North Dakota Weddings (61 page)

What would he say? After ignoring you at work today, I miss you? The voice mail signaled for him to leave a message. Jack hung up.

Jack woke the next morning, groggy and running late. Not the way he liked to begin his day. He called Carl to let him know how sorry he was that he’d missed their racquetball date. Lately, he thought the game was all that was keeping him sane. It didn’t require conversation or too much thought. Instead, it was about reflexes and raw power, slamming the ball as hard and fast as he could, and an opponent who could give as good as he got.

After a quick shower, Jack dressed, tucked his pump securely in the trunk of his car so he could test it in the lab this evening, and headed to FountainTech. He phoned Gail on his way to ask her to order pizza again for a working lunch and let his team know to assemble in the conference room again.

“I’ve got to put you on hold for a minute,” Gail said, and then the expected elevator music resounded through the Bluetooth in his car.

He clenched his teeth. He didn’t have time for this.

While he waited for Gail to return, a knot thickened in his throat. Was he focused on work, or was this just his way of seeing Rayne, but in a crowd and from a distance? She would have known he’d called last night, regardless of the fact he’d not left a message.

Why hadn’t she called him back?

He supposed he was destined to remain a moron forever. As he raced around the corner to FountainTech, he spotted a large cross on the church located a few blocks down. Sure, he knew it was there and had seen it a hundred times since moving to Fargo, but for some reason, today, he
really
noticed it.

Why now, he wondered? He’d attended Heidi’s church a few times, but that was mostly to make friends, and if he was honest, to see Rayne, though she’d never shown up.

Because God had ignored Jack’s pain, was Jack ignoring God? Hardening his heart?

He frowned at the idea as he whizzed into the parking garage.

“Okay, Jack, sorry about that.” Gail came back on the line. “Something’s up.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, there’s some buzz around the office already,” she said then lowered her voice so that he could barely understand her. “You need to head straight to Harold’s office when you get here. Not sure you want me to assemble your team in the conference room. That’s all I’m saying. Oops, gotta go.”

She hung up.

Jack clenched his jaw as he rolled into his parking spot. Grabbing his cell, briefcase, and coat, he jumped from the car, carrying his coat over his arm. The days were getting warmer, and he’d just have to tug it off again anyway.

Finally, he stepped from the elevator onto FountainTech’s floor and rushed through the glass double doors into the reception area. Gail was on the phone, and with wide eyes, she shrugged at him as he passed, as if to assure him she didn’t know what was going on.

Jack hated being in the dark and had the fleeting thought that he should have called Barb to find out what she knew, but of course, that would be a mistake.

Barb!

He was supposed to meet with her this morning at seven. His chant, “Jack is back,” slapped him in the face. He practically trotted down the hallway, dashing past a few members of his team who looked at him warily.

What was going on? He shoved through the door of his office and found Barb sitting there, waiting. She appeared flustered. Unusual for her.

Jack threw his coat over his chair. “I’m terribly sorry that I’m late. I’m afraid I can’t meet with you this morning. Something’s come up.”

“Oh? What is it?” she asked.

He didn’t dare look at her but unfolded his laptop on his desk and drew in a calming breath.
I don’t know, and if I did, I wouldn’t share it with you
. But then again, Barb probably already knew. Jack resisted the temptation to ask if she did.

When he looked through his schedule for the day, ignoring her, she finally broke the silence.

“Well, let me know when you’re ready to hear my ideas. I’ll be waiting.”

Without looking up from his computer, Jack called after her, “Okay, will do.”

“Jack.” Gail stuck her head in the doorway that Barb had left open.

He glanced up to see her expression. With her head, she gestured toward Harold’s office. “Uh, yeah, I’m on my way,” Jack said.

Jack swiped his sweaty palms against his slacks. When had he ever been this nervous? And he didn’t even know why he was supposed to rush to see Harold. It was probably nothing. Maybe even good news.

As Jack strode the hallways, he injected positive thoughts into his mind. Harold had good news for him. All Gail had said was that something was up. Could be something good, right?

He tapped on the door and stepped inside, shutting the door behind him without being asked.

“Jack, glad you could make it.”

Jack gave a half grin at Harold’s sarcasm. “Sorry I’m late. What’s up?” Why did he have to be late today, when Harold of all people would notice? And Jack was
never
late.

“We have a situation with one of our employees.”

“Yeah?” Okay, so this wasn’t good news after all. Was Harold referring to Jack’s dreaming of a relationship with Rayne that he hoped no one knew about yet? “What kind of situation?”

“I’m afraid our star creator, Rayne Flemming, is fraternizing with the competition. You’ll need to terminate her immediately.”

Stunned, Jack stared at Harold.
Oh Rayne, you didn’t
. “So, what company? You can’t blame Rayne if someone is trying to recruit her. That doesn’t mean she’s accepting a position with them. Let me talk to her. We’ll convince her to stay with us.” Why would Harold want to fire her over that? After all, Jack came from a competitive company himself, though he’d quit because of a romance gone bad long before hiring on at FountainTech. But still…

Harold raised his hand to silence Jack. “It’s much more serious than that, son.”

Son?
So Harold was calling him “son” now? Jack drew in a breath and shrugged. “What then?”

