Chapter Ten
Breeze had rearranged her schedule temporarily to work the breakfast and lunch shifts and then drive pizza delivery for another restaurant at nights. But she had the night off and was anticipating just being home with Ridge. She thought through the scarce food they had, wondering what she could come up with for dinner. Ridge worked seven to five, and the commute to Logan was forty-five minutes each way so he had almost as long of days as she did. She wished she could at least make a nice meal for the two of them. She barely had time to get to the grocery store with working both jobs, and she was loath to dip into the money they were saving to pay back Seth. It was a small fund stored under her bed, but it was growing.
Ridge had been true to his word and hadn’t touched alcohol or drugs for over three weeks now. Breeze prayed he’d stay strong. She knew he was hoping for the chance to go work for Seth if he stayed clean for a month, but with everything hanging over them with Flint, the explosion, and Rachel being hurt she doubted Ridge would be brave enough to approach Seth. Maybe he’d come to them? A girl could hope.
She and Mar had been texting off and on so she knew Rachel was doing pretty well and everyone but Eve and Paisley had gone back to their own homes. She found out that Seth had gone back to racing. Mar was so funny, and Breeze loved hearing from her, but her idol hadn’t said anything personal about her perfect brother-in-law, the man Breeze couldn’t seem to forget about. Mar wasn’t giving Breeze false hope where Seth was concerned, and that was probably for the best.
She shoved her car into park and popped open the door. It squeaked like a rusty hinge. She wearily stood and stretched.
“Breeze,” a male voice breathed out.
Breeze jumped and whirled to face the threat. Two large men eased out of the shadows of the porch overhang and into the soft pool of light from the one exterior light that was still working.
Breeze leaned against the car, her legs suddenly weak. “Seth?” She couldn’t believe it. He’d come for her? She knew she wasn’t the right woman for him and she hated that she hadn’t earned his money back yet, only eight-hundred and fifty in the fund from the last count, but her heart still leapt within her and threatened to burst out of her chest. He looked incredible. Could she fling herself into his arms and beg him never to leave again? It had been a miserable three weeks.
He and Caleb eased closer. Caleb seemed unusually serious and his eyes were darting around the shadows. He looked almost … nervous. It didn’t suit him.
“What are you doing here?” Breeze asked, brushing her hand uncomfortably down her white blouse. She probably smelled like bacon again. She hadn’t wasted any of the beautiful perfume Cosette had given her, but now wished she was wearing it. Had he really come for her?
“We need to talk somewhere …” Seth’s gaze flitted around, brushing over her sagging front porch that Ridge had tried to reinforce but was mostly held up with extra tin that they’d found at the dump and duct tape. Plenty of duct tape. “Safe?”
Breeze’s face burned. He was seeing exactly where she’d come from. Whatever he needed to talk about, she doubted he’d stay long. Had the great Seth Jewel ever seen a dump like this? He’d certainly never slept in a home where the cold wind whistled through the windows in the winter and the hot sun made it reek like burned plastic in the winter. She tilted her chin up. They might not have much, but the porch was swept clean, the toilet scrubbed, the raggedy carpet vacuumed, and the weeds mowed.
“I’m not going in there,” Caleb insisted, glancing at her dilapidated, outdated, sad little home. Her spine stiffened. “We’d be sitting ducks,” Caleb continued. “I would like some lights on, though, and you can leave your car here so it looks like you’re home.” He actually smiled and drawled out, “Decoy. The plan’s percolating now. Keys?” he asked Breeze.
Breeze pulled her keys out of her purse and tossed them to him, wondering what plan he was talking about and hoping she wasn’t the decoy.
Caleb caught the keys and hurried toward the sagging porch. He opened the door quickly and turned on the lights in the kitchen, bedrooms, and living area, and then she heard their old tv blaring. He shut the door and locked it. The blinds were drawn so it was impossible to tell that she wasn’t in there.
Caleb walked back and handed her the keys. “Meet you in the truck for a planning sesh.” He strode away but turned back to say, “Good to see you again Breeze.” Then he disappeared into the darkness and Breeze could hear his footsteps pounding on the dirt. She wondered why they’d parked their vehicle so far away.
She and Seth faced each other. His eyes trailed over her, leaving heat in their wake. She’d missed him so much, his smile, his zest for life, his warm hands holding her close. Had this incredible man really kissed her, or was that all a fanciful dream?
“How have you been?” he asked.
Breeze swallowed hard, trying to swallow down the desire for him but failing. She wished he’d said she looked good or he missed her, though neither were probably true. “Busy. You?”
His blue eyes darkened, looking dangerous and mysterious. “Mostly just watching Rachel.”
“How is she?” She felt awful that hadn’t been her first question. He didn’t know she’d heard updates from Mar. How she wished she was part of his family and had the right to be there to watch and, somehow, help Rachel.
“She’s okay, at least she’s acting pretty tough.” He shrugged. “She told us all to get back to real life, that she was fine, but … I worry, that she’s putting on a show you know?”
“I can imagine. She’s so perfectly beautiful. It will be hard for her to adjust to those scars.”
“That’s what I worry about too.”
A silence fell between them and Breeze was thinking about when she’d left him three weeks earlier. Nothing had changed, and since he’d brought Caleb along for whatever this “talk” entailed, she couldn’t imagine it involved romance of any kind. Looking at her ramshackle trailer in the middle of nowhere, she felt their blatant differences even stronger. Yet still her heart hoped that he would throw all that aside and declare his undying devotion. She rolled her eyes at herself.
Seth stepped closer, and just like that Breeze’s heart thumped out of control again, and she prayed for a kiss, a touch, some tender words. She’d take any crumbs he was willing to toss her. Her pride was a washed-up shop rag at this point, but this was Seth Jewel. She missed him. If she could swallow her pride completely, she’d admit that she loved him.
His gaze swept over her carefully. “How have you really been?” he asked.
“Pretty miserable,” she admitted.
“Because you’ve been working too much or …”
She bit at her lip, not sure if she was keeping herself from smiling or crying. “Or …?”