Rum and Raindrops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance (22 page)

She sighed and rubbed her face. Rob seemed intent on showing the world that he liked her. But he couldn’t. Not without consequences. And everything was moving so fast. They’d barely even kissed and she was meeting his family, being invited to Dina’s wedding. She wasn’t ready and she didn’t think he was either. It felt as though everyone was pushing on them. Pushing them into more. What was going to happen when she was ready for happily ever after and he realized he’d taken a wrong turn, not realizing that going with the flow had led him down the matrimonial path? He’d feel obligated, just like he did right now in getting her name cleared. She could see it in the way his demeanor had changed after his mother had given him a few stern looks. He felt obligated to do his best, and she worried that he’d go as far as putting his job on the line.

“I don’t want you to ever feel obligated to me,” she said quietly, letting her words reach across the space between her and Rob. “You don’t have to take care of me, look out for me, protect me. I can stand on my own. I’ll be fine.”

“What are you talking about?” Rob frowned as though she’d suddenly jumped up and done a little jig on his dashboard.

Anger and frustration rushed up inside her, expanding and putting pressure on her tear ducts. Why didn’t he get it? He couldn’t be her rescue hero. They were running down a path she’d already been on and it wouldn’t end well. And the way she’d come to feel about him, she really needed it to end well. “Don’t put on your loincloth for me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Exactly.” She crossed her arms and stared out the window, struggling not to shut him out, but rather to let him know that she was fighting with some sizeable monsters that had just jumped out from under her bed. “Look, if you want to take me to your sister’s wedding, that’s fine. If you don’t, that’s fine, too. The last thing I want is your family pressuring you into doing something you don’t want to do or something that would lead to trouble.”

“Jen…”

“No. I saw the way Dina was pressuring you when we said goodbye.” She ignored his hurt and confused expression, even though hurt was always so much worse than anger. Anger, over time, dissolved. But hurt…it built up and created irreversible life changes. She’d been there. Wasn’t going there again.

And if she could help it, neither was he.

They rode in silence, frustration coming off Rob in waves and translating into sudden jerks of the wheel. Finally, he pulled over at a gas station, rested his arm over the back of the seat, and turned to her. “I get it, Jen. I’m very aware that nobody wants to make the same relationship mistakes twice.”

He locked his gray-blue eyes on hers, making it impossible to look away despite the discomfort she felt inside. Gently, he took her chin in his hand, ensuring she wouldn’t look away. “A relationship is about looking out for the other person, having their back, and sometimes that means protecting them.”

Jen’s breath stuck in her throat. The problem was they weren’t in a relationship. They couldn’t.

“I like you, Jen.”

“I like you, too.” She slipped her face from his grasp. She let out a sigh and rubbed her hands down her thighs.

“Then trust me.” He started up the truck. “And quit projecting your fears onto me.”

She turned to look out the window, hating the way she felt. Needy. Confused. Wanting. How things were getting all stirred up between them, how she felt as though there wasn’t a hope in hell of resolving them, and how everything she tried to do to make it better only seemed to dig her in deeper.

She just needed more time—the one thing she didn’t have.

* * *

“I never know where my boss is going to send me next,” Rob said, breaking their silence as he turned into Blueberry Springs.

This was it. He was breaking up with her. Well, if they’d ever been together…

“It used to be appealing, but now it’s just exhausting and uprooting.” He slowed outside Jen’s favorite house again, and she slouched further in her seat. It wasn’t time for dreams, it was time to hide out, recoup, and figure out how to get over the next hurdle—possibly a prematurely broken heart.

Rob shut off his truck in front of Jen’s apartment.

“Problem is I’m used to having the freedom of making my own hours when I’m on a job and being outdoors. I can’t hack a suit and desk,” he said, grabbing her pack and taking it out to the sidewalk where he waited for her.

Of course, he had to be a gentleman. He wouldn’t let her just flee. He had to explain all the reasons why being together wouldn’t work out. Like she hadn’t already figured them out on her own. With his job he’d never be around. If he got a new job, he’d be stuck behind a desk—one unlikely to be in Blueberry Springs since it was such a small town and jobs were at a premium. She knew you couldn’t take someone who thrived on the freedom of the outdoors and shove them behind a desk or a counter in a convenience store and expect them to be okay. You had to let them outside.

