The clover romance colle.., p.19
The Clover Romance Collection, page 19
“Hey y’all,” he says as he enters the front door. “Shit, Devin, what happened to you? Lulu chase you out into the woods and give you a beating?”
“Worse. She made me crawl under her house and dig up this stupid book with her husband’s notes in it. But it’s all in code.”
“Yikes,” Nick says as he kicks off his boots and moves to the kitchen for a beer. “Can you crack the code?”
“I think so,” Luke says, now pouring over the book and scratching things down on some scrap paper.
“I hate to be the bearer of more bad news,” Nick starts as he settles on his couch, “but the townsfolk have called a meeting for tomorrow morning. They’re all livid about things that have been happening on their property. Obviously Hoyle and his men are behind it. I’ve got some marshals here, but we can’t spare enough to cover this much land. They want to know where the security is that you promised, and, for that matter, my boss is wondering the same thing. The mayor wants you at town hall at nine a.m. You think you’ll have any answers by then?”
“Shit,” Devin groans as he flops down on the chair across from Nick. “I was holding off until Jordan could come up with something else. Security comes when she gives the final word. I don’t think she’s going to budge, so maybe I just need to get off her case and tell her to do what she’s got to do. Bring in the damn landfill. At least that will get security here. Maybe they can catch some of Hoyle’s men in the act and get them off the streets. Then we can keep working on the journal and try to get enough evidence to put him away for murder if he killed Brad. That’s really what I came here for, to see him pay. I can still accomplish that.”
“It still leaves you in the doghouse with Rebecca.” Luke chimes in.
“I’m starting to think I could build Disneyland here in Clover and it still wouldn’t fix us. We might be a lost cause.” He drops his head and rubs at the tension in his temples.
“I think Jordan is going to come around,” I say, leaning against the wall and crossing my arms.
“I think you’ve been compromised, kid,” Luke replies, looking up from the book just long enough to raise an eyebrow at me.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re looking at her like a love sick puppy dog. You don’t want to see what’s right in front of you. That girl isn’t going to change her mind because it doesn’t help her to do so. She’s only looking out for herself. It’s business.”
“She’s not like that.” I shake my head and look down at my boots.
“Oh come on,” Devin shouts, “seriously, you fell for her? You’ve got to be kidding me. I gave you one job: change her mind, by any means necessary. I saw her getting all doe-eyed for you, but I figured that was part of your plan. I didn’t think you’d fall for her.” Devin’s disappointment cuts at me. I hate to fail at a job, but this wasn’t really a fair expectation of anyone. I’m not in the business of swaying people through emotions.
“All you had to do was seduce or charm her and get her to change her mind,” he repeats, shaking his head at my failure.
“Really?” I hear Jordan’s voice and my head shoots up. I’m praying she didn’t hear that, but I already know she did.
“Jordan, it’s not like that,” I insist, walking quickly toward her.
“Oh please, Click, if you think you’re the first man to try to play me in order to get what you want, you’re crazy. Don’t flatter yourself. We stupid women, we’ll do just about anything when our hearts get in the way. Yeah, right.” Jordan pulls her coat from the hook and puts it on with fury.
“Don’t go, Jordan, please let me try to explain. I really do—” My words are cut off by the slamming of a door in my face. She’s leaving. I blew it.
“It’s too dangerous for her to go off on her own right now. People know what she’s in town for. If Hoyle doesn’t get to her, someone not wanting that landfill might find her first,” Nick calls, pointing at the door.
I pull open the door and chase after her. I call out her name, but she responds with just her middle finger. “You can’t go off on your own. You can hate me and think I tried to screw you over, but that doesn’t change the fact that it isn’t safe out there. The men who already shot at you and the people who don’t want the landfill, they’ll all be gunning for you. You can’t go.”
“Do you even hear yourself? I can’t go? As if I’m property or livestock, something you can control. Why don’t you try talking to me like you care rather than you own me? Oh wait, you don’t care, you just pretended to in order to get what you want.” She points her finger in my face and scolds me, “If you even start to say that you really did care about me I will kick you so hard in the balls you won’t be able to walk for a week. I don’t want to hear it.”
I use every ounce of willpower and military training to push back the emotions I’m feeling. With a stoic tone, I try to reason with her. “There’s a meeting tomorrow morning. People griping about the security not being here yet, mad about what’s happening on their land. Hoyle’s been breaking fences so cattle get loose, burning up crops, and pouring more of that stuff around to poison the area. They want answers, and you’re the only one who can give them that. I think you should go. Tell them security is coming. Tell them the deal is what it is. But please just stay here tonight, stay where it’s safe.”
“If I get killed, you’d get another project manager, maybe one who’d fall for your bullshit.”
“If you get killed, I couldn’t live with myself.” I stare into her face with such intensity that she looks away.
“I don’t want to see you, any of you. I’m going upstairs and I’m staying there until morning. After the meeting, I’m gone. I’ll pass the deal on to another project manager and put this whole ordeal behind me.”
She storms past me and back into the house, slamming the door in my face a second time. I hear her boots, heavy on the stairs, as she stomps to the bedroom she’ll be sleeping in tonight, alone.
