Chapter Two
Infuriating, frustrating man. Clearly, he wanted this place just as much as she did, but there was no way she was backing down. They had opposite goals and there was no way to get what they both wanted.
Olivia could’ve easily handled him if he’d been the boy she once knew. The quiet, mysterious teen with curious eyes, and a desperate need for an orthodontist. But now he had that whole nobility thing going with his military background and he was just as determined to fight as she was. He was definitely not the same person . . . then again, neither was she.
The man she’d verbally sparred with had a strong desire to hold on to his life, but all that did was force her into a past she wanted nothing to do with. She wouldn’t let anyone pull her back in. Not Jackson, not the memory of her late father.
Olivia cringed as she walked in the back door of her childhood home. She was used to working with men wearing Italian-cut suits, not holey jeans and tees that stretched across impressively broad shoulders. And since when did airplane grease smell sexy?
She’d temporarily been thrown off her game, that’s all—not to mention she hadn’t expected him to be so passionate about such a run-down place. The money she’d offered had been more than what he deserved for half... which only meant he had deeper ties than she’d ever considered.
Okay, so she needed to refocus and go back in for the kill. At least now she knew what she was up against. A formidable opponent is something she valued in her job—it made her sharper, made the win that much sweeter. However, with her father’s airport, she wanted in and out.
In the sixteen years she’d been gone, her father had reached out to her several times. She hadn’t ignored him, but she hadn’t once taken him up on his invitation to return. Once she’d gotten out of the small town and into the city, she knew she’d never come back. The narrow way of life didn’t appeal to her anymore.
And it didn’t appeal to her now.
“I don’t like that look on your face.”
Olivia didn’t even attempt a smile for her best friend. Melanie didn’t need things sugarcoated. They all knew full well exactly what was at stake, what this buyout meant to Olivia.
Thankfully, Olivia’s two best friends had come with her for support. As strong as Olivia thought she was, there was no way she could handle all of this on her own. Besides, Melanie and Jade had their own demons they were running from, so getting out of Atlanta for a while was a smart move.
Melanie leaned against the center island, her smoothie bottle in hand. From the looks of the green contents, she was back on her cleanse. Her vow to stay on top of her weight was a personal battle—stemming from an extremely arrogant, controlling jerk who’d emotionally crushed Melanie. And the jerk was still causing problems, which was just another reason why Melanie came to Haven with Olivia.
“Speaking of face, you have something on yours.” Melanie tapped on her own cheek to indicate the area to Olivia.
Confused, Olivia blinked. “My face?”
“It’s black.”
Olivia resisted the urge to scream as she swiped with her palm. She knew exactly what her friend referred to now. Sure enough, grease.
“That bastard,” she muttered.
Melanie wrinkled her nose. “I take it things didn’t go as planned.”
Olivia sat her bag on the worn laminate island and blew out a sigh. Where did she begin? The fact that Jackson looked nothing like she remembered, or the fact that her emotions nearly choked her when she arrived?
“He refused my offer, but I’m not giving up.” She took a seat on the wooden barstool and reached for the yellow hand towel on the island. Wiping Jackson’s childish prank off her hand, she added, “He’s going to be tough to crack, but I will win this fight. I have to.”
The back door opened and closed. Olivia glanced over her shoulder to see Jade dabbing her palms over her sweaty forehead and cheeks. “Oh, good. You’re both here.”
Jade McCoy was the only person Olivia knew who could go on a run and still look like a damn supermodel on the other side. With her fitted, matching workout gear, her bright red hair in a top knot that she managed to make look stylish, Jade could have just jumped off the cover of Shape.
She and Olivia had become instant friends when they bonded over their patent leather pink flats in the third grade. They’d met Melanie only a few years ago at a marathon. Melanie had stumbled and hurt her ankle just a quarter mile shy of the finish line. Jade and Olivia had each taken an arm and helped her limp across to finish. It was only after they learned why that marathon had been so important for Melanie, and their friendship had been formed.
