“Sorry, Jake,” Otis said, having the decency to appear contrite.
He had a feeling Otis wasn’t truly sorry, but he would be later when he got him alone.
“Why are you going to Scott & White hospital? Sounds more serious than a screening.”
Jake felt eyes on his back. There were people behind them in line. Watching. Listening.
“Dammit, Lila. It’s nothing. Now order your ice cream so Ernie can pull his body back inside to the air-conditioning.”
She spun around, coming face-to-face with Miller’s new manager.
“It is routine, you know. My sister goes in every year for a screening. Nothing to get upset about. And if you are, one of my hot fudge sundaes with extra hot fudge and nuts should cheer ya up.”
Ernie disappeared back inside Miller’s and the sound of tin container tops being overturned drifted out to their ears.
Lila turned back around, her mouth hanging open. “Why does Ernie know more about this than me?”
His patience was at an end, like this conversation. “Because he lives here. You don’t.”
She recoiled like he’d slapped her.
Otis shuffled his feet on the sidewalk.
Well, hell. And here he’d been trying to lift her from an already-foul mood.
“I don’t really feel like ice cream right now. Otis, will you see she gets back to her car?”
Otis nodded.
“Jake—”
But he didn’t stick around long enough for her to finish. He jumped inside his truck and slammed the door, keeping his gaze off the crowd staring at him.
Lesson Number Fourteen —
Explore your feelings. The better you know yourself, the better you can express yourself to your man. This will help you avoid saying words out of anger, which are the hardest words of all to take back.
Chapter Sixteen
Jake slammed into the trailer, throwing his utility belt on the shabby pile of cushions on legs that served as a couch. He’d had his trusty old job site trailer moved to Lila’s building today and just in time, because he needed something out of the fridge.
“There better be a goddamn beer in here.” He jerked the door open to find not just the two beers and leftover pizza he knew to be there, but a fridge stocked with more food than a cooler of its size deserved.
He took in the bottled juices and waters, the bags of fresh fruit, the cut vegetables and the sandwich meat. “What the hell…?”
Who had been in here? And why?
He had a suspicion.
He surveyed the trailer more patiently, looking for signs of an unwanted presence. Nope, the trailer was exactly as he’d left it this morning when he’d moved it, dingy but serviceable.
With the exception of the fridge full of his favorite snack foods.
He looked for the beer and found it in the inside door. At least she hadn’t thrown it out. If she was going to invade his life and drop little surprises like this, she better have the decency to leave the beer.
Jake ripped the cap off and collapsed onto the couch. The rickety wood frame groaned under his weight, but held together. Barely.
He was about to down half the bottle when he noticed his running shoes lined up neatly near the wall next to the trailer door.
He didn’t remember leaving his running shoes here. They should be at home, on the floor next to his shorts and T-shirt that needed to be washed. He had a system, and the shoes being here instead of there was not part of the system.
Had Lila gone in his house? He maintained a tradition of keeping people the hell out of his house. It was the one place where he could kick back and be whoever he wanted to be, in whatever mood he felt like. But somehow the thought didn’t make him as angry as he knew it should have.
He probably felt forgiving with the prospect of so much food in his little dumpy trailer.
His looked for the familiar bloodstain on the toe of the left shoe, courtesy of a barbed-wire fence slapping him on the knee a couple of months ago. It wasn’t there.
Setting the still full beer aside, he retrieved his sneakers and looked closer at the mesh fabric. They were spotless. Like new.
He flipped the shoes over, searching for the growing hole in the soft tread that should be where his big toe pounded the pavement each morning.
No hole. In fact, the tread was fresh and unmarred.
His blood rushed in his ears.
Lila.
Lila had taken the time to stock his fridge and mend his favorite pair of running shoes. She had invaded his privacy, true, but she hadn’t blustered in changing things around, cleaning up after him like a wife.
She’d gone for subtle things. Things that meant a lot to Jake, but that he never found the time to do for himself.
Shit. And he had been doing so good without her.
Hadn’t he?
Lila examined the exterior brick of Miss Pru’s house for signs of settling. Ordinarily, the weather-sensitive ground shifted building foundations in Texas so cracks—and sometimes severe movement—jeopardized the security of the structure.
Miss Pru’s looked solid, with enough corner joints to allow for the expansion and retraction of the brick at various times of the year.
She wished her heart had the same capabilities.
“Tough ole gal,” she said affectionately, patting the pitted surface of the sandstone-colored brick. Heat seeped into her palm, and for an instant Lila imagined she could feel the heart of the building beating faintly, like a slumbering giant.
“I’m not sure if you’re referring to yourself or the building here.” A familiar voice, full of amusement, caught her off guard, causing her to spin on the heels of her leather sneakers.
“Mark! What are you doing here? Why aren’t you in Dallas?” She couldn’t believe he stood there, on a dusty patch of alley sprouting with scraggly milkweed and cigarette butts, looking as fresh and cool as he typically did back in a swanky Dallas martini bar.
“Your progress reports were rather disappointing in their detail. I mean, I know all about your grandmother, but honey, what about this man? This Jake?” He waved an arm, the cuff of his exquisitely wrinkled linen shirt making slow circles in imitation of his grand gesture.
