The One For Me - January Cove Book 1 (5 page)

“Part of it is, of course, but I should be able to take care of myself and my daughter as a grown woman.”

“Jenna, you can’t possibly blame yourself.”

“I shouldn’t have given up my life and dreams for my parents or Nick. If I’d just done what my heart was saying all those years ago…”

“Don’t do that, girl. You can’t regret things. Think of it this way, if you hadn’t married Nick, you wouldn’t have our sweet Kaitlyn,” Rebecca said with a half hearted smile as she put her hands on Jenna’s shoulders. “I feel really bad to leave you here alone.”

“Oh, that’s right, you guys are leaving in the morning, aren’t you?” Rebecca and her family were leaving for a week long trip to see her parents in Colorado.

“You have full access to our house, okay?”

“Thanks,” Jenna said with a smile, all the while knowing she would never go into Rebecca’s house no matter what happened. She had too much pride for that. She wasn’t going to let someone else clean up her mess.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Give me about thirty minutes to get myself together and then send Kaitlyn back over."

"Will do. I'm so sorry, Jenna. I wish there was something I could do."

"Find Nick and kill him."

"Done," Rebecca said with a chuckle.  "Consider it an early Christmas gift."

After Rebecca left, Jenna cleaned her face up and started cooking dinner. When Kaitlyn came home, she served her spaghetti and then started the process of explaining what was about to happen. Kaitlyn didn't seem to understand it well, but Jenna could only hope that she would roll with it the next day when they had to start packing up their belongings.

She put Kaitlyn in bed early and started packing her things into the boxes she'd kept in her garage for years. Thankfully, she had enough to pack up although she had no real way to transport them and no place to take them to. Tomorrow she would start calling apartment complexes to see if she could find a small studio apartment or even a one bedroom if she was lucky. Maybe she would end up in an extended stay hotel. Either way, she would make sure that she and Kaitlyn were fine.

As Jenna slid into bed that night, she was exhausted. The mental and emotional toll was hard enough, but now her body was tired from packing too. How would she ever get through this?

"Mommy?" she heard Kaitlyn's strained voice beside her in the dark, noticing the time on the clock was two in the morning.

"Kaitlyn, what's wrong?"

"I feel sick," she said through tears before vomiting right beside Jenna's bed.

"Oh, sweetie," Kaitlyn said jumping up and picking her up. She carried her to the bathroom, putting a cold compress on her head. "You're burning up with fever."

Kaitlyn threw up again in the toilet and cried. Jenna rubbed her back and tried to calm her down. There had been a bad stomach virus going around, and it appeared that Kaitlyn had succumbed to it. Great. This was wonderful timing.

Jenna sat with Kaitlyn until four in the morning before she finally fell asleep. Her fever broke around five in the morning when Jenna was able to doze off for a couple of hours.  When she woke up, she was careful not to wake Kaitlyn as she started looking online for apartments. Every call she made was devastating to her. No availabilities. Rent too high. Too far from work. Rejection everywhere she looked.

Around nine, there was a knock at her door and she ran to stop the person from knocking before they woke Kaitlyn.

"Yes?" Jenna said pulling her robe tightly around her and running her fingers through her messed up hair. She knew she must have looked like death warmed over.

"J.A. Watson?"

"Who's asking?"

"Did you receive our notice that was posted yesterday?" Ah, it was the investor.

"Yes, late last night when I arrived home. I need more time. I..."

"I'm sorry, ma'm, but this is our normal protocol. Liability reasons force us to make sure that the previous owner is out of the house within twenty four hours."

"Do you own this house now?" she asked.

"My boss does."

"And what is the name of your company?" she asked, not sure why she wanted to know as it didn't matter.

"Emerald Investments." For a moment, Jenna was transported back in time. She and her high school boyfriend had loved to go to Emerald Cove, a small beach in January Cove. He'd said that he loved her green eyes so much, and Emerald Cove became "their place". And then she'd screwed up her life by making the dumbest decision she'd ever made. She gave up the man who loved her more than life itself and went for "stability". Where did that get her? "Ma'm?"

"Sorry. I was just thinking. Can you please ask if I can have more time?"

"I really can't."

Jenna's anger started to well up inside of her like a raging river with nowhere to go. Why was the Universe or God or whatever doing this to her?

"I'm not leaving," she said without thinking.

"Excuse me?"

"My daughter is five years old. Her father left us here with nothing. She was up all night with a stomach virus and a fever. I've gotten like two hours of sleep. You don't want to mess with me right now. I've taken wonderful care of this house, and I'm not going to tear it down now that your boss owns it. You can tell him I will get out within the week, which is a more reasonable time, but I'm not leaving today."

"Ms. Watson, we are supposed to start cleaning this house out today. My boss needs to get it ready to resell."

"I don't give a rat's butt what your boss needs. If he wants me out, tell him to get his rich butt over here and remove me himself," she said as she slammed the door and locked it.

