She glanced back to find Wallace still standing there on the loading dock. Fists planted on his hips. Watching. She waved again as she drove away.
CHAPTER25
Jenna returned from Morro Bay in the late afternoon. As she drove down the long valley road, she passed Amos standing in his front yard tossing a Frisbee with his two daughters. Bear lumbered about, not coming close to catching the ball, but all of them loving how he was part of their shared moment. Heat rose in tight waves off the broken tarmac. Two other vehicles followed her, pulling into drives, raising dust. The air was very still.
When she stopped in front of the farmhouse, the place was quiet. She walked around back. “Noah?”
“In here.”
She found him standing on the platform, surveying the main cabin. His shirt was streaked with sweat and dust. The still air smelled of fresh-cut wood and the epoxy Ethan used. She stood at the base of the steps, uncertain how to tell Noah what had transpired. And so much else.
Finally, Noah offered her another of those meaningless smiles. “How did it go?”
“I got everything on your manifest, if that’s what you mean.” When Noah’s only response was to nod and turn back to the boat’s interior, Jenna launched straight in.
As she related the conversation with Wallace Myers, Jenna gradually felt herself becoming split in two. Her voice sounded calm in her own ears. But her heart accelerated, her body tensed, like something at gut level registered far below conscious thought.
Initially, Noah’s only response was to start down the steps. Moving slowly, concentrating on what she was saying.
Then it happened.
Jenna actually saw the light spark in his gaze. The intake of breath, the straightening of his entire body. She could even give his reaction a name.
Relief.
She forced herself to finish. Then stood there as a lump of ice congealed in her gut. Moving outward to consume her entire body. Making it hard to draw a decent breath.
Noah said, “Wallace’s nerves come down to greed.”
She heard herself say, “I thought that. At first.” She puffed slightly. Like trying to talk after a hard race. “But I had the feeling there might be something else.”
Noah frowned at the boat. “Like what?”
“I have no idea.”
“Greed alone works well enough. Wallace is probably trying to gain from both sides of the deal. Keep a major slice of the proceeds for himself. He didn’t tell you who the prospective buyer was, correct?”
“A Los Angeles attorney. Retired to a ranch north of Santa Barbara. Nothing more.” Not even the day’s heat could touch her. “You’re not actually considering this.”
“What’s not to consider? If we push, we could probably up their offer to two and a half mil. And cut Wallace’s share down to a straight commission.”
“Noah. I won’t . . . . No.”
She might as well not have spoken. “After covering expenses we could clear three, maybe even four hundred thousand dollars. Each.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Jenna . . . There’s two of us here. And I have final say.”
The ice had a name now. Betrayal. She felt her thoughts and dreams congeal. She opened her mouth, but nothing emerged.
“I kept fifty-one percent, remember?”
She felt as though she faced the same silent lie as with Wallace. Noah scattered his gaze everywhere but directly at her. His voice held a false calm, like he said one thing and thought another. Which was when she realized.
This was not about the boat. At all.
It was about them. And her.