She opened her door and Rob followed, carrying her bag. “Thanks for everything.” She lightly touched his lip, memorizing the way his gray eyes had those uncanny flecks of blue and how, right now, his eyes seemed more blue than gray.

It felt like goodbye.

She ignored the playful smile, the delectable lips, and turned away.

“Where have you been?” demanded Moe, popping out of Jen’s bedroom, his eyes half-mast as though he’d just woken up.

Jen leapt back, landing on Rob’s foot. His arms encircled her protectively, and she shook him off, charging at Moe.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” She planted her hands in the middle of his chest and heaved him backward, adrenalin charging through her like a bull in a china shop, redirecting all her anger at the poor timing between her and Rob toward Moe. “You scared the crap out of me!”

Rob stepped up behind her. She could feel his warmth, strength, presence and alpha male side butting in to protect her from her friend. She shouldered him away and focused on Moe. He needed to back off. Enough was enough. Rob might break her heart, but he was going to do it on her terms. And she didn’t need Moe’s help with that.

“Where have you been?” Moe asked again. “I was worried.”

“What are you doing in her apartment?” Rob moved to shield Jen from Moe.

“I have a key.” Moe taunted Rob with Jen’s spare key dangling from his finger.

Jen snatched the key. “Give me that!”

“Hey! I was helpful! I replaced your juice and I took phone messages.” He held out his hands in confession. “Well, I just listened in as the answering machine picked up. You have two new clients for your August long weekend hike.” His brow furrowed. “Why didn’t you pick up the calls on your cell?”

“I was taking a day off, not that it’s any of your business. In fact, anything I do with Rob isn’t your business. You’re not my father, my brother,
or
my keeper.”

Moe crossed his arms. “No, but I’m your friend. And I know you don’t talk to your dad and you don’t have a brother. You need people to look out for you—and that’s me.”

“Moe.” He was making things so much harder than they needed to be. “I appreciate your concern. I really do. I think you are wonderful. All of Blueberry Springs is.” She tried to shoot him a meaningful look. “But I need to talk to Rob right now, okay?”

“We were supposed to watch
Mantracker
.” Moe pouted, arms still crossed.

She rolled her eyes and tugged her ponytail, turning to Rob.

“You know what? I think maybe I should go,” Rob said, hands raised. “I’m just a complication, and you need some time to figure things out.”

“Rob, wait! No, it’s just…” Rob’s hurried footsteps echoed as he charged down the stairs and to the street. A few moments later, his truck peeled out.

She sighed. “The timing is all wrong.”

She breathed back tears as Moe massaged her shoulder.

“You know why they call me Moe?” he asked.

“It’s short for Maurice?” she muttered, staring at the vacant doorway.

“Middle of Everything.”

“You’re kidding?” she said with a teary laugh.

“Nope. Real name’s Rodney.” He held her elbows firmly. “You know I’m here. You’re not alone.”

She shook her head. She
was
alone. She knew it because it had already slammed into her like a wrecking ball.

CHAPTER 10

She was trapped in a nightmare.

Pure and simple.

A second forest fire had started near Blueberry Springs, meaning Scott had come by to see if she had an alibi. She’d ended up telling him about her weekend with Rob, which got back to…well, everyone. The fire had started in Woodchuck Park—another of her favorite places to hike
and
was a place she’d been on Saturday with the Father’s Day hikers—and there were too many gaps in her alibi. It had started on Saturday or Sunday and she hadn’t been with people for the full forty-eight hours, meaning her alibi resembled Swiss cheese.

Which also meant Rob was going to have to investigate her. Again. Or so she assumed.

They just really couldn’t catch a break.

She pulled in a deep breath and stood outside Wally’s store, trying to let the cool morning air relax her and put her mind at ease.

She was about to head to Benny’s for a slice of his heavenly chocolate maven pie when Judge Radcliff came across her path. She darted her eyes left and right, seeking an escape route. It was too late. He was already upon her.

