“Be careful,” Claire said from behind me. “Here.” She handed me a paper bag, and I dropped the glass into it. Jason still stood outside, but the chief was gone, and he was on his phone instead.
“So much for helping,” I complained.
No one said anything. Probably because there was no way on Earth they could even think of defending Jason.
It was just like him, of course, to say he was going to do something and then do the complete opposite. On the bright side, maybe this last event would just help prove to my family that I was the one who was right about him.
We had most of the glass that we could find cleaned up by the time he came inside.
“I found a window repairman who can come right away,” he announced, putting his phone into his coat pocket.
I straightened up from sweeping the glass pile into a dust pan. I knew I was supposed to be grateful, but all I could do was stare at him. I thought about the cutting remark I’d made about him only a few minutes before, and my face flushed.
“Who?” Claire asked. “Who’s going to come out on Christmas Eve?”
“A repairman in a town called Wake.”
I finally unstuck my tongue from the roof of my mouth. “That’s an hour away.”
He nodded, looking bashful. “I had to call a few places before I found him.”
Dad walked over to clap him on the shoulder. “Nice job, Jason. Isn’t he great to have around?” He looked at Claire and then — extremely pointedly — at me.
“That’s awful nice of the guy,” Claire said.
Jason nodded, but he still looked embarrassed. Something was up. I leaned the broom against the couch.
“Did he say anything about charging extra since it’s a holiday?” I asked.
“Uh, no,” Jason answered, looking at the wall behind my head.
“Won’t your insurance cover it?” Dad asked me.
“Yeah, it should,” I said, hoping I was right. “I just don’t know about something like extra time for a holiday. There may be a cap.”
I kept looking at Jason, certain there was still more to the story there. “Did he say anything about his rate?”
“He’s not charging,” Jason said, a little too quickly. “Merry Christmas and all that.”
My eyebrows ricocheted up with the speed of a rocket. “He’s got to at least charge for the window.”
“Uh…”
Busted.
“I’m going to pay for it,” Jason confessed.
I crossed my arms. “You don’t have to do that. I do have insurance. Whatever it doesn’t cover, I will.”
The truth was that I only hoped I would be able to cover the extra expense, but that was my business and no one else’s.
“I want to,” Jason said.
“I don’t want you to,” I snapped back.
“Gwen,” Dad said, a little too harshly for my liking. “Let him.”
“Why?”
Jason shifted uncomfortably. “It’s a Christmas present.”
I shook my head. “It’s too much.”
“Gwen,” Claire said in her warning voice, “just take it.”
I whipped my head sideways and glared at her. “I just said it’s already taken care of. When the repairman gets here, I’ll tell him that I will pay for it through my insurance.” I looked back at Jason. “Thank you, but I have everything under control.”
Jason winced.
“What?” I asked. “Is there something else?”
“I offered to pay him four times his regular price. And under the table. So your insurance can’t know about it.”
My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. “Four times?”
“Damn,” Claire whispered.
“No one wanted to come out here,” Jason explained. “Just driving here is going to be treacherous, and its Christmas Eve. Plus, it’s a big window.”
I didn’t know what to feel, so I allowed anger to surface first. “You had no right to do that.”
“Gwen,” Dad chastised me.
I ignored him, choosing to plow on instead. “You didn’t even ask me first.”
Jason’s lips settled into a thin line. “I didn’t think you’d agree to it.”
“Yeah, well you’re finally right about one thing.”
“So what were you going to do? Hang a tarp over the big hole and spend the next two nights here until someone could come and fix it?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “If I was going to do that, it’s none of your business.”
He started to laugh, but his mouth turned down when he saw how serious I was being.
“You wouldn’t be able to do that,” he said coolly. “You’d freeze.”
My fingernails dug into the sleeves of my coat. I was running out of ammunition but, boy, was I still fired up.
“When is the repairman getting here?” Dad asked.
Jason rubbed his gloves hands together to keep them warm. “He’s on his way now.”
“It could take him two hours in the snow.” Dad looked at me. “I’ll wait here with you, Gwenie.”
Every part of my body felt like it had been encased in lead. The last thing I wanted to do was accept a favor from Jason. And yet I had no choice.
“All right,” I finally agreed, then looked at the man who had done so much damage. “I’m going to pay you back, though.”
He shook his head. “It’s a gift.”
“I’m going to pay you back,” I sullenly repeated, picking up the bags of glass and heading for the dumpster in the parking lot behind the shop.
For some reason, Jason and Claire decided to stay as well. I got busy moving everything out of the way of the window so that there would be plenty of room to work if need be. Electricity was out in the shop, and the chief reported that someone would be out to repair the damaged pole as soon as they could. He kept the area roped off, just in case anyone should happen to come by, although the street was nearly dead. In the hour since we’d arrived there, only a couple of trucks had crept their way down the block.
By the time the repairman got there, I was still seething. There were a hundred different cruel things I wanted to say to Jason, and I knew I had no right to give breath to any of them. With his favor, I was now indebted to him, and I hated that. The price he paid for the window would forever hang over my head. Until I paid him back.
