Jade McCoy was the only person Olivia knew who could go on a run and still look like a damn supermodel on the other side. With her fitted, matching workout gear, her bright red hair in a top knot that she managed to make look stylish, Jade could have just jumped off the cover of Shape.
She and Olivia had become instant friends when they bonded over their patent leather pink flats in the third grade. They’d met Melanie only a few years ago at a marathon. Melanie had stumbled and hurt her ankle just a quarter mile shy of the finish line. Jade and Olivia had each taken an arm and helped her limp across to finish. It was only after they learned why that marathon had been so important for Melanie, and their friendship had been formed.
Olivia stared at her friend. “He turned down the money.”
And that really put a damper on her short-term plans, but Olivia never lost a battle and she wasn’t done with Jackson—not by a long shot. A minor setback, that’s all. His stubborn stance would keep her here in Haven longer than she’d intended. Now that he knew she was here, and what she wanted, she would give them both a bit to think on this, and she’d go back. They weren’t done negotiating . . . hell, they hadn’t even started negotiating. He’d closed the door in her face.
Still, Olivia was confident she would come out on top. This airport had to be fully in her name before she left. How could she go back to Atlanta a failure? How could she go back to work when it was literally her job to buy and sell companies if she couldn’t even get this simple task done?
Olivia had a job to get back to, a partnership to earn in the company she’d practically shed blood, sweat, and tears for. She’d be damned if that partnership would go to her coworker, and nemesis, Steve Parsons. So, she’d have to make Jackson see the money was better than the memories. There was no other option.
“I’m sure he has reasons for turning you down.” Jade headed to the fridge, grabbed a water, and uncapped it. She turned to lean against the counter opposite the island. “Like maybe his daughter.”
Olivia stilled. A daughter? That definitely did not come up in conversation. How the hell could she fight properly when she wasn’t fully aware what she was up against?
Why did life have to keep smacking her in the face? Just when she thought she was on target, something happened to push her back down.
“You okay?” Melanie asked in that soft, delicate tone of hers.
Olivia smiled. “Of course. This changes nothing.”
Okay, that was a lie, but if she acted weak or scared, she’d never get this job done.
“How did you find out?” Olivia asked Jade.
Smoothing a stray, sweaty strand off her forehead, Jade took a long drink before answering. “I was jogging down my old street and Mrs. Kinard was outside. She stopped me and started talking. As much as I don’t want to be in this town either, I couldn’t be rude to my old neighbor. Besides, I never can turn down gossip.”
Olivia raised her brows and made a circular motion with her hand.
“Right, so anyway, she mentioned your father, then she mentioned Jax and the airport. I’d all but tuned her out until I heard her mention Piper and how much the four-year-old loved spending time with her dad at the airport.”
Okay. This was . . . okay. Everything would be fine so long as she didn’t dwell on the fact Jackson’s and Piper’s lives somewhat paralleled Olivia’s and her father’s when she’d been a toddler. She’d always been her father’s sidekick and had wanted to be a pilot. Somewhere along the road to freedom and adulthood, something changed and she honestly couldn’t even pinpoint when that occurred.
Olivia could deal with a daughter. Surely, Jax wanted to do what was best for his family, she totally understood that. So, why not take the money? This bit of information was a game-changer. Olivia would have to appeal to him as a parent, which may be difficult considering she knew nothing of that topic.
“Maybe you should leave the airport as is,” Melanie suggested. She held up her hands to her friends and went on. “Hear me out. What does it hurt if you own half? Let him continue to run it and you can just pretend things are the same as before.”
Olivia shook her head. “Because things aren’t the same. I want out of this and he will just have to see things from my point of view.”
“So how did you leave things?” Jade asked. “Since you didn’t know about his daughter, you guys clearly didn’t get too personal. Did he tell you why he didn’t want to sell his half ?”
Olivia flattened her hands on the scarred island. The place really needed an overhaul—it was just as neglected as the airport and office.
Once upon a time, these kitchens walls were a beautiful Tiffany blue with white cabinets. Her mother always had fresh flowers on the counter, pink usually. Cheery tea towels would hang over the oven handle. The entire house now seemed so depressing, a shell of what it used to be. With the white walls, white appliances, tan linoleum, beige countertops. It was all so dated. Clearly, her father hadn’t wanted to keep the reminders of a time when they’d all lived here, because every single room had been repainted, pictures changed out.
Unfortunately, while she was here, she was going to have to go through and get out the personal stuff. Furniture, curtains, cosmetic items could be sold with the house. But there were boxes to go through, memories to face.
And one more thing to pull her back into the past she’d give anything to avoid.
“He mentioned tradition and loyalty. I
