Elevating Eve (Fairford Affairs #4)

16. Eve

CHAPTER 16

Eve

N o one questioned why they’d stayed at a hotel, which was a major relief. That wasn’t something she wanted to try explaining to anyone, least of all his mother.

Jonathan and Eve walked into the house the next morning to find breakfast in full swing, the dining room table laden with stacks of pancakes, a platter full of bacon and sausage, and what looked like an enormous crystal punch bowl full of scrambled eggs. People called out or waved in greeting as they took seats at the table, and that was that.

After everyone stuffed themselves, Eve worked with Jonathan’s brothers-in-law to do all the washing up, while the others stayed in the dining room. Lucy sat at the head of the table, Jonathan and Maisie to her right, and Alice to her left, while they made a list of all the things they still needed to do to settle Orson’s estate.

Not wanting to intrude, Eve had gone into the living room with Sean and Dillon after they’d cleaned the kitchen. Barely five minutes passed before Jonathan texted her, asking if she’d be willing to sit in the dining room instead. He promised it was okay to decline, even including veritas in the message so she’d be sure to believe him.

The request surprised her, but if it made him happy, she couldn’t see any harm .

Other than to her ass. The fancy, high-backed dining room chairs didn’t even have cushions. She made the best of it, squirming as discreetly as she could to relieve the ache in her well-punished bottom.

Within minutes, it became abundantly clear that they didn’t need or even want her help. Jonathan just wanted her near for some reason. Leaving them to their work, she read a book on her phone, trying to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible.

Papers covered much of the long mahogany table now, organized into over a dozen short stacks. Other than the occasional bathroom break, none of them had left the room for hours.

“Okay,” Jonathan said, finally leaning back to scan the list they’d compiled. “I’ll take care of all this in the next few days. You don’t need to worry about a thing.”

The three women all looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

Jonathan eyed them suspiciously. “What’s that look supposed to mean?”

The look between his mom and sisters turned from knowing to uncomfortable in an instant. Eve put her phone down to watch whatever the hell this was, a string of half-formed theories whirring through her mind.

It was Lucy who finally met Jonathan’s gaze, reaching across the table to put her hand over his. She’d clearly been chosen as their designated spokesperson. “Sweetheart, we all talked last night after the funeral. We think you should head home.”

Oh, shit. That hadn’t even been on her list of possibilities. She watched her boyfriend’s face like a hawk, knowing he wouldn’t take this well at all.

But the anger and frustration she expected never materialized. Their scene last night must have done him even more good than she thought.

Jonathan stared at his mother in silence for several seconds, not moving a muscle. He didn’t even blink. “Why?” he finally managed to ask. “Did I do something wrong? Is this because I punched Warren?”

“No,” Lucy assured him, shaking her head. “Frankly, I’m glad you broke that son of a bitch’s nose. He’s had it coming for a long time.”

One corner of Jonathan’s lips twitched, though a bewildered sort of sadness still lingered in his eyes. “Then why don’t you want me here? ”

“It’s not that we don’t want you here, sweetheart.” The love written all over Lucy’s face made that abundantly clear. “We just don’t need you here.”

Jonathan’s brows pulled together, forming a deep V. “What does that even mean?”

“All the hardest parts are done,” Lucy said. “The people who live here can easily handle the rest. Your life is three thousand miles away.”

When Jonathan started to object, Maisie bumped her shoulder against his. “We all know you like to be in charge,” she joked, and Eve had to repress a snort. Talk about an understatement. “But we’ve got this part. Seriously.”

Reaching across the table, Alice gently pulled the list free from Jonathan’s fingers. He resisted at first, but then let go with a deep sigh.

“I see the decision has already been made,” he said in a strangely monotone way, staring down at his now empty hand. His expression completely closed off, he pushed his chair back, stood, and buttoned his jacket. “If you’ll excuse me.” Shoulders stiff, he strode from the room.

