Roommating (Preston's Mill #1) (14 page)

“I know. They weren’t work related. They’re just some ideas
I had for…for projects and such that I wanted him to review and give me his
opinion on. I wanted his expertise.”

She relaxed. That made sense. She wouldn’t be any good at
giving her father expert advice on projects. And it was fine if he wanted to
get Chris’s opinions. She needed to stop overreacting. Just because something
felt off, strange, hidden, didn’t mean that it actually was.

“All right,” she said with a smile. “Do you want some
dessert? I can make you some mixed fruit or something.”

Her father made a face. “You don’t have any ice cream to put
it on, do you?”

***

Heather was feeling a little better
when she returned to their apartment in Preston’s Mill an hour later.

Everything was going fine with Chris, and she and her father
were still close. Nothing had changed. She wasn’t going to let her lingering
issues with her mother ruin her life now that things were going really well.

Chris’s truck wasn’t in the parking lot when she arrived, so
he must have still been working. It was seven-thirty now. Surely he’d be
finished up at the job soon.

She was walking down the hall when Estelle stuck her head
out of her apartment. “Good evening, young lady. What’s all the commotion?”

Heather blinked. “What commotion?” The hall was completely
quiet, and there was no one else in sight.

“I heard commotion earlier. People hurrying up and down the
hallway.”

“Oh. I don’t know. I just got here.” Heather waved, about to
continue to her place when she noticed her apartment door was hanging open. She
stopped abruptly.

“Why is your door open?” Estelle demanded, stepping out of
her apartment wearing a long red flannel nightgown and her normal pink curlers.

“I have no idea. Maybe Chris left…” She trailed off. Chris
wasn’t even here.

“Young lady, don’t you dare enter that apartment alone.
There might be thieves and rapists waiting for you.”

Torn between amusement and genuine nerves, Heather gave a
little giggle. “I’m sure it’s nothing.” Then she raised her voice to call,
“Chris? Are you in there?”

There was no answer.

Estelle shook her head. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

Heather had no idea what the old lady was going to do until
she returned carrying a baseball bat and a golf club.

She handed Heather the golf club. “Now we can go
investigate.”

Choking slightly in response, Heather accepted the club and
walked with Estelle down the hall toward her apartment. Or rather, she walked
and Estelle kind of stalked her way down, brandishing her bat, as if she were
on the hunt for prey.

“Hello!” Heather called out when they’d gotten to the opened
doorway. “Is anyone here? Chris?”

When nothing but silence greeted them, they walked inside.
Heather almost tripped on a cardboard box that was set down in the floor of the
entryway.

Before they could get any farther inside, there was a sound
from behind them.

Both of them whirled around, and Estelle swung her bat.

Chris managed to catch the bat before it clobbered him.
“What’s going on?” he demanded gruffly.

“Oh, dear,” Estelle gasped. “I’m so sorry, dear boy. I
thought you were a criminal.”

“Well, I’m not.” Chris’s eyes moved over to Heather, who had
lowered her golf club. “Everything all right?”

“The door was opened, and you didn’t seem to be here, so we
were just being safe,” Heather explained, a little embarrassed, although they’d
been perfectly right to be careful, given the situation. “Where have you been?
I didn’t see your truck.”

“Yeah. Uh…” He trailed off, the strangest expression on his
face.

Then suddenly, Heather remembered something. “Where’s Lucy?”

Chris was just opening his mouth to reply when another voice
sounded from farther down the hall. “I found her! I found her!”

Heather stepped past Chris and looked down the hall to see
Jace striding toward them with Lucy in his arms.

Making a little sound in her throat, Heather reached out to
take her dog as Jace came near. “What on earth happened?” she exclaimed.

“I’m sorry,” Chris said, rather thickly. “I was carrying in
a couple of boxes and left the door opened too long. She got out, and then I
couldn’t find her. I even drove around the block just now, looking for her.
Where was she?” That last question was directed toward Jace.

“Down in the laundry room,” he explained, sweating slightly,
like he’d been hurrying around, searching for the dog. “She was making up to
old Mr. Robinson.”

Heather’s mind was a tumble, but she managed to work out
that there had been a panic about possibly losing her dog but the danger was
over now. She cuddled Lucy close to her. “She doesn’t usually run away,” she
said. “But sometimes she likes to explore.”

 A few minutes later, they’d properly thanked both Jace and
Estelle for their help, and she and Chris were alone in the apartment. She was
still cuddling Lucy as she glanced down at the box in the entry hall, which was
evidently the reason for the door to have been left open.

“Are you mad?” Chris asked, still looking hot and hassled.
He must have been really nervous about losing Lucy.

