Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

JACE

I stayed at Mary’s house until after midnight last night. Glenn came to pretty quickly, and then Mary told him about the evidence she had in her possession. It didn’t take him long to figure out he was at a disadvantage and take off, although he made every moment in his presence unpleasant for all of us. Aidan was asleep by then, thankfully, but I haven’t had a chance to see him today, and it may be awhile yet.

I texted Amanda early this morning asking to see her today, assuring her it was legally in her best interest, since I knew she wouldn’t show otherwise. She replied saying she’d meet me at 11:00 a.m.

My hand is slick on the steering wheel of my truck as I drive down Main Street in Sydney. I haven’t been here in three and a half years, and it feels smaller and dirtier, like a pair of scuffed shoes I’ve outgrown. The same tired Christmas decorations line both sides of the street—candy canes wrapped with worn tinsel. I was so eager to come back after I was released from prison, to come home, but Sydney stopped being home a long time ago.

Amanda agreed to meet me at the gazebo in the park at the edge of downtown, but part of me thinks she won’t show. She’s never been one to make smart decisions. Working with Lester is proof enough of that.

I’m a few minutes early, but her old sedan is already parked next to the curb—the same car she’s had for over a decade. It’s cold today, so there’s no one else in the park other than a faded plastic Santa and several plastic reindeer. The city has reused them since Amanda and I were kids.

I pull into a space, grab the manila envelope off the passenger seat, and get out. My sister is huddled on a bench in the gazebo, sitting in the sunshine. She’s wearing a dark blue corduroy coat I recognize from before I went to prison and a gray stocking cap over her long, dark hair. It’s the first time I’ve seen her in person in years. She glances at me as I walk toward her, but she doesn’t get up to greet me, instead keeping her hands stuffed in her pockets.

As soon as I reach the top step, she says with a sneer, “What’s so all-fired important we had to meet on Christmas Eve? I’ve got baking to do.”

I come to a stop in front of her, but I’m towering over her, which is not how I want to have this conversation. So I take a couple of steps back and sit on the bench on the opposite side of the table, placing the envelope in front of me. “I know what you did, Amanda.”

Her gaze darts to the envelope. Then she leans her arm on the short wall behind her, a smug grin stretching her lips. “You’re gonna have to be more specific, little bro.”

“With Lester.”

Fear flickers in her eyes, but spite chases it away. “I think you’re confused. All that Asheville mumbo jumbo’s gotten to you. You’re the one who wronged Lester.”

“I know you fed him information about our family business.” My voice is tight, and I’m more emotional about this than I expected. “You’re the reason Hagan Construction failed.”

Her face pales for only a split second before she turns indignant. “Did you become a crackhead after getting out of jail?”

“No, Amanda,” I say calmly. Weirdly enough, I’m past being angry about her betrayal. I’m just sad and hurt. Amanda’s always looked out for number one, and I’ve never ranked very high on her list. Thankfully, Ben does. If she’s number one, at least she cares enough to make him a distant second on her list. “I have a good job and a good life.” I gesture toward the businesses at the other end of Main Street. “Far better than I would’ve had here.” Then, because I’m hurt and it’s almost certainly true, I add, “Probably better than you have now.”

“You’re probably stealing more cars and selling them for parts,” she snarls.

“Really, Amanda?” I sigh. “Give me a break. You’re the one with questionable morals.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. I never hurt Dad’s business.”

Picking up the envelope, I rise from my seat and lean forward to hand it to her, then sit back down.

She takes it and quickly looks it over before her eyes return to mine. “What’s this?”

“Proof.”

Her face pales again, but it doesn’t take long for her self-righteousness to come back. “Proof of what?”

“Proof that Lester gave you money.”

“Of course Lester gave me money after Dad died,” she scoffs. “It’s like I said, he was there for us.”

“No, Amanda. Not just after. Before too.” I gesture to the envelope in her hands. “Copies of checks and proof of deposits, both before and after Dad’s death. There’s also an affidavit from one of Lester’s office workers who claims she heard you draw up the agreement—information for money.”

