“Yeah, it was a tough one. She was a nice kid. I met her during orientation. Came from a family of police officers and was excited to start. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“She was responding to a domestic violence incident, they said on the news?” Joe asked.
“Yeah, she was with another officer, and was in the way when the shooting started.”
“You didn’t mention this earlier?” Jenna said.
“I know. I didn’t really want to talk about it,” he said.
“That’s understandable,” Shirley said.
The ride home was a tense one. Jenna’s mind had been spinning for the second half of the game and on the ride home, she made a hard decision, but a necessary one, for her.
When Charlie pulled into their parking spot, she turned to him with damp eyes.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do this. I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me this earlier.”
Charlie sighed. “This is why. I thought you might react this way.”
“I can’t help it. I just—I just can’t do this, Charlie. I care for you too much. I can’t go through what my mother went through.”
“Okay. I thought maybe what we had might be strong enough for you to want to try.” The sadness in his voice broke her heart, but it didn’t weaken her resolve.
“It’s because of how I feel about you that I just can’t let this go further. I hope you can understand?”
“I do, but I don’t. I don’t think I can go back to the way things were, Jenna. Let me know if you change your mind.”
“I will.”
* * *
Charlie felt gutted as he drove to his own condo and went inside. It had been the worst day he’d ever had on the job and hanging over it all day was the fear of how Jenna would react when she heard the news. Unfortunately, she did as he’d expected she would. He supposed that he didn’t really blame her. He’d hoped that once they made the move to being more than friends that she wouldn’t want to go back.
He spent the next few weeks focusing all of his energy on his writing, diving into it at night as well as his morning sessions. It gave him something to do and was an escape from having to think about Jenna. He’d hoped he might hear from her, but one week slipped into two and before he knew it a month had passed.
He’d called once, to see if she wanted to go to Trivia, hoping they could at least get back into their normal routine and he could see her, even if it was just as a friend. But she reminded him that he’d said that he didn’t want to go back to the way things were and she didn’t either—not yet, anyway. That had put him into a dark mood and he’d gone to the pub anyway, just to get out of the house.
Shirley and Joe were there and invited him to join them and he did, but it only made him miss Jenna more. He went home at half-time, telling them that he wasn’t feeling well, which was truthful. He was heart-sick. He opened up his laptop when he got home and dove into the comfort of his story world, where good always prevailed and there was a guaranteed happy ending.
He was cheered up a few days later, though, by a call from Amber. She reminded him that his Bookster ad was running the next day and told him to keep an eye on his downloads and sales. Her excitement was contagious and Charlie promised her he would report back at the end of the week to let her know what kind of results he’d had.
Charlie was blown away by the results of the Bookster ad. Amber had told him what was possible, but it had seemed too much to hope for that his sales would pick up that much. But they did. Thousands of copies were sold and his book shot to the top of the mystery lists. He was thrilled, but thought it wouldn’t last more than a day or two. A curious thing happened though. His sales dropped, but then started to climb again and stayed steady at levels he had never seen before.
Amber was glad to hear it, when he reported in, but she also told him that she wasn’t surprised at all and that he should get used to it. She predicted that his next new release would be his best yet and lift sales of all his other books. That really made him think and to make a decision that was huge for him. He had some money saved, and he had some equity now that he’d inherited Uncle Bob’s place. He really didn’t want to sell it, but he could if he had to.
He went in to work the next morning and put in his notice. It was the scariest thing he’d ever done, but he felt in his gut that it was the right decision. He was going to make a go of being a full-time writer and he was going to get Jenna back.
Chapter 15
A month after going to Big Sky, Jenna was down almost ten pounds and her mother gave her a disapproving head-to-toe once-over when she stopped by the shop with coffee. While she’d talked with her every other day or so on the phone, she hadn’t seen her since she came back from Big Sky. She’d been busy with weddings, and also had heard from two of Aunt Daisy’s art gallery friends.
One was interested in including some of her photographs in an upcoming show and the other asked if she was open to referrals for custom portraits as one of their clients was looking for someone. She was and after meeting with the client, agreed to photograph his family and also to take individual photographs for the executives at his company. It was the biggest private assignment she’d taken on yet. It was exciting and a bit stressful too.
“You look awful. Have you been sick? I’ve never seen you this thin,” her mother said.
“I’m not sick. I just haven’t had much of an appetite,” Jenna admitted.
“What’s wrong? Is it Charlie?”
Jenna nodded. “I really miss him. Everything else is going great. I’ve never been so busy. I just didn’t expect to still miss him this much.”
“You’re in love. That’s what happens,” her mother said wisely as she took the lid off her coffee and stirred in a packet of sugar.
Jenna frowned. “I ended things with him. The weekend in Montana was wonderful, but we got too close, and I got scared. You know how I feel about being with someone who does that job. I don’t think I could handle it.”
“I think you can. It’s part of who he is. If you love him, you have to love all of him, even the hard parts.”