Indecision erupted inside of Eve, an edge of panic speeding up her heartbeat. He hadn’t asked her to go with him. Should she follow or give him some space? She had absolutely no idea what he’d want right now.

He’d just passed from the dining room to the foyer when Lucy called out, “He loved you, Jonathan. He loved you so goddamn much.”

Eve held her breath as Jonathan froze. His hands curled into tight fists before slowly unfurling, like a flower spreading its petals toward the sun.

A single tear slipped down Lucy’s wrinkled cheek as she stood, moving toward her son with tentative steps. “He was so proud of you when you founded HSS. He used to send press releases about your company to all his friends. But you know what made him even prouder?”

A strangled sound came out of him, as if he’d tried and failed to speak. After a moment of silence, he shook his head.

“When you sold HSS and started the Manor.”

Jonathan whirled around, his dark eyes bright with tears. “There’s no way that’s true. ”

With a solemn nod, Lucy said, “He knew you were doing what you truly loved. It’s so obvious how much happier you are now. We can all see it.”

“It’s true,” Maisie said, her voice shaking. All of them were crying now. “You’ve been a whole different person since you started the Manor. Dad used to talk about it all the time.”

A pair of tears started a slow descent down Jonathan’s cheeks. “I wish I talked to him more. That I took more time off to visit. But it’s too late.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Lucy cupped his cheek with her hand. “I promise you, he never felt ignored or forgotten. Do you have any idea how happy he was when you called him last week? How proud he was that you came to him for advice? I don’t think I’ve seen a bigger smile on that man’s face since Maisie’s wedding last year.”

The muscles in his jaw clenched as he tried to regain control. “Really?”

“He was happy when he died,” Lucy said, her voice breaking on the final word. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that.”

Jonathan lost the last vestiges of his tenuous control, his face crumpling as he started to cry in earnest. Gathering him into her arms, Lucy held him close, whispering about how proud they both were as he sobbed.

When Alice held out a box of tissues, Eve and Maisie both took several. Eve swiped at her eyes and tried to breathe through her torrent of tears. Her heart ached, and she longed to go to him. To wrap him in her warm embrace until he knew, without any room left for doubt, how truly wonderful he was. But she knew that would have to wait—this moment was for his family.

She had no idea how long they all cried. It could’ve been one minute or ten. All she knew was that the tension Jonathan had carried in his shoulders for the last several days had finally disappeared.

“What was the word?” Jonathan asked, his voice barely a whisper. “The one you two said so you always knew you could trust each other.”

When Lucy smiled, she looked years younger. It lit up her entire face. “Edamame,” she said with a little laugh .

Jonathan pulled away, eyebrows arched high. “You’ve got to be joking.”

“We were at this little sushi place in LA when Orson came up with the idea,” she said, her smile growing even wider. “We were eating edamame, and I guess we weren’t feeling creative at the time. Sorry if that’s not as profound or romantic as you hoped.”

He stared at his mother for several seconds, shock still written all over his face. And then he burst out laughing. “I should’ve known. You two never took anything seriously in your lives.”

“Not if we could help it,” Lucy agreed, eyes still crinkling at the corners.

Sighing, Jonathan wiped the wetness away from his cheeks. “All right. I guess I’d better go pack.”

Alice stood and hurried over to him, putting a hand on his arm. “We’re not forcing you to leave or anything. If it helps you to be here, stay as long as you want.”

“We just know how busy you always are,” Maisie added, her frown remarkably similar to her brother’s. “We were afraid you’d feel like you had to stay and be in charge of everything, like you always do. When really you’d rather be back at the Manor, spanking ass and taking names.”

Another startled laugh bubbled out of him. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Not gonna lie,” Maisie said with a little smirk, “I’ve had that one in my back pocket for a while now. I’ve just been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it.”

Eve had no trouble seeing why he’d always been extra close to his baby sister. The woman was a goddamn delight.