“She’s selling company secrets.”

Harold had to be mistaken. The ache behind Jack’s rib cage suddenly ramped up like it was fueled by a jet engine. He had to throw Rayne a lifeline somehow. What could he say in her defense? “What secrets?”

Because, really, how secret were their secrets once the fountains were out there for anyone to look at?

“Namely, your new pump design. The schematic you left with me was stolen from my office. Then someone saw Rayne with Carvis Clark last night.”

J
ack stared out the window of his office, hardly recalling how he made it from Harold’s office to his own.

He’d worried, needlessly, about hurting Rayne.

However, he’d been correct to worry about getting hurt himself. He’d been right to decide he never wanted to love again. Why hadn’t he abided by that rule?

Jack thought he’d successfully hardened his heart against the pain, but Rayne had managed to inflict a new kind of pain on him—betrayal. With it came the realization of just how much he cared for her.

He thought he could avoid feeling the pain of loss again, having successfully shoved away the memories of his parents dying in the house fire and recently shoving aside what he thought was love for Kiera.

Falling for Rayne—and he realized now, that he had fallen hard—opened his eyes to the fact that what he had with Kiera wasn’t love at all. How could it be love when he hadn’t known the real Kiera? But clearly, Rayne wasn’t who Jack had imagined her to be either, and she hadn’t cared about him. Just like Kiera hadn’t cared about him.

He’d prided himself in being able to read people. Was he doomed to lose when it came to love?

The sting of Rayne’s duplicity overwhelmed him, drowning him in misery.

Both his office phone and his cell continued to ring, and although someone knocked on his door, he’d locked it and remained unresponsive.

Maybe that’s why he’d noticed that cross this morning. God was mocking him, knowing full well what news waited for him. Until this moment, Jack hadn’t fully understood what was required to protect his heart. If he’d done a good job, he wouldn’t feel this gut-wrenching pain inside. And now he’d do what was needed to freeze his heart. Everything inside him would need to congeal, and soon. Harold expected Jack to fire Rayne.

He closed his eyes and drew on the anger that lingered in the shadows of his heart, anger created from a hundred frustrations—Kiera for starters, and then there was God, who allowed his parents to die. And finally, yes, that was it… Jack drew in a breath and fanned to life his fury at Rayne for what she’d done to him.

That was the only way he would survive this moment.

She’d duped him. Finally, when he thought he would explode with rage, Jack composed himself and lifted the phone, dialing Gail.

“Yes, Jack?”

In a calm, flat voice, he said, “Send Rayne to my office, please.”

He hung up the phone and stared at the door, remembering he needed to unlock it. In a few short moments, a woman he had been ready to give up his career and dreams for, a woman who had used and duped him, who had sold his design to the highest bidder—might as well have been his soul—would walk through the door of his office.

Jack noticed that he was squeezing the arms of his chair, his knuckles white, so he relaxed his hands, only to see they were trembling. Perhaps if Harold had known how Jack felt about Rayne, he wouldn’t have assigned him this task. Then again, had Harold known, Jack could be implicated as well.

A new concern flooded his thoughts. If someone found out about him and Rayne, might he be accused? Though it was Jack’s design, Harold could possibly terminate Jack, too, and try to keep the design. Contracts always included the clause that anything the employee created relating to the company while in its employ belonged to the company. Fortunately, because Jack had been working on a design beforehand, he’d negotiated on that point with Harold before joining FountainTech.

Someone tapped on the door, and Rayne stuck her head in. “You wanted to see me?”

“Please, have a seat.”

He watched her shut the door and drop into the chair across from him. There were shadows under her eyes, and she looked more fatigued than he’d ever seen her. She must be all too aware that her game was up.

Emotion flooded her expression, filled her eyes. “What’s wrong, Jack?”

For an instant, he thought she might reach across the desk, closing the distance between them. Jack imagined quitting FountainTech and leaving with Rayne. They could be together.

A vise gripped his chest and squeezed his throat. That’s all he wanted—for them to be together. Finally, he shut his eyes.

But, no, Rayne had used him.

Rayne held her breath. She had never seen this look of complete desperation on Jack’s face. And she thought
she’d
had a tough time making a decision—torn about taking an opportunity with another company that would allow her and Jack to be open about their relationship. She’d prayed all night long for a sign from God. Surely He would frown on a relationship that she had to hide. But to go to another company? It reeked of disloyalty.

If she’d learned anything from her father, it was to remain loyal, no matter the cost. And that’s why it was so difficult to seemingly turn her back on her parents as she pursued her career and dreams.

She’d call Mr. Clark this morning and given him her answer—she wouldn’t be leaving Jack or FountainTech.

As she looked at Jack, the room felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out. Jack’s face was lined and pale. His rigid frown deepened, and there was a sadness in his eyes that she’d never seen before. In anyone.

Suddenly, all of those emotions vanished, and his face grew stern, his eyes freezing over. She sucked in a breath. “Jack, please, you have to tell me what’s wrong. What’s happened?”

Did Jack have family somewhere who had been in an accident, or worse—died?

Jack drew his gaze from hers, and for that instant, his eyes seemed to reflect the tears of a thousand fountains. He toyed with his smartphone, tapping it against the desk.