“She just left? For no reason at all.”
No good reason.
Jake knew his detective brother was not going to drop this so he figured he might as well tell him a version of the truth. “She realized that she didn’t want to get stuck living in a small town. She knew that after school I planned on coming back here to live. She didn’t want that. She wanted to see the world. So instead of going to school in Southern California, like we’d planned, she went to New York.”
Eric sat there silently, his expression was unreadable. Jake couldn’t tell if he was buying it or not. Jake was actually getting uncomfortable under his brother’s stare and he hadn’t even lied. He just hadn’t told the entire truth. Jake actually felt a little sorry for the criminals his brother interrogated.
“Well, she’s back now,” his brother finally said.
“Not for long. After she gets Adeline’s affairs in order, she’s going home.” Jake closed the files on his desk and unlocked the desk drawer he kept them in.
“Where’s home?”
“San Diego.”
“She’s here now. Are you going to do anything about it?”
“Nope.” Jake’s patience was quickly running out. First his sister, now his brother. He was sure as soon as his parents found out she was in town that they would be up his ass too. Because they didn’t know the whole story. How he’d gotten on his knees in the hospital room when she’d told him she was leaving and begged her to stay. He’d told her he would go with her. That he would do anything to be with her. That they could work it out.
She’d looked him right in the eye and told him to leave, to get out of her room. Screamed it, actually.
They didn’t know how he’d gone back the next day but she had already been discharged. Or how he’d driven like a maniac to her grandma’s house and then yelled at Adeline when she wouldn’t tell him where Tessa had gone.
No one knew how he’d punched holes in his walls that night out of helpless frustration. Or how he’d gotten black-out drunk almost every night the first year of college just trying to forget her.
No, all his family knew was that they had been together. They had been engaged. Then she’d left. And that’s all they ever needed to know.
Chapter Eight
‡
Tessa pulled into her grandma’s driveway next to a very nice Mercedes SUV she assumed belonged to Lauren. The expensive silver vehicle looked out of place parked in front of the rundown two-story house. Tessa’s heart sank as she took in the peeling paint and the overall dilapidated appearance of the home.
It particularly stuck out like a sore thumb because the rest of the street had been well-maintained. A few of the houses looked as though they had even been renovated. As she stepped out of her car, she put her hand up, shading her eyes from the sun to try and get a better look at the house that sat next door to her grandma’s. The blue house with white trim that Jake had wanted to buy since he was a kid. The house they had spent endless hours talking about raising a family in.
Jake’s house.
Their house.
Tessa wondered who lived there. From what she could see through the large picture window that overlooked the mountainside it faced, there didn’t appear to be any furniture in it. Hmm, maybe it was vacant?
A sound caught her attention then. She looked back just as the front door to her grandma’s house opened and Lauren stepped outside. “They won’t take less than one point five.” She wore a suit that looked more like she should be on Wall Street as opposed to Shady Creek Lane. It was black and tailored perfectly to fit her willowy frame. Her hair was swept up without a strand out of place. Her appearance might have seemed severe and even out of place on someone else, but on Lauren it just worked. When their eyes met, Lauren waved warmly, then held up one finger indicating that she would only be a minute.
Tessa smiled and nodded, making her way up the wooden steps. As she reached the porch, she saw that her grandma’s beloved swing was broken and one half was resting on the wooden planks below it. There were spider webs covering it. Only one of the cushions that Tessa had helped her grandma sew for the seat remained and it was tattered and sun damaged.
“Well, you can go ahead and write it up but I’m telling you it’s a waste of time. They won’t take it.” Lauren moved onto the far side of the lawn to finish her call, and Tessa took a fortifying breath before stepping over the threshold and into the house.
Tessa stared, in shock, at the only place that had ever been a home to her. Lauren had opened up some of the curtains, letting in the midday sun, but it still felt dark and gloomy. Dust covered every inch the eye could see. The few pieces of furniture that still stood looked to be in serious disrepair.