As she leaned against the door, she took a big breath and wondered what was about to happen next.

***

"Hello?" Kyle said as he sat at his desk. Working from his home office, Kyle had started the morning in a bad way. The offer a buyer had made on one of his investment properties has been too low, another buyer's financing fell through and cost him time on the market and unnecessary hassle, and his dog, aptly named Cat, had sneaked out of the house played in the ocean and then rolled in the sand until he was so caked in it that Kyle had to bathe him outside. It wasn't the best start to a day, and he was in no mood for more bad news.

"Hey, boss," Oliver said. Oliver had been leading Kyle's cleaning crews since the beginning, and he was one of Kyle's most reliable workers. "Bad news."

"Lovely. That's just what I need today. What is it?" Kyle snapped as he threw down his pen and ran his fingers through his thick, dark hair.

"The owner of your new property is refusing to leave."

"What? So call the police."

"Well, this is a unique case, boss."

"Oliver, they are all unique cases. Everyone has a story, an excuse, as to why they can't move out or why they couldn't pay their mortgage. I don't care about all of that. Call the police on him."

"It's a her."

Kyle paused for a moment. "It doesn't matter."

"She has a five year old daughter. Says she didn't get the notice until she got home last night and then her daughter was up all night throwing up with a fever."

"And you believe that?" Kyle asked shaking his head.

"Actually, I do. She looked pretty shaken up. She's asking for the rest of the week."

"No way. I've got workers lined up to get that house ready for sale. I can't let some kid throwing up mess up my plans for the house."

"Kyle, you know I will do just about anything for you, man, but I'm not calling the police on a woman and her sick kid. Karma will bust my ass for that."

Kyle sighed and then laughed. "Fine. I don't want your ass to get busted. Tell ya what. Go ahead and leave, and I will run out there in a little bit to talk to her."

"Good luck, boss. She's a bit of a spitfire," Oliver said laughing.

"I've had my share of spitfires. I think I can handle her," Kyle said chuckling as he ended the call. One spitfire came to mind quickly, and he didn't like to think about her. No, she brought up painful memories of a young man standing in the road watching the love of his life choose another man. A richer man. A man with a better future. A man who would never have loved her like he did.

Kyle drove down the road ready to confront the unruly homeowner. He wished that people could just be civil and not cause him so much trouble. He paid his house payment, and he had a certain level of compassion for those in situations that weren't as stable as his, but investing was his business and this woman wasn't going to cause him grief.

He stepped out of his Jeep and walked up the cobblestone walkway to the front door. It was just after lunch, and his cleaning crew was waiting on standby for the phone call from Kyle. They were like Tasmanian devils moving through a property and getting it ready for renovations. Although this property didn't look like it needed much of anything from what he could tell. At least this would give him the ability to see inside a little bit, unless the woman came to the door with a shotgun or something.

Kyle knocked and put his hands in his pockets, turning to look at the beautiful ocean view. Yes, he thought to himself, this property will be a big seller. With dollar signs dancing in his head, he heard the front door lock click open. As he turned, nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

Feeling like the air had been sucked from his lungs, he stood with his mouth gaping open in shock. Jenna. How could Jenna be standing in front of him all these years later? Was he at the wrong house? Maybe he wrote it down wrong.

She stood staring back at him, hollow eyes that were outlined in puffy redness from crying. Holding her hand to her heart, she attempted to speak but nothing came out.

"Jenna?" he said, barely able to conjure up more than a whisper.

"Kyle," she said, all at once sounding relieved and stunned.

"I don't understand. What are you doing here?"

"I live here. I own this house... well, at least I used to..." she mumbled with her eyes darting around in confusion.

"J.A. Watson," he said, more as a matter of fact than a question. "Ashley. Your middle name."

"I'm confused, Kyle. Why are you here?"

"Jenna, I'm an investor." He watched as she put two and two together in her mind. Her face went from shock to anger in a split second.

"You did this to me? What was this? Your way of getting revenge?" she seethed.

"What?"

"You bought this house and tried to kick me out so quickly because you hate me?"

"Of course not. Jeez, you know me better than that. Well, you used to, anyway. I had no idea you lived here."

"So this was just a coincidence? You expect me to believe that?" she asked with her hands on her hips.

By this point, Kyle had recovered from the shock and replaced it with his own version of anger. "I don't really care what you believe, Mrs. Watson. I'm here to inform you that you need to vacate
my
house before I have to call the cops on you." His teeth gritted, he did his best to avoid thinking back to those days when he loved Jenna more than anything on Earth. No, right now she was just another person in his way.

Jenna began to shake visibly before she broke out in sobs. She leaned against the door frame for support before she started to slide to the floor. Kyle's heart started to pound as he realized what he'd just said to her. Call the cops on her? Sure, he was angry with her, but he would never have called the police to remove her. She was Jenna. His Jenna.