Moisture pooled at the base of Cambri’s eyes, and she had to blink it away. Emotion made her father uncomfortable, and she wasn’t about to let hers show. She drifted to the window where the overrun yard lay beyond.
She cleared her throat. “I was thinking I’d clean up your yard a little today, but I can’t find any of Mom’s old gardening tools. Do you know where they are?”
“I gave them away.” He continued to glare at the oatmeal as though it should know better than to show up on his breakfast tray.
“You what?”
“I hate yard work. Always have. Why would I keep a bunch of tools lying around that I don’t use?”
Cambri refrained from pointing out that he obviously didn’t hate yard work that much if he took the time to pull out all of her mother’s old plants, but she swallowed the retort, knowing it would only lead to an argument.
“I guess I’m headed to the hardware store then. Need anything while I’m out?” The doctor said he didn’t need constant supervision, and Cambri had no qualms about running a few errands. If she never got a break from him, he’d be in more danger of death by strangulation than a repeat heart attack.
“If I said a burger and fries, would you bring it to me?”
“No.”
“Then no,” he muttered.
“Enjoy your oatmeal,” Cambri said brightly before collecting her purse and walking out the door, where she inhaled the fresh, clean air that smelled of vegetation. In Charlotte, the air always seemed to be tinged with carbon monoxide and too many people living in close proximity to each other. It felt good to be back, and she realized with a start that she’d missed this place.
Familiar houses passed in and out of her peripheral vision as she drove, and before long, she pulled to a stop in front of Sutton’s Hardware—a place where she used to hang out often. For a moment, she allowed her heart to ache with a sense of loss, but then she squared her shoulders and left the car behind, ready to prove that she’d moved on with her life.
With confidence, she walked inside and breathed in the familiar smell of tools and lumber. She smiled at the woman behind the cash register, glanced at a display of home improvement magazines, and headed for the gardening area, only to be sidetracked by the small greenhouse attached to the side of the store.
Cambri walked into the small room and wandered up the aisle, looking at the plants. The selection was poor, and the quality even poorer. For the most part, the leaves were turning brown around the edges, looking so thirsty and pitiful that Cambri had to do something about it. Spying a hose with a sprinkler attachment not far away, Cambri turned it on and began spraying everything. When the pots were filled to overflowing, she grabbed a pair of the smallest sized pruning shears she could find that weren’t packaged in plastic. They were much larger than she needed, but they’d do the job.
Starting with the worst of the plants, she clipped away, trimming the dying limbs with the hope of inspiring new, healthy growth.
“What are you doing?” a deep voice said from behind her.
Cambri finished trimming the plant then turned around. “Just saving your—” The words died on her lips as she stared into the dark brown eyes of Jace Sutton. At least she was pretty sure it was him. Gone were his glasses, his lanky body, and the way he’d avoid eye contact at all costs. He stood tall, his shoulders wide, his bearing confident. His dark hair was no longer parted on one side and swept to the other. Instead it was styled in that disheveled, carefree way. The pruning shears dropped to her side as she stared.
Clark Kent had become Superman.
In Cambri’s life, mistakes were like boomerangs. She’d make them, regret them, and launch them as hard and far as she could to get away from them. Then suddenly, after she thought they were long gone, they would come sailing back to thunk her hard on the chest.
Like now.
Cambri could practically hear the figurative boomerang whooshing toward her as recognition dawned on Jace’s face—the kind of recognition that came when seeing someone from your past you’d rather not see.
“Hey, Jace,” was all she could come up with to say. She clutched the pruning shears, frantically trying to think of something more. “Long time no see.”
He glanced at the shears, and a few awkward seconds passed before he responded. “Yeah, long time.”
“I was just, uh…” Cambri brushed a few dried leaves off the shears and held them up. “Trying these out. They’re sharper than I expected. I’ll take them.”
“Will you take the hose too, or was it the sprinkler head you were also trying out?”
