Picking Up the Pieces: Rose Gardner Novella 5.5 (Volume 2) Read online

  “And I’m telling you that you might have every intention of saying no, but you better have a plan in place for how to handle the situation when you say yes.”

  She released a frustrated sigh. “No sense borrowing trouble, Bruce Wayne. I’ll cross that road when I come to it.”

  “You can’t—”

  “There’s nothing I can do about it now, right?”

  I hated to admit that she was right.

  “Besides, there’s plenty of other things we need to talk about. About the business.”

  My heart pounded in my chest. Had she changed her mind about making me a partner after all? It stung like a hornet in the ass, but I could hardly blame her. I decided to beat her to it. “I’ve been thinking.” I looked down at the floor. “I’m not really the business owner type, you know? Maybe you shouldn’t make me a partner, Miss Rose.”

  She was silent for several seconds, so I glanced up to look at her.

  A fire lit behind her eyes before they narrowed on me. “What in tarnation are you talking about? We made a deal, Bruce Wayne Decker. Do I strike you as a reneger? Because I never considered you one.”

  I tried to keep from smiling. “No, ma’am. To both.”

  “And what’s with this Miss Rose crap?”

  I couldn’t hold back my grin.

  Her anger faded. “Bruce Wayne, as long as I own a nursery, you’re gonna be a partner. Are we clear on that?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She sighed. “But I guess there’s another partner in the mix.”

  I almost gasped in surprise. “What? Who?”

  Her gaze leveled on me. “Joe.”

  Before I even thought about what I was doing, I groaned and stood. “You asked him to bail you out?”

  “No!” she protested as she stood too. She moved behind the chair and gripped the back of it as though she needed help anchoring herself. “Violet convinced him to help us and neither one of them told me until after the fact.” She paused. “He not only caught us up; he paid off the loan. Over one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, Bruce Wayne. I can’t pay that back, not for a long time.”

  “You know he hates me, Rose. He’s never gonna put up with me being a partner. But it’s okay if you don’t—”

  Her eyes narrowed again. “I thought we just agreed to put that nonsense behind us.”

  “If he’s a partner, he’s never gonna agree.”

  “You let me worry about Joe Simmons. I still own the vast majority of the business. Right now, I’m trying to work through the logistics of it all. I want to let Joe and Violet have the storefront while you and me have the landscaping business. I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out how to make it work, and I think we’ll need our own office. The less I deal with Violet, the better.”

  “Our own office?” I couldn’t help smiling. “Does that mean I get a desk?” I teased.

  “Do you want one?” She was serious.

  I snorted. “What would I do with a desk?”

  She shrugged. “Draw up landscaping plans. File all the paperwork for your clients. Use it as a place to keep your computer with landscaping software on it.” Her eyebrows lifted. “Do you want me to go on?”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be? I’m dreamin’ big, Bruce Wayne. I need you to dream big with me.” Her smile widened. “Can you do that?”

  I nodded. I’d never dreamed big before, but I was willing to give it a try.

  Chapter Seven

  Rose

  I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Mason that evening. Not because I’d changed my mind about him. It was far more likely that he’d change his mind about me when he heard all the details I hadn’t told him about the last two days.

  It was nearly five when I finally went home. The smell of something delicious hit my nose as soon as I walked in the front door. I found Maeve peeling potatoes at the kitchen sink with Muffy lying at her feet.

  “You didn’t have to cook dinner, Maeve,” I said as I walked over to the counter to check out the contents of the crockpot. “Although I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything so good in my life.”

  She flashed me a grin. “It’s Italian Beef. Mason and Savannah loved it when they were kids, so I figured I’d make some for dinner. It’s easy, so don’t be worrying that I’m going to too much trouble.”

  “But you cooked almost the entire Thanksgiving dinner by yourself and now this,” I said, looking into the glass lid. “I don’t want you to think we invited you here just to cook for us.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Mason teased, standing in the kitchen doorway. “I always hope she’ll cook when she comes to visit.”