Olivia stared at her friend. “He turned down the money.”
And that really put a damper on her short-term plans, but Olivia never lost a battle and she wasn’t done with Jackson—not by a long shot. A minor setback, that’s all. His stubborn stance would keep her here in Haven longer than she’d intended. Now that he knew she was here, and what she wanted, she would give them both a bit to think on this, and she’d go back. They weren’t done negotiating . . . hell, they hadn’t even started negotiating. He’d closed the door in her face.
Still, Olivia was confident she would come out on top. This airport had to be fully in her name before she left. How could she go back to Atlanta a failure? How could she go back to work when it was literally her job to buy and sell companies if she couldn’t even get this simple task done?
Olivia had a job to get back to, a partnership to earn in the company she’d practically shed blood, sweat, and tears for. She’d be damned if that partnership would go to her coworker, and nemesis, Steve Parsons. So, she’d have to make Jackson see the money was better than the memories. There was no other option.
“I’m sure he has reasons for turning you down.” Jade headed to the fridge, grabbed a water, and uncapped it. She turned to lean against the counter opposite the island. “Like maybe his daughter.”
Olivia stilled. A daughter? That definitely did not come up in conversation. How the hell could she fight properly when she wasn’t fully aware what she was up against?
Why did life have to keep smacking her in the face? Just when she thought she was on target, something happened to push her back down.
“You okay?” Melanie asked in that soft, delicate tone of hers.
Olivia smiled. “Of course. This changes nothing.”
Okay, that was a lie, but if she acted weak or scared, she’d never get this job done.
“How did you find out?” Olivia asked Jade.
Smoothing a stray, sweaty strand off her forehead, Jade took a long drink before answering. “I was jogging down my old street and Mrs. Kinard was outside. She stopped me and started talking. As much as I don’t want to be in this town either, I couldn’t be rude to my old neighbor. Besides, I never can turn down gossip.”
Olivia raised her brows and made a circular motion with her hand.
“Right, so anyway, she mentioned your father, then she mentioned Jax and the airport. I’d all but tuned her out until I heard her mention Piper and how much the four-year-old loved spending time with her dad at the airport.”
Okay. This was . . . okay. Everything would be fine so long as she didn’t dwell on the fact Jackson’s and Piper’s lives somewhat paralleled Olivia’s and her father’s when she’d been a toddler. She’d always been her father’s sidekick and had wanted to be a pilot. Somewhere along the road to freedom and adulthood, something changed and she honestly couldn’t even pinpoint when that occurred.
Olivia could deal with a daughter. Surely, Jax wanted to do what was best for his family, she totally understood that. So, why not take the money? This bit of information was a game-changer. Olivia would have to appeal to him as a parent, which may be difficult considering she knew nothing of that topic.
“Maybe you should leave the airport as is,” Melanie suggested. She held up her hands to her friends and went on. “Hear me out. What does it hurt if you own half? Let him continue to run it and you can just pretend things are the same as before.”
Olivia shook her head. “Because things aren’t the same. I want out of this and he will just have to see things from my point of view.”
“So how did you leave things?” Jade asked. “Since you didn’t know about his daughter, you guys clearly didn’t get too personal. Did he tell you why he didn’t want to sell his half ?”
Olivia flattened her hands on the scarred island. The place really needed an overhaul—it was just as neglected as the airport and office.
Once upon a time, these kitchens walls were a beautiful Tiffany blue with white cabinets. Her mother always had fresh flowers on the counter, pink usually. Cheery tea towels would hang over the oven handle. The entire house now seemed so depressing, a shell of what it used to be. With the white walls, white appliances, tan linoleum, beige countertops. It was all so dated. Clearly, her father hadn’t wanted to keep the reminders of a time when they’d all lived here, because every single room had been repainted, pictures changed out.
Unfortunately, while she was here, she was going to have to go through and get out the personal stuff. Furniture, curtains, cosmetic items could be sold with the house. But there were boxes to go through, memories to face.
And one more thing to pull her back into the past she’d give anything to avoid.