Cambri gave up the pretense. “They needed water, okay? These plants are dying.”
“How nice of you to care about their welfare.”
“I’m a landscape architect now. Plants are sort of my thing.”
He nodded slowly, watching her with a face as poker as they came. “I’m glad to hear that. It’s what you always wanted to do.”
“Yeah.” No longer able to meet his gaze, Cambri set down the shears. “What about you? Did you ever get that construction management degree?”
“I own the store now, so I guess you could say tools and lumber are my thing.”
That didn’t answer her question, but she got the impression he didn’t really want to answer it. “Oh. I didn’t know that.”
“There’s a lot of things you don’t know.”
Yeah, got that. First from my dad, and now from you. Cambri should have grabbed the first trowel she found and ignored the pitiful plants. She could have been long gone by now.
“How’s Harvey?” Jace asked.
“Good.” Cambri said. “And by good, I mean he’s hanging in there. Still as surly as ever though. You know him.” Probably a lot better than she did. The thought was a humbling one.
“We’re all glad he’s okay.” Jace’s gaze moved past Cambri and out the window, as though searching for any excuse to get away from her.
Like the plants behind her, Cambri wilted a little, although she wasn’t sure why. Running into him was bound to be awkward and uncomfortable. She knew that. So why did his cold reception sting so much? “Yeah, me too.”
He searched her face once more, as though trying to read beyond her words and into her thoughts. As the seconds ticked by and the air between them thickened with a tense silence, he finally took a step back and directed his thumb over his shoulder. “Rebecca’s working the counter. She can ring you up.”
“Thanks.”
He nodded. “I’ve got to run. I’m late for… a meeting.” He spun around and left, leaving Cambri to watch him walk away. With every step he took, Cambri’s heart sank a little more. Almost without thinking, her fingers pressed lightly against her lips as the memory of an unexpected yet searing kiss teased her senses, followed by the aching throb of regret.
From the day they’d been matched up as partners in their junior high biology class, Jace had been her best friend. It had been an unlikely friendship—the confident, popular girl and the awkward, nerdy kid—but Jace had surprised her. He became the person she could talk to about anything and everything, the person who made her laugh when she was down or helped her think about things with a new perspective. When her mother had died, and her father buried his pain under his typical gruff exterior, Jace had been there, offering his shoulder for her to cry on, just like any really good friend would.
Cambri had thought they were both clear on the definition of their relationship, but as it turned out, he’d held something back—a game changer. One kiss their senior year in high school and everything stable in Cambri’s life shifted. Everything safe became scary. And the one person she thought she knew better than anyone else suddenly wanted more than she was ready to give.
But she shouldn’t have left the way she had, with things between them so unfinished and exposed. As her best friend, Jace had deserved some sort of explanation, at the very least a phone call. But every time Cambri picked up her phone, she realized she had no idea
how to explain.
In the end, she’d managed to ruin the best friendship she’d ever had.
Yeah, big thunk. Probably the worst one yet.
But if there was one thing Cambri had learned how to do over the years, it was to chuck that boomerang once more, harder and farther than the last time, then run sideways to avoid ever seeing it again. Sometimes, when it came to boomerangs and mistakes, the only thing you could do was exercise avoidance maneuvers.
From here on out, all gardening tools would be purchased in Fort Collins.
Jace tapped the hammer against the edge of the last wood plank of his new mahogany floors. He’d cut it a tad too long, but after making one mistake after another all night long, he was going to make this piece fit if it was the last thing he did. He drove the hammer down harder, and the plank dug into the drywall at the base of the wall. One more slam, and it finally went down, trapping enough drywall beneath it to keep it propped up slightly.
Jace cursed—something he rarely did. Then he pried it back up, pushed broken and powdery drywall to the edge of the wall, and slammed the plank down again. It landed flush this time, and the light caught the mild imprint of a hammer head on the end. No matter, that would get covered up by the baseboard.
