Kaleidoscope (Colorado Mountain #6)(88)
Harvey was going to worry.
I’d explain it to him later.
* * *
Three hours later…
I zipped up the bag on Jacob’s bed that held all my stuff.
I swallowed.
I looked down at Buford.
His tail wagged.
The vision of him started swimming.
I blinked and moved to grab my bag.
I stopped when I saw the kaleidoscope on Jacob’s nightstand.
I was wrong earlier. There was something left to me.
I knew this because seeing that kaleidoscope sliced away the final part of me.
I went to it, picked it up, held it carefully, studied it.
It really was a thing of beauty.
Suddenly, my hand fisted around it and I whirled, my arm flying out.
Buford got up to his feet and backed away.
But my grip refused to let it go. So when my motions were done, I was cradling it to my chest.
“Why?” I asked Buford.
Buford stared up at me, tongue lolling.
“Why was he with her? He said he hated her. He said he never wanted to see her again.”
Buford said nothing.
I shook my head, lifted the kaleidoscope and put it to my eye.
I turned the dials.
I didn’t see beauty. What I saw just made me dizzy.
I put it on the nightstand, grabbed my bag, bent to Buford and gave him ear scratches.
“I’ll miss you, puppy,” I whispered.
He turned his head and licked my wrist.
I walked out of Jacob’s house, so in a state, I totally forgot to engage the alarm.
I also ignored it when I heard Buford start barking. He didn’t bark much so if I wasn’t in such a state, I would have paid attention.
I didn’t.
I had other things on my mind.
But before I drove away, I went next door and asked the woman there if she’d see to Buford.
With a curious look at me, she agreed.
* * *
Dane
“Shut it,” Dane said to the damned dog, kicked him back and shut the door to the bedroom, keeping the dog out.
Dane had been following Emme and when she arrived at this place, he’d slipped into the big, fancy-assed house behind her.
And he’d watched.
And he f**king hated what he saw.
His eyes moved to the kaleidoscope, then he walked there.
He picked it up but all he could see was Emme holding that f**king thing to her chest like it was her baby.
And that thing was Deck’s. It was in Deck’s house. And it was something that meant something to that guy, with his big house and heated pool who thought his dick was big enough he could stand outside the courtroom and stare Dane down like Dane was scared of his ass. Like Dane wouldn’t give a shit that Deck had moved in on his woman practically the minute they met on the street.
And he’d met Emme on the street when Dane was right f**king there.
Right f**king there.
That kaleidoscope was something that meant something to Emme too. It meant something to Emme and that f**king guy. Enough for her to cradle it. Enough for him to keep it on his nightstand.
So f**k him.
And f**k Emme.
Dane kept hold of the kaleidoscope and grabbed the box that obviously came with it and he moved to the window. He removed the screen, stole out, closed the window and put the screen back. He couldn’t lock it in place from outside but he didn’t give a f**k. If it fell out, it fell out.
Standing outside that f**king guy’s fancy-assed house in the cold, Dane made his decision of what he was going to do with that f**king kaleidoscope.
Then he did it.
* * *
Emme
Two hours later…
My phone rang.
Again.
I ignored it and ripped off more paper.
It stopped ringing.
I held the steamer to the wall of the library.
“No,” I whispered, pulling the steamer away and ripping off more paper. “No,” I repeated, putting the steamer back to the wall.
My eyes went fuzzy.
My cheeks got wet.
“No,” I whimpered. “All I need is me. Just me. That’s all I need.”
I ripped off more paper.
* * *
The next morning…
I sat at my desk in my office at the yard.
My cell on the desk rang.
I ignored it.
Chapter Fifteen
Always
That evening…
The first thing I noticed while driving up to my house was Jacob’s truck.
Strike that, it was Jacob leaning against the tail of his truck, arms crossed, ankles crossed, looking very angry.
He was home early.
To take my mind off that, the second thing I noticed was that Max and his crew had gotten a number of windows in.
Dad had given me my bonus. I’d given Max the go-ahead. He’d been working on my windows for a week. This was the start of week two.
At the front, there were now no boards on any windows as Max, per Jacob’s orders, saw to those first.
So now, outside of the fresh wood needing painting on the windows, my house looked like that. A house. A beautiful one.
Not a dilapidated wreck.
This should have made me happy.
It didn’t.
Because it was not lost on me that my bonus coincidentally coincided almost to the penny to Max’s bid.