Woods

I ended the strange phone call from Tripp and stared down at my phone for a few minutes. Nothing about that conversation had made sense. He'd asked me how life was. I'd told him it was good. He had said I should strive for great. I told him it was perfect and he had gone silent. Then he'd said, Sometimes what we think is perfect is royally f**ked up. I had asked him what he meant and he said he was just checking in and hoped I'd figure life out soon.

What the hell had all that meant? Was he drinking before lunch? Glancing at my clock, I realized it was my tee time with Jace. When Della had turned me down for lunch I'd let her because she wanted to work. I couldn't keep making her feel like she wasn't important. So to keep myself from begging her to have lunch with me, I'd called Jace and set up a tee time for us.

I had a meeting with my new lawyer at three, then after that I would hunt her down. I thought she'd be ready to take a break then. Smiling, I let Tripp's weird phone call go and I headed down to the golf course.

Jace was standing at Bethy's golf cart with his hands on the roof as he leaned in, flirting with her. I never would have guessed those two would have made it so long. Bethy had been the wild local girl who lived in the next town over. She slept with the rich boys and they acted like they didn't know her in public. Until Jace. He'd decided that she was worth it. He had seen something more.

"You gonna stop making out with my employee long enough to play a round?" I asked as I approached them.

Jace grinned over at me, then flipped his middle finger. "Suck it, Kerrington."

"You two need me to get y'all a caddy?" Bethy asked.

"We're real men, baby. We don't need a caddy," Jace said, winking at her.

"Let's do this. I have a three o'clock appointment," I informed Jace.

The cart I'd ordered was brought around with my clubs. Jace said his good-byes to Bethy and put his clubs in the back of the cart. "It's been a while since we played a round," Jace said. "Boss man never has any time."

"Della has taken a lot off me. I need to give her a raise."

Jace chuckled and propped his feet up on the dash of the cart. "You told your momma about the new-board idea?"

"I won't be telling her. It isn't her business. I'm meeting with the lawyer today to make sure this is handled the correct way. The lawyer will make sure the board knows they've been terminated."

"You know, I always thought the board, like, owned a portion of the club," Jace said.

"My grandfather forbade it in his will. He wanted the club to always be under the Kerrington name. He didn't allow investors unless they were family. That was one of the reasons my father wanted me to marry Angelina. She would become family and he would merge her father's clubs with the Kerrington Club. My grandfather wouldn't have wanted that. I've looked over his business plan. I know his dream for this place. My father had other ideas and he was going to use me to accomplish them."

Jace let out a low whistle as we pulled up to the first tee. "Damn, no wonder your dad was ready to marry you off to a psycho. So, you really own it all now. You make the decisions. That board was just so your father had people to help him build and make decisions."

"I think he had promised them a piece of the pie once the Kerrington Club was part of the Greystone empire. Everything would have changed then. He also paid them well. I looked over the payroll."

Jace jumped out and pulled his driver from the bag before heading over to the tee. "So you're saying I'm gonna get a nice fat paycheck for being on this new board," Jace drawled.

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying," I replied, pulling the driver from my bag.

"Good. Because I'm gonna propose to Bethy and my family is gonna shit a brick. I can kiss my monthly income good-bye. I need to start using this education my father paid so handsomely for."

I stopped walking. Had I just heard him right? "Did you just say propose?"

Jace looked up from his stance over the ball and nodded.

"Wow," was all I could think of to say. I hadn't expected that.

"I love her. She's it for me."

I stood there silently as Jace hit the ball. He stepped back and glanced over at me. "She doesn't know yet. I'm trying to think of a romantic way to do it."

This golf game had just gotten a lot more interesting.

I texted Della before my three o'clock meeting but she didn't respond before the lawyer arrived. Once my meeting was over and there was still no response, I dialed her number. I hadn't seen her all day. Neither had anyone I asked. Something felt wrong.

"I'm sorry, but the number you have dialed has been disconnected . . ." I jerked my phone back and looked down to make sure I'd dialed Della's number. I had.

I grabbed my keys and walked past Vince without a word. My mind was running wild. Why would Della's phone be disconnected? Had she forgotten to pay the bill? Was she okay?

As I got to the house, every bad scenario ran through my head. The car I'd given Della when she'd come back to Rosemary with me was sitting in the drive. She hadn't left the house today. My heart raced as I ran up the steps and swung the door open.

It was quiet. Too quiet.

"Della? Baby? You okay?" I called out as I walked down the hall toward the living room. I glanced into the kitchen as I passed and almost continued on when I saw a single piece of paper and a pen lying on the counter. They hadn't been there that morning.

"Della?" I called out again, walking on toward the living room and out onto the balcony. The bedroom was empty. It was also bare. There were no heels lying by the door or jewelry on the dresser. I stood in the doorway, afraid to walk inside and look in the closet.

I turned and headed back to the kitchen. The note would explain this. She could have cleaned up before she went shopping with Blaire. That made sense.

Reaching for the paper, I picked it up and began to read. With each word, my world began to slowly fall away. The small, ripped piece of notebook paper held the only words that could completely destroy me.

I let it fall to the floor as I stood frozen. I didn't want to touch it. I didn't want to see it. The words were imprinted in my head. I'd never be able to make them go away. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe.