Chapter 3
Caroline stood up as she watched J.T. tromp through the snow back to her. He was clearly upset, and she was having a hard time keeping herself from dwelling over who’d called him. She’d never heard that ringtone before. Could it be an enterprising ex-girlfriend? It seemed like the kind of thing Trev would find funny.
“All right, let’s hear it,” she said when he reached her. “Something is obviously wrong.”
He took her hands. “You know how much you mean to me, right?”
The girlfriend line of reasoning was looking more plausible. “Yes, J.T., but frankly, I’m a little worried right now.”
He helped her sit back down and cuddled close. “Me too, if I’m being completely honest. Remember how I told you that I…needed to put the brakes on our relationship until some secrets were out in the open?”
“Like the big announcement in the press release yesterday? It hurt me that you didn’t think you could trust me with that. I would never have told anyone.”
“That wasn’t completely the reason.” He paused, as if searching for the right words.
This was sounding worse and worse. “Who were you talking to, J.T.?”
“My ex-wife.”
“Your ex-wife!” Caroline shouted back. “You were married? Wait! How did you not tell me something this important?”
She couldn’t have heard him right.
“I wanted to wait until the final decree came through to tell you everything, and it did a couple days ago, thank God.”
“Then why are you talking to your ex now? Are you thinking about a reconciliation? Oh, God. This can’t be happening.” She’d fallen for him in the freaking gallery. Gone to Rome. Daydreamed after he’d taken her walking through the vineyards in Napa. Imagined their families getting together for the holidays. He’d swept her off her feet, and now she realized it had left her with a long way to fall.
He shook her hands as if to grab her attention. “It’s not what you’re thinking. If she fell off the face of the earth, I’d pop open the most expensive champagne I own—just like I did with Trev when the judge finally granted me a divorce.”
She sagged against him. “Sorry, my mind went to a dark place. I expect you have a good reason for keeping this to yourself. You’ve always struck me as an honest man.”
He shook his head. “Thank you for that. I try to be—despite how this situation seems. Let me start at the beginning. It’s a long and depressing tale, and I really wanted it to be behind me before I started something with you. Caroline, the relationship ended three years ago, but I didn’t feel it was right…”
“To begin something with me,” she finished. “Okay, I see your point.”
“Trev said I spared you a lot of worry,” J.T. said, taking his sunglasses off. “It’s hard to convey how hard the last three years have been. I didn’t want it to touch you, especially when we’d only just—”
“Reconnected,” she whispered, studying his beautiful green eyes. “And fallen for each other.”
“I was so into you,” he said, gripping her hand. “I didn’t want to taint what we might have.”
The sincerity with which he said it made her heart swell and took some weight off her shoulders. “Okay, let’s get through the particulars. How long were you married? What’s her name?” She really didn’t want to hear it, but this was part of his personal history, and that made it important to her. Plus, it seemed to be affecting the situation between them, and knowing more might help her better understand.
“Thank you,” he said, releasing a deep breath. “We were only married for two years. Her name is Cynthia Newhouse, and she…wasn’t the woman I thought she was. Everyone thinks she’s this beautiful, generous philanthropist, but she’s…”
“A gold digger?”
“Actually, her family is extremely wealthy, but she’s pressed for things…like a gold digger might. Trev programmed the ringtone one night when we were drunk. It was supposed to be a joke.”
Some joke. God, it sounded like a celebrity breakup.
“Some days I thought I’d never be free of her. I resigned from my old job and sold my company shares when she pressed for them. They could have given her a controlling interest. I thought that would stop her…”
“But you were only married two years. How could she—”
“Take me to the cleaners like that?” he asked. “We were married in New York and didn’t have a pre-nup. A mistake on my part, but honestly, my lawyer said even if we’d had one, she would have tried to break it. Apparently it’s easier to do than you’d think, especially in New York. There are lots of wily divorce lawyers who like to challenge everything that’s decent and good about the law. And she’s represented by one of Manhattan’s best firms.”
Her head was swimming. “I still don’t fully understand.”
He ran a hand through his wheat-colored hair. “I know… I didn’t at first either. I had no framework for the way people could manipulate family law to suck a person dry. I tried over and over again to give her a fair settlement, but it was never enough. I finally gave the bulk of my money away. It was the only play I could see. Thankfully, the judge finally granted our divorce.”
