Bad Boys Do (25 page)

T
HE TREES FLEW PAST HIM
in a blur of cool green. Jamie steered around a sharp rock and balanced his weight on the balls of his feet as the bike dropped down a shallow ledge.

For a third time, he felt the vibration of the phone in his pack. For the third time, he ignored it. He was fifteen miles into a twenty-mile ride, and he’d come out here to
not
think about his family. Damned if he was going to invite them to join him. And who else could it be, calling over and over as if there was an emergency?

Shit. What if there was an emergency?

Jamie pushed on, splashing through a stream that tossed ice water against his legs. He popped over a disintegrating log and slid around a curve. A few yards later, the trail emerged from the trees into a wide turnout that seemed to hang in the air above the town. The sky went on forever above him, miles and miles of blue. Jamie propped his bike against a tree and dug the phone out. Three missed calls from Tessa. Before he could call her back, the phone buzzed again.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as he answered.

“Nothing,” she said. “What are you doing?”

Jamie let his head fall back and he sighed his exasperation into the sky. “I’m on a ride. Why the hell did you call me three times—
four
times—in a row?”

“I just wanted to talk.”

“Well, I’m busy.”

“Every time I call you you’re busy!”

Jamie paced to the edge of the cliff and back. When he didn’t acknowledge her complaint, Tessa pressed again.

“Can you come in today?”

“No. I’m busy.”

“Please, Jamie. I want to talk to you. And Eric wants to talk to you.”

Jamie took a deep breath. He paced to the edge a few more times, then sat down on a boulder that eased out even farther into the air.

They wanted to talk. A few days ago, he would’ve said no. He was done talking. He was done pleading for a chance.

But after his first days of outrage and fury had worn off, Jamie had felt a hundred different things. Determined, yes. And self-righteous. And scared. And hopeful. But at night, those feelings had slowly fallen away and revealed the one true emotion pulsing beneath it all. Grief. Grief for what he’d lost.

“Jamie?” his sister whispered. “Will you please come talk to us?”

He closed his eyes and listened to the silence around him. The peace. It sounded nothing like what was going on inside his head. “Tessa…I don’t want to talk anymore.”

“I mean, we really want to talk. Not argue. And not lecture.”

“Why?” he asked wearily.

“Because you’re a part of this place!” she yelled. “And we don’t want to do this without you.” Jamie heard Eric’s voice in the background before Tessa snapped, “Shut up. You’re on my shit list, Eric, so zip it.”

Jamie’s eyes popped open. Eric was never on Tessa’s shit list.

Tessa cleared her throat. “Please come in, Jamie.” Her voice was all sweet vulnerability again. “You’ve already quit, so what can it hurt?”

Crap. His pride told him not to go, but the truth was that he missed the place. He’d only been gone a few days, but the distance was there. He missed the brewery. He missed his place there. He missed his sister. For now he was leaving Eric out of it.

He’d tried to turn his mind to the future. This morning, he’d even gone to look at a few available properties, but it felt strange. It wasn’t the exhilarating passion he’d felt before. Jamie rolled his shoulders, trying to shake the feeling off, but even after fifteen miles on the trail, it was still there.

“Fine,” he bit out. “I’ll try to be there in an hour or so.”

“Thank you!” she gasped. “I’ll see you in an hour.”

“Or so,”
he clarified, unwilling to leave an opening for Eric’s criticism. The phone clicked off. He got back on the bike and headed downhill. None of his worry had left, but at least he felt as if he was heading in the right direction.

Exactly one hour later, he stepped through the front door of the brewery. His timing was no accident. He hadn’t even bothered to dry his hair after the shower. He wasn’t going to give Eric the chance to aim that familiar look in Jamie’s direction.

“I’m here,” he said flatly as he stepped into Tessa’s office.

She jumped up from her chair and shooed him out. “Eric’s office.”

“Fine.” He stalked into his brother’s office and dropped into a chair. Eric looked exactly the same—stern. Jamie met his eyes and said nothing. If Eric wanted to talk, let him talk.

The door behind him closed with a snap, and Tessa dropped into the last chair. “Okay,” she said, taking his hand into her smaller one.

“Okay,
what?
” Jamie asked.

Her hand squeezed his, and for one heartbeat, everything was quiet inside him. Then Eric pushed something across the desk.

Jamie looked at it but didn’t understand. This meant nothing to him. At first it was just a flat brown rectangle with a white square in the middle of it. Then he saw the Donovan Brothers logo inside the square. Then the black stripe of fabric that ran up one edge of the book.

Jamie raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

Eric looked…surprised? “I understood that this was yours.”

“I’ve never seen it before,” Jamie said.

