Friends & Fortune Cookies: A Sudden Falls Romance (21 page)

“You as well. Take care.”

He signed off, and I turned toward the doorway.

Joe stood there, and I startled so hard I nearly jumped out of my skin. The phone slipped out of my hands and hit the carpeted floor.

“Jesus, Gracie.”

“Oh, God. You scared me. I didn’t hear you come in.” He stood in the doorway looking angry, and I wasn’t sure why. For that matter, I had no idea why he was here in the middle of the morning. “What’s the matter?”

“More contingency plans?”

“What?”

“Your phone call? Rob, was it?”

“Who I just told I wouldn’t be seeing again.”

“That’s not what it sounded like. You said, ‘Absolutely. I’ll see you there.’ And then laughed. That doesn’t sound like a brush-off to me.”

I stared at him incredulously for a long, long moment.

My voice started off quiet and slow, but as my anger and hurt came home to roost, my volume and speed increased exponentially. “I really thought, with all of the actual conversation we’d been having over the course of the last week, and the
Let’s-plant-a-flag-so-we-don’t-step-on-a-landmine
bullshit that we were really past this sort of thing.” Tears leaked out of my eyes, and I brushed them away, not caring that my makeup smeared.

Joe’s eyes widened when I swore, but he didn’t say a thing, and I was just getting going. “Is that what you think? That I’d fool around on you? When you’re
leaving
in three weeks? If that’s how you feel about me, no wonder you’re having such a hard time finding a reason to stay. Or maybe you’re looking to pull your usual disappearing act. If I’ve somehow done you wrong, then you can leave with impunity.
Again.
”

“If that’s what you think, then
you’re
not paying attention here,” he yelled back. “I can’t stay here because I will be dead broke. I signed a two-year contract with Coppersmith. If I break it, I will have to give back a sizeable signing bonus. Money which I. Do. Not. Have. I wish it could be different.”

“What I think is that you’re always going to find a reason to leave. And that I’m never going to be enough to make you stay.”

“Gracie…” Less anger and more exasperation laced his voice.

Without another word, I brushed past him into the hallway, not really caring that I more-or-less shoulder-checked him as I went by or that my phone still lay on the floor.

He followed me as I swiped my purse and keys off the table and headed for the door. This was as good a time as any to go to my parents’ house and get my thumb drive. I was pretty sure that anything we had left to say would further flay one another’s raw wounds even worse.

“Gracie!”

I broke into a jog so he wouldn’t see me completely break down Surprisingly, I got out of the parking lot before he caught up to me. Maybe he was hindered by his walking boot. Or maybe he simply didn’t try that hard.

I studiously refused to look in my rearview mirror. I had a hard enough time keeping my eyes on the road through my tears anyway.

Fortunately, I made it to my parents’ house without incident. By the time I arrived, my sobs had settled into the occasional hiccup. The mirror on my visor confirmed that I looked like a train wreck. But since it was the middle of the day on a weekday, I expected the house to be empty. I let myself in with my key and headed for the kitchen, which is where I thought I’d left my thumb drive. Then I remembered Joe flirting and whispering in my ear as we prepared dinner in the kitchen, and tears started to burn the back of my eyes again.

I was so stupid. Of course, this was the only possible outcome to getting involved with him. What in God’s name was I thinking?

I sniffed back the tears.

“Who’s there?”

Dammit.

“It’s Grace, Dad.”

He came around the corner, took one look at me, and knew something was amiss. “What’s the matter, baby?”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to explain it to him. To anyone, really. “Just a bad day.” I found the thumb drive in the fruit basket on the island. Strange place for it, but at least I had it back. “I left my backup drive. What are you doing home?”

“I finished rounds early today.” His eyes narrowed on me. “I don’t believe this is only a bad day.”

I shrugged, neither confirming nor denying.

“I just made some coffee and found some cinnamon rolls your mom stashed away in the back of the freezer. Why don’t we have a snack?”

“Does mom know you’re drinking coffee and eating sweets in the middle of the day?”

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt me.”

