I had to sell this house.
As I rolled my suitcase up the front path and lugged it onto the porch, I saw no signs of Isaac working outside. I heard no sounds of sprinklers or circular saws or power tools coming from the house next door. All was quiet, and I wondered if perhaps I had sent him running for the hills, too.
I shook my head as I unlocked the door and left the suitcase in the foyer. Closing the door, I headed straight to Isaac’s house. If he wasn’t there, I’d text him and tell him we needed to talk. Because men absolutely loved getting messages from women saying “we need to talk.”
As I approached Isaac’s front door, the one he and I had recently painted black, I heard the soft rustle of movement inside. Pulling my sweater tightly closed against the brisk November breeze, I let out a deep sigh, but not one of relief. It was a sigh of resolve.
This was it. This was the conversation I hoped I would never need to have with Isaac. I had to tell him that, even if I was pregnant with his child, we could never be together. Because I would never love him the way I loved Jack, and he deserved a woman who could give him her whole heart.
I rang the doorbell and the rustling sounds ceased. Human and dog footsteps approached and stopped at the door. He was probably peeking through the peephole and deciding whether he should open the door. Would Isaac leave me out here?
As soon as this thought crossed my mind, the door swung open slowly. Isaac was wearing a white Fox racing T-shirt, the long sleeves pulled up to his elbows to reveal the tattoos covering his forearms, and a smile that didn’t quite reach his hazel eyes.
“Well, I’ll be. I was just thinking about you,” he said, stepping aside. “Come on in. Out of the way, Boomer.”
I stepped into his entryway and laughed as Isaac’s German shepherd service dog wagged his tail so hard, he whipped Isaac’s legs repeatedly.
I scratched the top of his head and he panted with glee. “Good boy,” I declared, and he glanced at Isaac as if to say, “See? She thinks I’m a good boy.”
Isaac shook his head as he closed the door behind me.
“What were you thinking about?” I asked, as I caught sight of the stacks of moving boxes covering the sofas and the surface of every table in the room.
“Just thinking about calling you,” he replied, letting go of the door handle. “But I didn’t think that would be a good idea. I… saw you leave with your husband a few days ago.”
I turned to look him in the eye as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Are you moving?”
He stared at the floor for a while before he nodded. “I’m going back to Minnesota. I think it’s time.”
I suddenly felt as if I couldn’t breathe. “You were going to leave without saying goodbye?”
His eyebrows squeezed together as he looked me in the eye. “We both know I’ve done more damage than good here. Your mom… She wouldn’t have wanted me causing trouble for you.”
I shook my head as I wiped tears from my cheeks. “I don’t know what my mom would have wanted. It turns out none of us really knew her. But I know she wouldn’t have wanted you to leave on my account. And besides, I’m selling the house, so I won’t be around to bug you anymore.”
He laughed. “You know you’ve never bugged me. Not a single second.”
“Not even when I got you shot?”
He smiled as he shook his head. “Not even then.”
I drew in a shaky breath. “Don’t leave, Isaac. I’m… I’m pregnant.”
His smile faded and his gaze fell. “Congratulations.”
I shook my head. “I mean, I’m pregnant and… it might be yours.”
He cocked an eyebrow and chuckled nervously. “That would be something of a miracle.”
“Excuse me?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “Laurel, I can’t have kids. I had a vasectomy two years ago.” He looked me in the eye for a moment before he continued. “I told you before about how I enjoyed keeping company with beautiful women before you moved in. New one every week until you came along. Not that you’re not beautiful,” he clarified, shaking his head as he moved on. “But a couple years ago, I had a bit of a scare with one particular lady. And though nothing came of it, I didn’t want to risk it happening again. So I went in for a little snip-job.” He caught me as I began to sway. “Whoa. Let’s go to the kitchen so you can sit down.”
With Isaac’s help, I dragged myself around a stack of boxes and toward the breakfast nook.
“You can’t have kids?” I whispered as he pulled out a wooden chair for me to sit down at the round dining table.
He pulled another chair close to me and sat with his knees almost touching mine. “I should have told you, but you were the first woman to ever make me regret that decision. It’s pretty dumb, considering you’re married, but I was afraid of scaring you off.”
I turned toward the table, resting my elbows on the surface as I leaned forward with my head in my hands. The last five days of anguish while I waited to take a pregnancy test… The pain I’ve caused Jack… The end of my marriage… Was it all in vain?
No, it wasn’t in vain. Jack knew the truth now. He could decide to be with me or not, but at least there were no more secrets between us. But, oh, how it ached to know that I didn’t get a chance to tell Jack I was pregnant with his child.
Oh, God. Jack and I are having another baby.
I couldn’t help but smile as I wiped happy tears from my face. “I’m having Jack’s baby?”
Isaac smiled at me, but this time it reached his eyes, that signature eye-crinkling grin. “Man, oh, man… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that happy.”
I took a deep breath as I turned to face him. “Isaac, I—”
“I know,” he said, nodding his head. “It was never in the cards for us. But it was an honor just to know you… and your mom. It really was. You’ll tell Dylan I said goodbye?”