“You guys are right,” Jonathan said once silence fell over the room again. “I know you are.” With a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, he looked over at Eve. “We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

The plane ride home was much more subdued than the trip out to Denver. The air of mystery and excitement had been engulfed by sorrow and a deep, permeating exhaustion.

Eve slipped in and out of consciousness as the jet traversed the country, while Jonathan stared at his laptop, not even pretending to get any work done. His screen showed the same page of the same document every time she looked.

“Are you doing okay?” she finally asked when he started aimlessly scrolling between the pages, far too fast to read anything.

Abandoning the ruse, he shut his laptop and put it on one of the empty seats. He patted a hand on his lap, and she settled sideways over his thighs without hesitation, leaning into his chest and tucking her head under his chin. Her legs stretched out onto her old seat.

Jonathan sighed as he wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her with his warmth. “I know what I need to do,” he said, sounding wearier than she’d ever heard him. “Go home, take clients, finish the expansion, keep living my life. But I—I don’t know.” He sighed again. “I just don’t want to. Which sounds even whinier out loud than it did in my head.”

“It doesn’t sound whiny at all,” she assured him, smiling at his sardonic tone. “No one would want to go back to regularly scheduled programming after the week you’ve had. If you did, I’d be kind of worried, actually.”

He grunted noncommittally.

Chewing on her bottom lip, Eve tried to figure out how to help. “I know for a fact no one at the Manor expects you to take any clients for a while.”

“How do you know that?” A new sharpness entered his tone.

“No one was gossiping behind your back,” she said, knowing exactly where his mind went. “At the luncheon, when you went for that walk, Zach said he didn’t think he’d be able to do the kind of work you all do right after losing a parent, and the rest of them agreed. I promise that was it.”

He relaxed slightly beneath her. “I suppose it’s for the best. God only knows what I’d do to them in this state of mind.”

Squirming over his hard thighs, Eve quipped, “God and me, you mean.”

That finally brought a small chuckle out of him, and the tension left his muscles completely. “I suppose the rest of it won’t be so bad.” He didn’t sound like he believed it.

“I’ll take as much off your plate for the expansion as I can,” she promised, wanting to remove as much of his stress as possible. “I suspect your partners will, too. Just keep reminding yourself—you’re not alone. Not by a long shot.”

“I’ll try.” He didn’t sound particularly confident, but she believed he would do his best not to forget.

It would have to do for now.

Not long after that, Jonathan drifted off to sleep, his arms dropping to his sides. For a second, she considered the best way to extricate herself from his lap without waking him. But in the end, she decided it would be better to stay put. The man had hardly slept since that first night in California, so she knew how desperately he needed this rest.

With her ear against his chest, she listened to the slow, rhythmic beating of his heart, closing her eyes, letting it surround her. The longer she listened, the more it soothed her worries and fears away. Though the effect was only temporary, she made up her mind to enjoy it as long as she could.

Jonathan didn’t wake until they started their descent into Burlington. By then, her back and hips ached from staying in that position for so long, but she didn’t mind. The plane landed smoothly, and only a few minutes passed before they arrived at their gate.

They had a lot more luggage now than they did on the flight out of Vermont. For one thing, Jonathan had a garment bag stuffed full of the suits Zach mailed. She also had a bag now—a small rolling suitcase she bought on clearance, filled with the clothes she had no choice but to buy in California. While Jonathan kept a good part of his wardrobe at the Manor for when he spent the night with a guest, Zach had no way of getting into her hotel room to access her clothes.

Oh, well. At least most of it had been on sale. And really, she needed to expand her new wardrobe far more than her initial foray into shopping after she dumped Frank. That had only been enough to get her by while she figured out her new life. Since a permanent position at Cox Construction was all but assured at this point, she figured what the hell.

