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Her heart cracked in her chest with such force, she was sure she could hear it splintering into a million pieces.
"Yes, we talked about it, but I had no idea he was going to try to buy you all out."
"That's bullshit and you know it," Colleen said, grief and anger at her own stupidity turning her vision red. "Didn't you tell me you know every corner of the Lazy Creek business? Nothing happens that you don't know about. You even said yourself, months ago, that your dad would be interested in buying us out."
"Well," Robert started but JT cut him off.
"And I knew you would never go for it," JT said angrily. "You really think I'd do this? Lie to you and go behind your back to get your mother to do a deal?"
Did she? She thought of him, sitting across the table at the sushi restaurant. Trust me, he'd said. In that moment, she had. Now, every instinct told her that he was as kind and straightforward as he appeared to be.
Appeared. And that was the operative word, wasn't it? Gregory had appeared to be wonderful, caring, considerate, and most of all, faithful.
In the end, he'd only acted only in his own self interests.
Could she really trust that JT wouldn't do the same?
"It seems pretty clear to me that you did."
Her words hit JT like a sucker punch to the chest. In that moment, he realized what an idiot he'd been. Telling himself that if he just took it slow, treated her right, she would trust him. She'd realize he was nothing like her lying, cheating, douchebag of an ex.
She'd let down her guard and let herself love him as much as he loved her.
She'd warned him she was broken, hadn't she? And the worst part was that she was bound and determined to stay that way.
No matter how much he loved her, he wasn't going to be able to fix her. No one was.
He shook his head. "I'm not your ex-husband. I'm not a liar, and I don't sneak around behind the backs of the people I love." He shot a glare at his dad, who, for all his bullish expression, at least had the grace to blush. "But Liam was right. I should have stayed away from you."
He took one last, long look at her, her shoulders stiff, her skin ashen, her eyes dark blue with devastation. He turned and walked out.
Colleen watched him retreat, forcing herself not to call out after him. This was for the best, she told herself. Better to have him disappoint her early than to give more months, maybe years, to another man she couldn't fully trust.
His truck roared to life, his spinning tires kicking up gravel as he sped down her driveway. She closed the door and returned to the kitchen, where her mother and JT's father were speaking in low tones.
"I'm sure we can get it all sorted out," Robert was saying.
"There's nothing to sort out. We're not selling," Colleen snapped.
Robert’s look darted between her and her mother, then he picked his hat up from the kitchen table and placed it on his head. "I'll be in touch soon, Eileen."
As soon as the door closed behind him she turned on her mother. "What the fuck, Mom?"
"Colleen!" Her mother brought a delicate hand to her throat. "Language!"
"Mom, you're talking about selling our family home, and you're getting after me about language? How could you do this?"
"I didn't do anything Colleen. Robert approached me a few days ago."
"Does Liam know about this?"
Her mom shook her head. "I didn't want to say anything to either of you until I knew if it was worth even considering. And I'd say it's worth considering."
"How can you say that? You and Dad worked so hard to buy his family out precisely so we could keep it for generations, and now you just want to throw in the towel?"
"I don't think it's throwing in the towel to seriously consider an offer that will provide me with a very comfortable retirement, not to mention set you and your brother up and pay for your kids' college."
"I'm pretty sure a kid's college fund is a moot point for me." An image of JT's face popped into her brain, and her heart felt like it was being squeezed by a giant fist. "I don't care how big the offer is. I'm not taking it. And I know Liam won't either. We won't do that to Dad."