Her eyes round and she swallows. “So? I never did anything illegal.”

“Are you sure about that?” I ask, even though I know she’s likely right. But that doesn’t mean I can’t scare her a little. “There’s no statute of limitations on felonies in North Carolina, remember?”

She gasps, and her gaze drops to the envelope.

“You claim I broke Mom’s heart,” I force past a lump in my throat, “but you did the same to Dad. He loved that business, and the thought of losing it killed him.”

“Yeah,” she says hatefully. Her head snaps up, and her eyes blaze with fury. “He loved that business more than anyone or anything—you, me, even Mom. It always, always came first.”

“So you decided to betray him?” I ask in disbelief.

“Oh please,” she scoffs, her disgust palpable. “Don’t sit there and pretend that you and Dad had some wonderful relationship. He was terrible to you too, Jace. Especially to you.”

“You sold him out, Amanda. We lost the business.”

She waves her hand dismissively. “ Please , it’s not like you wanted it anyway. You told him so. I tried to do you a favor, but then you insisted on trying to keep it running.”

“I had to find some way to support you and Mom,” I plead, although I’m not sure why I’m pleading. So that she’ll understand my motivations or because I want her to help me understand hers?

“I did you a favor,” she snaps. “Didn’t you just say you’re livin’ high on the hog in Asheville?”

“I’m only in Asheville because you turned your back on me.” My throat is tight, the grief damn near burning a hole in it. “I never would have willingly left Ben.”

“You left Ben when you went to prison!” she shouts, getting to her feet and looming over me. “Do you know what you did to him? What you did to me ? I didn’t have anyone to help me anymore, especially after Mom died.”

“It’s all about you, isn’t it?” I ask quietly. Deep down, I’ve always known she was selfish, but I’d never considered it might go this far.

“What the hell are you talking about?” she demands, still furious.

“I want to start seeing Ben again,” I say calmly. I’m not feeding her rage.

She shakes her head. “ What? ”

“I thought I was pretty clear. I want to see my nephew. I’ve missed him. I want to be part of his life.”

“And I want to be the Queen of England,” she sneers. “We don’t always get what we want.”

“I have information on Lester too,” I say, looking her in the eye. “How he sold Dad and other business owners out. How he bribed his way into contracts. Some of it’s illegal. Some of it’s immoral. All of it makes him look like the slimy dirtbag he is.”

She takes a step back. “What the fuck?” She sucks in a breath. “Are you blackmailing me?”

“No,” I say, getting to my feet. “Not at all. I am turning that information in to the state attorney general, however, because the county prosecutor stinks as bad as three-day-old fish. We have proof that Lester bribed him and the judge to give me a stiffer sentence.” A slight exaggeration—it’s circumstantial—but the other stuff we have is more than solid to take care of Lester. “I’m just here to give you a heads-up about what’s coming.”

Panic has seized her eyes.

I gesture to the envelope. “That’s just a small portion of what we’re handing over next week. We already have an appointment to present the whole portfolio.”

“We?”

“Me and my lawyer.” No need to tell her my attorney is also my girlfriend. It might be a conflict of interest, like I joked with Mary last night, but she insists this is too important to entrust to anyone else.

“You’re giving them information about me ?” she squawks. “You’re gonna get me sent to prison?” Her face reddens with rage. “Is that how you plan to see Ben? You’re going to try to take custody ?”

“I don’t want to take Ben from you,” I say in an even tone. “But as you told me when I was arrested, we all have to pay for our crimes.”

She sinks onto the bench and sets the envelope down next to her. “You’d turn me in? Your own sister?”

“You mean like you turned your back on me? Your own brother?”

She seems oblivious to the tears welling in her eyes as she spits out, “I never took you as the vindictive type, Jace.”

“I guess there’s a whole lot about me you don’t know anymore, but one thing has never changed. I love Ben, and you broke both our hearts when you cut me out of his life. Having a relationship with him was all I ever wanted.”

“So you’ll blackmail me to get it.”

I have to be careful here. Mary warned me not to use certain words. “There is no blackmail. I’m just doing you the courtesy of letting you know what’s coming.”