I tried to laugh at that but only managed to let loose enough to start sobbing. I struggled to turn away, but he pulled me into his burly embrace and let me cry on his shoulder like I hadn’t done since I was a child. He patted my back and said nonsensical words until the raw anguish drained out and left me with nothing but hopeless exhaustion.

Dad guided me to a barstool at the island and placed a cup of coffee in front of me before pulling his handkerchief out of his back pocket and handing it to me. The warm, soft cotton smelled of laundry detergent and something that was exquisitely my father. I blew my nose and wiped my eyes.

“Why do I have a feeling this—” He indicated all of me with a circular swoosh of his index finger “—has something to do with the return of Mr. Baker?” His voice took on a bit of a growl when he got to Joe’s name.

He sat down and took a sip of his coffee.

I shook my head but suspected I wasn’t convincing.

“Do I need to break his kneecaps?”

I sniffed. “He didn’t do anything, Daddy.” Including love me enough to stick around.

He stood and kissed the crown of my head. “It’s an open offer.”

I forced a smile to my face. “Thanks.”

“What are you up to the rest of the day?” he asked.

I picked up the thumb drive from where I’d set it on the island. “I’m going to send my book proposal off to a few agents.”

Because what else did I have to look forward to?

Chapter 34 — Joe

Fuck.
Who knew heading back to Gracie’s to grab a change of clothes would turn into such a cluster?

I changed into the single pair of khakis and button-down shirt I’d brought with me from Denver, then checked the time. I needed to be at the bank in twenty-five minutes.

But I could wait a few more minutes to see if Gracie would come back. And by waiting, I meant pacing back and forth as much as the walking boot would allow.

I
knew
Gracie would never cheat. I’d just had a knee-jerk reaction to her on the phone with another guy. Especially after the last week. We were both strung tight. We were looking at least a year’s separation, which was going to be hard. Especially when we’d only have several weeks together before hand. And yes, we could probably swing the odd weekend here and there over the next year. It wouldn’t kill us. Military couples did it all the time. But it sucked. And we’d both colossally overreacted.

Finally, I recognized she wasn’t coming back. I called, and her phone rang from the floor. I quit the call, placed her phone on the nightstand, and sent her a text message so she’d see it as soon as she got back to her phone.

I’m sorry. Call me.

I had to leave or I was going to be late.

This day kept getting worse and worse. Everything that could go wrong had, including finding out that while Alex had indeed given me the right product numbers for the ceramic tile for the master bath. I had ordered the correct product, and the vendor had sent us tiles with the correct product number on the boxes of tile. But the tiles inside the boxes were not what we ordered.

In fact, the vendor didn’t even have the tiles we actually needed. And so while they were happy to take back the incorrect tile, refund our money, and even pay for shipping, they wouldn’t be able to replace it for us. “And oh, by the way, we can’t refund your money until the Friday after we have the tile back in our warehouse.”

But we still needed the tile to finish the house.

Fortunately, there was a specialty tile shop in the city that carried what we needed. Unfortunately, they were almost twice as costly as the original tile and needed payment up front. So now it was time to beg and borrow at the bank.

While there were plenty of banks in the greater Cincinnati area, there was only one bank in the town of Sudden Falls. Uncle Tommy had always banked there and so did Alex. Baker Restoration’s accounts were held there, so it seemed like the logical first place to start. Not that I was feeling all that logical at the moment.

I really wanted to chuck the trip to the bank, go find Gracie, and smooth things over.

Instead, I got into my truck and drove to Main Street. I reached the bank on time and was greeted by the business banker, Cherri Rogers. I remembered her from high school. She’d been a couple of years ahead of me. “Joe Baker. I heard you were back in town.”

She was still pretty, but her looks held a hint of desperation. Red hair that could only have come from a bottle and a bit more makeup than most women wore during the day. She’d dressed in a white, sleeveless blouse which vee’d deeply, displaying more cleavage than I’d ever seen at a bank, a snug black skirt which fell quite a few inches above her knees, and impossibly high heels. She didn’t try to hide the obvious interest in her gaze when she gave me a full-body perusal.

