Page 40 of Silent Partner (Pine Falls 3)

He made his, and now I had to make mine.

Chapter Ten

It felt like déjà vu, driving back up to meet Brant at the trail for a midafternoon run. He felt it would be better if we met in private, after I’d called him this morning. I had barely slept at all, trying to decide what to do. It hadn’t helped when I got a lovely wake-up call from Giselle this morning. She’d screamed at me for five minutes, threatening to sue me for everything I was worth and then some. I’d laughed when I had told her she wasn’t going to get much out of that deal. That had only made her angrier. She then threatened to run Two Girls and a Guy into the ground to spite me, and to let go of every employee. Little did she know, that lit a fire in me. I was going to fight for what I had worked so hard for.

Grandma was right; I was stronger than I gave myself credit for sometimes. I had lived through some tough times, tougher than any of this. That meant I was strong enough to work with Brant, despite any feelings I had for him. And if I could do that, I could certainly get over him, and Tristan for that matter. Tristan, who kept trying to call me. I couldn’t answer. I had enough to deal with this morning. Besides, I thought I had made myself perfectly clear last night that we were over. Isn’t that what he’d wanted? Wasn’t it just last week that he’d told me he didn’t know if he was in love with me and that there was someone else? Did he have any clue how that felt? He didn’t just get to say, “Sorry I’m an arse, forgive me, and let’s move on.”

I wasn’t desperate.

What I was, was a ball of nerves. I white-knuckled it all the way to the trail, going over what I was going to say to Brant. All while trying to tamp down my feelings about him so I could look at this as a business-only transaction. Also, I was fighting myself. Was this smart, or was I making another terrible business and life mistake? I wanted my sisters’ take on it all, but I wasn’t sure Brant would even want me to tell them. I wasn’t sure how silent of a silent partner he meant to be. Besides, I knew Dani would freak, and with her being pregnant and all, I didn’t want her to stress more. And that stressed me out knowing how much it would stress her out. What were they all hiding? Which made me think I was making another stupid decision by going into business with Brant. On the other hand, going bankrupt didn’t seem all that smart. Nor did looking a gift horse like this in the mouth.

This was why I was a nervous wreck. It didn’t help to find Brant already waiting for me with the gate open. Of course, he had to look like a million dollars in his running gear. If I ever dated again, which was probably never happening, but if I did—I was only going to date men I wasn’t attracted to. That way when they broke up with me, it would be easier to get over them.

I swallowed hard, rolled down my window, and pulled up to the gate. “Hi.”

He bent down and popped his gorgeous head in the window. “Hi yourself. You ready to run?”

“It may be more like a walk today. I think I pushed myself too hard yesterday.” No need to mention I’d hardly slept a wink. He could probably tell by the bags under my eyes. I still wasn’t wearing any makeup, only some moisturizer. To add to the ensemble, I had my hair in a ponytail and pulled through a beanie. I wasn’t winning any beauty contests, I’ll tell you that.

“You get to set the pace,” he said with a smile, almost as if he were talking about more than running. I couldn’t think about that. It was business only with Brant from here on out. I promised myself I would be smart about all of this. I had employees and a business to save.

“Thanks,” I responded.

He tapped my vehicle. “I’ll close the gate and meet you at the trailhead.”

I nodded and rolled up my window, grateful not to have to smell his intoxicating clean scent anymore. Or look into his eyes, which appeared a bit more alive today than they had been as of late.

I’m not sure I took a breath while I drove down the old dirt road. By the time I made it to the trailhead, I was gasping for air. I kept telling myself I was doing the right thing. The unselfish thing, really. That sounded good. I was being selfless, accepting Brant’s offer. I would go with that.

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