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A fire turned to cold hard steel.
The very sight of Jinx had flipped that switch, igniting the furnace, and now he was going to have to work like hell to shut it off again.
Breathing out a sigh, Logan went to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. He’d never been the kind of man who would drink when he was depressed. He did not respect men who did that. And he hated himself for having caused Jinx to act out that way when she was eighteen and he had abandoned her.
As he grabbed a glass from an overhead cabinet, he saw the jar of apple butter on the counter. He was not surprised she had left it here, even though she’d been so touched when he bought it for her yesterday.
But that was pathetic. The love of his life and all she gets is a jar of apple butter?
He was a damn billionaire, for God’s sake.
He should have been buying her diamonds, taking her on exotic trips, hiring a crew to build a jewelry workshop for her, picking out a big house with her where they could raise their kids…
He had enough money to give her anything she wanted and at one point he had allowed himself to indulge in the dream of spending his life doing all kinds of things to make her happy.
But he hadn’t even gotten past apple butter.
Jinx arrived at her parents’ house by four thirty, knowing her mother would appreciate some help. What she did not expect was that her sister would be there working away, as well as one of her aunts. Guess this was a bigger party than she’d anticipated.
“Why would you wear something like that?” her mother said when Jinx walked into the kitchen.
Jinx shrugged and looked down at the hand-painted tee she wore that had a gray and blue scene of two dragons falling from the sky. Yeah, she had created it when she was really gloomy one day, and, yeah, it was a sad image that suited her mood today.
She also had on turquoise capri leggings. She had forgotten that her mother hated capri leggings. And her mother hated the bold colors Jinx preferred. Hell, most of the time she felt like her mother just plain hated her.
Natalie came to her rescue, as usual, and handed her a potholder and a pan of hot rolls. “Put these in a serving basket.”
Jinx nodded, not sure her voice would hold up. She had been crying so much today already, and had used some makeup that she hoped masked it, but the last thing she wanted to do was start bawling her eyes out in front of her family.
Moving from one task to the next helped. And when she took some drinks out to the backyard, she saw Regan sitting there with her father and a few other relatives who lived not far from here. She wondered if Regan had even offered to help her mother or if Prince Victor had gotten himself a little princess.
Okay, Jinx was in a foul mood, thanks to what happened with Logan, but she also was not crazy over her brother’s fiancée. When Vic had brought Regan to Bajinx earlier in the week, the woman had looked down her nose at the shop, and Jinx had overheard her saying to Victor, “Well, it’s not exactly Tiffany’s.”
Jinx put on a smile as she placed another bottle of wine and a new pitcher of lemonade on the big picnic table. They also had a keg of beer on the ground. Her mom and dad lived in a nice middle class suburban home, a simple four bedroom that had been sufficient for their family over the years, supported by her father’s auto repair business. Her mother had worked part time in the office for him, as did Natalie and Jinx when they came of age.
“You made it, baby sis.” Victor was manning the grill, cooking burgers and hot dogs, but he paused in his work to give her a hug—and whisper in her ear, “Don’t forget to say happy birthday to Regan.”
Jinx knew she would not need to worry about the lie she’d made up concerning the so-called friend named Marla because no one here was interested enough to ask and that suited her just fine.
As she turned for the house, she touched Regan’s shoulder and said, “Happy birthday, Regan.”
She got a smile from Regan and an approving nod from her father and headed inside.
Joining Natalie in the kitchen, she asked, “Where are Phoebe and Clark?”
Her sister rolled her eyes. “Upstairs playing a computer game. But it works for now to keep them occupied. I’ll get them outside when it’s time to eat.”
“Is Shane still in LA?” Jinx really liked Natalie’s husband, who’d actually been a rock star about a decade ago and was now producing and acting in a TV show.
“Yes, he’s still out there, but he already met Regan when we visited Vic in Chicago.” She paused, giving Jinx a look, and lowered her voice, saying, “Are you all right?”
“Sure, I’m just a little tired,” Jinx said, then did a fast change-up asking her mother what to do next.
After a few hours of moving food and drinks around, nibbling a little bit, playing a game of badminton with Natalie’s kids and one of her cousins, then singing happy birthday to Regan, Jinx bowed out and went home.
That same old feeling of being an odd bird on the sidelines of her family made her eager to get away. She knew Natalie would listen if she wanted to talk, but on the subject of Logan, things would go south fast. Especially since Jinx still believed he had been wronged by Victor and her family. And she still had not found the missing piece in that puzzle.
She was glad Anthia had gone home to visit her family for the weekend and that Bailey was with her husband and baby at Devyn’s parents’ house.