Angelica, the auburn-haired driver, waited for them directly across from the doors when they stepped outside. As far as Eve could tell, she had on the exact same suit as the first time they met. “Welcome back, Mr. Hale, Ms. Hutchinson,” she said in an over-the-top cheerful voice. She rushed over to relieve them of the luggage. “I hope you enjoyed your trip?”

Clearly, she didn’t know why they’d extended it by almost a week. Jonathan had gone very still beside her, so she hurried to answer, “Thank you. We’re glad to be home.”

If her non-answer seemed off, Angelica did nothing to show it. “Tank is full, and keys are in the ignition,” she said as she stowed the luggage in the trunk.

Wordlessly, Jonathan handed her a bunch of bills and climbed behind the wheel, shutting the door a little too hard.

The driver frowned—at least until she glanced down and saw how much easy cash she’d just made. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” she asked, that almost too-wide smile of hers firmly back in place.

“No. Thank you for everything.” Eve gave the woman a smile she hoped didn’t look too strained and got into the car.

Jonathan sighed as soon as she shut her door. “That was rude. She has no idea about my dad. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

“Well, you must have paid her extra well,” she said, nudging him with her shoulder. “As soon as she looked at what you gave her, she very much didn’t care.”

He grunted in response—only the second time he’d done that to her since they met. Frowning, she decided not to say anything about it. At least not yet. He deserved a hell of a lot of leeway as he discovered his path through the murky landscape of grief.

Eve would help him as much as she could, but she knew no two paths were quite the same. For so much of it, he’d have to figure things out on his own.

It fucking sucked.

Most of the drive passed in silence, Jonathan staring intently at the road, hands far too tight on the steering wheel. Eve wracked her brain for something to say to pull him out of his gloom, or to at least distract him for a while. But every single idea she came up with sounded idiotic.

The sun was creeping toward the horizon when at last she started to recognize where they were. They’d arrive back at the Manor in about twenty minutes or so.

Relief coursed through her. As much as she wanted to be there for Jonathan, the uneasy silence had her on edge. Not to mention the pain still lingering in her lower back from staying in that weird position for so long on the plane. A tension headache had only just begun pulsing across her forehead and at the base of her skull.

Eve dug through her purse until she found her keys, buried all the way at the bottom. They jangled together as she pulled them out, and she wrapped her fist around them to stop the noise.

For the first time in over an hour, Jonathan looked in her direction. Gaze zeroing in on her clenched hand, he frowned. “You won’t be needing those tonight.” He had his eyes back on the road before he even finished speaking.

The matter-of-fact way he said it surprised her so much, it took her several seconds to respond. “I’d like you to drop me off at my car, please.” She kept her voice even and inflectionless, not wanting him to think she was upset. Even though she kind of was...but the last thing she wanted right now was for him to get defensive. That never helped any situation.

He let out a loud breath—something between a sigh and an annoyed huff. “I’d appreciate your cooperation on this.” Despite that weird sound he made, his voice held no hint of frustration. In fact, he sounded far too infuriatingly reasonable considering he was disregarding her preferences entirely. “I’m tired and I don’t want to drive out of my way. And to be honest, I just don’t think I can be alone right now.”

The vulnerability in that last sentence made her heart ache, and she fucking hated it. Of course he’d feel vulnerable right now. Of course he’d want her there. It was the most reasonable thing in the world.

Thus making her a giant fucking asshole if she dared object again. It was as if, in this moment, her own needs didn’t matter at all. Which was a shitty fucking feeling. Especially after she’d put his needs above hers every moment of the last week.

“I understand,” she forced herself to say. At least none of her frustration came through into her voice. “Of course I’ll stay with you. I only wanted to go to my hotel because I’m really tired too. I planned to go straight to bed.”

“Don’t worry,” Jonathan said, his grip on the steering wheel finally loosening. He had to have some horrific hand cramps by now. “We can go right to bed. Your body needs a long rest after that last scene anyway.”

Holding in a sigh, Eve stared out the window as they drove past the exit that would lead to Fairford without even slowing down.