Trouble Me: A Rosewood Novel (43 page)

“No way!” Scott exclaimed as Rob said, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Scott frowned at him. “You’re in a hell of a masochistic mood. What’s up?”

He’d blown it with Jade, that’s what.

Out loud he answered, “Nothing. Are we going to do these or what? I don’t have time to waste. Hayley’s gymnastics class ends in forty minutes.”

Burpees were a vicious form of torture, an exercise that began with a squat, then a back thrust into a plank, followed by a push-up, a quick jump into a squat, and then a vertical jump before landing in the squat again—in order to start all over. The goal was to jump as high as possible and maintain a fast pace even as one’s muscles began to feel as if they were filled with battery acid.

Driven by thoughts of Jade, Rob hardly felt them. Christ, what had happened in her cottage? Things had been going so well between them. Then that phone call had changed everything.

Had he really been too pushy in asking Jade who Greg was? He knew he’d been spurred by jealousy, but there was more to it than that. The shuttered look on Jade’s face as she’d spoken to Greg, the way she’d shut Rob out completely when he’d asked her about the telephone call, had troubled Rob and made him press the issue.

Then suddenly she was telling him that they were over, as if the connection between them, the feelings he
knew
she had for him, were nothing.

Only a day had passed since she’d told him she didn’t
want to see him anymore, but he missed her so damned much. A pain far greater than the one the burpees were causing sliced through him.

“Time’s up,” Emma said. “Nice job, Rob. Scott, take my advice and cut back on the stout at the Brass Horn.”

“Shut up, Em. I think I’m gonna puke.” Scott was bent over, his hands propped above his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.

“Save it for later. We still have the Russian twists,” Rob said, before grabbing the bottom of his T-shirt to wipe the sweat off his face.

Scott raised his head and cast him a baleful glare. “Jesus, Rob, whatever’s bugging you must be pretty major if it ain’t out of your system—” He broke off as his gaze shifted. “Hallelujah,” he said, straightening. “Much though it breaks my heart, my dearest siblings, I believe we’ve come to the end of our workout. Rob has visitors.”

Rob dropped the hem of his damp shirt and looked where Scott’s attention was focused, stiffening in surprise to see Margot and Jordan Radcliffe threading their way past the elliptical machines. They were definitely heading toward them.

“Well, that clears up today’s mystery.” Suddenly Scott sounded annoyingly happy.

“It certainly does,” Emma agreed, and Rob would have been deaf not to catch the amusement in her voice too. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you need to cut back on the stout, Scott, unless you want your butt kicked on a regular basis. And, Rob, you need to work on sharing. I had to hear it from Hayley about the recent pumpkin cream-cheese muffin purchase you made.”

“Get lost, both of you,” he replied absently. As Margot and Jordan crossed the expanse of the gym to where Emma had been training them, his mind was awhirl at their unexpected presence. Was it possible something
had happened to Jade? The thought turned the sweat on his body to ice. Then he calmed, realizing that if Jade were injured, her sisters would be running, not striding, toward him.

It was far more likely they’d heard that Jade and he had fought and they were coming to skin him alive. Protective as they were, the Radcliffes might overlook the fact that
he
was the injured party.

“Hey, Rob, you ever heard the term
killjoy
?” Scott asked. “Come on, Em, let’s go pick up Hayley. I’ve got a feeling Rob’s going to need some emergency babysitting.”

He looked at them. “Thanks, guys.”

Emma smiled. “You’re welcome. It’s pizza night, right? We’ll save you a couple of slices.”

“You’re the best, Em. You’re okay too, Scott.” He switched his focus back to Margot and Jordan, now within earshot.

“Ladies,” he said neutrally.

“Rob,” Margot returned, while Jordan said, “Hello, Scott; hello, Emma. We’ve come to speak to Rob about an important matter.”

“Your uncle told us where to find you.”

They’d already been to the police station. It must be serious.

“If you need privacy, you can go into the staff lounge,” Emma offered. “Nobody uses it at this hour. I’ll tell Mike at the desk so he knows.”

