Mallory laughed. “I don’t see that happening. I can’t believe you left this beautiful house behind.”
“I haven’t left it. I’m leasing it out as a holiday rental.” He frowned at the phone. “I couldn’t bring myself to sell it. Not yet, anyway.”
“You’re not staying in Sunnyville?” Had she gotten that wrong? She thought he’d made the move permanently. He’d taken the job at Mercy-Life and bought this house.
“Oh we’re staying. At least until Mad finishes high school. I want him to grow up near his aunt and uncle and his cousin or cousins if Ry and Maz have more kids. I want him staying in one place throughout his school years.”
“Sunnyville is a beautiful town.” Her own desire to stay here struck hard. She’d miss the place when she went back to New York. If she went back. There was nothing for her there except Donna, and the way their relationship was disintegrating, Mallory thought by the time everything played out she’d be on her own.
“It is. I like that it’s not too large but not too small. Are you going to stay then? You said you only planned to stay here for a few months? Have you changed your mind?”
“No. That’s still the plan.” The thought of leaving left an ache in her chest. New York no longer felt like home. If she were honest, it hadn’t since her father died. Six years of going through the motions in a city she’d stopped feeling connected to. She shrugged. “I’ll see how I feel when it’s time. Plans can change.”
“They can. Look at us. I thought we’d be in Monterey forever and now we’re here.” He reached over and put his hand over hers. “You can live wherever you want. Where other than here do you want to be?”
She’d told him she’d left a stepmother in New York, that both her parents were dead, and she had no extended family. No uncles or aunts or cousins. Nothing to pull her back across the country. “Right now? Nowhere.”
“Then stay in Sunnyville.”
It was a simple thing. Stay. She could. She wanted to. Except in a few short days he might be running her out of town instead of encouraging her to stay. She’d made the decision to tell him everything on Monday. Once she’d spoken to both her lawyers and gotten everything in place to protect Maddox and his trust fund, she needed to tell Jacob.
Even if he kicked her out of his life, out of Maddox’s, he needed to know the connection she had to his past.
She would just have to live with the fallout of that revelation.
17
Jake pulled into the driveway and cut the engine. He didn’t bother pulling into the garage; he only had time for a quick shower before he had to go get Madman from Maz.
And finding a woman on his doorstep—especially when she wasn’t the one he wanted to see—was the last thing he needed this morning.
He’d been out of sorts since Lory left for San Francisco last Friday.
Five days without sight or sound of her and he was going out of his head with worry.
She’d been very vague in what she needed to do. He knew so very little about her life outside of here. He’d only known that something had upset her and she had to go ‘fix’ it.
For the first time in a hell of a long time, he’d wanted to do the fixing for a woman. Except she wouldn’t let him. Wouldn’t even tell him what it was about, why she needed to leave town to deal with it. Nothing.
She’d basically told him nothing.
Maybe that was why he’d been snapping at everyone, including Mad. The secrecy reminded him of the last months of his relationship with Renee.
Hell. His whole relationship and after it with Renee had been about secrets and lies.
He couldn’t do that again.
The woman at his door waved and Jake had no excuse or reason to delay getting out of the truck any longer.
Pulling the keys from the ignition, he took his time, studying the woman covertly from behind his sunglasses.
She had to be in her sixties. Her clothes said she had money. So did the designer handbag on her arm. He’d never seen her before but he got a strange sense of familiarity when he looked at her.
He gave himself a mental slap. There wasn’t any point in hypothesizing; he should just go over there and find out who she was and what she wanted.
Rounding the front of his truck, he headed for the path, his steps slowing when she leaned to the side and peered behind him.
“Maddox isn’t with you?”