“Finally.” Jace stood and brushed his hands together. He would have been finished hours ago if he’d been able to focus. But thoughts of Cambri had plagued him ever since he’d bumped into her at the store, looking so good he could hardly pry his gaze away. Her hair was longer and darker, as though she’d colored it, and she looked older, more sophisticated, and, well—citified. But her eyes were still that bright green he’d always loved, and the mole on her cheek near her upper lip still twitched when she didn’t know what to say.
Jace frowned. Why had she been there anyway? She’d looked as surprised and panicked to see him as he was to see her, but what did she expect? It was Sutton’s Hardware, for crying out loud.
Jace kicked at one of the several discarded planks. So much for having enough flooring left over for the half bath. A few of these could be reused, but that was it. He’d either have to order another box or lay tile instead.
Things had been going so well. The weather had been fairly decent throughout half of February and most of March, and Jace had been able to get the exterior almost done, giving the house a new, non-reminiscent-of-Cambri look. The inside had been coming along too—until now.
A knock sounded at the door, and Jace called out. “It’s open!”
Drew popped his head in, then walked inside. He looked over the floor. “Wow, this looks great. I’m impressed.”
“Thanks,” said Jace. “What’s up?”
He held up a pot of something. “You know Eden. Always worried about other people and whether or not they’re eating enough. She knows how hard you’ve been working, so she made you some soup.”
It was typical Eden—something she’d done often for him when they were dating and every so often once he’d started work on this house. But whenever Drew showed up with something in hand, Jace wondered how much was out of kindness and how much was out of guilt—not that she had anything to feel guilty for. Eden fell in love with someone else, and that was that.
“Be sure to thank her for me,” said Jace.
Drew dodged all the scrap planks as he made his way to the kitchen. “Looks like you’ve got a lot left over. Enough for the half bath like you’d hoped?”
“Maybe, if I wouldn’t have made so many mistakes.”
“Whatever,” Drew joked. “You’re Jace Sutton. You don’t make mistakes.”
Jace gave him a look that said yeah, right.
“Need any help?”
“Thanks, but no. I’m going to call it quits tonight. With the way I’m mixing measurements up, I’d ruin a bunch of trim as well.”
Drew leaned against the counter. “Something on your mind?”
There was a time when Jace might have talked to Drew, but these days he preferred to keep his problems to himself. “Just an off day.”
Drew nodded, looking as though he didn’t believe him, but at least he’d learned not to prod for more.
“How’s Eden?” Jace probably shouldn’t have asked because he didn’t really want to know. But after all Drew and Eden had done for him to try to keep things from being awkward, Jace could at least pretend like they weren’t.
“Good. I mean, school keeps her pretty busy, but she’s loving her classes. And we get to see each other at Silver Linings, so that’s definitely a plus. Things are… really good.”
“Good.” Although Jace knew things were better than good. He’d run into the two of them around town enough to know that they were beyond happy together. Eden practically glowed, and Drew looked like he’d just won the lottery. Jace wanted to be thrilled for them, but the hollow, emptiness inside always took over, turning his good wishes into words that sounded flat and contrived.
“You sure you don’t need any help?” Drew asked. “I can help clean up if nothing else.”
“No. You get back to Eden. I’m good here.”
“Okay.” Drew pushed away from the counter. “Guess I’ll leave you to it then.”
“Thanks again.”
“No problem.”
The door closed behind Drew, and the sound echoed through the empty house like a cruel reminder of Jace’s current relationship status. There was a time when Jace was sure he’d found the one, but unlike Drew and Eden, his and Cambri’s connection had only been one-sided. And now she was back in town, digging up old feelings and memories that were best left buried.
Jace grabbed a spoon from the drawer, sat on the counter, and ate Eden’s homemade chicken noodle soup. The warmth acted as a calming agent, restoring some much needed inner peace.