Tears track down her cheeks. “What if we could work something out?” she pleads, reaching for me.

“What are you talking about?”

“What if I agree to let you see Ben?”

“I already told you, Amanda. This isn’t blackmail.”

“But what if I let you see him anyway?” she says, starting to cry.

“I’m not letting Lester Montague get away with anything else. He’s destroyed enough lives. I’m putting an end to it.” As I pause, debating my next words, my heart begins to soften at her tears, just like it always did when we were kids. Back then, I’d have done anything to stop her crying, even take blame for things I didn’t do so she wouldn’t be punished. This is different. “But I suppose some information that isn’t directly pertinent to Lester’s crimes might be able to be left out of the packet we give the attorney general.”

She gets to her feet and rushes toward me, grabbing my hands. “Thank you, Jace.”

I’m torn between compassion and disgust. Where was her mercy for me? I want to point that out, but this isn’t about our relationship, which is damaged beyond repair. It’s about my relationship with her son.

“I want a schedule,” I say. “Guaranteed times I can see him. I’d also like to bring him to Asheville for a weekend every few months.” I pause, letting her absorb my demands. “It would give you a break, Amanda. Lord knows you must need them.”

Surprise fills her eyes as she drops my hands.

She clearly didn’t expect me to care.

“What?” I ask, my sadness returning. “You’re the one who turned your back on me. Not the other way around. I was always there to help you. Always there to help Ben. But that…” My voice breaks, and I swallow before I say, “But that meant nothing to you after my arrest. You tossed me to the curb like I was garbage.”

“You stole a car, Jace. Lester’s car! You ruined his pride and joy.”

“Exactly,” I say softly. “ Lester’s car.”

She folds her hands together in front of her. “I’m sorry.”

Is she? Maybe a little, but mostly because she got caught. She doesn’t care that she broke my heart. And definitely not that she broke Dad’s. He might not have been perfect, but he always provided for us and loved us, in his gruff way, even if he never said so.

“Can I see Ben today?” I ask. “I brought him a Christmas present. I realize he might not remember me. It’s been six years.”

She starts to say something—likely no—then thinks better of it. “He remembers you. He still talks about you.”

“He does?”

“Yeah. It was hard on him when you left. I just…” Her voice cracks. “I thought it might be easier for him if you just never came back. But I was wrong.” She grabs the envelope and starts down the stairs. “Come on. I hope you’re ready to spend several hours with him, because I doubt he’ll let you out of his sight for a while.”

Mary’s going to spend the day with Aidan. It’s time for her to tell him the truth about Glenn, or the most palatable version of it, and she knows it’s going to hurt. Although she also wants to tell him that she and I are together, we agreed it would be too much. I don’t want him to worry that I’ll turn my back on him like his father did or for him to resent Mary for “stealing” his friend. We’ll get there, though, and dinner tonight will be the first step. The original plan was to have Christmas Eve dinner with Mary’s sisters, but she thinks it’ll be too much for him on top of everything else. So the three of us will be eating together, not until six, though, and it’s only a two-hour drive. I can spend a few hours here and still make it in time. “I’m good with that.”

Ben’s on the sofa watching A Christmas Story when I walk through the front door behind Amanda. My stomach flip-flops at the sight of him. He’s grown so much, but it’s still unmistakably him. He has the same sweet expression and a mop of blond hair a couple of shades lighter than mine.

The furniture’s the same stuff that Amanda had when I left, and it was at least a decade old back then. There’s an old artificial Christmas tree in the corner with ornaments I recognize from when Amanda and I were kids. A few presents are scattered under it, and a stocking with Ben’s name is taped to the wall next to the tree. The house looks more sad than festive, much like the town. Any help Lester was giving her clearly dried up when the business did.

“Ben,” she says softly as she approaches him. “I brought someone to see you. An early Christmas present.”

He turns to look at her, and my heart thuds against my rib cage. How will he react? Belatedly, I realize I probably should have let Amanda have a few days to prepare him for my visit. Too late for that now.

