Chapter Twenty-Five
We were meant to be.
The knock on the office door startled Zee out of her contemplations. She’d been working on the spreadsheets for the last quarter, which she hated anyway, so it hadn’t taken much to nudge her into a reverie.
She saved what little she’d accomplished and closed the program before getting up and heading to the outside door True had installed once they’d realized they had a going concern here with Mahan Services.
She pulled open the door and for a moment just stared. “Boots?”
The man gave her a crooked smile. She’d known him almost as long as Jamie had; the bass player out of Austin had been with Jamie almost since the beginning of the music, and together they had built the success that was Scorpions On Top.
She threw her arms around him in a fierce hug. “When did you get here? Are you staying? How are you? I’m so sorry about Derek.”
Boots nodded, then answered her in order, something she remembered now he’d always done, and it made her smile. “Just got in, took an early flight out of L.A., heading back tomorrow. I’m okay. It sucked, that’s for sure. We knew he had a problem, but not that bad. Hit Jamie hard, because he felt like he should have known, but Derek hid it pretty well.”
So Jamie felt…what, responsible? Was that what that undertone of harsh sadness she’d been sensing was? That sense of loss even beyond that of a friend?
“Have you seen him yet?”
“That’s why I’m here. I wasn’t sure where he was staying. And I brought some stuff for him, from his lawyer in L.A.”
“Lawyer?”
“Business paperwork, mostly. I figured if anybody’d know where he was, you would.”
She wasn’t sure how to interpret that, so didn’t even try. “He’s out at Millie’s place.”
Boots suddenly smiled. “Shoulda known.” He held up the manila envelope in his hand. “That’s what some of this is about, the other Millie’s Place.”
“The what?”
“You know, the hospice thing.”
She blinked. Boots’ expression slowly changed. “He didn’t tell you?”
“We’ve been busy…with other things. What?”
“He’s setting up a hospice support foundation in her name. Said if it hadn’t been for them she would have died in the hospital in Austin instead of here at home, and she would have hated that.”
“Jamie’s…doing that?”
“I figured he would have told you, since you and his aunt were so close.”
“I guess we haven’t gotten to that yet.” Her mouth quirked. “It’s been a little tense until yesterday.”
“Oh.” Boots looked as if he truly did not want to know about that. She didn’t blame him. “Anyway, he’s put a big chunk of money into it. The guys think he’s crazy, but then they live higher than we do,” Boots finished with a grin.
Her brow furrowed. “Just how much did he put into it?”
“A lot, that’s all I know. He’s going to be living lean for a bit, but he was determined.” He hastened to add, “He’ll be okay. He was always smart about the money, once it started coming in. This was just a big chunk all at once.”
She reminded him how to get to Millie’s, and after he’d gone she stood there thinking for a long, silent moment.
He’d felt responsible for Derek.
He was funding the people who had helped Aunt Millie.
Maybe Jamie Templeton hadn’t changed all that much after all.
*
He could do this.
For the first time since he’d arrived, Jamie felt as if he could really do this. He could build—or rebuild—his life here and be…if not happy, at least content. He was sure the gnawing would start, the pull, but he’d get past that.
He had to. He would. He just didn’t know how long it would take. How many times did it take for the moth to learn to avoid the flame?
Enough to fry him until he can no longer fly.
He had to admit, Boots showing up like that had been a blow. Not that he wasn’t happy to see his old friend, but Boots was inextricably tied up with the band and the music and it stabbed at him. If he’d stayed much longer the question would have been asked, and that would have sliced him to ribbons.
But he’d had a plane to catch and, to Jamie’s surprise, he said he had someone to get back to.
“Lynn,” he had said, watching Jamie warily.
Jamie placed the woman quickly as one of the fans who had avoided the craziness, had come for the music, more importantly understood the music. She was attractive, but quietly, and didn’t work on seeming anything other than what she was.
“Think I’m crazy?”
“Hell, no. She’s a great lady. One of the ones who really got it.”
“Yeah. Took me a while to convince her. She thinks she’s too old for me.”
Jamie laughed. “Good, maybe she’ll keep you in line.”
Relieved then, Boots had smiled. “She sends her best, by the way.”
“Back at her,” Jamie said, and when Boots had gone a few minutes later Jamie had been left with a much easier feeling about his old friend. It had gotten him through a good hour of work without that nagging tightness inside.
