Page 47 of The Billionaire Land Baron

Chapter 11

“That counter do something to you?”

“What?” Shelby looked up at Noel’s words.

Noel had come out from the kitchen and was watching her scrub down the counter with a rag. She hadn’t really noticed, but her forearm was sore. He pointed. “You’re likely to put a hole through it.”

Shelby tossed the rag under the counter. “Sorry.”

It was almost time for the early supper crowd, but the diner had been pretty empty today, save a few older women who came in almost every afternoon. Shelby was brewing decaf for them and it was almost ready. While it brewed, she stewed. Her thoughts pinballed back and forth between lots of things she didn’t want to think about at all.

There was Matt. Good, dear, faithful Matt. Shame hung round her neck at the fact that she had only just realized how she had allowed him to stay in limbo, orbiting her as she drifted through life. She had told him no to dating and marriage, but had still somehow let him stay invested. It made her slightly ill to realize how she’d gotten used to his constant presence, his firm love always there. He was the rock in her life, but it wasn’t fair to have him take that role when she couldn’t and didn’t want to offer him more. A conversation was coming, but it was going to be hard and ugly. Better than keeping him on an emotional chain, which is how it felt now. That was thing one.

Thing two was losing their home. Gracielynn’s words from that morning had stuck in her head, the idea that the people made the home. While that was, in a sense, very true, it wasn’t all true. It didn’t account for the memories that places held. Though she wasn’t superstitious in the ghost sense, Shelby was firmly rooted in the belief that places held a lot of their history close. When she thought about losing her home, it was like her memory started playing a slideshow at high speed of all the things she’d be losing and leaving behind. It made her chest tighten up every time. It was the only place where she had any good memories of her mama.

Her dad fit in as thing number three, tied closely to the house. Because she hadn’t told him yet what was happening. Not a word. And she didn’t know how she could or would. She had to, of course, but it felt like the worst kind of failure to admit what happened. She had failed to keep their place. That’s what it came down to. She was a failure.

The last and most surprising thing her thoughts bounced toward was Jake. This one shouldn’t have been so hard or even been on par with the other three. The fact that Jake was there at all concerned her. That she was upset about two long-term relationships in her life, yeah. Losing the house, sure. But thinking about Jake had her more shook up than anything. Gracie’s words in the car kept coming back to her, making her wonder if there was a reason he was here and if God had something to do with it and if either of those things were true, what was she supposed to do about it?

For whatever reason, when she saw his car earlier in the garage, it felt like a dose of reality hit her like a brick to the face. It was like in all those shiny surfaces, she could see the evidence of his life. Here, he was just Jake. A city guy stuck in a small town. But that car was no normal car. Two-hundred thousand dollars? How could a car be so much? How could her whole home be worth less?

And how could someone coming from a world where that’s what you paid for a car ever want her?

When Jake told her that he couldn’t take her home after the mayor’s, it was no surprise. Like, after seeing the evidence of his wealth, it was to be expected. Who pays that much money for a car? It surprised her. She knew he talked about having money, but she didn’t have a real understanding of how much until she heard Slim talk about the price tag on his shiny, blue car.

Now he was swimming at the McClure’s. They were filthy rich too. Maybe not as rich, but ten times as filthy. The thought of Daisy with her especially filthy hands on Jake just burned her up.

She sighed.

“Where do you need to be?” Noel asked.

“What?”

“Hearing problem? Or are you that deep?”

“What? Oh—sorry,” she said when Noel gave her a dark look. “I’m just…I don’t know. Yeah, I am deep in thought.”

“Nah, not that kind of deep. You look like you’re lovesick.”

She jerked her head toward him, blushing. Which reminded her again of Jake. She hissed through her teeth before answering. “No. That’s not it at all. I’ve just got a lot on my plate right now. Sorry for being distracted. I’ll pep up for the dinner rush.”

“You and I both know there’s not going to be a dinner rush. And that you best get out of here. You’ve looked at that clock every five minutes for the last hour.”

She gave him a dead-eye stare. “Noel, you know that’s creepy.”

He grinned and shrugged. “I’m too old for you by about thirty years. My stare is purely that of a concerned citizen. And friend. But because I’m also your coworker, I’m telling you to go. I have a sense you should be out somewhere specific right at this moment and that it’s vital to your happiness.”

Shelby hesitated.

“Do I need to fire you?” Noel said.

She lifted her chin. “You’re not the boss of me. Noel, I’m fixin to take the rest of the day off.” She balled up her apron and tossed it to him.

“You just see if you have a job tomorrow, woman,” he said.

She kissed him on the cheek and pulled her phone out of her back pocket as she walked out of the front door. The house was a bigger problem Shelby couldn’t tackle tonight. But if she kept her wits about her, she could take down two of the other issues on her mind.

“Matt? Hey. Sorry for the late notice, but can you give me a ride?”

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