Her mother’s words sunk in and Jenna felt something lift inside. It was hope.
“Do you really think so?”
Her mother smiled. “I do. If you love him, tell him how you feel. You can find a way to make this work.”
The front door chimed and an older gentleman with snow-white hair, and a baby blue cashmere sweater strolled in and smiled when saw her mother. She immediately walked over to him.
“Oh good, you’re here. I was afraid you might miss Jenna.” Her mother hugged him and he gave her an enthusiastic kiss. She was blushing when she turned to introduce them.
“Jenna, this is my neighbor, Harry.”
Harry held out his hand, his eyes twinkling as he said, “a pleasure to meet you. Your mother talks about you all the time.”
“Honey, we have some big news. Harry has asked me to marry him, and I’ve said yes.”
The two of them were beaming and looked so happy that Jenna couldn’t help but congratulate them even though she was shocked at how quickly things had moved. She supposed though, that at their age they knew how they felt and probably didn’t see the point in waiting.
“When are you thinking of getting married? I could check with Breckenridge Manor if you like?” Her mother and Harry exchanged glances.
“We’ve both done that before, honey. We were just thinking we’d go to Vegas for the weekend. We both like to play the slots.”
“It will be a grand adventure!” Harry said.
Jenna smiled. “That does sound like fun.”
* * *
Jenna left her mother’s shop a half hour later. Once she’d gotten over the initial shock of her mother’s engagement, she’d thought about everything they’d discussed and was feeling better than she’d felt in weeks. She went to call Charlie from the car as she drove to her next appointment and was surprised to find
that she had a voice message from him, asking her to call. Her heart lifted, hoping it was a sign that he was still open to trying again. She called him right back, but he didn’t answer, so she left a message asking him to stop by after work if he wasn’t busy.
* * *
Jenna felt a bit of nerves come over her as she waited for Charlie to arrive. He hadn’t called her back, so she assumed he was coming. But she worried a little that maybe it was too late and he’d changed his mind. Then again, he had called her, so hopefully that wasn’t the case. She jumped when she heard a knock on the door. She opened it and Charlie stood there with an unreadable expression, but then he smiled and she relaxed. How she’d missed that smile.
“Nice to see you. Can I get you a beer?”
“Sure,” he said and followed her into the kitchen. Jenna opened a beer and handed it to him, and then poured a glass of merlot for herself. They went into her living room and sat on her sofa. Charlie sat on one end and she sat on the other. Felix jumped up in the middle and curled up next to Charlie.
“See, I told you he likes me.”
Jenna smiled. “He’s not the only one. I’ve done a lot of thinking over the past few weeks, and I’ve really missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too. More than you know.” Jenna saw the hurt in his eyes and felt her own grow misty as she realized the pain she’d caused him. She moved closer on the sofa, set her wine glass on the coffee table and faced him.
Jenna took a deep breath and then asked, “What did you want to talk to me about? I was surprised when I got your message as I was about to call you too.”
“You were?” Charlie looked nervous but smiled and seemed a little relieved when she admitted that she’d wanted to call him too.
He leaned forward, and set his beer down. “I have some news that I hope you’ll be happy about. I quit my job today.”
“You did?” Jenna felt both dismay and elation at the same time. “Can you get it back? I’ve done a lot of thinking these past few weeks and it should have been obvious to me sooner, but I realized that I love you. As much more than a friend. And I know it will be hard, but I decided that I will find a way to deal with what you do for a living. I know your job is important to you and I don’t want you to quit just for me.”
Charlie scooped up Felix and gently moved him to the other side of the sofa. “Sorry, buddy.” He took her hands then and looked deep into her eyes.
“Jenna, I think I’ve been in love with you almost as long as I’ve known you. Even more so since our weekend in Montana. I don’t want to be apart anymore.”
“I don’t either.”
He pulled Jenna into his arms then and kissed her passionately. They had weeks of missing each other to make up for. When they finally came up for air, he brushed a stray piece of hair off her forehead and smiled. “Let’s get married as soon as possible. We can go to town hall and make it official within the week.”
Jenna laughed. “That’s a crazy idea.”
Charlie frowned. “Unless you want a big wedding, of course. My aunt would probably love that.”
“She might, I don’t. Maybe it’s because I photograph so many of them, but I have no desire for anything like that. Town hall sounds good to me. Where will we live?”
“Well, things have changed for me a bit. I have something to confess to you.”
Jenna sat back and waited, wondering what he was talking about.
“I haven’t told anyone about this, except for Amber. She’s the only person that knows.”
“Amber? The young blonde girl?”
“Yes, she’s been helping me. She works for a marketing and advertising agency and has helped several mystery authors to increase their sales.”
Jenna was confused. “What does that have to do with you?”