For good reason. Heather would have been incredibly upset.

“No. Not really. She’s usually well-behaved, but she does
occasionally take off, so we can just be careful about keeping the door closed
unless we’re with her.” She frowned down at the box. “What’s in that, anyway?”

It looked like papers, and she suddenly realized it must
have been the papers in her father’s hutch drawer.

Chris cleared his throat. “Nothing. I mean, just some old work
records your dad wanted me to sort through.”

Heather’s spine stiffened sharply as she realized what he’d
said.

He’d just lied to her. Right to her face. She knew that
wasn’t what was in the boxes. It wasn’t work-related at all. Her father had
told her what it was, and for some reason Chris didn’t want her to know.

So he’d lied. He’d lied.

“Anyway,” Chris said, turning away as if he once again
wanted to change the subject, “I’ve got to go move my truck, since I left it at
the curb. I’ll be back.”

She couldn’t say anything in response. She couldn’t speak at
all. She was bombarded with wave after wave of confusion and fear and betrayal.

And she suddenly didn’t care whether she was being
reasonable or mature or emotionally healthy. Because she suddenly knew she’d
been falling in love with a man who’d just stood there and lied to her.

She’d been trying to trust him, but she couldn’t. She
couldn’t
.
Which meant there was no reason to assume he’d still be around ten years from
now. Or even ten months from now.

She’d been so incredibly stupid to think that maybe he
would.

She was so upset she was blinded by the emotion, and she
would have cried if she hadn’t been so frozen with the devastating revelation.

She had no idea what to do, what to say to him, what the best
choice was for her to do right now.

All she knew was she had to get away.

The big decisions she’d have to save until later, but there
was at least one small decision she could make right now.

“Come on, Lucy,” she managed to choke, nuzzling the little
dog for comfort. “We’re not going to stay here tonight. Not with someone who
lies to us like that. Let’s go spend the night at Dad’s.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Chris
demanded. He’d been gone all of five minutes, only to come back and find
Heather in her room, placing clothes in an overnight bag. She didn’t answer
him. Didn’t even bother to look at him. “Is this because I left the door open
and Lucy got out?” He cursed as he raked a hand through his hair. “I said I was
sorry. It was stupid of me. It’s not gonna happen again.”

“I know,” she said quietly.

He moved into her room, and kept moving, until he had
Heather moving away from her luggage. “Then what’s going on?”

“I need some time to think,” she said slowly, carefully
enunciating each word. “I…I just need a night away, that’s all.”

His eyes went wide. “All because Lucy got out? Don’t you
think that’s a bit extreme?”

Heather rolled her eyes and went to move past him, but he
wouldn’t let her. “This isn’t about Lucy,” she said, suddenly snapping out of
her composure and shoving his hands off of her. “This is because I can’t trust
you!”

“So again I have to ask, why?” he asked, his voice growing
louder with frustration. “What have I done that has you suddenly feeling like
that?”

She huffed with frustration of her own. “You lied. You stood
right there and lied to my face. Just like you lied about what you were talking
to my dad about yesterday.” She took a step back and began to pace. “I’ve never
hid how I feel, Chris. You know that trust is a big thing for me. I don’t like
secrets, and I don’t like being kept in the dark. But most of all, I hate being
lied to!”

He stared hard at her for a solid minute. “Heather…I…”

She held up a hand to stop him. “I should have stuck with my
initial instincts. I knew I couldn’t trust you when you first came back. I knew
it, and yet I let myself believe…” Her voice trailed off, thick with emotion.

He saw her eyes welling with tears, and it gutted him. “Can we
please talk about this? You don’t have to leave. This is your home too. Just
give me a chance to explain.”

She vehemently shook her head. “I told you I need a little
space for the night. I gave you a chance. Multiple chances and you chose to placate
me rather than tell me the truth.”

Chris had come to know her well enough to know that she was
fighting with herself just as much as she was with him. The thing was, he
couldn’t keep doing this. Couldn’t keep having this same argument with her—fighting
with her, trying to prove himself and prove that he wasn’t going to leave. It
was exhausting. Which was exactly what he said to her.

“Oh, it’s exhausting to you?” she mocked. “You think it’s
easy living with someone, sleeping with someone who you can’t trust?”

A low growl came out before he could stop it. “I
know
it’s not because that’s exactly how I feel!” he shouted, furious that she kept
using that phrase to describe him. “I get it that you have issues—I really do. But
I’m not your damn mother! I didn’t walk out on you when you were a kid, and I’m
tired of having to pay the price for what she did! If you need to deal with
that situation, then call her up and get it off your chest, but quit taking it
out on me!”