Margot nodded. “Thank you. That might be best.”

Rob scooped his sweatshirt off the mat flooring and tugged it over his head. He figured if they’d tracked him here, they’d prefer to talk to him now, sweat notwithstanding, rather than wait for him to shower and change. Besides, like a starving man, he hungered for word of Jade.

As Emma had predicted, the lounge was empty. Neither Rob nor Jade’s sisters bothered to sit on the black
upholstered sofa or the metal folding chairs positioned around the small circular table. Instead, Jordan said without preamble, “We wanted to talk to you before you heard the rumors that will soon be making the rounds, if they haven’t started already. Jade may be fired from Warburg Elementary.”

Nothing could have astounded him more. The notion was preposterous and miles from anything he expected to hear. “Are you kidding me? Why would she lose her job?”

“Because the Harrisons and the Hoods like nothing better than to drag the Radcliffe name through the mud, and Blair Hood in particular despises Jade. But, believe me, that’s going to stop,” Margot answered fiercely.

“What do the Harrisons or the Hoods have to do with her being fired? I know Christy Harrison was upset about Eugene getting stung at the orchard, but Jade did everything and more to ensure Eugene was all right. I don’t think she left his side for a minute. They have absolutely no ground to stand on if they try to fire her.”

Margot and Jordan exchanged a look.

“They now have more potentially explosive ammunition,” Jordan said.

For a second Rob wondered whether they were referring to Jade and him. But to
fire
Jade because she and Rob had slept together would be completely over the top. He was a widower and she a single woman. So what if she happened to be his daughter’s second-grade teacher—correction, Hayley’s
substitute
teacher, hired only through Christmas.

He was damned if they were going to fire the woman he loved, just because the
timing
of his falling in love was awkward.

And, yeah, he’d fallen in love with Jade. Completely and absolutely. He knew the signs; the sick fear he’d experienced minutes ago at the thought that she might
be injured was only one of many revealing beyond a doubt that Jade Radcliffe was in his heart, now and forever.

“What kind of ammunition do they have?” he asked.

“Jade wrote a column in college. It was an advice column, a sex-advice column.”

Floored, he gaped at Margot. “Excuse me?”

Margot frowned at him. “It’s not nearly as exotic as you think. More and more college papers have them. In my opinion they serve an important function in allowing the students to talk openly and responsibly with their peers about sex and relationships. But someone—and I’d bet every acre of Rosewood that it was Christy Harrison or Nonie—went to Ted Guerra and told him about Jade’s column.”

It was Rob’s turn to frown. “Because he didn’t know about it?”

“Right. Jade put down on her CV that she’d worked on the school paper but didn’t specify that she’d written her own column.” Margot broke off to drag her fingers through her hair in a gesture of frustration.

With a sigh, she continued, “Okay.
Maybe
Jade should have informed Ted Guerra about her advice column, but I can see how she would have thought that what she wrote was strictly part of her college experience and it was the fact that she carved out the time for a demanding extracurricular activity in her already loaded schedule that was significant. It’s not as if she’s teaching sex education to her class, for God’s sake.”

“What burns me is that Nonie and Christy and Pamela and Blair will make this into a referendum on Jade’s morals,” Jordan said.

“A real case of the pot calling the kettle black,” Margot said scornfully.

“We brought this for you.” Jordan slid her bag off her shoulder and opened it, then withdrew a manila envelope.
“Inside are some of Jade’s old articles. It’s not everything she wrote, but it gives a good idea of the subjects she was addressing and how she handled them.”

Handing him the packet, she said, “Rob, you’re a parent in Jade’s class and an important figure in our community. Could you please read these and, if you don’t find them offensive or alarming, could we count on you to do what you can to help her?”

“To say she’s devastated by this would be putting it mildly,” Margot said. “You’ve seen firsthand how much she loves teaching, how good she is at it. Now not only is her future as a teacher in jeopardy, but so is her riding program. She can, of course, ride for Rosewood and show our horses in the ring and compete with them in cross-country events, but it would be such a terrible shame—a waste of her talents and a huge loss for the kids she could teach. It infuriates me that Nonie and Christy are willing to be so vindictive.”

