“Crazy as ever.” Reluctantly, the corners of his mouth tugged up. “I’m heading to Andrew’s after this for a family dinner—that’s the reason for the tie. Andrew got engaged at Thanksgiving.”
“Give him my best.” She smiled a little. “How’s the garage? You and your dad had lots of plans.”
He nodded slowly as he decided how much to say. “We started on some of them, mostly the car restoration business, but…” It was hard to say the last part aloud. Still, fresh off her divorce, she probably understood that life didn’t always go as planned, so he took a deep breath and pushed on. “A year ago, my dad had a stroke. So that put a lot of our ideas on hold.”
“Oh, Jace.”
It was her voice that caught him off guard, so full of warmth and tenderness. He had forgotten this part, the way it felt when he told her something serious, like she took some of his sadness and let it sit inside her instead.
So he didn’t try to shut down the sadness, not yet. All those plans he and his father had made came to a grinding halt the moment his father was rushed to the hospital. Most jobs in a garage required able-bodied workers, and even after his father had recovered some of the movement on his left side, keeping him on the payroll was taking accounting magic. Jace had Lizzie to thank for that magic, but still, things were tight.
The quiet settled again, a little less tense now that they were driving out of town.
“Turn here,” she said after they had gone a few more miles. She pointed at the sign for the high-end development, but he already knew where to go. He slowed as they headed toward the ocean and turned down the last street that stretched out parallel to the beach. “The fourth house on the right.”
The sleet had mostly let up, but dark clouds hovered ominously. Her house was completely dark. In fact, most of the neighborhood was dark. He pulled onto the sandy driveway and parked.
“You have lights here, don’t you?”
“Naah, I’m living off the grid.”
He jerked his head around, but she was smiling at him.
“Of course, I do.” She smirked. “The security lights will come on when I walk up the driveway.”
He frowned.
“I’ll walk you up,” he said and climbed out before she could protest. He opened her door and took the wet clothes and the handbag out of her hands as she slid off the seat, clutching the blanket around her. Her red shoes were covered with mud and sand, and her back was hunched against the cold as she headed up the front porch steps.
The house was a modern-looking structure, the kind that probably had high ceilings and all-white walls—pretty much the opposite of his house. She came to a stop in front of the door, and he held out her handbag. She unzipped it and pulled out the keys.
“Sorry if I made you late for the engagement party,” she said, unlocking the door.
He shrugged. “They’ll wait for me.”
The door swung open into a dark hallway.
“Thanks again,” she said. “I mean, I know it’s your garage, but you could have hung up on me. Left me alone to walk.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I considered it.”
“I bet you did.” She laughed a little.
Then she glanced into the house, and her smile slipped. Jace followed her gaze. The place was dark, and she was walking into it alone. The whole time he had been thinking about the past, but she was going home to a dark, empty house. Of course, she’d frowned back in the cab of his truck when she’d mentioned her ex-husband’s plans. He was in Hawaii with his new girlfriend, and she was on her own.
“You gonna be okay here without a car?” he asked softly. “You have food?”
She shrugged. “Cocktail sausages, a bottle of wine. And the Harbor Café is just down the street if I get desperate. I should last for a few days.”
The corners of his mouth tugged up.
“And I have plenty of work to do,” she added, a smile curving on those beautiful lips.
Her eyes were somehow bright and sad at the same time, and he couldn’t stop staring at her. They stood in silence in her little hallway, the muted staccato of water dripping on the porch in the background.
Just seeing her again was doing funny things to Jace’s insides. He was hanging onto her every word, and he couldn’t decide whether he loved it or hated it. Some of both. It was a strange feeling to have her so close again but out of reach. Still, he didn’t want this moment to end. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye, not yet. Just a few more minutes, and then he’d leave.
“What kind of work do you do?”