Yes, he definitely looked surprised. “You’re sure?”

Tessa reached for it. “Look.” She opened the book and laid it back down.

Jamie’s heart jumped so hard that he nearly choked on it. It was the menu.
Olivia’s
menu. “Where the hell did you get this?”

“Olivia brought it in,” Tessa said softly.

His head jerked toward her. “What?”

“Ow!” Tessa complained, wriggling her fingers free of his. “That hurt.”

“What do you mean? She gave this to you?”

“She gave it to Eric,” Tessa answered.

Jamie couldn’t believe his ears. He shook his head to try to clear them. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“She came in today,” Eric said. “She brought me this. Told me I needed to give you a chance.”

“Well, I didn’t know a damn thing about it!” His eyes were drawn to the laminated menu, which stood out in contrast to the thinner pages behind it. “She had no right to give you this.”

“You didn’t recognize it,” Eric said. “She told me it was your work.”

“It is my work, and that’s why it’s none of your business.” He started to reach for it, but Eric slid it back. “Hey!”

“We need to talk about this,” Eric insisted.

“Like hell we do.” Jamie surged forward and snagged the book from his brother’s hand. When he stood, Tessa stood too.

“We like it, Jamie.”

He glared at her.

“We
like
it.”

“Oh, yeah?” he snarled.

“
We
like it?”

She nodded. “Eric. Tell him.”

“I was…surprised.”

“Eric!” Tessa snapped.

Jamie rolled his eyes. “Look, I’m not interested in watching you twist his arm, Tessa. Just let it go.”

“I was surprised,” Eric repeated, “because it’s really, really good.”

“Gee, thanks.” But even as Jamie fell back on his normal tone with his brother, his pulse sped with something far less cynical.

“If we were going to serve food here—
if
—then this would be a good idea.”

He didn’t like the way his pulse leapt with hope, so he tamped it down with a snarl. “Let’s not pretend you can change your mind that quickly, Eric. Let’s not pretend you could take one look at this portfolio and see the light.”

Eric arched an eyebrow, but Tessa was the one who answered. “We want to talk about it, Jamie. If you can give me some time to go through the numbers, if you can let Eric and I have some input, then—”

“No. I’m not going to let you lure me back here with scraps like a damn pet. You’re right. This is a good idea. It’s my good idea. And I’m not interested in having Eric smash it down until it’s safe enough for him. I’m not interested in giving up bits and pieces of it while you orchestrate a negotiation between us, Tessa.”

“We’re partners,” Eric snarled. “We all get a say.”

“You mean
you
get a say. You always get a say. When have you ever asked for my advice or permission?”

“I always run things by you—”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know the difference, Eric. You run things by me and Tessa on a fast train with no brakes. You keep us notified for courtesy’s sake. You don’t ask us shit.”

Eric leaned forward, his mouth opening on a response, but Jamie cut his hand through the air to stop him.

“If you deny it, brother, you’re a goddamn liar and we both know it.”

He watched the anger creep up Eric’s face in a tide of red. His hands turned to fists. But he didn’t deny it. He was too honest for that.

“If I come back—
if
—then this is going to happen.” He slapped his palm against the cover. “It’s going to happen my way, and I’ll be in charge of it. All of it.”

“Jamie,” Tessa cautioned.

“No, Tessa. No. I’m not going along this time. I’m not worried about keeping the peace. This idea is solid. It hardly requires any investment at all, and there’s no significant remodel. It’s a goddamn gift, is what it is.”

Eric huffed. “You can’t really expect us to make a decision like this on the spot.”

“Of course not. And the same goes for you. I meant it when I left here. If I’m coming back, then I have to be sure.”

Eric’s eyes slid to Tessa. They stared at each other for a long time. Finally, Tessa’s hand curved over his arm. “You’re serious? You’ll think seriously about coming back?”

“I will.”

“All right. Then Eric and I will go through this line by line. We’ll need at least a few days to consider it.”

Jamie recognized that tone. He heard it every day while Tessa was on the phone with suppliers or distributors. It was the voice she used when she meant business.

Suddenly, this was real. It wasn’t another family argument. There was a deal on the table. His deal.

“All right,” he said quietly. “Call me when you want to meet.”

Tessa reached for the portfolio and Jamie stepped back, nearly falling back into the chair.

“We’ll need to review it.”

“Oh, right.” His hands tightened on the rough texture of the cover. He hadn’t even seen it yet. Olivia had done this. His mind couldn’t figure out what he felt about that. “Would you mind if I take it to my office for a minute? I haven’t seen it like this yet. There were only loose pages before.”

“Sure. Of course.”

