Page 125 of Big Dill

Is history actually repeating itself and I was sent away while everything I love is taken from me? Have I learned nothing from the past?

“Elise…was there ever a meeting?” My voice shakes.

“Well, of course there was. Clearly there’s a mistake. The receptionist was probably new. Maybe he no longer goes to the campus. It’s all just a mistake.”

Yeah…the mistake was believing her. She wanted me out of the way, and she damn well got what she wanted. I pinch the bridge of my nose as tears sting my eyes, threatening to spill over.

But then—something else hits me. She answered Brody’s phone. A part of me, the part that knows Brody is too good a man to ever do this to me, refuses to believe what my heart is screaming.

“Can I talk to Brody?” Her voice is muffled again, like her hand is over the receiver. “Elise, is Brody there?” I demand, impatient, desperate.

More giggles. “Um…he’s a little tied up right now.”

A little tied up?

That unwanted image floods my mind and the coffee I just swallowed threatens to betray me. My heart wobbles inside my chest. My tears spill freely now, running hot down my cheeks.

Brody. The man I’d fallen for. The man who was quick to book my flights, quick to tell me I should go…the man who didn’t ask me to stay when I so desperately wanted to hear those words from his mouth. How can any of this be true?

The facts are there girlfriend…

But still, I need to talk to someone.

Jaxon.

He’s the one I’d normally run to.

But how can I now?

How can I possibly go back to the northern town if I’m not wanted?

As I sit there, sorting through everything that happened from the minute I landed in Churchill Falls to sitting inside a café in Toronto, one question pounds relentlessly in my brain, echoing over the noise of the busy street outside.

Where do I go from here?

29

Brody

I try to act casual as I step into Jaxon’s office, but the time is making me anxious. Two hours past her meeting time. Two hours of nothing. I’d thought—hoped—one of us would have heard something by now. Especially since my phone has been missing for the last hour. Does the universe think I don’t deserve answers today?

Jaxon sits behind his desk, eyes locked on his laptop. Too locked. It gives me a very bad feeling.

“Hey,” I say lightly. “Anything from Jami?”

He looks up, then down at his phone, sitting beside his laptop, faceup. Waiting. “I talked to her after she landed. Nothing since.” His mouth tightens. “I hope everything went okay.”

“Maybe it went really well,” I say. “Maybe she’s out celebrating with the buyer.”

I expect that to earn a smile. Instead, Jaxon pushes back from his desk and grabs his phone. His thumbs fly as he fires off a text. The office falls silent, the kind that hums in your ears.

We wait.

Nothing.

I lean against the doorjamb, forcing myself to look relaxed. “She was up early. And she hates flying,” I say, injecting a little humor. “She probably went back to the hotel to nap. She likes to nap.”

Jaxon’s gaze snaps to me. One sharp question in his eyes: How do you know that?