Goodness, she couldn’t imagine anyone being that greedy. Or bitter. “Then why is she calling now?”
He shrugged. “She said she’s not done making me pay, and…she thinks I’ve given her an opening—”
“With Evan’s new company?”
“She mentioned the museum.”
She reared back. “The museum? But how could she? You’re donating all of the paintings to the university.”
And as his art consultant, Caroline had gone over the entire collection with him. The provenance was solid, she knew, as was his vision for sharing the Merriam art collection with the world.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I want to think she’s gone bat-shit crazy in response to the final decree.”
She could hear the quaver in his voice. “And yet she tied you up for three years.”
He nodded. “When you put Cynthia and her lawyers together, even the titans would tremble. But don’t worry. Our lawyers are the best too, and they’ve helped me look at every loophole. I’ve done what I can to protect myself and those assets from her.”
But would it be enough? Suddenly she was as worried about their dream as he appeared to be. “Oh, J.T.”
“See! This is why I didn’t tell you before. I didn’t want to see you tense up like this. Today was supposed to be a celebration for you and me, moving forward.”
Yeah, the champagne didn’t seem appropriate anymore. “Did she say what she plans to do?”
“Other than skewer me alive and turn me on her great fire pit? No, nothing specific. But I’ll know soon. She moves fast.”
That certainly didn’t make her feel any better. “Do we need to talk to the university?”
“The new university president might not be the one who originally green-lit the idea, but he’s completely on board about the museum. The trustees approved it.”
And yet, the light that had always shone in his eyes when he talked about the museum just wasn’t there. His vision for the art gallery had so charmed her that she hadn’t thought twice about agreeing to leave her job in Denver to help set up the museum. While her logical mind had suggested it might be a bad decision to work for the man who had her heart, the strength of their connection and the quality of his art collection had overridden it. Oh, to be a caretaker for those remarkable works of art, working side by side with this man…
The romance and beauty of the idea had swayed her, but now she had to wonder if she’d been foolish. What if she ended up marooned in Dare Valley without a job? While being back here with her family was tantalizing, the town didn’t yet have a gallery capable of competing with any in Denver.
“J.T., I need you to tell me the truth.” She took off her sunglasses so she could look him in the eye. “Do you think she’ll try and stop the museum somehow? Should I hold off on quitting my job?”
He heaved a weary sigh. “As much as I wish it were otherwise, let’s give it a little more time. I should know more soon. Then we can decide on the best course.”
“I think that’s smart,” she said, her stomach turning sour.
She sure as heck didn’t want to burn any bridges, and her boss was not going to be happy when she handed in her notice. She feared Kendra might not act professionally, so she’d been practicing her resignation speech in the mirror, trying to decide on the best way to frame her decision. The art scene was like a small town—everybody knew everybody, and gossip was rampant. If she made it known that Kendra’s mentoring had prepared her for an opportunity of a lifetime, curating the Merriam art collection, it would look like a win for both of them. Even Kendra would have to acknowledge that. But if she left her job and the museum didn’t come to fruition, well, that same gossip mill could turn against her easily enough. At least this happened before she’d quit.
“I hate this,” J.T. said. “That spark of light in your face when we talk about the museum is gone, and it’s my fault. Dammit! I didn’t want this to touch you.”
She’d noticed the same thing about him, of course, but she didn’t want to mention it. “Did she live in Rome with you?” she asked, wondering how much she could ask about this woman.
“No, she never liked having a permanent residence. She was one of those wealthy socialites who goes from house to house, party to party.”
Caroline had sold art to such people, but it wasn’t her world. She couldn’t imagine being so rootless. She loved traveling, sure, but there was no better feeling than coming home and sleeping in her own bed. And she loved spending time with her family.
“But you worked in Rome,” she said. “How—”
“I’d fly out to join her for long weekends if I could get away or conduct business wherever she was calling home. Sometimes she came to Rome, but not often. That arrangement didn’t work for me, which is one of the reasons it didn’t last long.”
“Did she cheat on you?” His posture straightened, as if her question had physically jolted him, and she put her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. That was a terribly nosy question.”
