Straight Up Love (The Boys of Jackson Harbor #2)(70)

When I hear the swish of the door opening and closing again, I have my hands fisted, my face tilted toward the cloudy midmorning sky.

“Are you seriously doing this?”

I can’t look at Carter right now, so I stay in place and drop my gaze to my shoes. “Doing what?”

“Acting like I’m gonna steal your girl?”

“She’s not my girl.” My voice is rough, as if every word’s being scraped against the cheese grater that’s rubbed against my heart since Ava’s birthday. Why does this have to be so damn complicated? Why can’t she just love me back?

“Okay,” Carter says. “Fine. I mean, I like her. Always have. Maybe I’ll give her a goddamn baby.”

I spin on him. “You think you’re funny?” One step forward and then another. Carter throws his hands out from his sides and rakes his gaze over me, and I realize I have my chest puffed out, my shoulders back, my fists clenched as if I’m going to throw a fucking punch.

“No, I don’t think I’m funny,” he says. “I think you’re in love with Ava, and it’s past time for you to do something about it.”

“Oh, gee. Why didn’t I think of that?”

Carter meets my glare and holds it. “Don’t you get sick of spinning your wheels? Don’t you feel stuck?”

“I like my life. I don’t mind if I’m stuck.”

“Well, while you’re happily standing still, Ava’s not.” Carter looks away. “She’s moving.”

I frown. “What? Why would she move? She loves that stupid little house.”

“Not moving to another house, Jake. Moving to another city. Maybe another state. Wherever she can find a job.”

“What? That’s crazy. Why would she . . .”

The layoffs, I realize, as Carter says, “She was laid off from Windsor Prep.”

Finding out that Carter went on a date with Ava was a punch to the gut, but this is the opposite. Learning about the date hurt, but now I’m numb. As if there’s no ground beneath my feet, no world around me. No air in my lungs. I feel nothing but this vague sense that any minute now I’m going to crash, and I know in that moment I’ll feel everything.

Why didn’t she tell me?

He rubs the back of his neck. “Levi’s being Levi and starting trouble. Ava and I stayed out late talking. Just talking. I know she’s your girl, and I’m not a dick.”

“She lost her job?” My voice cracks. I’ve been spoiled. I’ve always had Ava close. Even when she married Harrison, I didn’t really have to let her go.

“She doesn’t want you to take the problem on as your own, but I think you and I both know why she doesn’t want to tell you she might move.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “We do?”

“Telling you makes it real. She doesn’t want to leave you, Jake. Whether or not she feels the way about you that you do about her, I don’t know. But she does care about you. You need to do something before she walks away.”





Ava


I didn’t expect to spend my Saturday night talking until two a.m. with Carter Jackson. But the Jacksons have always been like family to me, and once Carter and I got over the awkwardness of having been set up together, we relaxed and had a good time.

I didn’t even realize how badly I’d needed someone to talk to until Carter and I started catching up. Then it all spilled out of me. He’s a good listener—always has been. He’s the quietest of the Jackson brothers, next to Brayden, who’s cornered the market on tall, dark, and silent. I talked, and Carter listened, and before we knew it, we were closing down the bar.

It wasn’t the kind of date Ellie had hoped for me, but it was a good night. I’m glad we found ourselves there together, even if all it meant was catching up with an old friend.

Nevertheless, it left me really tired, even at noon. I’m nursing another cup of coffee and actively fantasizing about a nap when I hear the scrape of a key in the lock and the sound of heavy footsteps headed toward my kitchen.

Jake appears at the table, pulls out a chair, spins it around, and straddles the back of it. “Hot date last night, huh?”

Of course. It’s Sunday. Jackson family brunch. I bet my date with Carter was great fodder for conversation. “Totally hot,” I say. “He’s probably my soul mate.”

Jake grunts and flicks his gaze down to the stack of papers in front of me before bringing it back up to study my face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I frown. “That I was set up with Carter? I haven’t even seen you.”

He shakes his head, and I realize what he means. My job. My move. I feel a bit betrayed. While I never told Carter that he couldn’t tell Jake, I thought discretion was implied.

“Carter told you?”

He sets his jaw and nods. “You lost your job and didn’t say a word to me.”

“You’d have tried to fix it, Jake. Look at you, sitting there with the wheels turning in your head already trying to come up with a solution. I need to do this on my own.” I swallow hard and drop my gaze to the table. “And I need to do the baby thing on my own, too. I can’t let you fix everything that’s wrong in my life.”

“You still want a baby. You just don’t want one with me?”