  My stomach cramped with anxiety, which was at war with my elation that he was home early. “Mason, what are you doing here?”

  His grin widened and he walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my back, pulling me close. “Turns out I live here now.”

  “You lived here before, silly.”

  “Before it was temporary.” His eyebrows lifted mischievously, and then he gave me a quick kiss. “Now it’s more permanent.”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” I patted his chest. “When I stopped by your office this afternoon you were up to your elbows in work. What changed so you could get loose?”

  “My mother telling me she was leaving first thing tomorrow morning, for starters.”

  My mouth gaped. “What?” I turned to her. “You were supposed to stay until Sunday. I’m so sorry to have heaped so much work on you.”

  Maeve turned to me with a gentle smile. “Rose, calm down. I love cooking and helping you. And trust me, I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. Mason gets his hard-headedness from his mother, not his father.”

  “Mom,” Mason grumbled good-naturedly. “Let Rose find out about my annoying traits on her own. Don’t be helping her out.”

  “I already knew you were as stubborn as a pack mule, Mason Deveraux,” I teased. “Shoot, half the county knows it.”

  Mason pulled me closer and lowered his mouth inches from mine. “And look how my stubbornness paid off. It got me you.”

  “I thought that was patience.”

  “Two sides of the same cloth.”

  I wondered how Maeve felt with Mason being so affectionate with me in front of her, but she beamed at the two of us. “I guess it’s a good thing Mason’s father wasn’t as stubborn as him,” I said. “Or you would have had your hands full.”

  “His father was quite a pushover, actually. Savannah was just like him.”

  Something in Maeve’s words sobered Mason and he stiffened slightly. “Yes, she was.”

  Alarm flickered in Maeve’s eyes. “In any case, I’m going home a day early to start packing up my house. My offer was accepted and closing is even sooner than I anticipated. I’d like to get all settled in by Christmas.”

  “Do you want me to come with you and help?” I asked. I hated to think of her packing up her entire house on her own. “That’s a massive undertaking.”

  She flashed me a smile. “You just went through your own move. I couldn’t put you through that twice in such a short period of time. Besides, I think you’re needed in Henryetta right now. You still have your business to sort out after the vandalism and all.”

  Mason leaned back. “Did you get the loan taken care of?” he asked me. “Did you have some kind of problem with it that you couldn’t discuss at the courthouse?”

  I cast a glance at Maeve. “I should help your mom with dinner.”

  She waved a hand. “You two go talk about Rose’s business. I’ll finish up here.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t—”

  “Go.”

  With no excuses left, I released a huge breath. “Let’s go into the office.”

  Mason hobbled behind me as I walked into the office like a prisoner on death row and sat on the edge of the desk.

  “Now you have me worried, Rose,” Mason said, watching
me closely as he shut the French door behind him. “Why don’t you want to talk about the loan?”

  “Not for the reasons you probably think.”

  “Then why don’t you tell me and I’ll tell you if I’m off.”

  “You should sit down.” I gestured to one of two leather chairs in front of the desk. “You’ve been on your feet too much today. I can tell by the way you’re moving so slow, not to mention I saw you standing when I dropped by your office.”

  He sat in the chair with a grim expression. “Why are you stalling?”

  I took a deep breath, clasping my hands in my lap. “I didn’t pay off the loan.”

  Horror crossed over his face. “What happened? Did you lose the business?”

  I shook my head, feeling sick to my stomach. “No. The loan had already been paid off before I got a chance to make the payment.”

  Confusion flickered in his eyes. “I don’t understand. How did it get paid off? Violet doesn’t have that kind of money.”

  “No, she doesn’t,” I said slowly. “But she knows someone who does.”

  He stared blankly at me for several seconds before his eyes filled with fury. “Goddamn him!”

  I guessed he’d figured out who it was. “Mason, your mother’s in the kitchen.”

