Zander nodded. “Timing’s crucial.”
“Women need space,” Duke blurted.
Sheesh. Burke felt like his head was going to explode. “Okay.”
“As for the rest of us,” Zander said thoughtfully, “we’re here to keep you from going crazy.”
Claudia made her way over to Burke and, without hesitation, put her hand over his. “I’ll help too. Believe it or not, I’m very glad you came to us.”
Those final comments helped quell the pain. Pain he’d managed to—by pure denial alone—keep mostly at bay. But with the outpouring of support by his family, Burke even sensed sparks of warmth and hope someplace deep in his chest. Justine was meant to be with him, he could feel it. This had to work out.
“Thank you,” he finally said with a nod. “That means…the world.” And it did. It made him think that maybe, just maybe, the life he’d hoped for wasn’t so far out of reach after all.
“Now,” Zander said, fingers hovered over the return key. He gave it a solid click. “Let’s see what the media has to say.”
Chapter 27
Justine poured herself a mug of coffee without taking the time to breathe in the aroma. In the days since the tree lighting, she’d fallen out of that habit. Yesterday, she’d gotten all the way to dinner before realizing she hadn’t paused to take pleasure in even one thing the entire day. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she had.
But how could she find daily pleasures when she was in so much pain? At this point, Justine would settle for feelingokay.As it was, she felt like a walking, aching bruise. Like the tiniest bump or ripple would bring it all back—the flood of hurt she’d spent the last few days trying to climb out of.
She shuffled over to the kitchen table, lowered herself gently onto the chair, and reached for her phone. Burke must have brought it back to her while she slept that night after everything blew up. She’d woken to find it resting on her kitchen windowsill next to the open crack.
By that point, she’d already received her first text from him. A sick ache knotted in her gut as she read it once more.
Burke:I’m going to clear this up, I promise. I want to be worthy to be your prince. I hope you’ll give me that chance.
Justine read it again, not caring that she had it memorized. Wishing so fiercely she could just believe his words to the core. But was he still trying to work things out or had he given up by now? After all, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday had come and gone without so much as a word from him.
She set the phone facedown on the table and reached for the envelope resting there. A warning from the county about the property.
A humorless laugh snuck up her throat as she unfolded the letter and glanced over it.Thisis what gave Brittany’s accusation merit.
It was from the county. Postmarked the first day of the autumn festival.
To Whom It May Concern in the town of Piney Falls.
A bypass for the mandatory waiting time has been granted to D & L Factories Inc to break ground on a recently purchased lot in your town. (See address coordinates below.)
Any objections to this notion shall be made via phone or email within seven days of the postmark date on this letter. In the absence of such contact, the county will give D & L Factories Inc permission to break ground immediately.
Upon opening the letter Monday morning, Justine had called the office and asked for an extension, but to no avail as the postmark day referred to had come and gone. Justine pushed on, insisting that she needed to be heard.
That’s when they’d told her of today’s county chair meeting.It probably won’t make a difference,the woman warned,but you can address the issue there if you’d like.
If she’d like? No, she didn’tlikeanything about this. And she also didn’t like that the woman on the phone had probably caught wind of the embarrassing scandal. But the meeting, she would attend. In less than an hour, in fact.
Justine had promised herself she wouldn’t look at the magazines again—the stack Gramps and Millie brought over with her office mail—but she couldn’t stop herself from spinning around in her seat and staring at the stack atop her recycle bin.
There they sat, each magazine making mention of Burke, Justine, and the woman who’d exposed their sham.
It was a reminder of just how messy this whole thing was. It went beyond her and Burke pretending to be engaged. Beyond Burke buying and then selling a piece of land he hadn’t told her about. It shamed the Benton name, probably hurt Burke’s relationship with his family, and, of course, thoroughly broke her heart.
Justine hunched down and snatched the top magazine from the stack. This one featured a photo of Burke on the cover with Justine on his arm. From the looks of it, the photo had been taken from the live feed as it scanned over the audience at the tree lighting.
There was a picture of the famous Benton family in the corner, taken at Duke’s recent wedding, it seemed.
The wordsBenton Lookalike Causes Benton-Sized Trouble in Pint-Sized Townwere splashed across the top in bright pink ink.
