Righting a Wrong (A Ripple Effect Romance Novella)

by Rachael Anderson

  Cambri threw up her hands. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, Dad. What family? Mom was the glue that held us together, and after she died, you went your way, and I went mine. End of story.”

  “You mean you went yours. I stayed here.” The words came out breathless and weak, as though it took a lot of effort to speak them.

  Cambri took a deep breath and struggled for control. Getting her father to see things from her perspective would never happen, and all she was doing by arguing with him was endangering his heart and hurting hers. It was time to put an end to this conversation.

  “Right,” Cambri finally said, her voice quiet. “You stayed here. And as soon as you get back on your feet, you’ll continue to stay here, whereas I’ll go back to my life in North Carolina. In the meantime, let’s try to get through these next few weeks without any more arguments, okay? This isn’t good for your heart.”

  “And do what? Sit in silence for the rest of your visit? Where’s the fun in that?”

  Cambri gaped at him. He thought this was fun? Was he joking?

  They both sat there, glaring at each other—an unspoken face-off. After a few moments, something sparked in her father’s eyes—something that looked a bit like pride. “Well, I can see who you got your stubbornness from, and it sure wasn’t your mama. She was as sweet and obliging as strawberry Jell-O.”

  The reminder of her mother’s nature sent a sharp pang to Cambri’s chest. If Mom was looking down on them right now, she wouldn’t be happy. Contention is of the devil, she’d always said.

  Ignoring her father, Cambri grabbed her purse from the counter and headed for the door. “If you’ll be all right for a few hours, I’m going out.”

  “To do what?”

  “To get away from you before I clobber you over the head with a rolling pin.”

  Her father made a low guttural sound. It took Cambri a moment to realize he was chuckling, and the sound made her stop short. How had they gone from yelling at each other to this? It didn’t make sense—he didn’t make sense. In her current mood, the last thing she wanted to do was laugh or get chummy with her dad. Maybe the heart attack had addled his brain as well.

  “If you’re going out, you might as well do something useful and go to the town meeting. You can tell me what happens.”

  As if. “I’m not a member of this community anymore.”

  “You can represent me,” he continued. “Tell them I don’t want no developer coming in and slapping up a bunch of houses like those patchwork quilts that Suzie makes.”

  Cambri spun around and molded her face into a smile as she backed toward the door. “You’re right. I should go to that meeting.”

  Her father grinned. “That’s a good girl. You do that. You tell them—”

  “That Harvey Blaine is all for the zoning change. They can buy all the land they want and develop away.”

  Cambri continued to watch her father long enough to see his smile disappear, then her smile became genuine as she turned and walked out the door.

  The room smelled musky and dank, and the walls were the color of bread dough. The meeting was already underway, so Cambri crept up the aisle and slid into the first vacant seat she found. Despite what she’d said to her father, she hadn’t planned on coming to the meeting. But she’d forgotten that everyone came to these things, which meant everywhere else was closed. So unless she wanted to hang out in her car or walk aimlessly around Bridger during a chilly spring night, she had nowhere else to go.

  A large hand landed on hers, giving it a quick squeeze. Cambri’s gaze snapped to Cal Sutton’s welcoming face. Beyond him, Jace met her gaze with an unreadable, almost wary expression.

  Oh joy. Of course the first vacant seat would be right next to them.

  Cambri focused her attention on the man speaking from a podium at the front of the room, who was in the process of introducing another man from a company called Callahan Development.

  “Are you stalking me?” a hushed voice sounded at her side, making Cambri jump. Jace had leaned forward and was talking around his grandfather.

  “No.”

  “Then why do I keep bumping into you everywhere I go?”

  “Why would I be stalking you?” she whispered back. “I think you’re stalking me.”

  “I was here first, just like I was at the grocery store and bank first, so how could I be stalking you?”

  “Because you knew I’d be there—and here.” It sounded ridiculous, but so was the idea of her intentionally seeking him out.

