Financially she was set, but it was her heart that needed help right now.
Chapter Nineteen
“You’ve done an amazing job, Christian.” Mari opened the doors and walked into the now finished ballroom. It’d been given a good clean once the builders had finished and the windows opened to get rid of the paint and varnish smells. Every surface glimmered with the promise of her vision for the room and the prevailing smell was now furniture polish. She looked up at the ceiling that only weeks ago had been the cause of sleepless nights and the loss of a big chunk of her bank balance.
But it had all been worth it. April was going to help her decorate it so she could take photos to put on her website. Once the first wedding was held here, those photos would be added showing potential brides how beautiful the room looked all decked out in wedding finery.
“Good. I have to admit I was more than a little bit perturbed when Ethan pulled off those ceiling boards and found the rot underneath.” He looked up now at the polished timber returned back to its glory. “He did a brilliant job.”
“Yes, he did.” She swallowed and turned away. Don’t bring him up, just don’t.
“What happened, Mari, this time? Between the two of you?”
“I’d rather not discuss it. As you said, it’s between the two of us.” She ignored his sharp intake of breath.
“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to pry into your business but…”
“Please don’t then.”
“I don’t know if I want to go through all this again.”
She turned to him, looked into his face. A flash of something she couldn’t place wavered over his eyes. Concern or understanding. She couldn’t figure out which.
“When you ran away, he was a mess. His folks were so concerned about Rake and who was to blame that they didn’t even stop to think what this was doing to Ethan.”
“I’m sorry but I don’t think that’s entirely true. There wasn’t a lot of love lost between Rake and Jeff. Especially at the end.”
“Oh, it’s true. He was the topic of conversation in that house every single day for months. That was a bad time for everyone involved. Ethan might not tell you, and I doubt Pearl or Jeff would either, but things were nasty for ages. Ethan was gutted. I mean, not only did he push away the love of his life but he lost his brother too, the guy he wanted to be like. You know the guy he looked up to, hero worshipped? That can do a lot of damage to a younger person. And to have his folks battling each other at the same time, well it was almost too much for him to deal with.”
A niggle started in the middle of her shoulder blades. “Why were his parents fighting?”
“Don’t know. Neither of them would say according to Ethan but he’s pretty sure it had to do with Rake. He tried to stay out of their way as much as he could after that. Spent a fair bit of time with me, working with my dad on the weekends so he didn’t have to be at home with his folks.” Christian walked away from her, inspected a joint in the timber where the dividing wall used to be. He rubbed his finger over the joint before turning back to her.
“Ethan changed then. I guess we all grew up around that time anyway but it was more for him. He lost his happy if that makes sense. You and Rake took that from him and I’d only just started to see it coming back and wham! You came back and did it again.” He stared at her, hands on hips. “What the hell’s going on, Mari? Are you trying to drive him insane because you’re doing a damned good job if you are?”
“You don’t have the right to accuse me of anything, Christian. I did what I had to do to survive and you seem to forget, he dumped me.”
“He was scared about what you wanted out of life but he adored you. You know that.” He walked over to her, his work boots tapping out a rhythm on the wooden floor. “I’m not saying you didn’t do the right thing. All I’m saying is I’m losing my best friend for a second time and I don’t like it. The poor fool still loved you even after everything that happened between you.”
Tears pricked her eyes. “It’s not that simple.”
“Nothing ever is, especially if you let it get away on you. A wise man once told me something and I do my best to live by that. ‘The quicker you say sorry, the less it hurts.’ Don’t leave him struggling until it’s too late this time. He deserves better from all of you.” He walked out leaving her battling her own tears.
How could she contemplate saying sorry for something she didn’t do? She wasn’t responsible for what Rake did. She couldn’t even be called an accomplice because technically they didn’t know the other was going to run. Not until they met on the road outside of town where she sat with her battered suitcase waiting for a lift.
It’d been hard on them too. Rake had a little money stashed away and somewhere to go after being offered a spot in a boxing gym with the promise of a fight if he worked hard and proved he was as good as they thought he was. She, on the other hand, had nothing more than the clothes on her back, a few personal belongings, and whatever money she’d managed to scrape together. It didn’t amount to much.
“You can always stay with me.” Rake’s dark eyes glistened in the dim light. “I’ve got somewhere to stay. Not much but it’ll do. Just until you figure out where you want to go.”
“Why would you care?”
“I saw the way my father treated you. We have
