CHAPTER 11
Lia kept seeing the horrified expression on Jimmy’s face when he heard the senator, that pompous ass, say she was marrying his son. As if that was ever going to happen.
She couldn’t even imagine what Jimmy thought of her for kissing him in the barn when he thought she was engaged to someone else.
Actually she could guess what he thought of her and it wasn’t good.
If he’d only answer the damn phone and let her explain, everything would be fine, but he wasn’t answering her calls.
There was one good thing that had come out of all this. Selfish as it was, Lia couldn’t keep her spinning mind from returning to the thought that Jimmy must care a little bit for her if he was this upset over the thought of her with someone else.
In the meantime, this eternal meeting was still dragging on. She kept her eyes peeled for Jimmy around the farm for the next hour. She even pretended she needed to use the restroom and had almost searched the entire first floor of the house looking for him before she ran into Lois Gordon and had to feign being lost.
Now her father and the senator looked like they were wrapping this thing up, and she still had yet to find Jimmy to explain.
Fine, she’d just leave the explanation that she wasn’t engaged in his voicemail if she had to. Of course, being a stubborn man, he would probably delete her message without listening to it.
Maybe she wouldn’t have to leave a message after all because suddenly his brother Jack was in front of her.
“Looks like your father-in-law is itching to go. I guess there’s a limit to how much slumming a man like that can handle in one day. Is that what you’re doing with my brother, darlin’? Slumming? Because I gotta tell you, he deserves way better than that.”
She bit the inside of her lip and took all of Jack’s insults in silence until he finally shut up. “Are you done?”
He gazed at the sky for a moment as if thinking before focusing again on her. “Yup. I think that about covers it.”
“Fine. Now it’s my turn. First of all, it’s not any of your business, but since you’re Jimmy’s brother I will tell you. I’m not engaged to the senator’s son. The senator may want us together but it’s not going to happen. I’ve had dinner with John alone a total of two times and that was because I couldn’t think of a way to get out of it. And you know what, if your brother was so into me, he should have called me months ago.”
Since the Gordon she wanted to yell at wasn’t here at the moment, this one would have to do.
Lia’s heart pounded as she wound up to continue her rant. “In addition, I’ve been calling your brother’s phone for an hour now to explain all this to him and he won’t answer. So go get him from wherever he’s hiding and I’ll tell him in person.”
Jack watched her closely, as if deciding what to do with her. Finally, he shook his head. “No can do.”
She sighed in frustration. “Why not?”
“Because he’s gone.” Jack delivered that news with such certainty that she couldn’t doubt it was true.
“Gone where?” she asked.
Jimmy couldn’t be too far. Where was there to go around there? The barn?
“He went back home.” Jack’s answer did nothing but confuse her.
Lia frowned. “What do you mean, home? Isn’t this home?”
Jack hesitated just a bit before answering, “Not exactly.”
He scratched his head and screwed up his face as if the answer had been a hard one for him.
Where a person lived shouldn’t be difficult to answer, unless there was something more than meets the eye.
“What’s going on, Jack? Who are you two? It’s pretty obvious you’re not waiters. Now I’m starting to doubt you’re farmers either.”
“Shit.” Jack shook his head. “This is something you have to discuss with him.”
She wanted to rip out her hair and scream from sheer frustration. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. He won’t take my calls.”
Jack huffed out a breath and then pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He scrolled a bit on the screen and then raised it to his ear. “Hey, it’s me. I know you’re in no mood to talk, but you might wanna listen. Your girl here says she’s not engaged to Dickhead’s son. She’s here next to me and she wants to talk to you. Okay?”
Your girl. True or not, she kind of liked being referred to as Jimmy’s girl. And Dickhead? Good name for the senator. She liked that too.
Jack thrust the phone at her. “Talk quick. He’s not in a good mood.”
She grabbed it and said fast before Jimmy hung up, “I’m not engaged to John Dickson. I’m not even dating him. The senator and my father have been trying to fix us up for years. I don’t want to be with him, Jimmy. I don’t even like him.”
He was silent for a moment before he said, “Where do you live, Lia?”
“At the governor’s mansion with my parents.” She knew that sounded pitiful. Thirty years old and still living with her parents.
No wonder her father still had so much control over her life. She made it easy for him.
Jimmy snorted out a bitter-sounding laugh. “That figures.”
“Hey! I have my reasons.”
She’d initially stayed living at home after college graduation because her grandfather was living with them. She was the apple of his eye and knew she wouldn’t have long enough with him once they diagnosed the lung cancer. Then she’d stayed because her mother had been ill and her father needed her.
But somehow even though Granddad was gone and her mother was fine, Lia was still there.
Maybe Jimmy was right for judging her.
“Whatever. Call me when you get home later. Your mansion isn’t too far from my hovel. Maybe we can meet somewhere.” Jimmy’s invitation was delivered in a voice that told her he may be talking to her, but he still wasn’t happy.
Meeting him so they could talk was what she wanted, even if the way he had suggested it was not so great. Right now, she’d take anything she could get. “Okay. I’ll call you when I get back.”
“Fine.”
The sudden dead air that met her ear told her he’d ended the call without even a goodbye. She really did feel like a teenager with a crush, and now she was remembering why she’d hated her teen years so much. They just plain sucked and her thirties weren’t looking much better.
Lia handed the phone back to Jack. “Thanks.”
Jack stashed the phone in his pocket, then leaned back against the pristine hood of the limo as the driver shot him a nasty look. “I just have one thing to say to you, darlin’. Don’t you go to him if you’re only going to hurt him later. Promise me that. He’s been through too much already.”
At least one of the Gordon brothers was still calling her darlin’, since it seemed Jimmy wasn’t any longer. But what was Jack referring to?
Curiosity got the better of her and she couldn’t help but ask, “What has Jimmy been through, Jack?”
He shook his head. “That story’s not mine to tell.”
After tipping his hat to her, he strode away.
She watched him walk all the way to the barn where a woman had just driven up the driveway in a Gordon Equine truck. She parked near the barn and ran to him. Jack lifted the brunette up and kissed her while swinging her in a circle.
Lia’s heart twisted with envy. She wanted that kind of love. A man had never greeted her that way, though she had a feeling Jimmy, like his brother, was the kind of man who would.
These guys were so much deeper than she’d given them credit for. Maybe she was the shallow bitch they thought she was.
She sighed and went to find her father. The quicker they got back to the city, the sooner she could get to Jimmy and work on smoothing things over.
It was time to move on with her life.