Jamie walked slowly to his sparsely furnished office and closed the door behind him. He collapsed into his chair before he finally let out a shaky breath. He’d stepped into a rabbit hole. None of this made any sense. Maybe he’d been thrown from his bike and was still lying up there on the mountain with a giant lump on his head.

Watching his own hands carefully, he slowly opened the cover of the portfolio and began to review it. She’d done an amazing job. That night at her apartment he’d barely been paying attention, but now every page stood out in vivid detail. It was all here, every idea he’d gathered. Every number he’d researched, plus some of the things he hadn’t gotten to yet. It was all there in full color on glossy pages. By the time he turned the last page, his hands shook.

Why had she finished it? More important, why had she given it to Eric instead of Jamie?

Before he could overthink it, Jamie pulled out his phone and dialed her number. The phone rang five times before it went to voice mail. Jamie hung up. He had no idea what to say. Was he thankful or pissed? Had she violated his trust and privacy or had she done something amazing?

Jamie had no idea. But when he stood up, he felt stronger than he had in years. He felt…proud.

Tessa was waiting for him when he stepped into the hallway. He handed over the book without a twinge of reluctance. “Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be in touch in a few days.”

This time when he walked out, he didn’t look back because he knew he’d return. It was a good idea, and they’d be fools not to go with it. They might drive him up the wall 365 days a year, but his brother and sister weren’t fools.

In a few months, Jamie would be running a restaurant.

W
HEN THE DOOR OF HIS OFFICE
opened, Jamie held up a finger and pressed the phone harder to his ear. “Well, I’m glad you’re doing well enough to be busy, but I need you out here to give me an estimate tomorrow. If you can’t do it, I’ll find someone else.”

The electrician sighed. “How late are you guys there?”

“It’s a brewery, man. If you can make it before nine, we’re good.”

“All right. Let’s say six-thirty.”

“Perfect. And another guy is coming at one, so if you want the job, you’ll be sure the estimate is competitive.” He hung up, glad he’d overheard so many of Eric’s phone calls over the years. Jamie was damn good at being the nice guy, but nice didn’t get you anywhere in the world of electricians and plumbers and equipment salesmen.

Someone cleared his throat, and Jamie glanced up to see Henry standing there. “Oh, hey. Thanks for coming in, man.” He stood up to shake Henry’s hand, which seemed to make the young guy nervous. “Sit down. I heard you filled in at the bar a couple of times while I was gone.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you like it?”

“Sure.”

“I want an honest answer about that, Henry. Enjoying what you do is really the number one qualification for tending here. There are no mixed drinks to remember. There aren’t a lot of complicated bills. You’ve just got to be friendly and happy to be here. Did you really like being at the tap?”

Henry’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down when he swallowed. “I was a little nervous, but I liked it.”

“Okay. You can work with Chester tonight. Close down with him. See how it feels. If Chester give you the thumbs-up, I’ll give you a couple of day shifts this week so I can keep an eye on you. How does that sound?”

“Great!”

Henry scrambled up from his seat and headed back out the door. “Hey, I’m glad you’re back,” he added before he slipped away.

Yeah, Jamie was, too. It felt good. It felt great.

Before he could forget, Jamie opened the Twitter application on his phone and began to type. We’ve got a new guy behind the bar. Come meet Henry tonight. But be gentle. He’s just a pup. He retweeted a couple of kind posts about the new wheat beer, then tweeted that the new apricot hefeweizen would debut next month.

He was actually having a good time, getting things done. In fact, he would’ve been in heaven if thoughts of Olivia hadn’t been niggling at the back of his mind. She hadn’t returned his calls for five days. She hadn’t come to book club. It seemed she hadn’t even been home for the past week. According to the school, she’d canceled class on Thursday due to “an unexpected personal development,” and she wasn’t expected back until to morrow.

Unexpected personal development. What the hell did that mean? He refused to believe it could have anything to do with Victor. Whatever that man wanted from Olivia, she’d been clear that she wanted nothing from him. Hadn’t she?

Jamie cracked his neck. He just wanted to see her. Any sense of betrayal over what she’d done had disappeared. It’d been pretty half-assed in the first place. Now he was back at the brewery and it seemed like last Tuesday was a hundred years ago.

Still, he couldn’t do anything more than drive by her place each evening to see if she’d returned. Jamie forced his mind back to the tasks at hand.

They were still scrambling for more bartending coverage as Jamie would be spending a lot more time behind the scenes for a while, so the next thing he did was pull out his list of fill-in bartenders and the file of applicants he’d never brought in. Most of them were probably out of the job search by now, but you never knew.