She threw a hurried glance around the alley, looking for signs of Jake’s truck. She hadn’t seen him since he left the ice cream stand hours ago. She’d done a bit of shopping for him and with Casler’s help, had his running shoes repaired. A subtle I’m sorry without the mess of actually saying it.
John Casler may grow on her yet. They had one thing in common anyway: Jake.
But now, her unspoken wish had been fulfilled. A dear friend when she needed one the most.
The urge to leap into his arms and be comforted like a little girl raged in her heart. If one person, one friend, could make everything seem all right when it surely was not, Mark was that friend.
Lila sobered. He didn’t come all the way out here to nowhere Hannington to check up on her. Did he?
She watched his worried glances, his appraising stare. He would, thank God. That’s what friends were for.
She threw another look down the alley, but there wasn’t any sign of the red-and-white Chevy or Jake.
Lila stepped into Mark, wrapping her arms around his torso. It felt so good to be held in a man’s arms. Even if that man wasn’t the least bit interested in her.
“Hey there, girl. Are you okay?” He hugged her and rocked her briefly, pushing her back so he could stare down into her eyes. “It’s as I thought. There’s more to this matter with Jake than you’d admit.”
“Well, of course there’s more. But I’m not going to tell you about it over the phone. Besides, you shouldn’t be worrying about me—you should be taking care of my business while I’m away.”
He wrapped his arm around her waist and propelled her out of the alley, toward the front of the store and into the shade. Lila fell in beside him easily enough, even though he stood a good six inches taller than her
, with a longer stride to match.
“Your business is fine. Good, in fact, despite that asshole in Austin raising a ruckus. But you’re not.”
When they reached the front of the store, Lila sank down onto the freshly polished oak bench she’d placed out front earlier in the day. The heat had warmed the wood and it penetrated her cotton overalls as she sat.
Beads of sweat popped up on her brow, beneath the fringe of bang that had fallen loose of her ponytail. “Mark, I know you mean well, and I am so glad to see you, but everything is fine. I’m having a grand time with this old building, visiting my grandmother has been the best, and frankly, I couldn’t be happier.” She forced cheer into her voice, pushing back the emotion that threatened to spill whenever she lied.
She mustered up the courage to look over at his face as he sat down next to her on the bench. She took in his profile: a smooth cheek, strong nose, and square jaw.
He looked off in the direction of the Curl ’n Swirl. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard after all. Lying to her best friend.
“You want to go grab some lemonade and I’ll take you on a tour of Miss Pru’s?”
When he didn’t answer, Lila nudged him with an elbow. “Aren’t you curious to see my new baby?” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder, pointing inside the dirty window.
Mark glared off into the distance, creases forming around his normally smiling eyes.
Lila followed his gaze, but all she saw were people hurrying in and out of the grocery store, their arms loaded with purses or sacks, or both. Everything as it should be.
Maybe Mark had never seen an IGA before. They definitely didn’t have them in Dallas.
“Mark, you up for some lemonade and a tour?”
He tore his gaze away from whatever fascinated him and glanced quickly at her before resuming his watch. “Sure. I’ll go get it. Why don’t you head inside and I’ll bring it over?”
He flew off the bench and tore down the steps, jogging across the street. Fortunately, there was little traffic, because Mark never stopped to look.
What the heck had gotten into him? First he showed up unannounced, demanded explanations, and then fled like the hounds of hell nipped at his heels.
Men. She couldn’t understand them. Even when they were gay.
Jake threw his truck into park and leaned over the wheel, watching the polished man who had previously been hugging Lila walk his away.
He’d started down the alley minutes ago to meet her, a mixture of dread and anticipation warring in his gut, but when he spied her wrapped around another man, he had sat for a moment. He didn’t know if he should be angry she could be proclaiming her love for him one minute, and the next, hopping in the arms of another.
But then he realized he should be happy. She’d found someone else. He didn’t have to convince his wife life would be better without him anymore.
So he’d left the lovers to themselves and come over to the IGA because he had nothing else to do and time to kill before he trotted back across the street and acted none the wiser.
Just as he decided, yeah, he should feel relieved, he spotted the lucky man walking over to his truck. Lila sat on the bench in front of the store, staring in their direction.
“I take it you are Jake Winter,” the man said, easing up to the door of Jake’s truck with an easy grace he didn’t normally see in other men. “Or some degenerate who likes to spy on unknowing women.”
When Jake simply raised his eyebrows in calm response, the man smiled.
“The strong, silent type. You must be Jake.”
Lila had been talking about him to this guy? “And you are?” he asked.
“Mark—the coworker and sometimes overnight guest.”
Jake gritted his teeth. They’d broken the ice fast. “So you drove all the way to Hannington to stay overnight? It’s going to be crowded over there at Lila’s grandmother’s.”
He’d swear the other man’s eyes sparkled.
“The more the merrier, I think, although I hear you like it nice and simple. Haven’t you heard, my friend: one is the loneliest number?”
The conversation weirded Jake out. He didn’t know whether to kick Mark’s ass or brush his arm off the truck door and drive away laughing.
