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“I have to talk to her before tomorrow, but I chased her once this week already,” I admitted.
“Seems to me like she’s going to avoid you until the meeting.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “She said she doesn’t trust herself around me.”
That made Mace laugh. “The famous Jaxon magnetism.” He took a sip of coffee.
“Not sure how famous it is. Or why I even made the bet in the first place, to be honest. If I actually seduced the woman to win, I’d have felt like shit.”
“Wasn’t about that. You wanted to give her a reason not to hate you.”
True. Mace knew me well. When you risked your life with a person, you tended to get close real quick.
“I guess the question is, if she’s not going to budge, and it doesn’t seem like she is, what do you want more? The land or the girl?”
He sounded like my brother. “It’s not that simple.”
“Sure it is.”
“I’m not backing out of the bet. I’d just hoped she would change her mind before it came to that.”
“Can’t see that happening.”
“No,” I admitted. “If I can’t convince her today...”
Neither of us spoke for a while.
“You sure you want to try?”
I wasn’t following. “Try what?”
“Try to convince her? To do something that goes against what she believes?”
That sounded a lot like Natalie’s argument. It was a piece of fucking land, not a person. Not life or death.
But something she believes in.
Land conservation. Honestly, I didn’t get it. Was barely on board with recycling. I guess that made me some kind of monster in this day and age. Did I have to get it, though, to understand the concept of staying true to your values? To understand it was important to her?
No. I didn’t.
“I hear you,” I said finally. “The whole environmental thing is just so foreign to me.”
“Clearly,” he said, “given your career. And you’d still be on opposite ends of the spectrum. Natalie will probably try to talk you out of every deal.”
That made me smile, the thought of Nat and I sitting out here, me telling her about a piece of property I wanted to buy, her giving me all of the reasons I shouldn’t.
“Oh man, you’re fucked.”
I looked at my old unit buddy. “Sorry?”
“Fucked. Shackled. Down the rabbit hole.”
I knew what he meant. Guess I’d been smiling, thinking of her. “I’m in love with the woman,” I admitted, both to Mace and myself at the same time.
“So, motherfucker,” Mace said, never one to mince words, “what are you planning to do about it?”
Good question. “Thankfully, I have the whole day to figure that out. How about you? Have to hit the road soon?”