“He mentioned tradition and loyalty. I get that, I really do, but not when it comes at a cost to my sanity. I actually managed to get the last word in,” Olivia stated, proud to claim that minor victory. “He’s wrapped up in the nostalgia. Nothing I haven’t handled before. Most people who are in a bind have a rough time cutting that last tie.”
Like me. But she could do this. Where once she could have been construed as a nostalgic sap, now she was an accountant working closely with an HR department in a respected, prime position. The present, not the past, was what mattered.
Jade clutched her water bottle and smiled. “Good thing you’re holding the scissors.”
“And the checkbook,” Olivia stated with confidence. Maybe once he saw a check made out to him, with a few zeroes, he’d change his tune. “I’m going back and I’ll keep going until he gives in. This may take more time than I anticipated, but I’m determined to be done once and for all.”
“Are you sure?” Melanie asked. “I hate to play the devil’s advocate here, but—”
“Please, you’ve never had an evil bone in your body,” Jade pointed out.
Melanie shrugged with a slight smile. “Still, if this place bothers you so much, just leave. Let Jax go on with his life and you go back to yours. You have that partnership to work on back in Atlanta anyway.”
“I do,” Olivia agreed. “But I have to figure out this partnership first.”
Why didn’t her father just leave the entire airport to Jackson? Then Olivia wouldn’t be here, taking time away from other projects she needed to focus on—like the career move she’d worked the past decade to maintain. If she were just doing her regular job, and not vying for the top spot, she could technically work from anywhere.
But she didn’t want to work from Haven. This may have been her childhood home, but she’d left here long ago and never looked back. Why did she have to be pulled back in?
When she and her mother had left, they’d sworn to never return. Olivia didn’t want to be so hard about it, but...
No. She couldn’t travel down that lane of memories, not when she was desperately just trying to get out and keep this a business arrangement.
She glanced to Jade and Melanie, who stared back at her as if they were afraid she was going to crack or have a meltdown at any moment. Pity looks, or the sympathy hugs, were a surefire way to get her to break.
Another wave of emotions swept through her as she thought of how amazing these girls were. Not that she expected anything less than for them to band around her and offer support.
After her father’s death, they’d all come to Haven to the cute women-only spa, Bella Vous. Jade had booked the trip because they all needed to get away from Atlanta and just unwind. What better way than a spa? They’d all heard the buzz over the new resort run by three brothers in honor of their late sister. How poetic and amazing was that? There was no way Olivia and her friends were going to be left out.
Just after the trip Olivia learned of the will, Jade’s career literally blew up in her face, and Melanie was embarking on her own journey after her hellacious marriage came to an end. So here they were with no clear path, but they were always a team. If they were going to succeed or fail, they were doing it together.
“We need a ladies’ night. Is there a bar in this town?” Melanie took one last drink of her smoothie. “I mean, I saw one, but it was . . .”
Olivia laughed at Melanie’s shudder. “Yeah. Taps is the only bar. It’s not terrible if you want a neat whiskey or beer.”
“I never trust a place that doesn’t have a wine collection. And I don’t mean the box variety.”
Olivia laughed. She could always count on Jade to have her own “crisis” during someone else’s. Still, they deserved some bonding time.
“We’ll just do a girls’ night in. I need a manicure in the worst way and there’s nowhere around here I’ll go.”
“Good thing I packed the necessities,” Jade replied. “Melanie, you do the liquor run.”
Melanie held up her empty shaker. “Wait, is there even a store that sells the supplies we need?”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “I would think. Surely the town isn’t made up of complete savages.”
“I’m not so sure.” Jade came to the other side of the island, holding her bottle, and resting her palm on the counter. “During my jog I saw a man watering his lawn in only plaid boxers, a woman in curlers and a hideous floral robe standing on the curb getting her mail, and I won’t even get into the man who was standing in his doorway wearing nothing but what the good Lord gave him. He had the balls to actually wave at me. Pun intended. But in my too-long chat with Mrs. Kinard, I did learn that our favorite teacher’s husband passed just yesterday. I thought we should send flowers or . . . I don’t know, bake a casserole.”