“Anthony,” he said when the first guy answered the phone. “It’s Jamie Donovan. I know it’s been a few months since you filled in, but I wondered if you were looking for any work this month.”

A soft knock on the door distracted him from writing down the days Anthony could work. Jamie looked up to see Eric leaning against the doorjamb, his arms crossed. Jamie held up one finger. “Sorry, Anthony, did you say Friday night, too? Great. Why don’t you come in Thursday and Friday from four to close? I’ll see you then.”

He hung up and raised his eyebrows at Eric. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I can hear you working in here and it’s distracting.”

“Oh. The door’s closed. Do you—?”

“I’m just kidding, man.” Eric dropped into the chair and leaned back as if he were settling in.

“Are you gonna watch me like a movie or something?”

“Maybe. I’m on the edge of my seat waiting to see what you do next.”

Jamie finally smiled. “The cliffhanger of the season?”

“Yeah.” Eric’s mouth turned up the tiniest bit. “I’m glad you’re back. No one wants to be alone with me sixty hours a week. Not even me. I think my arm is bruised from Tessa punching me in the same spot a thousand times.”

“That bad, were you?”

“I was pretty fucking grumpy.”

“Yeah?” Jamie asked. “Just because you missed me?”

Now Eric really smiled. “Something like that. And Tessa didn’t let me forget for one second that it was my fault.”

“I’m pretty clear on what that’s like.”

Eric nodded and reached idly for the catalog of restaurant supplies on the corner of Jamie’s desk. He paged through, his eyes sweeping over the marked pages.

Jamie took a deep breath and braced himself for suggestions, critiques, helpful pointers about what he was doing wrong. That was fine. He could handle it.

When Eric set the catalog down, he cleared his throat and met Jamie’s gaze. “You’re doing a good job,” he said, his mouth stiff around the strange words. “Thanks.”

“I’m a little worried you two won’t need me anymore.”

Jamie laughed, but Eric wasn’t laughing.

His eyes tightened. “I don’t really have any sort of gift, you know. I don’t bring any specific skills. It’s all just hard work.”

“That’s a skill in itself,” Jamie answered.

“I suppose. But what I’m trying to say is…you can do this. All of it. You’ve got that same special thing Dad had. You put people at ease. You make them smile. And if you add in working your ass off, you’ve got it all.”

“That’s not true, man. I can do the front room stuff, sure. But I can’t do what Tessa does with numbers and schedules. And I could never do what you do, day in and day out.”

“Sure you could.”

He seemed serious, but Jamie couldn’t figure out what the hell was weighing on him. “Eric, the big picture means nothing to me. I can’t see it. You’re the only one here who can do that. And all my hard work is done on things I enjoy. You can’t convince me that you enjoy dealing with those beer show guys all the time. And I know you hate managing the bottling and shipping. So spare me the pity party.”

That seemed to snap Eric out of it. He managed another smile and slapped his hand down on Jamie’s desk. “All right. I just wanted you to know I’m proud of you. And Dad would be, too. Not just today, either. I should’ve said it before.”

Jamie didn’t like the heat rushing to his face, so he just muttered a foul word and ordered Eric out of his office. “I’ve got work to do. God knows you’d better not take a chance of interrupting my rhythm.”

“Good point.” Eric was halfway out the door when he stopped and turned back. “Um, listen. I may have screwed something up.”

“You?” Jamie scoffed.

“When Olivia Bishop came to see me, she said she was with the college. You’d said you were taking a class, and…”

“Don’t worry, man. She was my teacher, but it was all on the up-and-up.” Jamie winked, still a little thrilled with the idea. Or a lot.

“Right. But I didn’t realize… I wasn’t under the impression that you were dating her. But you were?”

“We saw each other for a little while, yes.”

Eric ducked his head and let out a long breath.

“What did you do? Come on to her?” Jamie smiled at the idea. When Eric swallowed so hard Jamie could hear it, his smile faded. “What’s wrong?”

“She came in here to tell me I should give you a chance. I was defensive. I said I’d already given you plenty of chances. When she pressed me, I threw your last mistake in her face.”

“Which one was that?”

Eric met his gaze. “Monica Kendall.”

It felt like all the blood drained from Jamie’s body in an instant. His heart beat, but there was nothing for it to grasp on to. “What did you tell her?”

“The truth.”

Shit. His mind spun like a tornado. Olivia must think… “Shit,” he breathed. “What did she say?”

“She didn’t say anything. But I could see she was upset. That was when I realized… Christ, Jamie. I’m sorry. Even if you hadn’t been dating her, I had no right to say that.”

