But he does keep secrets. And no matter how badly I want solid ground to stand on, my argument comes out so weak that I wonder if I even believe it myself. “His actions speak louder than any painful secret he could tell me,” I insist. “He cares about me, and he’ll open up when he’s ready.”
“His actions,” Henry repeats quietly, shaking his head as he leans his weight on his hands. “So I take it he hasn’t told you his plans for Larkwood yet?”
A sharp-edged chunk of ice seems to surface in my stomach like a glacier. “He’s going to keep it,” I say, wishing I sounded more assured. “We’re talking about it today.”
Henry pulls a hand down his face, looking at me like I’m a seven-year-old about to find out there’s no Santa, Easter Bunny, or Tooth Fairy in one fell swoop. “Gracie, he’s selling. I talked to him a few days ago, and that’s his plan. It wasalwayshis plan.”
I shake my head. “No, that’s not right. Last night he said—” I stop, panic tightening my throat. “He promised—”
“What did he promise, exactly?” Henry asks, but his tone isn’t vindictive. It’s tired.
The answer bounces around inside me like an echo in an empty room.Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
“Listen,” he says gently. “I do think he cares about you. But there is nothing—nothing—he cares about more than getting rid of Larkwood.” His gaze is sympathetic. “I don’t want to say that he’d make big, empty declarations to achieve his ends, but if he were backed into a corner and desperate… I don’t know. Hereallyneeds your cottage, Gracie.”
I take a step back from him. “No,” I say, like that simple word could banish every poisonous possibility Henry has forced me to consider. “No, he wouldn’t do that. That would be… no,” I stammer, unwilling to consider it.
When we made our bargain, he agreed to keep an open mind. He went on every errand I asked him to andtoldme that meeting Larkwood’s vendors had opened his eyes. But more than that, I’ve seen him undergo a change of heart—not just about me but about love itself.
I may have misjudged him at first, but now IknowJude. He’s shown up for me in ways that I thought only Sofia and her family ever would. He helped me find the confidence to stand up to my family. He dedicates a large portion of his life to helping people out of terrible circumstances. He’s agoodman, and nothing Henry could say is going to shake—
“I know it’s hard to hear, and honestly, I blame myself for suggesting it in the first place,” Henry goes on, absently massaging his opposite shoulder.
“Suggest what, exactly?” I say, my voice pulled tight enough to snap.
Henry lifts his eyes to mine in a slow, guilty rise. “It was just a stupid joke. I had no idea he’d seriously consider it. But I guess I underestimated the lengths he’ll go to get rid of this place.”
I don’tthinksteam has started shooting from my ears, but Henry clearly picks up on my nonverbal request for him to spit out whatever he’s thinking. He sighs, dropping his hand back to the counter. “It was the day I told him Agatha left you the cottage. He was spiraling over getting you to sell it to him, and I…” He shrugs uncomfortably. “I suggested he just seduce you for it.”
It’s like the words have been printed on the bottom of a falling anvil. I comprehend them, but when they really hit me, all the air is evacuated from my lungs. I don’t have a moment to catch my breath before Henry plows on.
“At first, he just rolled his eyes and told me that wouldn’t work because you hated him. I didn’t think anything of it again until I’d heard you’d gone out for drinks and sung freaking karaoke with him.” He shakes his head incredulously. “I thought to myself, ifanyonecould pull off that one-eighty, it would be Jude.”
My heart is limping quickly in my chest, desperate to get away from the onslaught of mounting evidence that everything I thought I knew about Jude was a lie. I’m trying not to cry—I don’t want to shed a single tear until he either fesses up to gross emotional manipulation or presents me with irrefutable counterevidence. But even if he does, it wouldn’t completely heal the grief of finally knowing I’m losing Larkwood, even after all my efforts to change his mind.
“I have to go,” I say, turning away from Henry.
“Gracie—”
“Please,” I say, stopping for a moment and closing my eyes. “I need to talk with Jude, and then I need some space.”
“But your deed to the cottage—I was going to drop it off this week,” he says.
I swallow, resisting the burning pressure building behind my eyes. “Don’t bother. Jude can have it.”
38JUDE
The moment the cottage door opens, I look up, eager as a dog left alone too long. I’ve been holding the note Gracie left me, anticipating her return, but immediately, I can tell something’s off. It’s the troubled downturn of her mouth before she realizes I can see her. The inward curve of her shoulders, like she’s trying to negotiate between curling into a ball and remaining standing. When she finally spots me, standing in her living room wearing nothing but yesterday’s boxer briefs, she startles.
“Jude—”
“What’s wrong?” I ask, voice rusted from sleep. “Is Sofia okay? Your family?” I ask, casting around for something that might cause her to look this pale and distraught.
She looks down at her feet as she toes off her sneakers. “They’re fine.”
Her voice is clipped, and those two words are all I need to know that, somehow, I’ve fucked up. Somehow, despite all my caution and premeditated plans, I’ve hurt her.But when?She’s wearing my shirt, which means something must have happened after she left the cottage.
When she finally looks up, her eyes are wary, and the realization hits me like a brick to the jaw—she’s scared of me. Whatever’s happened has put her on her guard, and I suddenly feel far too large and far too naked for this situation.