“Flowers,” Olivia muttered. “We’re not baking anything and getting too cozy with the neighbors. We won’t be here that long.”
Olivia didn’t want to hear anymore. She didn’t want to know what was going on in this town or who the people were. All she wanted was to get this deal in motion so she could get out.
“Remind me not to take that same path when I go tomorrow,” Melanie said as she sat her bottle in the sink. “I’d rather not have Mr. Balls waving at me.”
Olivia came to her feet. “Well, as fun as discussing balls has been, I need to get to work cleaning out the closets. I’ll never sell this place with all the boxes and knickknacks.”
She shoved her hair back from her face, wondering if she should go on a jog herself. She’d been so anxious to talk to Jackson, she’d skipped her morning workout so she could take extra time and care on her appearance. It was like he didn’t even care about her new killer suit. She could definitely use the release and time alone to clear her head and work on another game plan.
Piper. His daughter. Was the mother in the picture? Not that his personal life was her concern, but damn it, she deserved to know. Because of her father’s will, now Jax was her concern. She would’ve been perfectly fine not receiving anything.
Olivia had just gotten to the doorway leading into the living room when her friends burst into laughter.
She jerked around. “What?”
“Did you leave out something about your visit with Mr. Morgan?” Jade asked, her smile wide, her eyes sparkling with something that frightened Olivia.
“No, why.”
Melanie picked up her phone from the counter. “Turn back around.”
Confused, Olivia put her back to the kitchen once again, and once again her friends’ laughter filled the space.
“What?” Olivia asked, throwing her arms in the air and facing them. “What is so funny?”
Melanie flipped her phone around and showed Olivia the picture. A picture of Olivia’s ass.
A picture of Olivia’s ass with a greasy handprint right where Jackson had tried to catch her . . . after he’d put a grease mark on her face.
Fury bubbled through her. “I’m going to kill him.”
“Well, that would be one way to get your half of the airport, but orange isn’t your color.”
Olivia glared at Jade. “Not funny.”
“So, you only thought you got the last word in because I’d say—”
Holding up a hand, Olivia cut Melanie off. “I know. Damn it, I know. He got the one up on me. But I’m not done.”
“Do you want me to send you this picture?” she asked, causing Jade to laugh even harder. “In case you wanted to update your profile on any of your social media outlets.”
“You two are a riot,” Olivia stated dryly. “I’m going to change and I’m going back to the airport. Jackson Morgan will not make me look like a fool.”
“I think he already—”
Olivia marched off, ignoring Jade stating the obvious. Her friends at least attempted to snicker quietly, but Olivia couldn’t worry about that now. She had more pressing matters and a brand-new suit Jackson had to dry-clean.
* * *
“Livie Daniels. Is that you?”
Again with the name. Did people get a nickname and then never part from it? Why couldn’t she have been dubbed “O Great One” or “Her Highness”? If she were to go back and pick her nickname in school, she definitely wouldn’t have let “Livie” pass.
Olivia clutched the shopping bag she carried . . . a bag with her soiled suit. It took every bit of Olivia’s willpower not to explode on the young woman leaving the airport hangar, but all she had done was call Olivia by the annoying name.
No, Olivia would rather save her frustration for Jackson.
Not recognizing the blonde headed her way, Olivia pasted on a smile that was as fake as this lady’s nails. Did people actually still do acrylics?
“I’m sorry, I don’t recall your name.”
The lady with dark blond hair, which was actually a pretty shade, waved a hand in the air. “It’s okay. I was a couple of years behind you in school. You wouldn’t know me.” The woman held out her hand. “I’m April Collins.”
Olivia ran the name through her head, vaguely placing the woman who stood before her. “Of course I remember you now,” Olivia lied as she shook her hand. “How wonderful to see you again.”