  “Seriously?”

  “And how convenient that the only aisle seat left just so happens to be right by you.”

  “Please.” Jace smirked. “How would I know you’d be here? You don’t live here anymore, so why in the world would you come to a town meeting?”

  To get away from her father, not that he’d really know that. “Dad couldn’t be here, so I came instead.”

  His expression became more serious. “You’re planning to represent your dad?”

  “Well no, not exactly. I’m actually thinking I might argue for the development.” She said it to be cheeky, because if her father was against it, then it followed that the loyal Jace would be against too.

  Jace’s eyes sparkled with something resembling humor. “In that case, welcome.” He settled back in his seat with a satisfied smile.

  Cambri frowned in confusion. What was that supposed to mean? Was Jace actually pro the development? Did her father know that?

  Huh.

  Cambri nudged Cal. “So, what’s your take on the new development?”

  Cal shook his head in that vague way that implied he was keeping his opinion to himself. “I’m only here for moral support. Jace is the owner of the store now. This is his fight.”

  What did Sutton Hardware have to do with anything? Was Jace hoping the store would become a supplier? Because that was a long shot. Longer than long, actually. He’d never be able to match or beat the prices of the larger, more specialized companies.

  It wasn’t until the discussion was well underway that Cambri understood Jace’s stance.

  “It’s not just the hardware store. All the businesses in town are struggling,” Jace argued. “We could really use some growth here. More people means more business, which is a good thing for any town.”

  “But with growth comes more competition,” someone else called out from the back row. “What would you do if Bridger grew so large that a Home Depot decided to come knocking on the door?”

  Jace shrugged. “It would be a long time before that ever happened, and when and if it ever does, I’ll deal with it then. In the meantime, I’m trying to run a successful business now, and it’s a tricky thing to do in a town as small as Bridger. Especially in this economy.”

  Jace looked Cambri’s way, shooting her a challenging look. “Cambri Blaine is here to represent her father, and she agrees with me.”

  Whoa, what just happened? How dare he bring her into this? He knew she’d only been teasing before and had no opinion on the subject. But a lot of surprised eyes were now trained on her, expecting her to validate Jace’s sketchy claim.

  She shifted in her chair. “Actually, my father’s against the development,” she said, not wanting to lie.

  Jace raised an eyebrow and prodded further. “What about you? You’ve lived in a larger city for a while. What are your thoughts on the subject?”

  “I—uh…” Why was he putting her on the spot like this? Did she even have an opinion? If Cambri still lived here, if she owned her own landscape business, would she be on Jace’s side, fighting for growth and progress? Would she be okay with Bridger growing and changing?

  An image of Bridger with multiple traffic lights and congested streets came to mind, making her frown. The truth of the matter was that while she appreciated Charlotte and everything it had to offer, she loved the quiet hominess of Bridger and didn’t want it to change.

  “I’m going to have to side with my father on this one. I like Bridger the way
it is,” she said finally.

  Murmuring broke out around the room, and Jace’s expression fell slightly. But he regrouped and continued to argue his side, citing statistics and testimonials of citizens from other small towns who didn’t let growth scare them away from progress. A few other people, including some store owners, joined in the fight, and coupled with the developer’s presentation, they made a convincing argument. But in the end, not enough people owned struggling businesses and too many people were resistant to change. The petition for the zoning variance was voted down.

  Cal heaved a sigh, patted Jace on the back, and moved to talk to someone, leaving Cambri alone with Jace. Her heart went out to him—the lone voice against a crowd of naysayers—but what could she do?

  “I’m sorry, Jace,” she said.

  “Me too.” He shoved his notes into the shoulder bag he’d brought with him and slung it over his shoulder. “I thought you, of all people, would be on my side.”

  She rested her hand on his arm, but when he tensed, she pulled it away. “University Park and Charlotte are beautiful cities with so much to offer, but Bridger isn’t without its charms. Coming back here is like entering a different world.”

