Hidden Summit (Virgin River #17)(44)

“We’re still close. We’ll always be close. You don’t spend almost ten years with a woman without being extremely bonded. That’s what we are, Jack. Bonded. Leslie needs me. Oh, sometimes she doesn’t want to admit it and I get that—I am remarried. But I know what’s good for Leslie even if she doesn’t.”

Jack was silent for a moment. A long moment. He was thinking about how his wife would make him pay for a comment like that, and they were still married. That wouldn’t float too well at his house. Mel didn’t like being “managed.” “You must be a very insightful man,” Jack said.

“I have my moments,” he said, lifting his beer to his lips.

Yeah, but I don’t think now is one of those moments, Jack thought.

Leslie answered the phone on her desk. “Haggerty Construction, Leslie speaking.”

“Leslie, it’s Greg. We need to talk.”

She took a deep breath. “Has there been a death in the family?” she asked crisply.

“No! Of course not!”

“Have you decided to give me a big pot of the money you hid while we were divorcing?”

“No! I mean, I didn’t—”

“Then we don’t have anything to talk about.”

“Leslie! Wait! Listen, I’ve been visiting with your parents!”

She was struck silent for a moment. “Whatever for?”

“I’ve been checking on them and keeping tabs on you. They tell me you’re seeing someone now. We better talk about that.”

“All right, now listen,” she said sternly. “Who I might be dating is none of your business and I don’t want you pestering my parents. They don’t like you!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “They’re very nice to me!”

“They’re nice people! You better leave them alone or…or…or I’ll sic Paul on you.”

“Watch that temper, Leslie! There’s no reason to be so defiant, just listen to me a second. I’m here. I’m in Virgin River at that little bar in town and I’m not leaving until you meet me. I thought a public place might suit you better, make you feel less threatened....”

“Make me feel less threatened?” She laughed out loud. “Bullshit, Greg! You think I won’t hurt you in a public place? But you wasted your time. I’m not meeting you. We have nothing to talk about.”

“If you don’t, I’ll find out where you live and come to your house. Seriously, I’m not leaving without seeing you. We have to discuss this man you’re—”

She disconnected the cordless. “Goddamn it,” she muttered. And she wondered how she’d been married to him for so long without realizing what an idiotic pain in the ass he was. She briefly wondered if he had slipped drugs into her tea throughout their marriage.

She did not want to see him, talk to him. She was a little bit afraid that if she didn’t go to Jack’s, Greg was just going to make her life here so much more complicated. She did not want him to upset her relationship with Conner. She was truly happy for the first time in so long. She banged the phone on the top of her desk several times and swore.

Paul was quickly standing in her doorway. “Problem?”

She grabbed her purse and keys. “I have to run out, Paul.” She looked at her watch. “It’s late—I’m not going to make it back here today. I’ll come in early tomorrow....”

“You don’t have to come in early. Something wrong?”

“That man is getting on my last nerve,” she said.

“Conner?”

“God, no. Conner is a gem. Conner is perfect. Greg Adams.”

“What’s he doing now?”

“Waiting for me at Jack’s. Apparently my parents told him I’m seeing someone and he wants to discuss it with me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t have the first idea, but he’s threatening to wait me out or even show up at my house. I better get over there before Jack’s fills up with people and there’s an audience.”

Paul stepped aside so she could pass. “Want me to go with you?”

“Don’t be silly, Paul. I can take him.”

If Jack’s had been an old Western saloon and Leslie had been wearing six-guns on her hips, her entrance would have blended perfectly. She blew in, loaded for bear. By the time she arrived, there were a couple of men at a table by a window sharing a pitcher, but thankfully that was all. Within a half hour, the dinner crowd would begin to arrive.

Greg turned to see her enter. He smiled. She scowled and walked up to the bar, but she didn’t sit down.

“Drink, Les?” Jack asked.

“No. Greg, I don’t want to discuss anything with you unless you’re here to give me a big check. I want you to go home. And I want you to leave my parents and me alone.”

“Leslie, Leslie… Honey, I know this transition is difficult—”

“Don’t call me honey! It is not a transition and it is not difficult. It’s a divorce and I’ve discovered it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Now, listen to me, please. We’re done. We’re over. You left me! You have a pregnant wife in Grants Pass. You—”

“Pregnant wife?” Jack repeated. Jack being Jack, he wasn’t far from the conversation.