I sniffed loudly and nodded. “Of course.”
Isaac and I chatted for a while longer, and he told me how he sold the house to an investor. He was packing up his personal belongings to ship them to his parents’ house in Stillwater. When I asked about his vehicles, he said the nephew of our elderly neighbor, Edna, was going to take a look at his Mustang and truck later this afternoon to see if he wanted to buy them. If he wasn’t interested, Isaac was planning to donate the Mustang and sell the truck to a dealer the next day. Then, he would take an evening flight back to Minneapolis.
“I should get going,” I said, standing from the chair slowly, as I suddenly felt weighed down by my reluctance to say goodbye.
“Yeah, Edna’s nephew’s going to be here soon,” he said, walking me to the entryway.
I turned around when I reached the door. “I’m sorry for everything. I really am.”
He waved off my apology. “I already told you, you have nothing to apologize for. In fact, I should be apologizing to you. I should have left you safe and alone in bed that night. I was just worried about how sick you were. And what happened… One hundred percent my fault. But I hope you know I’m not the type of guy to take advantage of that kind of situation. I should have stopped it.”
I shook my head. “Not one hundred percent your fault, but I appreciate the sentiment. I’ve been digging my own grave for a very long time. It was inevitable I was going to fall in one of these days.”
He smiled. “I’ve seen buddies of mine descend into deeper, darker holes after enduring less trauma than you. In my eyes, you’re not just a survivor. You’re a hero.”
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist to pull him into a tight hug. “Please take care of yourself.”
He coiled his arms around my shoulders and squeezed me. “Yes, ma’am. Same goes for you and that baby.”
I held on a bit longer before I stepped back and took in that beautiful smile one last time. “Good-bye.”
He nodded and I left as fast as I could. I didn’t bother retrieving my suitcase from the foyer. I got in my car and headed s
traight for the highway. I had to go back to Hood River.
Chapter 4
Isaac
As I stood up and pulled my backpack out of the overhead bin, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic for all the times I’d done this before, when I came back from boot camp and any one of my three tours. But this time was different. The aisle cleared for me to exit the plane first, with Boomer in front of me, wearing his army-green K9 vest, complete with all the badges he’d earned.
I nodded as people smiled and thanked Boomer and me for our service. By the time I reached the front of the plane, my anxiety level was skyrocketing. I let out the stale breath I’d been holding as soon as I stepped into the skybridge. Every time I walked through this tunnel, I was a different man than when I’d left. This was more true today than it ever was.
As Boomer and I stepped out of the skybridge into Southwest Airlines Gate T2, I was overcome with a bone-deep sense of relief. I grinned like an idiot as we passed the familiar concourse shops and restaurants. I had shipped four boxes of my belongings to my parents’ house, so we didn’t bother going down to the baggage claim. We took the Skyway straight to the parking garage and hopped on the lightrail going to Terminal 1, where my dad was set to pick us up in about twenty minutes.
My mom didn’t question me when I called her four days ago to say I was coming back. She just asked me when, and if there was anything she could do to help. My mom could always be counted on to leave the past in the past.
I stepped out of the terminal and the smell of Minneapolis hit me like a freight train. It was the familiar scent of Minneapolis after a November “scorcher” in the 50-degree range. The warm winds heated the soil and brought in all the “pleasant” smells from farms to the west. People were covering their faces with their shirts in the passenger pickup area. But not me. I walked up and down the sidewalk a few times, breathing in lungfuls of nostalgia as I looked for my dad’s black BMW. It was nowhere in sight.
I found a bench and set my backpack down. Boomer gazed up at me as I slid my phone out of my pocket and dialed my dad’s number. The phone rang four times before it went to voicemail. My dad usually answered the phone, even if he was driving. The only time he didn’t answer his phone was when he was with a patient. Maybe he forgot he was supposed to pick us up and he was still at work.
No big deal. My dad’s dental office was less than forty minutes from the airport, I could wait a while longer. Actually, if he was tied up, I could take a Lyft to the house. But as I opened up my Lyft app, I froze at the sound of a familiar voice calling my name.
“Isaac?”
I turned toward the voice and a huge grin spread across my face. “Well, I’ll be. This is a nice surprise. Is this a coincidence or are you here to pick me up?”
Emily shrugged. “To pick you up, I guess. Your mom called me, like, literally twenty minutes ago to ask me. She said your dad had a dental emergency with one of his patients.”
She was tiny. No more than five-foot-two, and cute as a button.
I looked her up and down for a moment, taking in her dark tousled hair, her army-green jacket, and skinny jeans that showed off her curves. “If this is what you look like when you have twenty minutes to get ready, I may just have to take you out somewhere nice to see what you look like when you really put in the effort.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Is that a compliment or an insult?”
I laughed as I slung my backpack over my shoulder. “Definitely a compliment. You’re naturally beautiful.”