He bolts off the sofa and lunges for me, wrapping his arms around me as he bursts into tears. “Uncle Jace. You came back,” he chokes out. “You didn’t forget me.”

My own tears clog my throat and sting my eyes as I tighten my arms around him. “I have never, ever forgotten you.”

We spend the next few minutes like that, both of us crying as we cling to each other, and I find some relief at the guilt in Amanda’s eyes.

“Who’s hungry for lunch?” she finally asks. “I need to feed y’all before I start baking.”

“Are you eating lunch with me, Uncle Jace?” Ben asks with pleading eyes.

“Yeah, buddy. I’d love to eat lunch with you.”

We eat lunch—cheese sandwiches (Ben’s new favorite) and chips—and then I give him his gift, a pair of highly rated noise-cancelling headphones. They’re not cheap, and I suspect Amanda has struggled to replace the pair he had before I left. She gives me a grateful look, then mouths thank you . I wanted to get him something more fun too, but I wasn’t sure what he would like. It’s been six years. So I decided to wait until I know more about what he likes now.

After he tests out the headphones, we take a long walk outside, and he tells me about school and his friends and his mom and anything and everything that pops into his head. I’m overwhelmingly grateful for this time with him and his openness to spending time with me after what he surely sees as my desertion.

“Why haven’t you come to see me before, Uncle Jace?” he finally asks, and frankly, I’m surprised it’s taken this long.

“Well,” I say carefully. It would be easy to throw Amanda under the bus, but she’s still his mother and he needs her. “I went to prison, remember? I told you right before I left.”

“Yeah. I remember. But you said you were gonna send me letters.”

“I did send you letters,” I say, my anger stirring. Amanda must have kept them from him. “I guess they got lost in the mail.”

“I wrote you letters too.”

A few of his letters had trickled in up until Mom passed away. She must have sent them behind Amanda’s back.

“Well, I’m back now,” I say, forcing a smile. “And we can talk on the phone and use FaceTime.”

“Are you moving back into your house?” he asks. “Somebody’s living in it.”

“No,” I say. “I had to let it go when I went to prison. I’m living in Asheville now, but I’ll come see you, and I’d love for you to visit me too. I have a cat.”

“Mom hates cats, but I like them.”

“I know,” I say with a laugh. “That’s why you can come visit me and meet Bingo. But I have to warn you, he’s not very cuddly.”

We spend the rest of the afternoon playing a video game until I have to leave. Ben gets upset when I say that I’m going, but to my surprise, Amanda tells him he’ll see me soon. Still, he doesn’t settle until she marks our next visit on the calendar and he and I plan out what we’ll do together.

She follows me out to my truck, her mouth twisted to the side. “I’m sorry,” she says, sounding much more sincere than she did earlier in the gazebo. “I forgot how good you are with him.”

I shove my hands into my pockets, unsure how to respond.

She waves a hand toward me. “You look great, Jace. I shouldn’t have sent you away, but I guess it worked out for you.”

“Yeah, I suppose it did.”

She scuffs the ground with one shoe. “I’m sorry I sold your stuff. I would have sold your truck too, except I needed you to sign the title.” She grimaces. “I shouldn’t have done that, but I was desperate. I didn’t have Mom’s social security anymore after she died.”

“I got new stuff.”

“Still, it was wrong.”

I give her a tight smile. “Water under the bridge.”

“Is it?” she asks, her eyes sincere.

“Honestly? It’s gonna take some time. You hurt me, Amanda. Especially taking away Ben. But I think we can work through it. We might never be close, but I think we can be civil. For Ben’s sake.”

Her eyes turn glassy. “I’d like that.”

“Good. Me too.” Then I get in my truck and give her a wave as I pull out of her driveway. As I make the drive back to Asheville, I can’t help thinking she’s right. Things did work out for me. Mary and I would never have met if Amanda hadn’t disowned me, but it took a lot of pain to get to this place.

The thought of spending Christmas with Mary and Aidan fills my heart with equal amounts of joy and peace. I’m ready to leave the pain of my past behind and look toward my bright future. One that includes the three people I love most in the world.