“So wait, if I’m doing the math right, there are two women, one in each bedroom, and four of us with no place to sleep?” Nick asks and takes a long swig of his beer.
“Looks like it,” Devin agrees and makes his way to the kitchen for his own beer.
“I call the couch,” Luke interjects, looking up for only a moment from the book he’s working on.
“You don’t get to sleep until you get that book figured out and I get some answers. No beer for you either, just coffee.”
I slump down in the chair next to Luke and rest my heavy head in my hand. “Can I help?”
“Yes,” he answers, nodding his head vigorously. “I’ll take a coffee with milk and two sugars.”
I snarl at him, angry with them all for the position they’ve put me in. Angry at myself for blowing it with Jordan. For failing the job I’ve been given.
Chapter Sixteen
Devin
I believe the saying is: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Well, multiply that by two and stuff it in a tiny house and you have a tinderbox of a situation, just waiting for a spark.
The ride over to town hall is one of silence, no one having the guts or desire to speak up. Rebecca is about to lose what she had been hanging onto: the hope that I could be the hero rather than the villain. Jordan seems on the verge of a fistfight with anyone who says the word landfill. They are angry, and with every second that ticks by, the anger seems to grow.
We all file out of the car looking like a motley crew of pissed-off, overtired strangers.
The small hall is full, with nearly every seat taken and people leaning against every available inch of wall space. There is grumbling amongst the people, a low hum of dissatisfaction. We make our way to the front of the room, with the exception of Jordan, who hangs back and stands by the door, looking ready to run. There are marshals around, trying to keep the meeting fairly safe, but I still am not sure if I should be more worried about Hoyle or the people in this town who I gave my word to, but up until this point, have not come through for. I know I exploited their desire to get rid of Hoyle. They read my agreement and saw how it included ousting him. They weighed it out, and in the moment, made the choice to vote for the landfill, but in reality they’re likely having buyers’ remorse. And the fact that we haven’t come through on our end of the bargain, providing security, gives them every reason to be angry.
Our attention is drawn to the small podium in the front of the room where Mrs. Nettleton is the first to speak. She’s a wide woman, shaped like a box dressed in a floral tent. She wobbles a bit when she walks, but now, as she readies herself to address the group, she looks perfectly sturdy. The crowd falls silent as she begins to speak.
“I was born here. Every second of my life has been spent here. My kids were born here. Everything I know, everything I believe, is here in Clover. I’ve put up with corruption, crime, the mill closing down, and my neighbors starving. All of those things I’ve faced with my back straight and my head held high, because we’re not people to just back down when times get tough. We made a deal with the devil and signed off on a dump coming to our town, all because we wanted to be rid of the men running this place. That was what was promised. Freedom. Well, my last chance at feeding my family this year, the cattle that provide us with milk, and in turn money, are gone. Our fence was cut down at the farthest point of our property and we’ve had no luck bringing them home. Now what am I going to do? This is too much. Our backs can’t take it. We’ll break. You’ll break us.” She points a crooked finger in my direction and every head in the room spins my way. “You promised us security, you promised we’d be rid of him. Well, you lied.”
I hear a shout from behind me and the tone is angry enough to have me turning around to make sure someone isn’t coming my way swinging a shovel or something. “She’s right,” the man’s voice booms. “All my livestock have been run off my land, too. My fences are all broken, and I don’t have any money to rebuild. You promised us protection. Where is it?”
“I understand the frustration,” I say, getting to my feet and trying to quiet the crowd. “I want you to know the reason for the delay is an attempt to find a more suitable fit for Clover than a landfill. That’s not an easy process and unfortunately we haven’t been able to alter the deal. But I thought you should know that is why security isn’t here yet.”
The rumble of the crowd grows so loud that I can’t hear myself think. I can see shaking heads, body language turning from upset to completely irate. Rebecca, who is still sitting, reaches up to touch my arm, a gentle reminder that, even angry, she’s still behind me. A shrill whistle comes from the back of the room and I scan the crowd until I find the source. It’s Jordan, her fingers pressed between her lips, trying to draw everyone to silence. It works.
“Security is on its way. They’ll be here by nightfall, and you and your land will be safe. My company will work to get your fences mended and your land cleaned of any chemicals that may have been spilled there.” She looks regal, strong, and unwavering as she holds court in this large room. Until this point I’ve seen her as an adversary, and while I wouldn’t consider myself sexist, I’ve sold her short. I can see this now as she speaks to this room.
“So that’s it then? The landfill is a done deal? I mean, I get that this was voted in, but come on, we were desperate,” a skinny woman holding two kids, one on each hip, asks.
The whole room falls silent once more, waiting to hear the answer, the answer I think I know. But judging by the look on Jordan’s face, I feel like maybe I’m missing something.
“No,” she says firmly. “No landfill.” She lets the confused roar of the crowd rise and then fall before she tries to speak again. “I spoke to my boss this morning. My company has been working on a new idea and we’ve just been waiting for the right place to pilot it. I convinced my superiors this morning that Clover is the right place.”
“What is it, a toxic pit?” a man next to me shouts sarcastically.