“Too bad about Mr. Raine,” he said.

She froze midstep.

She turned, narrowing her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“It looks as though your boyfriend’s testimony and report findings were tossed out.”

Jen took a step closer to him. “Why?” What the hell had happened? She resisted the urge to grip the judge’s arm and pump him for more information.

“Maybe you should ask him,” the judge said with a sly smile. He turned and headed down the street in a leisurely fashion, his hands gripped behind him as he whistled a jaunty tune.

Jen fled to Mary Alice’s. She’d know. She knew everything. She fell into the store, gasping for breath and trying to act cool, calm, and as though she didn’t have a stitch in her side.

“Where’s Mary Alice?” she asked the clerk behind the counter as she bent over, panting.

“In the city.”

“Why?”

The clerk shrugged. “She’ll be back around five.”

Jen flung the door open and ran down the alley, using the fire escape to reach her apartment over the store. She grabbed her cell phone off the couch and checked for messages. Nothing. No reception. She placed her phone on the windowsill to see if she could get a signal and grabbed her old Tinkerbell phone that was hooked up to her business’s landline. She held her thumb over the number pad. No, check her caller ID in the kitchen first. Nothing new there either. She checked her cell phone again. Signal. She punched the numbers to check for messages. Nothing.

She inhaled, and with shaking hands, tapped out Rob’s number.

No answer. She left a quick message when voicemail picked up, wanting to call it again to hear his voice, to reassure herself that things weren’t as bad as she feared.

She hesitated before putting down her phone. It could be a while before he got the message and called her back. She needed to know what happened, and she needed to know right now. She punched in a new number, calling Dina. She bit her lip as she waited for her to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Dina, it’s Jen.”

“I know. There’s this thing called caller ID.” There was something in Dina’s voice that made Jen sit down.

“What happened?”

“With what?” Dina asked, hesitating, obviously stalling.

“I heard Rob’s testimony and report findings were thrown out.” She took a deep breath, hoping Rob’s family had interfered and found out all the information she currently needed.

“They were.”

“Why?”

Dina sighed. “It’s a bit of a mess, Jen. Rob’s pretty upset.”

Jen fought the panic welling up inside her.

“Why?” She was starting to feel like a three-year-old with all the ‘why’ questions she was asking today. “What happened?”

“What Rob said was—”

“Where is he? He didn’t answer his phone.” Worst-case scenarios were flitting through her mind, and she took a sharp intake of breath to try and settle herself.

“I’ll get to that.”

Oh, man. This was
not
adding up to good things.

“Is he okay?”

She heard Dina let out an impatient sigh on the other end of the line. “Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?”

“Sorry.”

“Basically, word got out that Rob was hobnobbing with one of the suspects in a fire he was investigating.” She paused. “That would be you.”

Jen sensed where this was going and she wanted to head it off like a hero in an old western. Get to the train tracks and untie the heroine before she got run over. Or in this case, save herself from the awful truth that was about to coming pouring out.

“His findings were discounted because a claim was made that he’d lost his objectivity. So, basically, his findings and report were thrown out. His boss put him on probation. And he got demoted. He’s working on a remote forest fire case where he had to be flown in so he can’t be influenced by the suspects. Plus, he’s not to associate with you since his company is investigating the new fire and nobody is sure yet if you’re a suspect or not.”

Jen sat on the couch, letting out a long, slow breath. This was bad. Really bad.

Poor Rob. He was probably kicking himself for helping out his sister and letting Jen into his life.

And as for herself, would there be a new investigation for the Raspberry Creek Park fire? Would she have to deal with a new investigator and face another interrogation? Another hike into the forest to show where she’d camped? Despair surged through her, settling in deep, making it difficult to breathe. All the evidence Rob had found…it would be gone by now. There had been wind and rain since the fire. He’d stressed to her how important it was to get to the ignition site as soon as possible in order to gather evidence. Everything would be lost by now.

She buried her face in her hand and fell back into her couch cushions. It was worse than she’d feared it could possibly get.