Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
In spite of all the drama that she’d just lived through in the past five minutes, Erin was filled with delight. She told Pat she’d be right in and then hung up. She couldn’t wait to tell Jay.
Bounding a little like the two dogs, she found him still standing in the foyer, his feet bare, his head bowed. “Jay! I’ve got to head into work because—guess what? The shelter’s been saved at the last minute. An anonymous donor just gave a million bucks. Can you believe it?”
His expression was hard to read. “Really? That’s great news. Congratulations. I think it was all those heartrending articles you wrote. You rallied the community.”
But something in his tone made her look at him again more sharply. His gaze reached hers for a moment, then he glanced away.
“Jay?”
He scratched his chin. “What?”
And with absolute certainty, she knew the identity of their anonymous donor. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
He sent her a baffled look, as if he had just forgotten what they were discussing. “What was me?”
She pointed a finger at him, not unkindly. “You’re the anonymous donor.” He started to shake his head, but she said, “I can always tell when you’re lying, mostly because you hardly ever do. But you have a tell. You scratch your chin.”
He looked shocked. “I do?” He glanced down at his hand as if it had betrayed him. “I clearly need to work on losing that if I’m ever invited to another of Archer’s poker nights.”
“Stop avoiding the subject. You gave that money to save the shelter, didn’t you?”
He shrugged as though it was no big deal. Like people just donated a million dollars every day. “Those dogs and cats needed something better. I have the money, so if I can’t adopt them all, why not help them out?”
As much as she loved him for saving all those dogs and cats and rabbits and birds, she almost loved him more for doing it anonymously. Mr. Boastful had learned the power of quiet kindness. And she loved it. She loved him! She was going to figure out a seriously romantic way to tell him—she didn’t care what her stupid brother had to say on the matter.
She ran upstairs to get dressed and when she came down, she said, “Jay, even though I have to go right now, this isn’t over. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
* * *
Jay watched Erin leave with a heavy heart. He had been looking forward to the rest of their date, and had been halfway through making a delicious fig and goat cheese salad for them both when Damien had upended it all. The ice-cold feeling that had gripped him when he saw the depths of Damien’s fury hadn’t thawed. He’d always known that he wasn’t good enough for Erin.
Damien’s furious eyes only proved it—and so had his flying fist.
Erin was, well, Erin Davenport, and he was just no-account scum. He’d proved that too—instead of giving Erin some time and space and then finding the world’s most perfect and romantic way to tell her he loved her, he’d blurted it out in a rage. Not even the donation he’d secretly made earlier that day to the animal shelter could lift his spirits. Or change his conviction.
Nelson must have known something was up. He pushed his nose against Jay’s leg. He took the dog into the back garden for a run and was about to find his favorite yellow ball, when his phone rang. He was so worried that it was Archer or Smith calling to fire him that he almost didn’t retrieve the thing from his pocket. But he had to face up to what he’d done.
To his surprise, it was Betsy. “Jay, I’m inviting you for breakfast tomorrow.”
“But we had breakfast this morning.”
She had her tough mom voice on. “I think we need another family get-together.”
He knew what she was getting at. “I’m assuming this means Damien has told you that he saw Erin here?”
“Sure did. And now he’s got his brothers riled up. It’s all nonsense, of course, but I usually find that facing these things head on is the best way to put them back on an even keel. See you tomorrow. Ten o’clock.” She paused. “And get some rest this evening, Jay. Don’t stay up worrying. I can assure you these things have a way of working themselves out.”
She hung up before he could come up with an excuse not to come—like an urgent flight to the Arctic.
Later that evening, he phoned Erin. It was Saturday night, and she should have been there with him. Instead, she was at home curled up with Buzzy, and her voice down the line sounded tired and a little unsure. His heart clenched. Even though he didn’t deserve a woman as good as Erin, he couldn’t stand the idea of losing her simply because her big brothers didn’t like it.