“I’m sorry about your dad.” April pulled her hand back and shielded her eyes against the late afternoon sun. “I know words don’t change anything, but he sure will be missed around here.”
Forcing her smile to remain in place, Olivia nodded. Just another person her father had left an impression on. Another reason she didn’t want to stick around too long. All of these people would be coming forward, wanting to express their condolences, and Olivia truly didn’t have the mental capacity to cope. Years of an absentee father hurt, but knowing he hadn’t fought for her and remained here catering to everyone else was absolutely crushing.
Well, he’d e-mailed randomly. Maybe twice a year and called on Christmas and her birthday. He never asked why she left, but he always asked her to come back. Why? She never fully grasped why he wanted her to return unless he only wanted someone to take over his precious airport. But he had Jax for that, didn’t he?
It had been easier to settle into her new life and push away her old . . . her father included.
Olivia couldn’t get into all of that with April, so she just replied with a simple, “Thank you.”
“I’m glad Jax is keeping the place running. He’s got as much determination as your dad did,” April went on. “Maybe more since Piper is still so young. She absolutely loves coming here and she told me in class today that her dream is to be an air force pilot like her daddy.”
The guilt punch to the gut impacted her more than she would’ve liked. She had to push personal feelings aside. If she wanted this deal to be done in her favor, she had to keep her eye on the prize . . . and the prize was getting out of here as soon as possible with the full deed to the airport and her sanity intact.
“Piper is quite the tomboy.” April went on as if they were old friends reuniting for a chitchat. “All she talks about during school is planes and how her daddy lets her help with repairs. She’s got a passion for flying, that’s for sure.” April laughed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t keep you.”
“Oh, it’s no bother.”
Surprisingly, she meant that. Small-town ramblings were how anyone found out anything going on. Jade’s run was proof enough.
The fact that Jackson had a daughter may have tilted the stakes just a bit, but Olivia couldn’t let it deter her from seeking what she wanted . . . what she needed for closure.
“I need to get going,” April said, pulling Olivia from her thoughts. “It was good to see you again.”
Offering a nod and a smile, Olivia waited until April got in her car and started to pull out of the grassy lot. With bag in hand, Olivia headed toward the closed hangar door.
Besides the inevitable partnership chat, Olivia wanted to know what he planned to do about her suit. Her new suit.
As soon as she pushed the door open, she wasn’t sure what she expected to find. The same lonely plane she’d seen earlier, the same sexy man who grated on her last nerve and stood in the way of her closure. Definitely those, but she hadn’t anticipated that same sexy man dancing around the same damn plane.
Dancing around with his daughter. The little girl squealed as he twirled from one end of the hangar to the other, her blond pigtails bouncing with each step. Jackson’s arms extended out, and his little girl lay across the top in plank position as a human airplane. As Jackson ran back to the other end, she let out another high-pitched noise somewhere between a laugh and a scream.
Olivia remained in the doorway, hand clutched on the doorknob as she took in the sight. Memories she’d wanted to suppress had slammed her right in the heart and there was no stopping the flood of emotions. She blinked against the tears, instantly taken back to her childhood when she and her father would do that very thing . . . in front of that exact plane.
For the first time since being so hell-bent on removing this place from her life, there was an unwelcome tug on her heart. What did she do with that emotion? She hadn’t counted on feeling anything other than elation as she skipped back out of Haven with the property solely in her name.
Once upon a time she’d wanted a family, children. She’d given up on those dreams—or so she thought—to have a lucrative career. Yet watching memories being made right before her eyes was more than her biological clock could handle.
Damn it. She thought for sure that thing stopped ticking. She didn’t want these emotions and the doubts. There was a plan in place and she was going to see it through.
The bag slipped from her hand, banging against the concrete. Jackson froze, turned with his daughter in his arms, and met her gaze across the hangar.
Olivia pulled in a breath, blinked against the unwanted tears filling her eyes. This was not what she came for. A stroll down the lane of memories could not be part of this business deal.
The sooner she could get him on her side, the sooner she could say good riddance forever.