  He jumped to his feet. “I don’t care if Gandhi’s in the kitchen!” His voice boomed in the office. “Who the hell does Joe Simmons think he is?”

  “I honestly think he was trying to help.”

  “You’re defending him?”

  I put my hand on his arm. “Mason, will you just hear me out?”

  His face hardened. “It’s your business, Rose. You can do whatever you like.”

  Tears filled my eyes. “Mason, don’t be like this.”

  “Like what? Outraged that your ex-boyfriend is manipulating you in an attempt to win you back? Or that you’re actually falling for it?”

  I put my hands on my hips, furious. “Are you calling me stupid, Mason Deveraux?”

  Defeat washed over his face. “No, Rose. You are far from stupid. In fact, I don’t think you give your intelligence enough credit.” He moved closer to me. “But you are by far one of the kindest souls I’ve ever met, and unfortunately some people in this world will try to use that to their own advantage and hurt you in the process.” He wrapped his arms around my back and tugged me to his chest, lifting me off the desk. “I’m sorry for my temper. Why don’t you tell me what happened and I promise to not fly off the handle this time.”

  “Okay,” I said, still feeling hurt, but I wasn’t sure why. If the roles were reversed and some old girlfriend of Mason’s gave him a bunch of money when I couldn’t, I doubt I’d be very gracious about it. I moved back to the edge of the desk and tugged him toward the chair. “But there’s not much to tell. I told you that Violet wanted to meet me at eleven, but Joe was with her. Violet had told him about our money troubles and he’d offered to help. Only neither one bothered to discuss it with me until this morning. By then the deed had been done. But Joe didn’t just cover the overdue loan payments, he paid off the loan in its entirety.”

  “How much was the loan?”

  I swallowed, feeling sick again. “About one hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars.”

  Mason’s face paled. “You’re kidding.”

  “I wish to God I was.”

  I could see from the expression on his face that he was calculating numbers, so I wasn’t surprised when he said, “After my loan for my condo is paid off, there’s not much left of my settlement. But if I cash in my 401K like I mentioned, we can pay him off. Barely.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t let you do that.”

  “Rose, we’re a couple now. I want to help you.”

  “We’re brand new, Mason. That’s too much of a commitment.”

  “Yesterday we thought we were having a baby together. You can’t get much of a bigger commitment than that.”

  He was right, but I still couldn’t take his money.

  His gaze shifted to the paperwork on his desk before returning to my face. “You didn’t know about any of this until after the fact, which means you didn’t sign any paperwork, right?” He looked more hopeful. “You didn’t sign anything this morning, did you?”

  “No.”

  He scowled. “I’d ask you how he got the loan number, but it’s Henryetta and he probably got it from Violet. Even without her, Mr. Burns is probably so eager to recoup money from the loans Norman Sullivan gave out, he probably didn’t bat an eye about letting Joe pay off your note.”

  “I know what you’re getting at, Mason. That Joe may have sunk money into the business, but he doesn’t have the right to lay claim to any of it.”

  He nodded. “Exactly. He may have paid off the loan, but he did so of his own free will. You owe him nothing, Rose.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “But it’s not in you to let him pour that much money into your business without having any say. Is it?”

  Tears filled my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “Let me pay him back, sweetheart.”

  “I can’t.”

  I could see he was getting angry again, but he was struggling not to yell, which made him sound distant instead. “Then tell me why you’ll take his money and not mine.”

  “For one, I’m certain he can afford it. That much money’s nothing to the Simmons family. But Violet was also right when she told me that Joe was already like a partial owner before the nursery opened. He put a lot of work into helping us get it going. Sure, I think part of the reason he gave us the money was to try to get me back, but I also think part of it was because he really doesn’t want our business to fail.”

  Mason shook his head, his face reddening. “Do you know how many alarm bells your explanation just set off? Do you really want to take the Simmonses’ money?”

  I didn’t say anything. Mason gently took my hand between both of his own. “I love you, Rose, and I’m scared.”

