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So often she’d told him, “You can draw more bees with honey than vinegar.” Once again, she’d placed confidence in his good character. Confidence he didn’t have in himself but now felt compelled to live up to.
Jax explained the situation to them, along with Victor’s misuse of his statement.
“He should be ashamed of himself, twisting the truth to fit his agenda,” Ellen huffed. “I’m going to have a talk with his mother.”
Jax stifled a laugh. He loved her sweet spirit. The mother he never had. Wait. He did have her. In fact, she’d been there for him for most of his life. While Ellen wasn’t his biological mother, he loved the woman like a mother and she loved him like a son. He did have a mother. Ellen. Why hadn’t he come to that conclusion before? God had replaced the mother who neglected him with a mother figure who loved and cherished him. Whom he loved and cherished. Some of the bitterness melted away at God’s generosity. He hugged Ellen back, and she patted his cheek.
His uncle stepped forward, drawing his attention again.
“How are you feeling, Uncle Sam? I’m sorry about the level of stress last night. It won’t happen again.”
His uncle threw the paper on the ground. “You can’t put me in a bubble, son. I’m a grown man. I have to live my life. Stop blaming yourself and taking responsibility for blocking every stressor on me. No one could have predicted what happened last night. No one could have prevented it. Not Seyla, not the sanctuary, not you. The focus here should be onfinding the person responsible for sabotaging the sanctuary and endangering the animals and the public.” He pointed to the paper. “Fix this.” He stalked into the house.
“Ouch. That was painful.” Jax bit his lip.
Ellen stood on her tiptoes to ruffle his hair. “I know you’ll take care of this. As for your uncle, this has been a blow to his pride. It isn’t easy for him to admit he’s not as strong as he used to be. He can’t take on the world anymore, and that hurts. He needs some time to adjust.”
In that moment, Jax discovered he’d been treating his uncle like Seyla’s family treated her. The extent of his hypocrisy stung. Uncle Sam didn’t deserve to be treated that way. It wouldn’t happen again. “Tell him I’m sorry I acted like that.”
“I will.” Ellen squeezed his arm. She went inside, leaving him with Jessa and Matt.
“I believe you,” Matt said. “Let’s tackle the task of damage control now.”
Matt was referring to the public scrutiny. All Jax could think about was Seyla’s sense of betrayal. This time, he’d been the one extending that olive branch that had morphed into barbed wire. The realization stung worse than his shoulder. Sure, he planned to buy out the sanctuary in the end. Not in such an underhanded manner, though. It didn’t feel right. Despite that conviction, he’d somehow become part of a targeted smear campaign. Warranted or not, the damage was done. “Do you know where she went?”
“Her apartment,” Matt answered.
With a broken window anyone could crawl through? “When did she leave?”
“Right before you got here.”
Jax bent to retrieve the paper, tucked it under his arm, and jogged to his truck. After he got in, he shouted out the window, “I’ll talk to her. See what I can do.” He circled the truck around and coasted down the driveway.
“Good luck!” Matt yelled.
“You’ll need it,” Jessa added in a loud voice with an ominous tone.
When Jax arrived at Seyla’s place, he spotted her walking through the front door. He ran across the parking lot and mounted the steps.
She whirled around, her eyes open wide, startled by the noise behind her. Anger drove the fear from her features the instant she processed that it was him.
“You’ve said enough, don’t you think? What else could you possibly have to say to me?” She put her hand on the handle to shut the storm door, but he stuck a foot on the threshold.
“Seyla, let me explain.”
“Fine. When I’m done, you can say what you came to say. After that, please leave.” She walked into the apartment, ignoring him while she gathered supplies to clean up.
“Want a hand?”
“No.”
Maybe it was best to give her a few minutes to calm down. Jax sat and waited at the table while Seyla hung a sheet over the broken window. She secured it, swept the glass into a trash bin, and released the cats from a room down the hall.
His hands toyed with the red berries on the table’s centerpiece to keep from getting up to help. His jaw unhinged when one popped off.Uh oh. He scooted it under the rest of the centerpiece and two more fell off.
Seyla looked his way.
Jax shut his mouth, pasting a smile on his face. He’d wait to tell her until after he explained what happened last night. She was mad enough already.