Charlie grinned. “I’d like to introduce you to my alter ego—Maxwell Jones, mystery author. I’ve published three books so far and am almost done with a fourth. Amber set up some promotions that have more than tripled my sales. It looks as though I may be able to do this full-time, sooner than I expected.”
“Really? That’s wonderful! But how come you never told me? Amber knew?” As happy as she was for him, Jenna couldn’t help feeling hurt that the pretty blonde girl knew his secret before she did.
“I only told her because she happened to mention what she did for work and when I told her I wrote mysteries too, she wanted to help me. I didn’t tell you or anyone else because this was too important to me. I guess I was afraid, and wanted to wait until you could really be proud of me, when the books were actually selling.”
Jenna ran her hand through his hair and pressed a kiss on his lips.
“I would have been proud of you even if you only sold one copy, and it was to me.”
Charlie pulled her closer to him. “Have I mentioned yet that I love you?”
“Maybe, but feel free to say it again.”
Charlie brought his lips to hers, and proceeded to show her, again and again.
Epilogue
Six months later….
Jenna heard the car coming down the driveway and opened the front door to welcome Charlie and Aunt Daisy home. Charlie had driven into Bozeman to pick his aunt up at the airport and she and Goliath were spending the next two weeks with them.
Jenna patted the dog next to her, holding tight to his leash so he wouldn’t rush outside and startle them. She didn’t want him to scare Goliath who could be stressed out from the flight.
“Is this the new addition to the family you were telling me about?” Aunt Daisy asked as she stepped inside and gave Jenna a big hug. Charlie followed behind, juggling her bags and the carrying case that held Goliath.
“Yes, this is David,” Jenna said, giving the young black lab beside her a pat on the head.
“He’s beautiful. He and Goliath should get along. Goliath likes to boss around big dogs.”
Jenna chuckled. “Well, David is a sweetie. We adopted him a few weeks ago from the local shelter. He’s just two years old. He was actually an early retirement gift of sorts for Charlie, when he left the police department. He’d always wanted a dog and now that he works from home, it seemed like the right time.” They were now splitting their time between Big Sky and Jenna’s condo in San Francisco.
Aunt Daisy looked at her nephew and nodded. “I’m so proud of you. And I still can’t believe you never told me about your books.”
“He didn’t tell me, either!” Jenna said with a laugh.
Aunt Daisy smiled. “And now he’s a New York Times bestseller. My friends are all terribly impressed, you know.”
Charlie chuckled. “I still can’t believe it myself. Amber got things going for me, and it’s kind of snowballed since then. People seem to really like my most recent book.” He looked at Jenna and raised his eyebrows. “That’s the one I mostly wrote when you dumped me. I did it in a fever rush, when I was too miserable to do anything else.”
“Very funny.” Jenna looked at Aunt Daisy. “His new one is even better.”
“We have some other news, too,” Charlie began and then glanced at Jenna first and she nodded.
“We just found out last week and wanted to tell you in person. We’re going to have another family member soon, in about seven months.”
Aunt Daisy looked at though she’d just won the lottery. Her eyes grew misty and for once she was speechless. But just for a moment.
“There’s nothing you could have said that would make me any happier than I feel right now.” She set her enormous leather purse on the kitchen table and started to rummage through it. “I came across this picture last week when I was doing some reorganizing. I meant to give it to you months ago.” She handed Jenna the picture and Charlie stood by her side to see it, too.
“I snapped it the night of my Daffodil Derby party, before the two of you came to your senses and started dating. I thought you might like it. It’s quite good of the two of you.”
“It’s a great picture,” Charlie sai
d. Jenna agreed and as she looked at it, she saw confirmation of what she’d seen in the picture she’d taken of Charlie at his cousin’s wedding. The love they had for each other was apparent in this candid shot that his aunt had snapped when they didn’t even realize she was taking it. Charlie was pushing a stray piece of hair off her forehead and Jenna was looking up at him as if he was the only person that mattered in her world.
“It’s perfect. Thank you. I’ll find a frame for it today.”
“Yes, it’s a keeper, isn’t it?” Aunt Daisy said happily.
Jenna met Charlie’s eyes and they both smiled.
“Yes, it is,” they both said at the same time.
~The End~
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Sneak Peek—Ryder Revisited
Prologue
Ryder Revisited is my first book in the new Quinn Valley Ranch series. This is a multi-author series of sweet romances set in a small Idaho town. In this story, Bethany needs a job. Quinn needs a chef. But is he desperate enough to hire his first love?
We need to do something about Ryder. It’s time he found someone and got married,” Gertrude Quinn said as she set a platter of raspberry jam filled thumbprint cookies in the center of the table. It was Wednesday afternoon and as usual, her friends Maude, Nellie, Betty and Ruby were over for tea. They’d met every Wednesday at Gertrude’s home, Quinn Valley Ranch for ages. Ryder was one of Gertrude’s many grandchildren and the oldest of five children born to her son Richard and his wife, Marcia, who was a widow.
The Wedding Photo Page 7