  His statement caught me by surprise. “Why would you be scared?”

  “I’m scared of losing you.” He heaved a sigh. “Last weekend you admitted to kissing Joe after he forced himself on you and now he’s rushed in like a white knight to save your business.”

  “Mason, I love you. I want to be with you.” I understood his fear but I wasn’t sure what else to do to reassure him. But then I knew. “If Joe instigated this to get me back, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. He’s going to have his hands full. In fact, I suspect there’s a good chance he might leave town.”

  Mason’s head tilted. “Why would he do that?”

  “After Joe and Violet informed me about the loan, I told them both I quit—”

  “Wait. You didn’t tell me that.”

  “That’s because nothing came of it. As soon as I quit, Hilary showed up at the nursery.”

  “Hilary? Is J.R. trying to get Joe to go back into the political ring?”

  “I’m sure it’s his end goal, but that wasn’t why she was there.” I paused. “Hilary is pregnant. And I don’t think she’s lying. She set up an ultrasound for this afternoon so Joe could see the baby for himself. There’s no way she could fake that.”

  Mason’s eyes widened and he sat back in his chair.

  “Mason? What’s wrong?” I thought my news would have reassured him, but he wasn’t looking reassured.

  He stood and pulled me off the desk. “Rose, I know we’re still fairly new together, but I’ve loved you for months. You’re the most important thing in my life. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  He gently kissed me, then gave me a soft smile. “If you want to be with Joe, then I want you to be with him. I don’t want to be your second choice.”

  “You’re not, Mason. I swear. Why are you telling me this?” I asked again, starting to panic.

  “The Gardner Sisters Nursery is your business, Rose. I’ll support you in any way I can—from manual labor to
drawing up the paperwork to officially make Bruce Wayne your co-owner for the landscaping portion. My money—both the settlement check and my 401K—is yours if you want it. But if you don’t, I’ll stand by your decision.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “Why would you do that if you don’t agree?”

  “Because I can’t force you to do what I want. Part of the reason I love you is that you aren’t afraid of what people might say or think, so I wouldn’t try to take that away from you. All I ask is that you let me help you in some way so I feel like I’m part of your business too.”

  “Oh, Mason.” I threw my arms around his neck and buried my face into his chest. “Thank you.”

  Mason was quiet all through dinner, but as we were starting to clear off the kitchen table, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and grimaced. “I have to go into the office.”

  “Is everything okay?” I asked as he grabbed his coat and headed for the front door.

  “It will be.”

  Chapter Eight

  Joe

  I pulled up in front of the Henryetta Family Clinic at four fifty-five, although I wasn’t sure why I was there. If Hilary had actually made the damned ultrasound appointment, I knew she wasn’t bluffing. But if she was pregnant with my kid, going to see one of those fuzzy black-and-white images was what I was supposed to do, right?

  I’d been on autopilot ever since she dropped her grenade, screwing up any hope I had of winning back Rose. I would never be able to wipe the image of Rose’s horrified face from my memory. She’d had a vision of me winning a U.S. Senate race with a very pregnant Hilary at my side. I hadn’t believed her. In fact I’d sworn to her that it could never happen, but look where I was now—about to see my baby for the first time.

  My baby was supposed to be with Rose.

  Yesterday, I thought Rose was pregnant with Mason’s baby. Today, Hilary was pregnant with mine.

  It was amazing how quickly things had gotten turned on their head.

  Hilary’s Lexus was in the lot, so I got out of my sheriff’s car and headed into the clinic. She sat waiting in one of the worn chairs in the waiting room, looking as fresh and pulled together as always. For a second I considered that she might be lying. Neely Kate was pregnant, and she was puking all over the place—including straight down Toby Wheaton’s back at Jasper’s, which he’d grumbled about when I questioned him. Neely Kate, who’d always prided herself on her appearance, looked like she was three days into a backpack camping trip most days lately. Hilary looked like she’d stepped off the cover of Vogue.