she scurried from the office after nothing made sense, yet her instincts told her something was terribly wrong.
Jo stood on the corner just outside the hospital boundaries. Her knees bounced as she waited. The phone rang only three times before a familiar croaky voice offered a soft greeting.
“Mr. Albertson, this is Josephine Graham.”
Quiet for a long moment until the croak softened to a throaty chuckle. “Josephine. It’s been so long. How are you? I admit I was surprised you only emailed before instead of calling. Investing now are you?”
She pinched her brows together and shook her head, though her father’s old attorney couldn’t see. “Actually, that’s why I’m calling. I was wondering if you could explain a few things to me about…these funds.”
Jo sat on a bench as John Albertson dove into his explanations. Most didn’t make sense, until everything was crystal clear in one heartbreaking moment. She thanked the man, assured him all was well, and asked for a hold on the funds until they could meet in person. Jo sat in the warm breeze for a long time, watching people pass along the walk, until she finally had the nerve to shoot a text to Emmitt. He was right again. It was time to talk.
She kept the lights in their once shared apartment low. Emmitt had been staying with a fellow physician since technically it was Jo’s apartment. She’d owned the lease before he’d moved in, though his name was on it now. Emmitt knocked, and she rushed to answer. He smelled amazing, and looked slick and tidy. Still a handsome man, even if he was a pig. She wore a sweatshirt and had her hair tugged into a messy ponytail. Jo didn’t care.
“Come in,” she said, swinging the door open wide.
Emmitt smirked, and handed her a bouquet of lilies that she took without a word.
“I’m glad you decided to do this, Jo. I think we need to clear the air, and just start fresh.”
“You’re up for this?”
Emmitt plopped onto the couch and spread his arms along the back as he smiled. “Let me have it. Get it all out so we can start over.”
“Great, because there’s a lot I want to say.”
“I figured.” He patted the cushion next to him. “Want to come sit?”
“No, I prefer to stand. Okay, first question. How long have you known about my inheritance?”
Emmitt’s arrogant grin faded. “What are you talking about?”
“My inheritance, Emmitt. You know, the money my father left behind from the sale of his clinic that he didn’t lose. The clinic he didn’t drink into nothing. Oh, and this large savings account he’d kept. Nothing was squandered as you and your father so bluntly told me after his funeral.”
Emmitt shook his head, and slowly rose from the couch. “Jo, I don’t…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It’s a simple question. You’ve known for a long time haven’t you? You knew it wouldn’t be available until I was twenty-five. Right? Did you and your daddy work this little plan after he went through my dad’s financials?
“Funny thing, Emmitt—I called Reswell. He said the clinic was his idea, but you told him I would be a main investor, only if you were the attending physician, of course. You kept this money from me so you could use it for yourself someday. What was the original plan before Reswell’s clinic came around? Pay off your loans? Buy a Mercedes? What?”
Emmitt held up his hands. “Jo, you’ve misunderstood everything.”
“Have I? Funny, since your father and you were the ones who handled my father’s will. From your own mouth you said he left nothing, now I find my signature forged on a withdrawal. I talked to my father’s attorney. He told me about the email he received requesting the forms and with a detailed plan of the investment. You told him you’d name the clinic after my father. Really, Emmitt? How low can you stoop?”
“I planned to name it in his honor—for you. I thought this would be something you’d want, Jo!”
“You’re demented and…you disgust me. How long have you watched me go on believing the man I loved, more than anyone, drank away every cent? You let me think those things about my father, Emmitt.”
“We can do this in his memory. Jo, I’m better with money. I didn’t want it to go to waste.”
She slapped him. Emmitt clutched his face, and gawked as the corners of Jo’s lips curled up. She’d never slapped a man, but slapping t
his man felt amazing.
“No, we won’t do anything in his memory,” she said. “You have no say about this anymore. I’ve rescinded the offer to Reswell, the clinic isn’t happening, and I’m afraid Doctor Reswell is severely disappointed. Enough that he’s opening a review with the board of directors. Might want to make a call to your dad, Emmitt. Soon you could be defending that license of yours. Or maybe I’ll just go to the police. Fraud and theft is a crime.”
“Why are you doing this, Jo?”
“It’s something I should have done a long time ago.” She folded her arms and studied him in his pathetic, broken stance. How had she fallen for him? “I was a business arrangement to you, Emmitt. I think it’s time you left.”
“You weren’t a business arrangement, I thought we had goals together, and that we could use the money to build those goals.”
“You’re selfish and a liar. Now, I asked you to leave.”
Jo jumped when another knock pounded on the door.
Emmitt seemed undeterred. “Jo, don’t do this. You don’t know what this will do to me.”
“Oh, bless your heart.” Jo stopped, chuckling as she covered her mouth.
“What’s funny?” he snapped.
“Bless your heart,” she whispered. “They say it in Honeyville.”
Like a ton of bricks the truth of her mistake slammed into her face. Jo missed the small town that smelled of the Carolina shore. Like a hidden, southern nature were bursting from within, all the quirks, easy-going sayings, and drawl came back in a heartbreaking moment. Shaking her head to clear away the ache, Jo stomped toward the door and flung it open, signaling him to leave.
Emmitt’s brow furrowed as he stared at the doorway dumbfounded. Finally Jo followed his gaze. Her stomach, maybe even her heart, fell out onto the floor in a nauseating lurch. She couldn’t speak above a soft whisper, and her hand clutched her neck. “Zac?”