Now he looked at the area on the roof True had patched. He’d said it hadn’t been bad enough to rot anything underneath, and it looked thoroughly dry now. The only thing left up here was to replace the flashing around the chimney. He’d just about have time to do that this afternoon before it got dark. He’d already picked up the supplies from the list True had given him. He got to his feet, made sure of his balance on the slope of the roof, and turned to head back to the ladder.
The ladder was gone.
He blinked. Walked to the edge. Stood there for a moment. Looked around. Then spotted the answer, a slice of green fender on the other side of the house. He must have been too intent to notice her approach.
Or you had your head too deep in a hole. Again.
But he grinned; it was so like the Zee of old, the mischievous girl who had always done things like this.
He sat down, got a grip on the edge of the roof, and swung over. From there it was a drop of only a couple of feet or so. He found her grinning back at him when he landed and turned.
“Up to your old tricks, I see.”
“Just wanted to see if you were still up to it. And,” she added, “I brought lunch.”
“In that case, all is forgiven.”
For a moment something flickered under the cheerful demeanor, and he wondered if it was one of the demons he hoped they’d vanquished yesterday. But it was gone too quickly to even put a name to.
Besides, she cared enough to bring him lunch, and that made him smile. She’d always cared.
Would she still, if she knew?
He knew the answer to that, because even before he’d discovered his life’s passion, she’d cared. But she also loved the music that was so much a part of him. So maybe she’d care, but it would be…different.
“Where to?” he asked, looking at the big bag she held, from the diner in town. “The kitchen’s not ready yet.” He thought he could smell melted cheese and onions, and his stomach was already growling. She knew him, did this girl with the sassy hair and the big blue eyes.
“The tree house?” she suggested, startling him. But she clearly meant it. She really had let it go. And she probably meant this to prove it to him.
Moments later they were in the little space where they had spent so many hours as two lost children in an upended world, and then years later so many nights as voracious young lovers who felt as if they’d reached a place that had been inevitable.
He was on his third sizeable bite of the patty melt she’d brought when she said, “When were you going to tell me?”
He froze. His stomach knotted, threatened to send the food on a quick reverse course. How did she know? Sure, this was Zee, who’d once known him better than anyone on earth, but he’d learned a lot in the last seven years about hiding. Nobody had suspected, not even Boots. Or had he? Had he seen past the façade, and now told her? Was his arrival and her question too much to be coincidental?
He wanted to run but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t even think. Then the urge to curl up in a ball and hide from those eyes of hers almost overwhelmed him. He nearly shivered under the pressure.
“It’s a beautiful, wonderful thing to do in her name,” she said softly. “Why would you want to hide it?”
That shocked his brain back to life, but he still could only stare at her as he tried to understand.
“She would be so proud, Jamie, that you’re helping the people who helped her.”
Millie’s Place. God, she was talking about Millie’s Place. Boots must have told her.
“Oh.” Well, that sounded stupid enough.
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“I was…distracted.”
“Oh?”
Funny how her single syllable sounded so much more mindful than his had. “And it isn’t final yet, until those papers are done.”
“It’s still a wonderful thing. Proof that you really are still you.”
That snapped him out of it. “Who else did you think I would be?”
“The careless, high-living guy I was afraid you’d turn into. I wasn’t,” she added in a rueful tone, “thinking at all at the time.” That was so much the old Zee he smiled. It might take a while, but when she got over it, she got over it. “I’m thinking now, though,” she added softly.
“Thinking what?”
“That I might like the distracted part.”
He wasn’t sure what made him do it, but there had always been truth between them and so he did.
“I’ve been distracted since you laid that lip-lock on me right there on Main Street.”
“I’m sure that had nothing to do with it,” she said, but she was smiling. In fact, she was looking at him…like she used to.
“How can you be sure?” It came out a little scratchy, because his throat had tightened up again.
“Good point,” she said. “It might bear further testing.”
He sucked in a deep breath. Hoped desperately that he would need it. “That is up to you.”
“I am curious.”
I’m not. Because I already know.
Her mouth merely brushed his at first. Then her soft, sweet lips took his tentatively. Just as the fire lit in him, the fire only she could ever set off, she made a tiny sound and leaned in.
He needed every bit of that breath.