He slid a glance to Lila calmly sitting on the bench outside her building. This guy meant something to her. What, he didn’t know. So he’d play nice and give Mark the message meant for Lila.
“I think, Mark, you might have the wrong idea about me. Lila and I are estranged. Meaning, we no longer live together, sleep together”—he’d pay for that lie somewhere down the road—“play house together, or anything proper married couples do. So if you’re looking for my permission to chase Lila, consider it granted.”
Mark leveled his cool amber eyes on Jake. He read a protectiveness there, speaking volumes of his relationship with her. Yeah, once upon a time, he, too, had wanted to protect her with his life. But when a man didn’t have a life to offer, the point was sorta moot.
“You really this backcountry dumb?”
“What?” Jake croaked.
Mark narrowed his eyes as if inspecting an insect pinned in a display case. “I’ve always heard about redneck dumb, but growing up in Dallas, I didn’t come across it often. Inner-city prejudice and narrow-minded, bigoted rich assholes, yeah, but I’ve never met an honest-to-God country dumb. I’m simply trying to determine if you’re really this stupid, or pretending.”
Jake pushed open the door of his truck, forcing Mark back three steps. He slammed the door behind him and looked down on Mark, who held his ground like a fierce, manicured show dog.
He couldn’t kick Mark’s ass; it wouldn’t be a fair fight. But Christ, did this guy never give up? What more did he want Jake to say? He’d handed Lila over on a silver freakin’ platter.
“We may be backcountry dumb out here in the sticks, Mark, but we can still recognize when a man is asking to have the shit beat out of him.”
“The potential for a fight seems to be the only thing to rouse you. From the stories I’ve heard, you used to be roused in other ways.”
Words clogged in his throat like cars during rush hour. “What?”
“Hard of hearing, too? So we’ve established you’re blind, backcountry dumb, violent, and now, hard of hearing. So, okay, even though you are extremely easy on the eyes, I can see why Lila left you. Too many deficits.”
He grabbed the front of Mark’s neatly pressed shirt and dragged him close so they stared more or less eye to eye. “I think you’d better drive back to Dallas while you still have the use of your arms and legs. The scenery’s not as pretty from the back of an ambulance.”
“Oh, but Jake, darling, everything we want to see is right here. Now that Lila’s back. Isn’t that the point of this entire display?”
Jake heard her crossing the parking lot and turned to watch her running toward them, a look of complete horror on her face.
“What the hell is going on?” she yelled, skidding to a stop.
Jake released his shirt and Mark regained his composure instantly, grabbing Lila’s forearm as she leaned into him for balance. A friendly gesture. A comfortable gesture. Intimate, dammit.
A pain, something like a knife thrust, slid into Jake’s side and stayed, sending bursts of torture radiating up through his heart.
“Honey, we are talking man to man. And sometimes, men have to talk with their whole bodies.”
Lila looked from Mark to Jake and then back to Mark.
“Well, are you done? Because there are things Jake needs to do on my building.”
Had he just been a part of this very weird exchange?
Give up. It’s easier, man.
With a slow exhale, Jake shook his head and left the pair standing in the parking lot of the IGA while he crossed the street.
Sometimes surrender made sense.
Lesson Number Fifteen —
Let him be a man. Honor him and cherish what makes him masculine. And take pride
in your femininity. The results will be evident at night when the bedroom door closes.
Chapter Seventeen
Jake watched Casler kick up dust with his steel-toed boots as he crossed the construction site in the fading twilight. He thought he could be alone out here, away from the people and traffic, all the noise.
Jenna Hillcrest’s place was ostentatious and overblown, but the site had a great view, one he could appreciate. Situated on a bluff, it overlooked a small valley full of old live oak trees standing tall among the encroaching cedar.
If he owned the place, Jake would come in and rip out the cedar and let the oaks have some breathing room.
The sun sank lower in the western sky and colors washed overhead, hot summer strokes of red, pink, and orange. He looked away from the beauty and at the beer can in his hand instead.
“Thought I’d find you here. Didn’t know you’d have beer, though. Could’ve saved myself ten bucks.” Casler raised his six-pack of beer and set it in the bed of the truck. He hitched a hip against the open tailgate and pulled an opener from his pocket, flipping the beer cap off his bottle of India Pale Ale and into the bed of Jake’s truck.
He took a long swallow, something close to ecstasy crossing his darkened features. “So what’s up? You don’t normally drink, but when you decide to, you buy the shittiest beer in Texas? Are you punishing yourself or what?”
Jake tossed back the can, sucking the last of the liquid down his throat. He crumpled it and threw it over his head into the pile with the other one.
He gave Casler a level stare and pointedly ignored his question, tipping the lid off the cooler at his back and digging a can from the slushy ice.
“How’d it go with Lady Hillcrest the other day?”
Casler had pissed her off good and he knew it. It seemed everybody was on edge lately. Something in the water? Or was it Lila’s return to town that had everything and everyone on its ear? Refusing to consider it a setback, he’d told Casler to go to Threasa’s and start her job.
And he’d gone. Without a fight.
Deconstructing Lila (Entangled Select) Page 14