“No, you didn’t,” Jamie said, but he didn’t even feel angry. He didn’t feel anything except panic. He’d made it very clear to Olivia that he hadn’t been with another woman in a long time. And he’d meant it. Nobody understood. But now that she knew he’d lied, she must think the worst. That he’d been screwing with her. Playing with her feelings. She must think he was exactly like her ex-husband, just as she’d suspected.

Jamie scrubbed a hand over his face.

“I’m sorry,” Eric said again. “I let my temper get the better of me.”

“It’s all right. I need to try to—” He looked around at all the work on his desk. He couldn’t leave now. And hell, he had no idea where she might be anyway. But it had been
six days.
Six days of cursing him and hating him and telling herself that all men were cut from the same evil cloth. Jesus.

He shifted his hand and found himself looking at the pile of applications. “It’s okay, Eric. I’ll talk to her tonight.”

“Good. I hope I didn’t screw anything up for you.”

“No, it’s fine.” What the hell had there been to screw up, anyway?

Jamie picked up the phone and got back to work, but his stomach burned with dread.

H
ER COFFEE STEAMED
into the thin air, the wisps trailing slowly up until the breeze caught them and swirled them into the sky. At this altitude, it was cold in the shade of the balcony, even in the middle of summer, and Olivia had wrapped herself in a blanket so she could enjoy the morning view.

It had been a foolish trip, maybe. Certainly, she should be saving her money instead of spending it. But she’d needed to get away. Just away. From everyone and everything.

After she’d left the brewery, Victor had called. When she hadn’t answered, he’d come to her house, and she’d been forced to hunker down in her chair and listen to him ring the doorbell for five minutes. Jamie would’ve come soon, too. And she’d realized that it was all too much.

Olivia had packed a small bag, and after class she’d set off in her car. She’d taken the back roads to Winter Park, the long, windy, narrow roads that added an extra hour to her drive. Once there, she’d found a little studio room right on the ski slopes that went for next to nothing in the summer. It was quiet here and nearly deserted, and she’d done nothing but sit. Sit and drink coffee. Sit and eat lunch. Sit and watch movies at night.

It was what she should have done when she’d left Victor. She should have sat and turned her thoughts inward. But there’d been so much to do. All the horrible tedious work of a divorce. The sorting out of possessions, the search for a new place to live, the panic of bank accounts and insurance and retirement plans. But what she’d really needed to do was think.

“Better late than never,” she sighed, propping her feet up on the balcony railing.

She had to go back to her real life today, and that would be fine. She hadn’t suffered a change of heart about anything. She was glad she’d left Victor. She was glad she’d had those days with Jamie. And she couldn’t wait to start her real work. The work she’d always wanted to do.

So, these days of quiet hadn’t changed anything, but they had been so worth it. She felt… My God, she felt like a grown-up, and how ironic was that?

Smiling, she finished her coffee and then went to pack her bag for the drive home. When the phone rang, she knew who it was. Her cell phone was off as it had been since she’d driven away from her apartment, and the only person who had the hotel number was Gwen.

“Good morning, Gwen,” she said when she answered.

“You sound chipper. Are you going to find your way back home today?”

“Yes, but only because I have class tomorrow. What have you been up to?”

“I was hoping you’d ask.
Because I totally made out with Paul last night.
It was awesome!”

Olivia laughed. “I thought you made out with Paul last week.”

“No, we kissed last week. Granted, it was for a long time, but this was waaaay more than that. Like, making out on the couch until half our clothes were off. Oh, my God, I feel like a teenager again, with the notable exception that I actually had an orgasm.”

“You naughty little witch,” Olivia said, echoing exactly what Gwen had said to her a few weeks ago.

“Hell, yes,” Gwen growled. “I plan on being even naughtier tonight when I let him have his way with me.”

“Or vice versa.”

“Semantics,” Gwen insisted. “However you say it, I am finally going to get laid.”

Olivia’s cheeks already hurt from smiling too hard. “I’m so glad you two hit it off. Do you really like him? Not just physically?”

“He’s just…a regular guy. He’s a real
person.
”

“I think most of the faculty are actual people, you know.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t read their email.”

“And you do?” Olivia asked.

“Ugh. Some of them make me sort it for them. Some of them even make me print it out. I know way too much. Speaking of…”

Uh-oh. Back to the real world. “What?”

“There’s a rumor going around. I’m only going to tell you because I don’t want you to hear it from someone else. But it might not be true.”

“Just tell me,” Olivia said, bracing herself for the worst. Her mind was already turning, figuring out what she’d do if she lost her job or—

“People are saying Victor’s girlfriend is pregnant.”

“Oh.” Olivia frowned. “Is that gossip-worthy? That a man knocked up his girlfriend?”