A grin slit his face. He slapped Grady on the back as he said something to the other two. Mac tossed her a guarded look before he disappeared with Grady into the trees.
Jason jogged up to her. “Yeah?”
“The books,” she reminded him.
“Right.”
Jason followed her inside and down the glass hallway toward the back of the house. She turned the corner, passing the master bedroom, then the door into the guest bath, the closed door to the guest room, and opened the door to her right, to Elijah’s study. Her eyes swept the space, nostalgia smacking her as she flipped on the light.
The room had a large picture window looking toward the woods and another faced the drive. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves made up the other walls, crammed with books. A plush chaise lounge nestled in one corner—where she’d sit for hours while Elijah worked. An open roll-top desk in front of the window faced the woods, a computer on top of it. Stacks of papers were next to it.
Cassidy explained, “I didn’t know what to do with his work, so I left it. His publishers talked about a ghostwriter to finish his last novel, but… he would have hated that idea.But, he is contractually obligated, and he’d sent chapters in already. I don’t know; I suppose I’ll have to hand it over to them at some point and hope he forgives me. I mean, it’s been years.”
Jason answered, “I’m not going to pretend to know what that means, but I’m going to assume he’d want you to do what you needed to do to take care of yourself.” He walked over to the desk and picked up a framed photo. “This him?”
Cassidy hugged herself, a self-soothing gesture she was prone tosince.She didn’t move to look at the photo. She knew which one it was: the two of them on their boat, right after she’d learned she was pregnant. She was in a white summer dress, her hair blowing in the wind, eyes almost green with joy, a good fifteen pounds heavier—healthier, rounded. Elijah had his arms around her, blond hair up in a man bun, blond beard sharply trimmed, loose khaki shorts and shirtless, his sinewy arms a golden tan. His hands were making the symbol of a heart over her flat abdomen, both of them grinning like the happy, oblivious fools they’d been, thinking their world was perfect. “Yes.”
“Good-looking man,” Jason said. “You have a thing for blonds.”
It wasn’t Elijah’s hair color that had drawn her in, but his warm eyes, his laugh, his energy, and his heart. Not responding, she went to a bookshelf and took down three copies of the same paperback,Silent Soul.
“Three?” he asked.
“Hemight be an asshole, but I’m not. If he doesn’t want it…” She shrugged. “They’re signed, not that it matters.” She held them out.
“It matters,” Jason assured her, laying his hands on the books.
Cassidy looked at the books suspended between them. She’d read the novel in draft form, in hardback, online, and in its paperback version. She’d gotten wrapped up in the characters every time. She wasn’t handing over something she couldn’t replace—she had so many versions—she had four more copies of this very paperback on the shelves. But giving away any part of Elijah was like giving away Elijah.
Stupid thought. They were mass-market books. She snatched her hands off the stack and stepped back with embarrassment at her hesitation.
“He’ll want it,” Jason assured her.
Cassidy was skeptical. “I’ve heard about some of his extracurricular activities; reading was not one of them.”
Jason rubbed the back of his neck and asked delicately, “What have you heard?”
“Small town. What do you think I’ve heard?”
He held up his hand. “Nope, bro code. I’m not doing that.”
She couldn’t fault him for his loyalty, but she had no loyalty to the man, especially since he’d freaking abducted her dog. “My friends own the Trading Post; it’s the marina gas and grocery store. He and a new friend broke a sink in one of the bathrooms in an amorous moment.”
Jason forced back his amusement as he asked, “Is it a twenty-four store?”
“My understanding is that it was an afternoon adventure.”
“Mac can be…”
“Dangerous?”
“Spontaneous,” he tempered.
“Dangerously spontaneous,” Cassidy compromised. “And now my neighbor. Well, for however long the cabin stands, so…”
“He’s working on it. We got some work done today.”
Cassidy made a contemplative sound and headed toward the office door. “It won’t matter.”