Chapter 14
Her mother did cluck like a hen when J.T. dropped her off later that morning, but Caroline decided to bask in the attention. Natalie swung by on her lunch hour to give her a hug and a pep talk, only once calling her Carlita. Even Andy and Matt stopped by to check on her. And then there was Moira…
She simply texted. Hope you’re good, Carlita. Tequila is the devil.
Oh, it was nice to feel so supported even though she was twiddling her thumbs today. She hadn’t been jobless since the summer after college ended, and the rest of the afternoon loomed large in front of her. With nothing pressing to do, she decided to take a walk in the mountains to consider her next steps.
It struck her that she didn’t want to go back to Denver. Sure, she had an apartment there, and it wouldn’t make sense for a newly unemployed woman to take on a second lease, but everyone she loved lived here. While she liked staying with her mother, it didn’t seem like a long-term solution.
Her siblings had all offered her a place to stay, but they had their own lives, and she understood the need for privacy.
Later that afternoon, after she’d returned from her walk, someone rang the doorbell at her mom’s house. Her mom was off getting her hair cut, so Caroline went to answer it.
“Hey, Caroline,” her brother-in-law said to her. “I wanted to come by. Natalie filled me in on some stuff, and we have a proposition for you.”
“You’re going to pick me as your baby’s godmother?”
He laughed. “I appreciate the strategy, but no. We wanted to invite you to stay in our guesthouse. It’s mostly furnished finally, and I checked to make sure the paint smell was gone.”
“I didn’t know it was finished yet,” she said, shock rolling through her. Her own place…
“We’ve been pushing to get it finished since my Once Upon a Dare guys plan to visit after the baby is born. It’s best they don’t bunk with us, especially after last time, what with the boa constrictor and someone hanging my underwear in a tree.”
Caroline had heard the stories about his antics with his NFL-player friends. “I’m…speechless. I mean, I love Mom, but…”
“She has her own life,” Blake said. “Plus, she’s dating again.”
Caroline was really happy about that—her mother deserved the best—but Blake was right. Her mom might have gentleman callers. Her brain threatened to overheat at the mere thought. “Good point.”
“I know how important it is to feel like you have a place to get away to when things are in transition,” Blake said. “What do you say?”
“I say yes!” She threw her arms around him. “You always were my favorite brother-in-law.”
“When Moira marries Chase, you might have to change your tune so his feelings won’t get hurt. What else do you need? I mean, we all want to do something, but everyone feels so helpless.”
Leave it to Blake to call it out. Everyone said he excelled at the game because he played with pure emotion. “I’m asking myself that. Do you want to come in for a minute?”
He dug out a key and handed it to her. “Sure. Here you go. If you need anything, you’re always welcome next door. Touchdown will be happy to see you.”
Their dog was a sweetheart. “Thanks. What would you like to drink?”
“I hear tequila is probably out,” he said, putting his arm around her. “You Hale women. I think Jill is the only one who can hold her liquor.”
“Natalie said she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed today when she called, except for Jill’s ongoing campaign to get Chef T to poison J.T.’s ex.”
Blake’s arm tensed around her. “If she weren’t a woman, I’d have my guys pay her a visit with me.”
“I wish brute force would work,” she said sadly. “Blake, I’m scared. For J.T. and for me.”
He pulled her into his arms. “Of course you are. You haven’t dealt with anyone this…evil. Do you want your job back? There are things you could do legally. Matt would be able to tell you better, of course.”
He’d already mentioned it on his earlier visit.
“I don’t want to work for Kendra anymore,” she said. “I wasn’t right in some ways, and neither was she, but it’s over. My biggest concern is what’s next. I mean, Cynthia seems dead set on stopping the museum.”
“Yes, that’s what I heard from Natalie,” he said. “You’re just going to have to let J.T. and his brother handle things. They strike me as very capable people. Chase told me he and Evan are locked and loaded if needed, and it seems Uncle Arthur and his crew have also put themselves in the fight. You’ve gotta trust them to handle her.”
But that entailed putting her future in other people’s hands. “Now we’re getting to my problem. I feel helpless. J.T. feels so guilty about what happened to me, and there’s nothing I can do to reassure him. It’s…hurting our relationship some.” He hadn’t touched her like he had during their one night together, and his hesitation spoke volumes.
Of course, it hadn’t been more than forty-eight hours, but still, it felt like a lifetime.
“It’s only natural for a man to want to protect the woman he loves, especially when an attack is coming from his camp, so to speak.”
“So what should I do?” she asked. “Part of me wants to confront Cynthia, but it seems like that would only make things worse. When I met her, I…knew she wasn’t…well, reasonable. She called J.T. again this morning. He didn’t give me a rundown of what they talked about, but I know she mentioned me.”
Blake smiled wryly. “Well, you did announce to everyone at the bar last night that you were sleeping with J.T.”
She made a face. “Yes, in the light of day, that seems like a stupid move.” But J.T. hadn’t taken her to task about it, for which she was grateful.
“Might be good to get it out there in public,” Blake said with a shrug. “I’ve found that things like that tend to get out eventually anyway.”
Indeed. “I suppose I’m sad and scared, but I’m also…excited, I guess. Blake, J.T. is really wonderful. And the museum… I’ll be the curator for a top-notch museum if everything goes to plan.”
“I’m glad for you,” he said. “For all of it. And I like what I’ve seen so far of J.T. We all do.”
But her even-keel brother-in-law looked uncharacteristically worried. Join the club. “How about I leave Mom a note, and we trek on up to my new digs?”
“Where’s your suitcase?” he asked.
She pointed to the spare room, and he headed down the hall to fetch it. It felt slightly surreal that she was, temporarily at least, moving to Dare Valley. But it also felt right.
Perhaps it was her bridge to a better life.