  “An archaic world.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” said Cambri. “People here know and care about each other. When you walk down the street, you pass friends instead of strangers. The air is cleaner, the pace slower, and the world calmer. I’m pretty sure the sky is even bluer.”

  Jace slung his bag over her shoulder and leveled her a hard look. “Actions speak louder than words, Cambri. Or are you forgetting you left for bluer skies six years ago?”

  Her gaze held steady. “Sometimes it takes seeing other skies to know which is bluer.”

  One eyebrow quirked as he considered her words. “What are you saying? That you’ve had your fill of city life and want to move back?”

  Cambri looked away. Was she saying that? No, of course not. That would be crazy. She was happy in Charlotte. “All I’m saying is that I appreciate Bridger a lot more than I used to.”

  He let out a low chuckle that didn’t sound even close to humorous. “Like I said, actions speak louder than words.” He started to walk past her, then paused, looking beyond her to the back door. “You talk of passing friends instead of strangers, but in my experience, friends are really just strangers disguised as familiar faces.” His arm brushed against her shoulder as he left, and an uncomfortable, almost palpable, sensation spread down her arm and landed with a thud in her gut.

  A stranger, he’d called her. Someone he didn’t know at all.

  Why did that bother her so much? Cambri had spent the past six years trying to forget him and the past week doing her best to avoid him. His comment should feel like a well-deserved set-down, a slap on the wrist, a lesson learned the hard way. Not a sucker punch to the chest.

  An unsettling realization struck her. She still cared about Jace’s opinion. It wasn’t working to ignore the past and hope it would go away. She needed to make things right—or, as right as she could make them. Jace had never gotten an explanation or even an apology, and as much as Cambri cringed at the thought of exposing a six-year-old wound, it was probably the only way to stop it from festering.

  Maybe it was time to stop acting like a stranger and become a friend again.

  According to Murphy’s law, toast will always land butter side down, if you’re in a hurry, every light will turn red, and in Cambri’s case, the moment she decided she wanted to bump into Jace was the exact moment it stopped happening.

  She’d tried the hardware store first, followed by the grocery store, the post office, the eatery, the diner, the bank, and finally the hardware store again. But no Jace. Not even a sighting of Jace. He’d either fled town or donned an invisibility cloak because he didn’t seem to be anywhere. And with every passing day, Cambri felt like her window of opportunity was becoming less of a window and more of a closed door.

  Her foot tapped restlessly against the carpeted floor of the doctor’s office. A magazine bounced in her lap, unread. It had been over forty-five minutes since her father had been called back to see the doctor, but it felt like two hours. She should have insisted she join her father despite his protests.

  A tinny ringing sounded, and Cambri pulled her phone from her purse, then sighed when she saw her boss’s name. She accepted the call and put the phone to her ear.

  “Hey, Dillon.”

  “Sorry to bug you, but I just got off the phone with Belinda.”

  “I’ll have the plans to you by the end of the week,” Cambri promised. So long as I can get Jace off my mind and learn how to focus again.

  He chuckled. “I know you will, which is why I need to tell you that Belinda now wants a pool in that far corner instead of the secret garden. But she still wants the pool to have a secret garden-y feel, like a small pond.”

  “You’re joking.” The secret garden was the one thing Cambri had already finished. And it had turned out perfect, some of her best work yet. She cringed at the thought of clicking Delete.

  Stupid, stupid Murphy’s law.

  “Are you really that surprised?” Dillon said. “You had to know that it was only a matter of time before her husband convinced her to go with the pool. He never wanted the garden.”

  “I know, but…” Belinda had been so adamant and her husband so willing to make his wife happy. And the secret garden design had been both challenging and fun.

  “Tell you what,” Dillon said. “Let’s bump the deadline to Monday instead of Friday. I’ll break the news to Belinda, and that will give you a few extra days to work on it.”

