by Joanne Rock
Bethany touched Erin’s arm. “You and Jamie both kept saying how much stuff was being delivered, but until you see it, you can’t really appreciate it.” They stepped back onto the selling floor of the regular store, where a few shoppers took photos of themselves out front.
Last Chance Vintage was definitely experiencing more customers and more sales since the show, just as Remy had predicted.
Unfortunately, the spike in sales hadn’t given her much time to spend with him the past few days. All the more a shame since he planned to return to Miami tomorrow. He and Sarah would drive back together in her car after they dropped off his rental. They’d be home before school resumed on Monday. But then again, there was a surprise planned for tonight.
Maybe he’d changed his mind about leaving. Or maybe he planned to come back once Sarah finished school. Erin had been thinking about it all day. Remy had seemed so excited about whatever it was he had planned.
“Thanks for paying for Jamie to help me out this week.” Erin wouldn’t have known where to start with an inventory project. Lucas’s mom had been invaluable. “I’m glad she got to know Sarah a little bit before she goes home. I have the feeling Lucas and her are going to end up seeing more of each other in the future.”
The two teens had been talking about schools they could both attend, or colleges in the same state so they could visit each other. Remy was skeptical and—while he’d liked Lucas immediately—he worried about the kid’s unstable family.
Of course. Even for someone without Remy’s issues, that was a reasonable concern. But Remy had become more vigilant since the arrest at the store, not letting Sarah go far by herself. Erin had tried not to overthink how much it would hurt to lose Remy, telling herself she needed to concentrate on her own needs for a change—her business and her charitable program.
“He’s a good kid, isn’t he?” Bethany squinted at the front window display and darted into the vignette to straighten a sign that read Go Green—Buy Consignment! “Lucas stopped by Finleys’ Building Supplies on Monday to see his mom’s new office and he seemed so proud of her. He completely won me over.”
“I liked him right away when I met him, too.” Erin checked her phone to see if Remy had texted her. She had one eye on the clock, looking forward to spending time with him. “And apparently his father isn’t eligible for bail because of some drunk-and-disorderly issues in the past and an unanswered summons, so Jamie doesn’t have to worry about him coming around for a while. Plus, once he’s out of jail, the restraining order will go into effect for her, Lucas, Scott and me.”
“Basically, he’ll have to stay out of Heartache when he’s released.” Bethany gave the thumbs-up sign.
“Amen.” Erin gathered her keys and checked her phone for the umpteenth time, still thinking about Remy and whatever surprise he had in store for her. Was he ready to move forward? “You’re sure you want to hang out here after I close up?”
“Positive.” Bethany hugged her. “Jamie has an idea for reorganizing and I’m going to help her get started. You know how I like stuff like that.”
“You do like a plan, don’t you?” She winked at her sister-in-law, so glad to see her happy again. Was it too much to ask for some of that happiness? “I’m grateful to you both.”
She backed out of the store with a wave.
Locking the door with her key, she thanked the excited customers milling around out front. After a few minutes, she climbed into her car to head home, where Remy had said he’d be waiting for her. She’d been wondering about the surprise all day.
She’d also been nervous.
The last time she’d gotten excited about a “surprise” from a guy, she’d been looking for a ring from Patrick. He’d actually been buying expensive “I’m sorry” jewelry for his wife. While— obviously—she knew that Remy wasn’t deceiving her that way, she did worry about letting her expectations get the better of her only to be disappointed later. And no matter how much she cared about Remy, he had been distracted all week about what had happened with Lucas’s father, repeatedly going through scenarios with Sarah on what to do if accosted.
Rolling down her car window, she pulled into her driveway just in time to see Remy pounding a sign into the front yard.
His muscles glistened with a light sheen of sweat, his T-shirt gone missing as he wielded a sledgehammer to get the job done. She admired the enticing show of masculinity without question, but she wondered what on earth he was doing.
She pulled into her driveway and he turned to see her. His broad grin made her smile back. He stepped aside so she could read the sign he’d just installed on a sizable wooden post right where she had planned to plant a peony bush. The sign displayed a logo for a home security company—right underneath the words This home protected by...
He’d installed a home security system.
Disappointment deflated her. She’d let herself really hope this time. Now she needed to drum up some kind of response while she sat in her car and stared through the windshield. She felt gut punched and knew she should stir up enthusiasm. It was very kind of him, and had probably taken several hours to set up. But in spite of everything, she had longed for a romantic gesture before he left. An indication that he cared about her enough to make her a priority.
That risking her heart had been worth it.
“Wow.” She stepped out of the car and strode across the grass. “This is a surprise.”
He wrapped her in his arms and squeezed her tightly. Because he missed her? Or because he spent so much time remembering the horrible death of the woman he could never replace?
She blinked, trying not to let this upset her when she’d known...known...he was planning to leave her tomorrow. Damn it, she had no one to blame but herself for letting herself hope.
“I couldn’t leave here without knowing you’re going to be safe.” He stroked her hair. “Wait until you check out all the features this thing has.”
Circling her waist with one arm, he guided her toward the house.