She gasped, her eyes going wide, but she stayed silent.

Now it was his turn to pace, almost tripping over Lucy. “I
have tried to be patient, but you know what? You would make a saint crazy with
your bullshit!”

Heather went to speak, but Chris immediately shot her down.

“No. You’ve had plenty to say about me, and I think it’s
only fair that I get to have my say.” He paused and waited for her to argue,
but she didn’t. She sure as hell glared at him, though. “I don’t know what else
I can possibly do to please you. It’s impossible!”

“You can start by not lying…”

He glared at her. Hard. But more than anything, he was torn.
He could easily sit here and tell her what she wanted to hear, but it wasn’t
his place, and to be honest, it pissed him off to no end that they were even
having this discussion. Either she trusted him or she didn’t.

And clearly, she didn’t.

No matter what he did.

“You know what? You’re not the only one with issues,
Heather. You look at my leaving Preston three years ago like it was something I
did to
you
. Did you ever bother to look at it from my point of view? Did
you even think for just one minute of what I was going through and why I left?”
He shook his head. “Of course not. That would mean depriving you of the chance
to play the victim. Which you have made a fine art of.”

“How dare you!” she cried.

“No, how dare
you
!” he snapped. “Not everything is
about you! It wasn’t three years ago, it wasn’t yesterday or today, and it
certainly wasn’t when you were a kid and your mom left!” And then all the fight
left him at the look of utter devastation on her face. He cursed under his
breath. “You know what? Screw it. You want an out? You got it. I’m done. I
guess you were right about one thing. I can’t be trusted to stay. I’m outta
here.”

And then he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

Chris stood there for a minute and tried to calm down, and
he almost had, when he heard a small sound.

It was Lucy, crying on the other side of the door.

***

“Uh-oh…”

“Mind if I come in?” Chris asked.

Jace stepped aside and motioned for Chris to come in. “She
was pissed about the dog, huh?”

For the next ten minutes, Chris reiterated everything that
had happened while pacing back and forth in Jace’s apartment.

“Okay, so I have to ask,” Jace began, “why did you leave
three years ago?”

Chris shrugged and sat down on the sofa. “It was all too
much. I’d lived here my whole life with my mother. She was the only family I
had. And I sat here and had to watch her die. Every day for a year, I watched
her get weaker and weaker—watched the cancer slowly eat away at her body. When
she was gone…I was lost. I didn’t know how to live here without her, while at
the same time, it was too hard to stay here with all the memories.”

Jace nodded sympathetically. “Damn, Chris. I’m sorry.”

“I had always wanted to leave Preston. It’s a great town,
but I thought I wanted more. I stayed to help my mom. And then she got sick,
and I knew I couldn’t leave. After she died, I simply couldn’t stay. I didn’t
even think about it. Didn’t talk to anyone about it. I just packed up my shit and
went in and saw Tom on my way out of town.”

“Was he upset with you?”

Chris shook his head. “I think he was surprised—shocked
really—but he understood. He never tried to stop me. If anything, he asked if I
needed anything. Other than my mom, Tom’s the closest person to a relative that
I’ve ever had.”

They sat in companionable silence for several minutes.

“It didn’t take long for me to realize that I’d made a
mistake. Preston was home. It just took a little prompting for me to come
back.”

“So what are you going to do?” Jace asked. “It seems to me
that this situation with Heather isn’t working out. You can’t keep working
together and living together while you’re keeping a secret from her. And to be
honest, it was kind of crappy of Tom to put you in that position. All of those
positions.”

“I don’t think—”

“No, here’s the thing,” Jace quickly interrupted, “you have
to decide what it is that you want more—the business or Heather. Because this
whole damn situation the way it is now isn’t working for anyone. And if you
want to know the truth from a guy who knows a thing or two about dysfunctional
relationships, I can tell you that the business part of your relationship is
going to just make things worse, unless you can really figure this out.”

“Shit,” Chris murmured.

“Exactly. You’ve got work to do on both fronts, and it’s
going to be hard to do both at the same time. So which do you want more, the
business or the relationship?”

That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it?

Jace got up, grabbed them both a beer and sat back down. Chris
could see that he was trying to be respectful and not pressure Chris for an
answer, but he also knew that he couldn’t hide out here all night.

Putting his beer down on the coffee table, Chris pulled out
his phone with a murmured, “Excuse me,” to Jace and quickly pulled up Tom’s
number.

“Hey, Chris,” Tom said cheerfully. “What’s going on? A
little late for a social call. Everything all right?”

“I can’t do this anymore.”

Tom was silent for a moment before saying, “You’re going to
have to be more specific. I’m not sure I know what exactly you’re referring
to.”