Cambri wouldn’t be in town forever. As long as Jace could stay out of her way until she left, he could get back to moving on with his life without interruption.
“Son of a bucket!” Cambri’s father’s voice boomed from his bedroom.
She sighed, staring at a landscape plan that she’d promised to get to her boss by the end of the week. Unfortunately, her father was making it difficult to keep that promise. It had been three days since she’d arrived in Bridger, and every time she sat down in front of her laptop, her father seemed to need her for something. A drink of water. Couldn’t find the remote. Would she get the mail or drop something by the post office?
For someone who swore up and down he didn’t need a sitter, he was certainly making use of her.
Cambri left her laptop on the desk, shut her blinds to the darkening sky, and went to discover what her father was up to now. She found him sitting at the kitchen table, rifling through a bunch of fishing stuff, searching for something.
“What are you doing, Dad?” Cambri asked, picking up one of his flies to examine. It was black and yellow, looking like a small, fuzzy caterpillar. Interesting.
“I can’t find the new carbon hooks I just bought,” her father muttered. “I know I put them in here.” He lifted his box, as though intending to turn it upside down and spill the remaining contents all over.
“Wait.” Cambri rested her hand on his to stop him from making an even bigger mess, then pulled out a package of fishing hooks from the kitchen junk drawer. “You mean these hooks? I found them on top of the fridge when I was cleaning yesterday.”
Harvey frowned at the hooks, then at Cambri. “If you think I’m losing my marbles, you’re wrong. My mind’s still as sharp as a tack. Suzie must have taken them out of my box and put them there.”
“I’m sure she did,” Cambri said dryly. As though Suzie would ever do something like that.
“She likes getting under my skin.” He held out his hand. “Now give ’em here. I’m already running late.”
Cambri had started to hand over the hooks, only to take them back. “Late for what?”
“Fly tying at Cal’s,” he said as though Cambri should have already known that. “We do it every other Tuesday.”
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Her fingers tightened around the package of hooks, keeping them secure in her hand. “Correction. You did it every other Tuesday before your heart attack. Now you’re taking one or two weeks off.”
“Poppycock. I can sit at Cal’s house just as easy as I can sit here.”
Did her father really think she would just let him walk out the door that easily? “You’re not allowed to drive yet, remember?”
“You can drive me.”
Cambri shook her head. “Sorry, I’ve got work to do.”
“Then I’ll walk.” He started packing up his box as though he intended to do just that.
“Go ahead and try,” said Cambri. “You can’t even walk from one side of the house to the other without getting winded. You’ll never make it.”
“What did I do to deserve a daughter like you? No loyalty whatsoever.” Harvey shook his head as though disgusted with her. “Guess I’ll just have to call Jace to come and get me.”
Wait—Jace? Come here? The mere mention of his name caused a pit to form in Cambri’s stomach. “Okay, you win. I’ll take you.”
One of his eyebrows lifted. “Thought you had work to do.”
“I’ll drop you off and come back here.” Now that she thought about it, this could actually be a good thing. With her father at Grandpa Cal’s, the house would be quiet and peaceful. Suddenly anxious to get him out the door, Cambri scooped up a handful of fishing stuff and threw it in the box.
“What in flying French fried hogs are you doing? Those don’t go there.”
Cambri leveled him a look that said she’d had enough. “You said you were running late.”
He huffed in response, but didn’t say anything else as they finished cleaning up.
As Cambri pulled out of the driveway, her father said, “Head north on Main then take a left on Silver.”
“I remember where Grandpa Cal lives.” Just because Cambri had been gone for a few years didn’t mean she’d forgotten Bridger or the people who lived here. But instead of heading toward Main like her father suggested, Cambri took the back roads. Whether it was because she didn’t like being told what to do or because she suddenly felt like taking a jaunt down memory lane, she wasn’t sure. Maybe it was a little of both.
Righting a Wrong (A Ripple Effect Romance Novella) Page 2