Her cheeks flushed flame-red. “My car’s over there,” she said, pointing to a silver Chevy Volt with flashing hazard lights parked in the loading zone. “We’d better get going before they tow me.”
I tossed my backpack into the back seat with Boomer. Reaching in to grab the latch on the front of the passenger seat, I pushed it back to make room for my legs before I got inside.
“Thanks for coming out on such short notice,” I said, closing the car door and reaching for the seatbelt.
Emily looked around and over her shoulder. “I feel a little embarrassed admitting this, but I’ve never actually picked anyone up from this airport before. I… I only got my driver’s license three years ago. I don’t know how to get out of the airport.”
“No need to be embarrassed about that. You want me to drive?”
Her face lit up. “Would you?”
I laughed. “Of course.”
We both got out and, as we rounded the front of the car, I gave in to the overwhelming urge to reach out and brush her hand with my fingertips. She continued moving toward the passenger side with her hand clutched to her chest, like found treasure, and a gorgeous smile on her face.
I had to move the driver’s seat even farther back than the passenger seat, which made me wonder, for a split second, if she’d been driving around with another guy in the car. “Where to?” I asked as I pulled the seatbelt across my chest.
She buckled in and looked up at me with an adorably confused expression. “I thought you were going home.”
“Do you have somewhere you need to be?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
I sat back and pondered for a moment before I threw out a suggestion. “You told me you moved to Minneapolis when you were sixteen. Have you ever walked all the way down Nicollet Mall until you reached the Mississippi River at nine o’clock at night in the middle of autumn with a guy you just picked up at the airport?”
A beaming grin spread across her face. “Oddly enough, I have not.”
I shook my head as I pressed the ignition button. “Well, let me know when you get a chance to do that. I’d love to know how it goes.”
She laughed as she punched me in the arm, which prompted a deep bark from Boomer. “You’re worse than my brothers,” she said, completely unfazed by Boomer barking at her.
I rubbed my arm. “No need to resort to physical violence,” I said, pulling the car out into the flow of traffic. “Unless you’re into that sort of thing.”
She leaned back in her seat and shook her head. “I have a feeling you’re going to get me in a whole lot of trouble.”
I smiled as I stopped at a traffic light. “I sure hope so.”
Chapter 5
Jack
“I don’t like the location,” I said as I stood next to my truck in an empty parking lot off Murray Blvd. and Tualatin Valley Highway. “I told you I don’t want a property on T.V. Highway.”
“But you’re close to Nike and Intel,” Tim replied, unable to hide the frustration in his voice.
This was the eighth property Tim Roche, my property developer, had shown me in the last two days. I could see he was very near the end of his rope and ready to drop me as a client. But I didn’t think I had the fortitude to recover from another bad decision. I needed to get the location of the new office right the first time.
“It’s closer to Nike. I’d rather be closer to Intel. What’s next?” I asked, sliding behind the wheel of my truck.
Tim sighed. “I only have two more properties that meet the criteria. One is about a block from where you are now, in the adjacent business park. The other one is almost brand new. It’s a good location, but it will be expensive to buy the building and redesign it to suit your needs. I’ll text you the address.”
“How expensive?” I asked when I saw the address.
“About four times what you wanted to spend. It’s on Amberglen. They’re building a ton of apartments for the growing tech community. Commercial real estate in the area is spiking.”
“Let’s take a look.”
I forwarded the address to Barry in a separate text. As I pulled out of the lot onto Murray Blvd., a call came in from Barry.
“What’s up, man? You almost here?” I asked.
“Yeah, mate. Google says I’ll be there in about fifteen.”
“See you then.”
I let out a heavy sigh as I realized it was beyond too late to get out of this business venture with Barry. It seemed like
a really fucking stupid idea to go into business with the husband of my cheating wife’s best friend. But Barry was my friend before Drea and Laurel became BFFs. If anyone needed to change their social life to accommodate the new state of our marriage it should be her not me.
God, my thoughts sounded like the thoughts of a jilted teenager.
I pulled into the well-manicured business park on Amberglen Parkway, taking in the two tidy brick office buildings and brightly painted parking spaces. There were even a half-dozen chargers for electric vehicles. Construction appeared to be near completion on two trendy apartment complexes across the street. This was a perfect location. It was a good thing my lawyer, Larry Goodman, was in the final stages of negotiating my $244 million buyout package with Halo.
As I stepped out of the truck, Barry pulled his blue Tesla into a space nearby. Tim’s combover fluttered in the November wind as he approached my truck.
“It looks perfect,” I said. “But I want both buildings.”
Tim shook his head. “The other building’s occupied by a medical equipment sales company. Not on the market.”
“Everything’s for sale. I want them both.”
Tim sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Barry squinted his eyes against the bright overcast clouds as he approached. “This will cost an arm and leg. You sure you want to take on that kind of risk, mate?”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Why? Have you heard rumblings of someone wanting to take me for all I’ve got?”
Tim clapped me on the arm. “I’d better get going so I can start working on the proposal. I’ll call you if I need anything.”