“I want out of the business, Tom,” Chris said, the words
coming more easily than he imagined they would. “This whole situation…it’s not
working. Not for me, and especially not for Heather.”

“I see.”

“I don’t think you really do,” Chris interrupted. “I think
your heart was in the right place, but somewhere along the line, things
changed. Heather’s upset and rightfully so. You asked me to lie to her, Tom. I’ve
been trying so hard to get her to trust me, and we were finally on our way
there, and then this whole situation came up.”

“I didn’t ask you to lie. If you lied to her, then you did
that yourself. I get that you’re mad at me, but don’t be blaming me for a mess
you made on your own. I’m sorry if I put you in an awkward position. I really
am. But you know why I asked you not to mention this, Chris,” Tom said. “And
you said you understood.”

“I do. I swear to you that I do, but Heather means more to
me than anything else. I can find another job. Hell, I can find another place
to live. But I can’t find another Heather,” he said gruffly. “She deserves the
truth…from both of us. She’s stronger than you think and…she’s hurting Tom. Because
of us.” He cleared his throat. “Because of me.”

“You know that’s exactly what I was trying to keep from
happening.”

“I didn’t betray your confidence. I want you to know that. But
it cost me. I…I’m sorry, Tom, but you’re going to have to come clean with your
daughter because I’m not going to keep another secret from her. I love her. I
want a life with her. But that’s never going to happen if I’m torn in two
directions.”

“Chris,” Tom began, suddenly sounding very weary, “I’m sorry
it ended up tearing you up.”

“And I don’t mean to be blaming you for what happened. I’ve
got stuff of my own I need to work on. I know that. But I just don’t want to be
put in this position again.”

“So you won’t be. We won’t let it happen.You don’t need to
leave the company—”

“Yes. Yes, I do,” Chris interrupted. “It’s the only way for
me to prove to Heather that she means the world to me. Let her have it, Tom. The
business. The truth. She may be a grown woman, but she still needs her father.”

“I know. But I wish you’d reconsider—”

“My decision’s made. For the first time since I got back to
Preston, I know I’m doing the right thing and for the right reason.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

Chris smiled. “Say that you understand and you wish me
luck.”

“Always, Son. Always.”

When they hung up, Chris looked over at Jace and saw his
friend smiling. “Well…I guess you heard.”

Jace stood and picked up Chris’s beer and handed it to him. “So
what are you going to do? You know, for a job?”

“No idea,” Chris said, but it didn’t even bother him. He
felt lighter and happier and…hopeful. “I’m not even going to worry about that
right now. I’ve got some money saved up, and I know I’ll be okay in that
respect. Right now, I have to go and make sure that Heather’s okay and work
this out.”

“You think she’s going to be open to this? To you just
walking away from the business? Isn’t that feeding right into her crazy
assumption about you?”

“She thinks I’m going to leave, and I’m not going to do that.
I guess I’m going to find out if she was as serious about us being together as
I was. For all I know, she may want us to stay as partners and quit seeing each
other.”

Jace’s eyes went wide. “What are you going to do if she says
that’s what she wants? Will you go along with it?”

Chris opened his beer and took a long pull of it before
putting the bottle back down on the coffee table. “Hell no. That’s not even an
option.”

Jace grinned. “So?”

“So I’m going up there and putting it all on the line—it’s
her that I want, not her father’s business. And I’ll gladly go and flip burgers
in town or go to work for another construction company—not as a foreman because
I don’t want to compete with her—if it means that we stay together.”

“You’re that serious about her?” Jace asked. “That sure?”

Chris nodded. “I’ve never been more sure about anything in
my life.”

“I envy you, man. I really do.”

With a smile, Chris patted Jace on the back and turned to
walk toward the door. “Don’t envy me yet. This could all blow up in my face.”

Jace laughed. “Nah. I don’t think it’s going to be easy, but
you’re not going to fail.”

“From your lips to God’s ears,” Chris said with a wink as he
walked out the door.

With his heart beating a little rapidly, he made his way
back down to his apartment. But he stopped and did something he’d never done
before first.

He knocked on Estelle’s door.

“Who is it?” she snapped from the other side of the door. “What
do you want? I have a gun!”

Chris chuckled. The woman was never boring, that was for
sure. “Estelle? It’s Chris. Can you open the door?”

She did and glared at him. “Of course I can open a door? You
think I’m so old that I don’t know how to open a door anymore?”

Rather than argue, he got right to the point. “I need to ask
a favor, Estelle.” Her eyes went wide, and she immediately began fussing with
her curlers as if they were threatening to break free. “I need you to know that
I’m going to go into my apartment and convince Heather that I love her.”