“No. It’s a state-of-the-art recycling facility. I think the closed mill can be converted and the land we intended for the landfill can be used to construct the remaining facilities we’ll need. But it’s more than that. Clover won’t just house the recycling plant, it will become one of the first completely energy-self-sufficient towns in the country. Solar panels, wind turbines, and so much more. I told my boss this morning that the town of Clover was the perfect spot to try this out, because the residents are as self-sufficient as they come. Nothing can knock them down and we’d be crazy to pilot this anywhere else.” I watch as she makes eye contact with Click, and I can tell there truly is something there, something I stomped on. Another emotionally inept move on my part. Something else to add to my list of mistakes and missteps since coming back to Clover.
“So no trash?” an old man asks, cupping his ear to hear her better.
“No trash, sir. And this will put Clover on the map. Done right, it could be the blueprint for towns all across the country. It’s going to pump life back into your economy for generations to come. But it’s not going to be easy. Every single person in this town needs to be behind this in order to make the numbers work. I’ll need everyone’s support. It’s going to be real work.”
A man old enough to be Jordan’s father stands and pulls his baseball cap from his head, tucking it respectfully under his arm. “Ma’am, work is something I’ve been looking for these last two years. I’ve skipped meals, given up on my broken-down truck, and lost more than a little sleep wondering how I’m gonna feed my family. If you got work, I’ll be the first in line for it. I’ll show up, every day, every hour, until you don’t need me any more. And I know a hundred people in this town who feel the same way. You give us a chance, and we’ll make this happen. We all want Clover back the way we remember it from years ago. And we’re willing to work for that.”
I hang my head slightly, feeling wholly selfish and inadequate. I don’t have this type of conviction, this much passion for anything positive. Everything I push for is about me. Nothing I do is for a larger purpose than my own need for closure and revenge.
After a moment of hesitation a cheer breaks out, and Jordan is quickly surrounded by thrilled residents of Clover all trying to thank her. As their energy and exuberance escalate, Click jumps to his feet and cuts through the crowd to help Jordan make her way toward the door. I hook my arm in Rebecca’s and slip out the side of the building just in time to see Jordan and Click hopping in the car and speeding away.
“There goes our ride.” Rebecca smirks and shrugs up at me. “You think they’re going to make up?”
“Who knows? I’m certainly no expert in that department.”
“You got rid of the landfill, that’s a good start.”
“Jordan did that. I can’t really take credit. If it weren’t for me, the landfill never would have been a problem in the first place.”
“And if it weren’t for you, Clover wouldn’t be about to change for the better.” She leans into me, and I wrap my arm around her, pulling her to my body. We haven’t kissed in far too long and I’m dying to feel her lips on mine again. Her face saddens a bit as she speaks. “Now I just need to get my little girl back here. Do you think once the security team is in place it will be safe?”
“I do.” I turn her toward me and bend so I’m at her eye level. “Maybe we could stay at the hotel tonight? Pick her up in the morning?” Her reaction to my devilish smile reminds me how worth it she is.
“I think we could work that out.” I feel her cold hand slip up the back of my shirt and she runs her nails down my spine. I lean in and kiss her. She pulls back slightly to whisper something to me, something she might not want to say any louder for fear of my reaction. “I’m glad about the landfill, Devin, but I’m still scared for us. I know that no relationship is easy, but something inside me keeps telling me we’re playing with fire. We’re trying to make something work and maybe it never will.”
“I know,” I whisper, pressing my lips against hers again. “I have no idea if I’ll ever get this right, if I’ll ever feel like I’m fixed enough to be with you. But I don’t want to stop trying, or stop kissing you while I look for that answer.”
“Do you love me, Devin?” she asks with a hopefulness in her eyes that’s mixed with a dose of fear.
“I feel more for you than I have for anyone in my life. I’m happier with you than with anyone on this planet. I’m not sure I know how to be in love, but if I did I’d want it to be with you.”
“That sounds like you’re grading your feelings on a sliding scale. I’m the best pup in a bad litter? You don’t like anyone but you hate me the least?”
“That’s not what I’m saying. You’re it for me, Rebecca. From the moment I saw you standing outside chemistry class you’ve monopolized my thoughts. You’re the bar of expectation that I’ve set for the world, and so far there’s been no one else out there who even comes close. I might not be throwing the word love around, but that has more to do with me than it does with you. I might love you with all my heart, but it might not be enough for you. All I can tell you is that I’m here. I’m not running off, I’m not leaving you behind. I want to become good enough for you.” She’s still tight against my body and the more I say the stronger her grip becomes.
“Well, well, the love birds reunited.” I know the drawl and arrogance in his voice before I even look up. Hoyle is standing ten feet from us, his hand on his hip, just above his gun.
“Go inside,” I say, spinning Rebecca back toward the door. She hesitates and I give her a look that speaks volumes. Once she’s gone I cut the distance between Hoyle and me to an uncomfortable six inches. He might be able to draw a gun faster than me but I’ve got plenty of pounds of muscle on him. I want to be close enough for him to realize that.
“Get out of here. This town is moving on without you. Best thing you can do is head out of here before someone takes it upon themselves to find a more permanent solution for getting rid of you.”
