Chapter 19
Hayden
“Sometimes wounds heal faster when you take the Band-Aid off.”
~ Nora O’Sullivan
As I walked into the warehouse I was in complete and total awe. I’d listened to Jade when she’d talked about her vision for the party and I’d been impressed, but seeing it in real life was so incredible.
There were party lights hung from the rafters. Tables of six covered in white cloth and impressive floral arrangements lined the walls. A DJ was set up in the corner and pictures of soldiers with their service dogs and quotes of what having their animals meant to them were projected onto the walls. In the center there were three pictures of me. One with my platoon, one with Ranger the day that I adopted him, and one at his service dog certification with a quote that read, “Ranger gave me my life back.”
At least a dozen people were bustling around, taking care of last minute details. I craned my neck to see if the only person I actually cared about seeing tonight was here.
Jade had been avoiding me. I wasn’t being paranoid. I knew that she was. I’d stopped by her house and she hadn’t come to the door. She bailed on a cart full of groceries at the Pack and Pay. And when I’d walked into The Tipsy Cow, she’d practically tripped over herself rushing out the back.
I’d called. Texted. Emailed, but still nothing.
“Wow, man. You actually did it.” There was pride in my brother Hudson’s tone as he stood beside me, surveying the space with his feet shoulder-width apart and his back straight in his best deputy sheriff stance.
“I had a lot of help.”
“Jade did an amazing job,” he observed.
“She did,” I agreed. “But so did you and dad and all the other people that helped and without Kyle none of this would’ve been possible.”
Our cousin Kyle was a very successful actor and philanthropist. I hadn’t planned on him being involved but once my mom told him what I was planning on doing the funds were in the bank and the ball was rolling.
“Kyle Austen Reed.” Hudson teased.
Kyle was a tad on the eccentric side and always introduced himself using all three of his names.
“Too bad Holden had to miss it. I know he’s bummed.”
My baby brother was a professional bull rider and his job had him traveling close to forty weeks a year.
“Do you know where he is?” I asked. It was hard to keep up with his schedule.
“Arizona, I think.”
We went on to talk about our brother’s success and the last competition he’d won. I tried to concentrate on the conversation that Hudson and I were having but I kept scanning the room for Jade.
“She’s not here,” Hudson stated casually.
“Who?” I looked back at him.
“Your sleepover buddy.” He smirked. “She’s at Bella’s shop.”
Bella owned The Best Little Hairhouse in Texas, the only salon in Wishing Well.
“I dropped Harmony off on the way here and saw her.” My brother shifted so he was facing me. “You two ever going to put each other out of your misery and just get together already?”
If it was up to me, we’d be together now. “It’s complicated.”
“Do you love her?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I would ask if she loves you, but that girl has been pining after you since she was a kid.”
I didn’t deny it, but I wasn’t sold that that was proof she still loved me.
“You love her. She loves you. It doesn’t sound all that complicated to me.”
With those not-so-wise words of wisdom, my brother walked away. It didn’t surprise me that he would see things that way. Hudson had always seen the world in black and white with not a lot of gray area. Jade and I had years of gray area.
Trying to get my mind on something other than the one thing I’d been obsessing about, I walked around the room making sure that everything was ready for tonight. After making several rounds I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Hayden?” A soft voice said my name and I turned to see a woman that I’d only ever seen in pictures.
“Camilla.” I pulled her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around me tightly and we held on for far longer than most strangers would.
But we weren’t really strangers. We had a very important person in common. Corey. He was her twin brother. I missed his funeral because I was still recovering from my injuries, otherwise I would’ve met her then. I’d spoken to her several times over the past year, to offer my condolences and to check in and see how she was doing.
When I’d got the idea to dedicate the opening to Corey and commission an artist to use his profile as well as Ranger’s as the logo of Hero Rescue I called her to make sure that she was okay with it. She was. And even said that she’d love to come.
“I’m so happy you could make it.”
“Me too. I’m so happy to be here.” She stepped away and wiped her fingers beneath her eyes. She sniffed as she looked around. When she saw the picture projected on the wall of Corey and I and our platoon she said, “This is amazing. Corey would love this.”
I nodded as my chest tightened painfully. I knew that using his image would constantly remind me of him but it would also keep his memory alive. He was one of the best men that I knew and I hoped that in this small way I was showing him the honor he deserved.
It was so strange talking to and seeing Camilla in person. I knew they were twins, but the similarities between her and Corey were striking. She had the same shade of sandy blonde hair, same dark brown eyes, and same wide smile as her brother. I was trying not to stare, but it was uncanny.
“What?” she asked. “Do I have something in my teeth?” She lifted her hand to cover her mouth.
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s just you look so much…”
“Oh, yeah.” She lowered her hand and knew exactly what I was trying to say. “I look like Corey.”
“Yeah.”
Her nose scrunched. “Growing up it used to drive me crazy when people would tell me that. I was a girl. How could people think I looked like a boy? But now…now I like it. It makes me feel, I don’t know, like he’s still a part of me.”
“He’ll always be a part of you,” I told her sincerely.
“And who’s this handsome boy?” She wiped her eyes again as she looked around me at Ranger who was in his dog bed tucked in the corner.
“That’s Ranger.”
“Hi, Ranger.” She moved around the table and bent down to pet his head.
“Hayden.”
I looked up and saw Jade. I’d been distracted and missed her arrival. She looked absolutely breathtaking. Her hair was down, falling in soft waves around her face. She was wearing a red dress that hugged her generous curves and fell just below her knee accentuating the graceful line of her calves.
“You look amazing.”
“Thanks.” She smiled and the glimmer of interest in her eyes had hope sparking in my chest. “So do you. You clean up nice.”
I smiled and she blushed. It was faint, but I saw the light pink tint in her cheeks.
“Um, the mayor just arrived and he wants to speak to you about—”
She stopped talking when Camilla stood and turned toward her.
“Jade this is—”
“Camilla,” Jade breathed. “Camilla Anderson.”
“Do you two know each other?” People always said that it was a small world, but this would be ridiculous.
“No.” Jade looked at me like I was a few beers short of a twelve pack. “She’s Camilla Anderson.”
“Hi, Jade. It’s so nice to meet you.” Camilla reached out her hand and shook it like the exchange was normal and not strange at all.
“I love you on Center Stage. Last season when Peter had to leave the finals and was rushed to the hospital and found out he had to have nodule surgery and you went to the hospital,” Jade said as her eyes started filling up with tears.
As she continued talking about the scene that had played out in the hospital I remembered that Corey had mentioned that his sister was a singer. She played Annie for years on Broadway when she was young. And that she was a judge on some reality show.
Jade loved reality shows.
“I just talked to Peter, actually. He just got cast in Hamilton.”
“He did!” Jade was more animated than when she’d made dance captain her freshman year.
“Did you say the mayor needed to talk to me?”
“Oh, right. Yes. He’s over there.” She waved her hand toward the corner.
As I walked away from the two women I couldn’t help but think about the blush I’d seen on her cheeks. It was something that I’d taken for granted when we’d been together, being able to make her blush. I knew that it wasn’t a declaration of love, but it had to be something.
She might’ve avoided me for a week, but the door wasn’t shut.
At least not completely.