Joe's face twisted with whatever strong emotion he was feeling. "Vanessa, I'm sorry about before. You know that. I was stupid and...and just stupid. I'm not doing anything-"
"How the hell am I supposed to know what you're doing, when everything you ever do is a game?"
"This isn't a game." His voice was rough and loud now, and he reached out for her again. "You know-"
"Stop telling me what I know! Just because you screwed me doesn't mean you can read my mind. You have no idea what I'm thinking and feeling, and stop trying to touch me!" She had to jerk away from him again, and when he reached out for her again, she tossed the rag she held at him, a thoughtless, instinctive act of protection.
He batted the rag away automatically so it wouldn't hit him in the face, but he must have swatted it pretty hard because it went flying toward the front door.
The front door had opened without either of them noticing, and the rag hit the man who was entering square in the face.
It wouldn't have hurt him, but it obviously took him by surprise. He grunted and stared down at where the rag had landed on the floor.
Vanessa had never seen the man before, but she knew who he was. He was tall and well-built with dark hair and lovely chocolate brown eyes. He was handsome and expensively dressed in dark trousers and a button-up shirt.
He was obviously Harrison Damon, nephew of a billionaire, the sole investor in Eden Manor, the man her clients wanted so much to impress this weekend.
He wasn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow, but he'd obviously come early. Just in time to hear her and Joe screaming at each other and to get swatted in the face with a rag.
She was so taken aback and overwhelmed with embarrassment she couldn't do anything but stare speechlessly.
Harrison rubbed at his face and stepped all the way inside, letting Peter and Kelly enter behind him.
No one seemed to know what to say.
Joe normally would have made a funny comment to break the tension, but he looked just as dumbfounded as the others.
"Oh no," Vanessa said, covering her mouth as the reality finally caught up to her. "We're so sorry."
"We didn't know anyone else was here," Joe said, stepping forward as he obviously found his voice too.
Harrison raised his eyebrows. "That is more than evident."
He didn't look angry, but Harrison Damon had a reputation for being exacting and eminently professional, putting a high stock in civility. Even in his casual clothes, he exuded authority.
Vanessa couldn't remember ever being so embarrassed in her life. She'd been shouting about how Joe had screwed her. All three of them must have heard.
"It was so unprofessional," she said, trying to think of appropriate words of apology, some way to smooth over this. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
Harrison had been looking from her to Joe, but now he almost-almost-smiled. "I don't think a rag is going to do any serious damage." He nodded over toward Joe. "And he was the one who lobbed it over toward me anyway."
"I did," Joe admitted, finally managing to regain his characteristic confidence and charm. "I should have let it hit me. I deserved it."
"I have no doubt about that."
Vanessa let out a sigh of relief when she saw unmistakable amusement in Harrison's eyes. He wasn't angry. He wasn't going to pull out of Eden Manor because of this ridiculous situation and ruin things for Peter and Kelly.
She glanced over toward Joe and saw he was looking at her. There was an intense expression in his eyes, like he was forcing himself to rein in some sort of explosive emotion.
It scared her. It looked so un-Joe-like. When he looked like he was going to say something to her, she shook her head at him, trying to silently tell him to shut up.
There was no way they could resolve their problems when other people were around. This was business, and they'd already made a mess of what was a big job for both of them. If they didn't pull it together, Peter and Kelly could get soured on them pretty quickly.
Joe clenched his jaw, obviously not happy about the delay, but he turned back to the others with a look of forced cheerfulness.
"Is everything all right?" Kelly asked, stepping toward her and looking genuinely concerned. For Vanessa-even after the humiliating scene they'd made.
"Yes. I'm so sorry. This is so embarrassing."
"It's okay," Kelly said, glancing back at Harrison.
Harrison actually chuckled, although his sharp eyes had clearly missed nothing. "I was never in more embarrassing situations than when I was falling in love with my wife. I think it just makes you do embarrassing things."
Vanessa's cheeks burned at the way he obviously thought she and Joe were falling in love, and Joe's significant gaze didn't make it any easier.
She cleared her throat and tried to sound natural as she said, "Anyway, we've almost got the stairs done. Did you want to see them?"
After that, conversation turned to the house, and she and Joe showed the others all the work they'd done.
Harrison seemed pleased, which obviously made Kelly and Peter happy, so nothing disastrous came of the afternoon after all.
But the whole time Vanessa was just waiting for the moment when she could get away.
She needed to be by herself, so she could sort through things in her mind.
She needed to get away from Joe for a little while.
Sunday
Vanessa went back to Missy's house for Saturday evening, and she woke up the next morning feeling sad and sick.
Joe had tried to call a few times during the night, but she wasn't ready to talk to him yet.
She wasn't sure what she was ready for. She wasn't sure of anything. Just that she was terrified and angry and strangely hopeful about Joe all at once.
Since the week's work at Eden Manor was all done and she wasn't ready to go home yet, she drove over to the small cemetery where Carl was buried.
The morning was cool and gray, and Vanessa walked over to sit on the grass next to her husband's grave.
She cried a little bit as she thought about Carl, about what her life would have been like had he lived.
Then she thought about Joe. Wondered if a life with him was really possible.
He'd been right. Now that she'd had time to think about it, she wasn't at all sure that he would have used her the way she'd so quickly assumed. He didn't need her business. There was no reason for him to go to such lengths just to buy her out.
And what was between them didn't feel fake. It didn't feel like a game.
It felt real.
But if it was real, it would mean she'd have to genuinely move on.
She stared at her husband's grave-the simple granite stone with his name and the neatly trimmed grass. She wondered if she was finally ready to do it.
She needed to talk to Joe. She needed to stop running away. Nothing would ever get resolved until she did, and she'd keep feeling this miserable.
She could almost hearing Carl's voice telling her, "Don't screw it up."
He was gone. He wasn't coming back. And she had to figure out how to live the rest of her life, without always feeling like she was betraying him, letting him down.
The first thing-the only thing-she could do was go find Joe and talk to him. She would worry about the rest of it later.
With this finally resolved in her head, she kissed her fingertips and then pressed her fingers onto Carl's gravestone. Then she took a shaky breath and tried to stand up.
She was terrified now. If she went to talk to Joe, then everything might change.
And she wanted it to. She did. She wanted it to change. At last.
She turned back to her SUV and jerked to a stop when she saw that a truck was parked beside it. Joe's truck.
He was leaning against it, watching as she approached.
Her breath quickened, but she started to walk again. Joe had found her, so she didn't need to go find him.
He looked even more exhausted than he had the day before, and she felt a sudden pang of guilt. She hadn't been fair to him. If his feelings were real, then she hadn't been fair to him at all.
"How did you find me?" she asked as she approached. She didn't know what to say, and at least that question felt safe.
"I looked everywhere else." He appeared cautious, wary, as if he were preparing for her to flee again.
"I'm sorry," she said with a sigh, leaning against the front of his truck beside him. "I was...I needed some time."
"I know. I know I pushed too hard."
She shook her head and stared at the ground, her pulse starting to race as she realized what was about to happen, what she was about to say. "It was me."
Joe was silent for a minute, and it felt like she could hear his mind work, as he processed what she'd said, what it meant. "I get that this is hard for you. I've never lost someone like you have. I can't pretend to know how much it can tear you apart."
She nodded, gratified and emotional from his words. She'd never expected to hear him so earnest, so completely without amusement.
Joe cleared his throat and stared at a spot in front of him. "I can wait, if it's still too soon. Or we can go as slow as you want. Just...just...I hope you'll tell me if there's no chance for me at all. Because I'm in this all the way, and I'm going to keep waiting for you unless there's no hope at all."