  “Thanks, that’d be great.” Cambri ended the call with a heavy heart. She’d done enough pool designs that it wouldn’t take long to make the change, but it bothered her that she found no excitement in the prospect. Usually she couldn’t wait to get going on new projects.

  Stupid, stupid Jace.

  Maybe it was time to take matters into her own hands so she could stop stewing about it.

  The door finally opened, and her father emerged with the doctor at his side. Since Murphy’s law was hard at work on all the other aspects of her life, Cambri readied herself for some more bad news.

  “Are you Cambri?” the doctor asked.

  “Yes.” She set down the magazine and stood, accepting his proffered hand.

  He held out some packets of information, along with a few brochures. “I had a feeling that you’d never see these if I didn’t give them to you personally.”

  “What are they?” Cambri said as she accepted them.

  “I’d like your father to start exercising every day. He should have started last week.” The doctor eyed Harvey with a disapproving glance. “But I get the impression he hasn’t done much.”

  “I’ve been doing plenty,” Harvey argued.

  Cambri rolled her eyes. “If by ‘much’ you mean walk around the house and complain about me putting things where they don’t belong, then yeah, he’s done plenty.”

  The doctor chuckled. “Well, it’s good to hear he’s been up and about—not that I expected otherwise. But I’d like him to take a walk around the block every day and gradually build up the distance he’s able to go. He needs to start getting his heart back in shape.”

  Cambri opened the pamphlet and looked over what appeared to be a recommended exercise schedule. She looked up. “Tell you what. I’ll make sure he gets a daily walk in, if you remind him that he’s not allowed to drive yet. He doesn’t think I know what I’m talking about.”

  The doctor turned a weary eye on Harvey. “Stop giving your daughter a hard time, will you? You know you’re still on too many meds for that to be safe. Feel free to get out and walk around your neighborhood though. Do as much as you can without over-taxing yourself.”

  “I’m not going out walking like some old geezer in a retirement comm—”

  “Thanks, doctor,” said Cambri, cutting her father off. “I’ll be sur
e to see that he starts walking right away.”

  Her father grumbled, and the doctor nodded. “I’m glad you were able to come back for a visit. It sounds like you’re exactly what your father needs.”

  Cambri nudged her father. “Hear that, Dad? I’m exactly what you need.”

  He harrumphed. Shocker.

  Cambri steered him out the door, picked up a salad on the way home, watched him eat it, then coerced him outside. “It’s a beautiful day,” she said. “Let’s go out and enjoy it.”

  “I told you, I’m not—”

  “Dad, please.” Her tone must have conveyed her exhaustion and stress because her argumentative father actually snapped his mouth shut.

  “Fine.”

  “Thank you.”

  Taking his arm, she propelled him out the door and immediately breathed in the fresh, invigorating smell of spring. If only his yard didn’t look so barren and awful.

  “Why did you pull everything out, Dad?” she asked as they headed toward the sidewalk.

  “Pull what out?”

  “The roses, lilacs, azaleas, hibiscus…” She shook her head sadly. “The tulips would have been in bloom right now if you’d let them be. But now they’re all gone, just like Mom.”

  “Exactly,” came his curt answer, as if that explained everything.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means she’s not here anymore and neither are you. It’s better with them gone.”

  His words had a tug-of-war effect on Cambri’s heart, both paining it and touching it at the same time. She’d always known he missed her mother, but hearing him admit that he missed Cambri too was… surprising. And endearing. It made her almost forgive him for tearing out her mother’s plants.

  “You kept her pictures, her furniture.”

  He shrugged. “I realized I’d have to burn down the house to get rid of everything, and that seemed a little extreme, even for me. Sometimes I wish I could get the yard back, but then I come to my senses and remember I’m no gardener and couldn’t keep it up anyway.” He stopped to catch his breath, and Cambri could tell by the way he was leaning on her that he’d had enough.