Page 80 of The Estate
Looking at Vinny, he saw the concern reflected there. Vinny may not be as confrontational as Jacks, but he was just as invested in the answer. Grabbing a napkin, Cal wiped his hands before taking another sip of beer. After a brief pause, he brought them up to speed. The gala, Trace’s resignation, the planning holes, right down to the fight with Rachel.
Taking a beat once he was done, he grabbed some more food. “Thankfully, Jess stuck around and helped get most of the event sorted. It’s not all the way there, but it’s a lot better off than I thought. I have some optimism now that I might pull this off.
“And regarding Rachel, well, I’m sure the work she’s doing for my parents will wrap up soon, so I won’t be seeing her much. It wasn’t like that would go anywhere, anyway.”
Jacks’ frown took him by surprise. “What?”
“God, you’re stupid.”
“Jacks!” What was with his friends today? He’d come over to relax and have five minutes of peace escaping from the nightmare that was currently his life. He didn’t need this garbage.
“No. No getting around it,” she replied. “You’re so busy making sure you don’t fail in your parents’ eyes; you’ve missed what truly matters.”
Cal leveled a hard stare at his friend. His relationship with his parents was and probably always would be a touchy subject. He ignored the part of himself that agreed with Jacks’ assessment. At least about not wanting to fail in front of his parents. He justified his feelings because he was attempting to save his grandfather’s legacy and a piece of family history.
But deep down, in places he didn’t let into the sunlight, he knew that no matter the subject, the prospect of failing, particularly before his parents, was a spectral demon that tore into his flesh every moment of every day.
Undeterred, Jacks continued to educate him on his stupidity. “Rachel really likes you. Big time. For some reason, the two of you can’t see the forest for the trees, but the rest of us see it clearly.
“We also see that the attraction between you two is the real deal, or could be if you gave it a chance. It isn’t some passing flirtation. She’s good for you, and I bet if you asked her sister, or those friends of hers, they’d say you were good for her, too.”
Cal was shaking his head even before Jacks had finished speaking. As much as he may secretly want what Jacks was saying to be true, it wasn’t. Yes, he was attracted to Rachel. Hell, she knocked him on his knees from the first moment he met her. It had been a rocky start, granted, but you had to admire her passion and loyalty.
“Yes, there’s an attraction between us, but it’s nothing serious. At least nothing Rachel considers serious. It’s temporary at best because we’ve been thrown together on this project. A few fleeting moments between two people.” He had to believe that. If not, then he would need to acknowledge all that he lost when she stormed off. He’d have to admit he had feelings for her, which were anything but fleeting.
“You’re kidding yourself,” Jacks called him out as if she had a direct line into his soul. “You think she’s going to reject you, so you won’t even allow yourself to feel what you feel for her.”
Vinny tilted his quizzically, scowling. “Does that make sense?” he asked Jacks.
“Shut it,” Jacks said humorously, launching a pillow at his head. “I’m right. He’s rejecting the idea of her because she scares him.”
Cal's head snapped back. Solid emotional blow by Jacks with that one. His nice, relaxing evening was winding itself into a tornado-sized pummeling.
“Cal has some big feels here for her,” Jacks continued to explain to Vinny. “But he won’t even allow himself to explore that. He’s rejecting her before she has a chance to reject him. I’d even wager a guess,” she continued thoughtfully. “Rachel may be doing the same thing. But.” She shrugged. “I don’t know her nearly well enough to place a bet on that.”
Cal ran his fingers through his hair, wanting to pull every last hair out. Which would be preferable to having his life dissected and served up to him on an enormous platter. “Guys. I’m sitting right here,” he sighed. Besides slicing him open, he could not allow them to talk like he wasn’t there.
“You don’t get it, Jacks,” he said. “I’m her assignment. Her path towards proving herself at her job. She told me that when we first started working together.”
“Didn’t you say she helped around the estate?” Jacks pressed, her gaze boring into him. “Not just observed, but got her hands dirty?”
Obviously, Vinny had been keeping their friends up-to-date. It made him restless to know his friends discussed his supposed romantic endeavors. It was part annoying, part creepy, and part sweet. He just wasn’t sure which third was the most egregious.
“Yes,” he finally replied, frowning in Vinny’s direction. “She got hands-on. Helped on several things. So what?”
“And she reached out to her sister more than once to help you out?”
“But that’s different…” he said slowly, his mind adding points to the argument. Rachel had called her sister. The sister who went through a hell of a time and was rebuilding her life. The sister that Rachel fiercely protected. Rachel had called Jess anyway.
“She even went so far as to kiss you?”
“Yes, but…” Cal tried to defend himself further. This was really starting to sound like an interrogation. An interrogation that he was quickly coming to agree with—which startled him even more.
“And you kissed her! So shut it with the buts! There are no buts here except you being a butthead.”
Her pronouncement lingered in the air between them. It took several moments, but eventually Cal said, “I can’t believe you called me a butthead.” Jacks wasn’t one to label, judge, or name call. She was the person who avoided saying the word ‘hate’ for fear of putting the negativity out into the world. Part of him wanted to laugh at the absurdity of her calling him a butthead. The other part just stared at her in shock as if she were a sailor home on shore leave.
He shook his head and looked at Vinny, expecting some backup from his best friend. Or hoping for him to join in on laughing at Jacks’ pronouncement.