“Has Sarah seen it?” She wondered what his daughter had thought. “She said she was going to drop by here with Lucas this afternoon to use the internet and search for schools.”
“They were here for an hour or two.” He pointed to the motion-detection lights around her flower bed and on the potting shed. “But I may have slowed down their project when Lucas gave me a hand wiring a few things. I figured it was just as well he worked with me on this so he’d be able to wire his own house one day.”
“You know how to do wiring?” She studied the security cameras trained on the backyard.
A pile of unused fresh-cut lumber remained neatly stacked behind the garage along with some flattened cardboard boxes from a cordless drill, a saw and the security components.
“I only needed to run electricity to a few places.” He raised one arm and showed her how the camera followed the movement. In addition, two big floodlights turned on even though it wasn’t dark outside yet. “It’s deceptive because they call the system ‘wireless’ since it uses cellular coverage to send information to your phone and to the home security monitoring company. But you still have to run some wires to power the electrical mechanisms.”
“Who sees the footage on all the cameras?” How comfortable would she feel in her backyard knowing her every movement was recorded?
Although, the bigger concern was how clearly this system broadcast his intention to leave town. There would be no last-minute change of heart. No declaration that he realized he wanted to spend more time with her or that she meant too much to him for him to be without her. Remy was leaving and taking his daughter with him. She’d foolishly let herself hope for so much more.
“You can send feeds wherever you want. Check the footage on your secured website or access them from your phone.” Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew his phone and called up the video feed. “The monitoring service, of course, has access to the cameras, but they wouldn’t actively watch any of them. They’d pull up
the recordings only if there was a break-in and you needed evidence to prosecute someone. Or if the police wanted a clue how to find the intruder.”
“Cool.” She tried to smile and be excited about what he’d done, but her heart kept telling her this was all wrong. “I can’t believe you went to so much trouble on your last full day in town.”
She’d started this day with very different hopes for how it might turn out. She’d told him about a fishing spot nearby before she left the house that morning and pictured him visiting it. Pictured him making himself at home in Heartache or remembering some of his love for nature, which she’d seen in his old photographs. Instead, he’d been leaving her with one final parting gift to keep her safe.
“I’ve been planning this all week.” He pulled her to sit down beside him on the outdoor sofa on her back deck. “So even when you were trying to convince me to fish, I knew how I’d be spending today. I only just finished up and I worked from the second your car pulled out of the driveway.”
“Perfect timing.” Heart aching, she kissed his cheek. It tasted like clean male sweat. In spite of the empty ache in her chest, she wanted to drag him inside and undress him, to use her last hours with him to make him see how good they could be together.
But if it hadn’t worked yet, why did she think she stood any chance of swaying him now when he already had one of his suitcases in the trunk of Sarah’s car?
“I hope you like it.” He reached toward her purse, which she’d set on the deck, and pulled out her phone. “Do you mind if I set you up with the feeds and then we can figure out what to do about dinner?”
She drew in a deep breath and nodded, telling herself to put on a brave face. “That’d be great. In fact, I’ll go look and see what I have in the fridge while you do that.”
They could still have a nice dinner at least. And she knew he’d take her out if she wanted to go. Mack and Nina had been looking at properties all over town for a prospective restaurant they wanted to open, and she’d hoped they could make the rounds after dinner and see where they were. Right to the bitter end, Erin kept hoping something about Heartache would make Remy want to stay.
Even if it wasn’t her.
She stared, unseeing, into the refrigerator, hoping for inspiration. A miracle to make this day turn out differently.
Until an alarm bell blared so loudly she jumped a foot off the ground.
Confused, it took her a second to realize something had tripped the new security system. Was someone in her house? Fear spiked. Her heart clamored so fiercely she thought it would pound right out of her chest. She saw Remy racing around the front of the house, picking up a two-by-four off the stack of lumber along the way.
“Remy!” Skidding across the kitchen floor, she ran for the front door. What if some neighborhood kid had wandered close to the house? Would that have set off the alarm?
And would Remy be able to think clearly enough to assess a threat?
“Wait!” she screamed over the alarm pealing its high, electronic screech.
A man’s shout drew her to the open garage.
“The cops are already on the way,” Remy was telling someone.
Her legs couldn’t run fast enough, a bad feeling in her gut.
Patrick, her ex-boyfriend, stood in her garage. Cowered in her garage, really. He held up an old lawn chair in front of himself as protection from Remy, who wielded the two-by-four like a bat.
There was a tiny, fleeting moment of pleasure to see Patrick scared out of his mind. He’d deceived her, his wife and—most important—his own children. She could never forgive him for that. But, coming to her senses, she also knew he didn’t deserve to be on the terrifying end of Remy Weldon’s very real demons.
“Remy.” She spoke loud enough to be heard over the alarm. “Please disconnect the alarm. I know this man.”
“What?” He turned slightly her way but didn’t put down the weapon.
“Please relax. This is someone I know.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, her fingers soothing the cold tension in his muscles.
Slowly, Remy lowered the board. Nodded. Seemed to come to his senses. When he yanked his phone out of his pocket and deactivated the alarm, she took her first deep breath in long, frightening minutes.
