Standing back, Jade turned to him in wonder. “Did you see her do that?”
Chase nodded and smiled for the first time since she had unloaded her truths on him. When he held out his hand, Jade took hold, and they headed to the house. Teresa had left them a delicious supper with a note saying she and Bob would see them at Cash’s.
* * *
By the timethey’d finished eating, the sun had set. Taking a last glance around, Jade followed Chase to the garage. His Corvette Stingray, a convertible, reminded her of the color of Lake Pueblo. How she wished they could go there again. Seatbelts fastened, Chase put the top down and headed toward the main road. Jade realized this was her first ride in a Corvette and probably her last. All too soon, Triple C Ranch-East came into view.
If she’d had any doubt about Chase being done with her after this weekend, she had none now. The truth had seemed even more awful when spoken aloud. She almost wished she’d lied. Almost. Time rushed past in a blur, and before she knew it, they were setting off fireworks. She’d never be allowed to do this in town, and it was great fun. Afterward, she forced herself to smile as she said goodbye to Chase’s family and friends. Chase opened the car door for her, and she quickly blinked back more tears before he slid in behind the wheel.
When they pulled up beside her VW Bug in his horseshoe driveway, she admitted she didn’t dare take her cowboy hat, boots, or belt to her house. The tears she’d been holding back fell as she handed Chase the items. He frowned as he took them. For his sake, she tried her best to sway him from following her home. He could not be talked out of it, so she gave him the address in case they got separated. Chase said he would put her gifts in the house as he needed to get something from his office anyway. Making her promise not to leave when he went into the house, he opened her door. She left his car, slid into hers, and kept her promise.
“By the way,” Chase said as he swaggered back to her a couple of minutes later, “I’m keeping your white bikini too.”
Too unsure of herself to ask if she’d be invited back to retrieve it, Jade put the top down on her VW and headedhome.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Chase followed her little red car in deep thought. He’d asked for the truth, never imagining the depth of her conflict—or her courage. Having heard the vulnerability in her voice, he feared she’d not fully confide in him if he reacted to the anger ramping up in his head and heart. It had taken iron control to listen to what Franco and Mateo Spatafore were doing to her without losing his temper.
Who the hell did the Spatafores think they were?
Now what? He could easily pay her way out of the contracts. He could certainly put his roof or any roof over her head. But he sure didn’t want her to feel beholden to him, controlled by him, or unable to breathe because of him.
How the hell had he fallen so hard so fast?
Chase hadn’t needed to put her address into his GPS. He knew exactly where they were going. She lived near Memorial Hospital, where his folks had died of Covid. On the eastern side of the hospital, the Olympic Training Center took up part of the block. Boulder Park lay to the west, where he’d sat with Chloe and Cash—because visitors weren’t allowed into the hospital during the Covid pandemic. He remembered gazing over the tops of the evergreens in Boulder Park and how the sky gave way to Pikes Peak. Jade’s house probably had a similar view. On the eastern flank of Pikes Peak was the Manitou Springs Incline, a place he’d mentioned to Jade. The average hiker tackling the extreme 2,011-foot ascent to the summit took well over an hour, maybe two if they made it at all. Racing as teenagers, he and Cash had typically scaled the incline in forty and forty-five minutes respectively, with Chloe hot on their heels.
Speaking of racing, since when did he follow a VW Bug in a Corvette Stingray? Chase sped up and took the lead. Jade waved but didn’t stay behind him for long. They both knew there was no real contest as she passed him, taking the lead again. When he passed her the next time, she stuck out her tongue. Chase laughed. Damn she was fun. He kept the lead until reaching Foote Avenue. It was dark, but city streetlights lit up the older, middle-class neighborhood. Two-thirds of the way down the block, she turned into her driveway. There was a detached, one-car garage, and she opened the garage door via a remote. She parked her car inside the garage while Chase came to a stop in the driveway. He put the Corvette’s top up and locked the car as Jade, carrying her purse and bag, scurried underneath the closing garage door.
“Would you like to come inside?” Jade asked.
“Absolutely, let’s have a look,” Chase replied and took her bag. He glanced around the property. From what the streetlights showed him, Jade’s yard was manicured, and the one-story yellow house was small but well-kept.
“I know this is vastly different than you’re used to,” Jade said, opening her storm door and then unlocking her front door. “But it’s the biggest place I’ve ever lived in.”
They stepped inside, and Jade turned on a hall light as Chase locked the door behind him. The living room appeared to be straight ahead, and the kitchen to his left.
“Does anybody else have a key?” he asked.
“No,” she said and flipped on the kitchen light. “Franco used to have a key and would let himself in if I didn’t get to the door fast enough.” Frowning at that, Chase walked into the living room, and Jade turned on a floor lamp. A loveseat sofa faced a plate glass window and two wingback chairs. The furniture was centered in front of a fireplace with a plush carpet on the hardwood floor. “I had the locks on my front door, back door, and garage door changed the day before I left for Chloe’s ranch.”
“Guarantee you he’s been here, knows you outsmarted him, and he’s pissed,” Chase said.
“Come on.” Jade gave him a wave and stepped into a short hallway. “Here’s the one bathroom.” She turned on the bathroom light, illuminating the usual. At the end of the hall, there was a furnished bedroom on the left and an empty one to the right. She walked into the one on the left and turned to Chase. “By making my point that they can’t control me, I probably made things worse.”
“How will they react when you show up for work tomorrow?”
“Pissy.” She pointed to the antique trunk at the end of her bed, smaller but similar to the cedar chest at the end of Chase’s bed. “Thanks for carrying my bag. You can set it on my grandfather’s trunk. It’s one of the few things I brought with me other than my clothes.” She set her purse down, walked to a chest of drawers, and picked up a framed photograph. “My grandmother took this picture of my grandpa, Mom, and me on my second birthday.”
Chase set the bag down, thinking how deceiving looks could be. To see Jade now was to think she had everything and anything she wanted. Jade handed him the framed photo, and he focused on the angelic two-year-old. Wearing a pink dress, her green eyes sparkled, and her blond hair curled around chubby cheeks. She was held by a blonde woman standing next to an older gentleman wearing glasses. In reality, Jade’s family was gone, and she had so little. At least materially speaking. But her inner beauty was as stellar as her spectacular outward appearance. He knew his family and friends had fallen for her too.
“This photo is a keepsake for sure,” Chase said and handed the framed picture back to her. After she had returned it to the chest of drawers, he asked, “Is there a downstairs?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Let’s check it out.”
She led the way back down the hall and through the living room. She stopped in front of the large, plate glass window and pointed. Sure enough, straight ahead in the center of the window was a moonlit view of Pikes Peak.