His mouth tipped up on the right, and his dimple appeared. “But a fair one, I suppose. No, not to my knowledge.”
Silence grew between them, a little uncomfortable now that she’d brought up his former sex life.
“I’m glad you put the brakes on due to something this serious,” she felt compelled to add.
“I told you in Rome I wanted you,” he said, his voice pitched low. “Yes, we’d only just met as adults, and yes, we’ll be working together, but that wasn’t the reason I held back. I’m glad you know I’m finally free. I just wish…”
“She hadn’t called and ruined our picnic?”
He closed his eyes, his face drawn. “I’ll make it up to you somehow,” he said. “Are we okay? I mean, despite the fact that I may have a shark coming after me.”
“I know what this means for my job.” She paused, looking him in the eye. “What does it mean for us?”
He took his time answering. “Let’s see how this week goes.”
A week? She didn’t like it, but she could do a week. “I’m here for you, J.T. Whatever comes.”
“Thank you,” he said, opening his eyes and gazing at her. “I wanted to protect you from this. Her.”
His tone held the kind of defeat she’d only heard in movies about the Alamo. “I want to punch her…in the face or something for hurting you. For hurting what you love.”
What I love.
He lifted a hand and caressed her face. “Finding you has given me a future to look forward to. So has the museum.” His eyes got a far-off look. “The idea came to me while I was sitting in front of my favorite painting in my parents’ house in Napa, nursing a few whiskeys. I’m not sure what I would have done otherwise.”
She knew the painting he was referring to. He’d first shown it to her when he’d brought her to Napa. Now it hung in his den here in Dare Valley. The sight of it had made Uncle Arthur teary-eyed. “The one of Emmits Merriam at his first oil well.”
It showed him as a young man dressed in work clothes with oil on his rough brown boots. His hands stretched out to the big blue Oklahoma sky and his eyes held the rapture of someone who’d just struck it rich. Literally. That oil had changed Emmits’ life, and he’d done a lot of good in the world with his money. Fortunately, so had the generations after him, and J.T. was one of them. Or had been.
“Spending time with that painting reminded me of how much I loved art. Musing over my Grandpa Emmits’ life, I remembered one of his sayings that always stuck with me. You can do anything you want. You just have to decide to do it and give it your all. That’s when I realized I could make something new with art, and I knew it had to be a museum, so everyone could see the art our family has collected over the years. What better place to bring it than here, to the university he started.”
But he wouldn’t be bringing all of it because his aunt had a portion of the collection in her hands. He’d briefed her on the family feud between his father and his aunt. His dad hadn’t liked the guy she’d married, and they’d had a row because her husband, a trust fund dick, had tried to insert himself into Merriam Oil & Gas. Reinhold Allerton hadn’t really wanted a job—his interest in the company was limited to a title and a paycheck. J.T.’s grandma had told Reinhold to back off and leave the family company to J.T.’s father. Clara hadn’t liked that much, and so it had begun.
Plucking up all the paintings from the family house in the Hamptons had been her revenge. She and J.T.’s dad hadn’t seen each other since their mother’s funeral.
Even so, Caroline figured it would be worth asking the woman again—this was years ago and it was for a good cause—but J.T. hadn’t come around. Secretly, she hoped his Aunt Clara would hear about the new museum and want to contribute her portion of the Merriam collection, either out of conscience or the fame it would bring her. Caroline didn’t care which.
“It’s no wonder Emmits and Uncle Arthur were such good friends,” she said. “I wish I’d known him.”
Some of the light returned to his eyes. “Me too, but in a way I feel like I do, never more so than when I look at his painting or walk through this town. God, I love this place.” He stared at her with the intense focus that came so naturally to him. “And even though I’ve kept something so important from you, I hope you can forgive me.”
She felt the corner of her mouth tip up. “Just this once.”
“Funny. I don’t suppose you’d still like to pop this champagne and munch on some of your favorite greens before we head over to your sister’s house.”
She could tell he needed some reassurance too, so she forced a smile. “Of course.”
Even to her ears, her voice was flat. The pop of the champagne cork seemed to echo her sentiments, and for once neither of them toasted. They mostly ate in silence, and it galled her to realize their outing had fallen short of both their expectations.
The secret that had held him back might be out, but it hadn’t brought them any closer together.