“So you really think the Harrisons are involved in this business?”

“Definitely,” Margot said. “Jade saw Blair Hood—Nonie Harrison’s niece—at the Brass Horn last weekend. Blair hasn’t gotten past her high school hatred of Jade. And Nonie was livid at not being able to prevent Jade from being hired, and Christy has obviously decided to emulate her in-laws in all things bitchy.”

“But Margot and I intend to make it very clear to the Harrisons as well as the Hoods that we’ve had enough. Their spiteful vendetta against Jade ends now.” Jordan’s usually serene face was a study in cold determination.

If half of what she and Margot were saying was correct, he could understand their attitude. He’d never been impressed by the Harrisons. Nevertheless, he was a cop.

“Whatever it is you’re going to say—or do—to the Harrisons, should I be concerned as a keeper of the peace? Are we talking violence or anything illegal?”

“Rob, anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not an aggressive person,” Jordan said. “But our next stop is Overlea, the Harrisons’ house, where Nonie, Pamela, Christy, and Blair are doubtless gathered with their cells and phonebooks. And right now I’ll admit to wanting desperately to charge in there and begin bloodying their noses. Hanks of hair might start flying too—”

Margot cut Jordan off before she could continue describing her bloodlust. “But luckily we won’t have to go against Jordan’s peaceful nature. We’re simply going to drop by and share some key information that we’ve recently learned. We think Nonie and her sister, Pamela, will be quite interested to hear it. I have every confidence that once we’ve had our nice, friendly chat, they’re going to reconsider pursuing their campaign to fire Jade.”

“Yes,” Jordan said. “We’re expecting a major attitude adjustment. But if our friendly chat doesn’t produce the desired effect, then you should prepare for Warburg to become a very exciting place, scandal-wise. And there may be bloodied noses too.”

“Jade’s been hurt too many times by these people.”

“Okay.” Rob gripped the manila envelope containing Jade’s articles. A part of him wanted to tear it open and start reading. Another part was filled with trepidation. What if she’d gone too far and been outrageous? She’d been a college student, after all. If the material was inflammatory, would he be able to help her and convince other parents to support her?

“Thanks, Rob. We were hoping we could count on you. We’ll be in touch after our visit to Overlea. And, to make your job easier, if we find ourselves forced to inflict bodily damage, we promise to turn ourselves in.” Jordan smiled sweetly.

He couldn’t help but laugh. “Thanks.” But as the sisters turned to leave, Rob said, “Wait. Before you go, do
you mind telling me who someone named Greg is and what’s his relationship to Jade?”

Margot gave him a considering look. “If we don’t, will you still help Jade?”

Rob was all too aware of how quick he’d been to judge and condemn Jade in the past and was determined not to repeat the mistake. Yes, he and Jade needed to repair the rift between them. But that would have to wait until he’d read her articles and figured out a way to help her. As far as he knew, none of the college-newspaper business had anything to do with this man named Greg.

It was time to follow his heart and trust his love for Jade.

“Of course I will,” he said.

“Good answer.” Margot smiled warmly. “And just so you know, Rob, I think you’re a great man for her. But, for both your sakes, it’ll be better if Jade explains about Greg Hammond herself.”

Alone in the lounge, Rob sat down on the sofa. Flipping the envelope over, he fingered the flap and the metal clasp, hesitating. He was nervous, unsure of what he’d find inside.

Why? he asked himself. He already knew Jade. She was passionate and, yes, at times wild and reckless. But she was also incredibly smart and sensitive. He simply could not imagine her being less than forthright and honest when writing a column about sex.

He hoped that the Jade he knew—the Jade he’d fallen in love with—was going to shine through in the articles she’d penned.

Twenty-five minutes later, he sank back against the sofa. A broad smile lit his face. “Sweetheart,” he whispered, “you are a miracle.”