“Erin, who the hell is this maniac?” Patrick squeaked in an octave he probably hadn’t touched since eighth grade. He kept his hold on the lawn chair, the fraying yellow netting trailing along his T-shirt.
“I don’t owe you explanations, Patrick, but you certainly owe me one.” She’d told him in no uncertain terms she never wanted to see him again. “What the hell are you doing here? I made it very clear what I think of you.”
Remy glanced up, no doubt hearing the frustration in her voice, but he remained calm. “I should call the security people to let them know it’s a false alarm. Should I wait, or will you be all right?” Remy’s gaze flicked to Patrick and back to her.
“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “He’s obnoxious and unwelcome, but he’s not dangerous. And he’s definitely about to leave, but thank you.”
Remy nodded, not going far. He stood in the driveway near her car as he made his phone calls.
“Erin.” Patrick’s voice had returned to semi-normal. He set the chair down. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I came all the way here hoping to win you back. I saw you on that television show and it felt like—I don’t know—fate or something. I needed to try one more time.”
“You don’t get it.” She leaned on the riding lawn mower, still not fully recovered from the fear of seeing Remy take off after an intruder. “I will never want to be with a man who lies to me or cheats on his wife. Even if you promised never to lie or cheat again, I would never trust you.”
“Erin—”
“Nope. Listen. I would also never be with a man who didn’t do everything he could to be there for his kids.” She ticked off this second all-important point on her fingers, thinking how much better a father Remy was—even when he wasn’t at his best. “You missed birthday parties to fly around the country and be with your mistress. It doesn’t matter that it was me. That disgusts me.” It hurt to think she’d been a part of that. To picture some disappointed child’s face—even one she’d never met—and imagine it was her fault his father hadn’t been there for a baseball game or a party or some other part of his young life.
“I did put you first,” Patrick said. “You have to know that you are special to me, so much so I risked my family.” He stepped around a croquet set to move closer until Erin arched an eyebrow. He stepped back. “That’s half the reason I figured I had a shot if I came down here in person. I knew that was important to you. I don’t see how you could think I’d ever put you second when I gave up everything for you.”
His face was so earnest. He truly didn’t understand. And she truly did not want him. She’d been so determined to find a man who loved her above all else, she’d fallen for a guy who said all the right things and made himself available whenever she was free. She knew now that wasn’t what she wanted. Sure, she wanted to be important in a man’s life. But she needed an equal partner. Someone who could bolster her when she needed it, and someone who could lean on her, too. Patrick wasn’t half the man Remy was.
“Surprising as it may seem, Patrick, I actually would never want to win out over a child for first place in any man’s heart.”
“Okay.” He nodded slowly, his neatly combed hair out of place, his T-shirt stained from the rusty leg of the old lawn chair he’d used as a shield. “I’m going. But can I ask you a question first?”
“I can’t promise I’ll answer.” She was letting time slip away. Time she could be spending with Remy. They had a lot to sort out.
A lot more than she’d realized. Nothing had happened the way she had hoped it would today, and her chest burned with the weight of what it meant. The loneliness and hurt that waited on the other side of this day. But now more than ever, she knew she couldn’t settle for having only half of a man�
��s attention.
“Why were we together in the first place?” Patrick shoved his hands in his pockets, still keeping one eye on Remy out in the driveway.
Erin watched Remy now, too, his broad shoulders rolling as he walked out to meet her mother in the meadow midway between their houses. They’d met briefly earlier in the week. No doubt her mother had been concerned after hearing the security alarm.
Remy could even settle her mother, his easy Cajun charm going to work on Erin’s parent in a way she recognized in Mom’s body language. Shoulders relaxing. Feminine laughter ringing out over the meadow as she threw her head back at some shared joke. God, she’d fallen for that same charm despite knowing the darker layers underneath it. Turning her attention back to Patrick, she tried to puzzle together why she’d ever noticed him in the first place.
“We were together because I wanted to be the center of a guy’s world and was too blind to look past the time we spent together. Now I’ve learned to find fulfillment in my own life and in my work. Learning that was a good thing. But being with you also robbed me of the energy and hopeful romanticism I could have used when I met the right man.”
Patrick followed her gaze.
“Not that guy.” His mouth gaped in disbelief. “Come on, Erin. You had to talk him down from the ledge just now. You don’t want to spend your time dealing with more crazy people. Didn’t you say your mother was nuts?”
“Get. Out.” She enunciated, positive she’d never called her mother “nuts” or anything close to it. “Leave now, Patrick, before I call him back and personally hand him the two-by-four.”
His face paled. This time, she relished it.
When he took off running, she knew it was the last she’d ever see of him, thank goodness. He’d only come down here because of the television show, to try to enjoy her fifteen minutes of fame with her. He’d always liked her “artsy” side, as he called it.
But he’d gotten the message. Stay away from her and Heartache.
In the distance, she saw Remy tromp back through the tall grass toward the house, keeping an eye on her retreating visitor. She met him in the middle of the lawn, right beside her flower bed where an ornamental tree bloomed tiny pink flowers.