And I didn’t even know when I would be able to do that. Just thinking about how much the repair likely cost was causing me heart palpitations.
I sat on the couch’s arm and watched the repairman work. Dad had walked down the street to drop in on some of his friends that lived a couple blocks away, and Claire left with him. Jason was around somewhere, but I didn’t much care exactly where he’d gotten off to. It was much easier sitting there on the couch and not having to look at him anyway. Every time I turned around, our relationship became more and more complicated. The whole fiasco with the window really was the cherry on top.
The first panes were just being put in when Jason appeared on the other side of the gaping hole. My heart leaped a little bit, but I took a deep breath and pushed any and all giddy feelings down to my toes.
Trust me, heart. He’s not one you want to get involved with.
Opening the door, Jason came inside. I pointedly looked at the ground as he walked over and stood right next to me.
“Can I have a seat?”
“Yeah,” I said, my tone as stiff as my shoulders.
He sat down on the opposite end of the couch and I glanced up, catching his eye for a second before I forced myself to look away. He cleared his throat but didn’t say anything. Behind us, the little chipping noises of the repair sounded, but other than that downtown Crystal Brook was almost akin to a ghost town.
I ran my tongue across the inside of my mouth, distracting myself with counting my teeth. The action only reminded me of what kissing Jason was like, though. Feeling even surlier, I clenched my hands together and stared at my lap.
Afte
r a few minutes, he broke the silence. “So this shop has always been your dream, huh?”
I looked up to stare at him. Could he really be so casual and friendly after the way I had nearly flipped out on him?
He’s trying to make you feel guilty. Don’t fall for it.
“Sure.”
He didn’t skip a beat. “That’s why you always worked in coffee shops in New York? It was all part of the plan?”
“Jason,” I said, unable to take it anymore. “Things aren’t friendly between us. I know what you’re doing.”
His perfect brows furrowed. “What exactly do you think I’m doing?”
“You’re trying to change my mind about you by being super friendly and making me feel bad about earlier.”
His face softened. “You’re wrong about that.”
I crossed my arms. “Sure,” I muttered, not caring how much sarcasm dripped from the word.
“It really is a gift. I’m not trying to get the upper hand or anything.”
I tapped my pointer finger against my arm, nervous and running out of things to say.
“Okay,” I finally answered, although I still didn’t believe him. At least I could lay the conversation to rest. There would be plenty more days to come where I would drive myself crazy thinking about the big favor I never asked for, and at that moment, I was tired of even thinking about the issue.
Jason gazed past me out the window, and I did the same. Big blankets of snow covered the buildings across the street, making the familiar block seem strange and foreign. The faintest sounds of children shrieking slipped in through the holes in the window, and I smiled a bit. At least there were some people out there having a great Christmas.
“They must be sledding,” Jason commented.
I worked my jaw around, trying to fight the desire to answer. “Yeah,” I eventually said.
“We should go.”
I laughed. “I haven’t been sledding in years.”
He gave me a funny look. “Why not? It’s not just for kids.”
“We don’t get many snows like this around here. It’s usually just a light dusting. And when I was in New York, I never even thought of that. I guess I was too busy trying to do cool, grown up things.”
I clamped my mouth shut, surprised and slightly ashamed at having suddenly opened up so much.
“You must have when you were a kid,” he said. “At least a few times.”
I stretched my feet out against the floor and studied my boots. “There were a few times.”
“I can see Claire and you now.”
I laughed. “When I was twelve, we got a massive storm. She and I went with our friend Kelsey to this really big hill on Ayr Street. It’s, like, the biggest in town. We had one of those enormous wooden sleds all three of us could fit in. It was the best thing ever.” I laughed harder, the images of that day suddenly floating back. “There was this house right across the street from the hill, and one of the times all three of us were on the sled, we went right across the street and into this car parked in the driveway. The front of the sled dented the car.”
Jason chuckled. “What happened?”
“We got up and ran away.”
He laughed. “I support that, even though I shouldn’t.”
“What about you? Did you ever go sledding?”
He ran his thumb down his jaw, looking thoughtful. “Yeah. My best friend Miles and I used to raise hell in the winter. One year when I was visiting him, we filled up water balloons with food coloring then piled them up on this sled and went around the block throwing them on doorsteps.”
“Why? Just to make the snow colored?”
He shrugged. “I guess. Sometimes boys just do things because it’s something to do. It doesn’t always make sense.”
“Still, that’s not exactly the sledding I was talking about.”
He grinned. “Yeah, it’s not. I’ll have to bring that story up to Miles. I wonder if he even remembers it.”
I looked at him with new interest. “You guys are still friends?”
He nodded. “He’s been my best friend since the day we met.”
“Wow,” I breathed.
“You’re not still friends with people you grew up with? I thought that was what a small town was all about.”