“Hey, Cherri. Good to see you again.” I held out my hand to shake.

She made an awkward amount of eye contact as she held on to my hand for several seconds longer than was customary or comfortable. “What can I help you with?” We stepped back to her office, and I have to admit, I was glad it was made entirely of glass. If she pulled the blinds, I was outta there.

What Gracie would think of this situation? Dread filled my stomach. I really hoped our argument could be patched up over a late dinner at Zen tonight.

I took a seat across from Cherri’s desk and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. “I need a quick, short-term, secured loan. As you may have heard, Baker Restoration has a house in the
Rehab-a-rama
show.”

“I had heard. We don’t do a lot of quick turnaround, short-term loans, secured or otherwise, but I’m happy to see what I can do.”

She turned to the file cabinet beside her desk. When she turned back around, a button on her blouse had popped loose. I don’t know if that was accidental or whether she’d deliberately unbuttoned her top. Either way, I could see the lace edge of her bra, peeking out, as she set a folder in front of me.

At any other time in my life, I’d have enjoyed the view and accepted it as a gift. Now, however, the only bra I wanted to see was Gracie’s.
Preferably on the floor of her bedroom.

That was thought-provoking.

But didn’t get us any closer to having a finished house.

“Why don’t you fill out this loan application,” she said, indicating the top sheet in the folder with a long, red fingernail.

I started filling out the form.

“I’ll need to see the property before we can approve this,” she said. “How is next Wednesday?”

“Is that the earliest you can do it? With the deadline approaching, we are a little under the gun here.”

She picked up a planner from her desk and ran a fingernail down the page. “Well, I could come out late this afternoon?” Either she had something in her eye or she was batting her eyelashes.
God help me.

I agreed to the time and finished the paperwork, relieved to bid Cherri goodbye. I headed into the city where a specialty tile store had our order waiting. My credit card already felt heavy in my wallet. I hoped we could get the funding before the bill came due.

Chapter 35 — Grace

“Sometimes when one door shuts, a window opens. Sometimes you’re just locked in a windowless room trying to figure out how to break out
.
”
~ Luddite in Love: A Cautionary Tale of Dating in the Modern Age,
Grace Mendoza

“Okay, chica. Have a better day, okay?” Dad shut my car door and headed back into the house. I debated for about half a second about whether or not to go home to grab my phone or go back to the office. I chose the latter because I wasn’t ready to face Joe.

After all the times I’d accused him of running away, it was a little ironic that it was I who’d turned tail and ran away after our fight. I was embarrassed that I’d acted like a child and still a little hurt and angry that he hadn’t immediately given me the benefit of the doubt. And scared that we’d once again damaged our relationship.

In addition to wanting to avoid Joe until I’d fully worked things out in my own head, I still needed to fix a couple of formatting things in my manuscript, and if I could get a quick bit of help from one of my more technical co-workers, then I could send it out to a few agents.

Dave found me in my office moments after I got my laptop plugged in and fired up. He walked up slowly, frowning. “I thought you’d left.”

“I did, but I came back. You have perfect timing. I need some tech help.”

He held up his hands and took a few steps back. “Oh, God. Not me. Anyone but me.”

I gave him a withering glare and completely deadpanned my response. “Ha. Ha. You are a very funny person.”

“What do you need?” He sounded resigned. Which I guess was better than running away, screaming as if he were doused in gasoline and I held a lit match.

“Can you take a look at my manuscript? I’m ready to send out the proposal to a number of agents.”

“Oh! Congratulations. That’s great. Do you need me to read it?”

“Oh. Nothing like that! I just have a few things I’ve formatted inconsistently. I was hoping someone could help me make it look good before I sent it off.”

“Sure.” He made a little shoo-ing motion with his hands, and I vacated my chair.

“I see what you did here.” He went on to explain how he was using the format painter to take the formatting I liked and apply it to the rest of the book. I followed along to a certain extent but was happy to let an expert handle it.

Dave got to the beginning of the book, and he stopped on a page. I could tell he was reading rather than formatting.