“Um, yeah, maybe it is,” I admitted, feeling self-conscious. “I don’t really know.” He cocked his head, and I decided to go on, if only for the hell of it. “I moved away, you know? When I came back, things were different. I mean, Kelsey still lives in Crystal Brook, but she has two kids now. It’s like, wow… so different from my life.” I thought about it some more. “And I had friends in New York, but they’re in this whole other different place. They’re still going out every weekend and having a good time. When I call them, it’s like we don’t have much to talk about. They’re like, ‘Wow, I got so wasted on tequila this weekend. I banged this dude at Fire Island,’ and I’m like, ‘I know, life is crazy. My paper goods supplier shorted me on java jackets this week. How am I going to survive?’”
I stopped talking to take a breath and saw Jason watching me with an amused smile on his face. The embarrassment flooded over me in a quick jolt. When he’d slipped back into the shop, I hadn’t meant to talk to him at all, much less go on such a long winded rant.
I looked down at my lap and began intently studying my fingernails. “So anyway…”
“You can be hilarious,” he said. “But it comes out at unexpected times. Just like with Claire.”
I peeked up at him. “That’s because she’s probably trying to keep it in check around you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. She’s got the dirtiest mouth I’ve ever met.”
He smiled wider. “Somehow I already suspected that.”
I began to smile myself, but the little voice in my head quickly jumped in. Nothing has changed, it reminded me. Things are still messed up between us.
I stood up and wiped my sweating palms on my pants. “I need to check again for glass.”
“Okay. I can help.”
“No,” I quickly said, turning away from him. “That’s fine.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“No,” I snapped so fiercely that the repairman looked up and over at me. “You’ve done enough,” I continued. “More than you needed to.”
Still making a point to not look at him, I grabbed the broom and moved it along the base of the wall, searching for tiny flecks I might have missed before.
Footsteps sounded, and the door opened and closed as Jason went outside. I stared at the bricks, trying to focus on the task at hand.
I’d let my guard down and he’d almost gotten inside again. He’d known what he was doing the whole time too. He knew he was manipulating my emotions by getting me to talk about childhood memories.
Damn him. He should leave real estate and become a professional con artist.
By the time the work was done, the sun had begun to set. Dark crept through the front window of Freddy’s like a black shroud, although I now had another window there to watch its appearance through.
The four of us trudged back to the house, my fingers and toes thoroughly frozen. I kept my distance from Jason, still not wanting to look at him or even acknowledge his existence. He was slick, he really was. During our conversation on the couch, he’d almost had me, but I would never be able to forget that through his act of supposed generosity he had managed to gain hold of something he could forever hold over my head. Always, no matter what I did, he would continue to be seen as the better person. And I was the nasty bitch. There was no way around it.
He had done it. He’d won our war.
And it fucking sucked to be on the losing side.
We stamped the snow from our boots and left them in the hall, following the smell of bread baking into the kitchen.
Mom turned around from where she was dicing some vegetables. “Done already?”
“Yep.” I fell into one of the kitchen chairs. No
one else was anywhere to be seen, but the sounds of Danny’s favorite video game floated in from the living room.
Claire sat down next to me, her cheeks red from the cold outside. “It’s all fixed up.”
Dad walked in and peeked into the big pot on the back of the stove, but Jason was nowhere to be found.
“Was it really bad?” Mom asked.
I nervously twirled a piece of hair around my finger. “Yeah, it was. But it’s taken care of now. Someone was able to come out from Wake.”
She smiled. “Oh, that’s so wonderful, and such a sweet thing to do over Christmas! And now you have a shiny new window!”
My mother, ladies and gentlemen. She’s always looking on the bright side.
“Is insurance going to cover it all?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, peeking at Dad over her shoulder. Instead of saying anything, he unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them up. We hadn’t talked about it, but the unspoken agreement was that the window being fixed under the table was going to remain something of a secret. Mom liked to do things by the book, and if she knew I hadn’t contacted my insurance agency, she would likely flip out. Her “looking on the bright side” didn’t extend much past the law abiding side of the tracks.
“Harry, get the bread crumbs down, please,” Mom instructed Dad.
I leaned back in my chair, catching Claire’s eye. I expected her to open her mouth and say something — either about Jason paying for the window or about how unnecessarily cruel I was to him — but she only got up and walked away.
Is she mad at me?
My stomach rolled in a sickening way. Was there anything in my life not getting turned upside down?
Sighing, I stood as well. “I’m going to go get cleaned up,” I said. “Then I can help with dinner.”
“Dad and I have it,” Mom said. “Why don’t you go entertain Jason?”
I could think of half a dozen reasons as to why I shouldn’t do that, but none of them were things my mother needed to know about. My whole body ached as I climbed the stairs, but I had a feeling it had to do more with the mental exhaustion of the last few days than any physical exertion itself. The bathroom across the hall from my old bedroom was free, so I quickly stripped, then turned the water on as hot as I could stand it.
Damaged (Crystal Brook Billionaires) Page 20