Million Dollar Christmas Bride - Holly Rayner Page 0,25

is pretty awesome,” he said, as he took in the surroundings. Towering oak trees lined the path they walked on, and off to either side were sprawling meadows of green grass.

Rufus barreled toward Jackson, a slobbery tennis ball in his mouth. Peaches wasn’t far behind.

Jackson gently plucked the ball from between Rufus’s teeth, in a gesture that seemed well-practiced. He then hurled the ball off into the distance again.

“So much space for them to play!” Jackson said. “This is nothing like the one I’ve been going to downtown. You know the one on Twelfth and Orchard?”

Bianca nodded. “You want to know something crazy? I took myself on a tour of every single dog park in Memphis, about six years back, when I was in the market for a house. I actually chose my place because it was close to this gem.”

“Smart woman,” Jackson said.

They strolled in silence for a moment. In the distance, the park’s pond glittered, reflecting the afternoon sunlight. One dark shape at the pond’s edge ran back and forth, while another lighter form plunged into the water.

“Looks like they found the pond,” Bianca said.

“At least it’s a pond, not a river, or Rufus would be barking his head off,” Jackson said. “We’d get banned from this place on our first day.”

Bianca laughed. “It’s a dog park—I’m pretty sure barking is allowed.” She turned to look at him. “You said you wanted to talk over something, right? What’s on your mind?”

He looked toward the pond. “Can we sit over there for a minute? This will take a few minutes to get out. I don’t want to keep you too long, but I want to lay it out in a way that won’t freak you out.”

Bianca felt her anxiety mount. What in the world was on Jackson’s mind?

He continued. “I know you said you have to go to work this afternoon, so I won’t take forever. But do you have a few minutes?”

“Fifteen,” Bianca said.

“That should be plenty,” Jackson said. He quickened his pace and led the way to a bench that looked out over the pond.

Peaches was running along the sandy shoreline now, chasing after Rufus. The rottweiler looked like he was in heaven as he wove between clumps of cattails and occasionally lowered himself onto the sand to roll around. Whenever he was down, Peaches bent low over him, nuzzling him playfully in an attempt to get him back on his paws so that the chase game could continue.

“Those two are playing like old friends,” Bianca commented, as she lowered her purse onto the bench next to her.

“I’ve never seen him hit it off with another dog so fast,” Jackson said. He cleared his throat. “Okay, here goes. This might sound a little bit crazy, but please just hear me out. Last night went really well, I’d say. Wouldn’t you?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“So it got me thinking. What if we kept it up? I mean, my mom loved you. It was obvious.”

“It was?” Bianca wasn’t sure about that. To her, Mary had seemed rather stern and tight-lipped.

“I’m sure of it,” Jackson said with a confident nod. “She’s not the type of person to gush, but I could tell. Sure, I haven’t seen her in a few decades, but I can read people pretty well, remember? And she was enamored by you. I could see it in her eyes.”

“Jackson,” Bianca said, “you can’t continue lying to her. She’s your mother. She deserves to know the—”

Jackson interjected before Bianca could finish her thought, “I know what you mean. I really do. This isn’t about deceiving my mom for malicious purposes. This is about feeding her a story that she really wants to hear—for a good cause. I’ve been thinking about that house…” He got a far-off look in his eyes.

Bianca spoke up. “It means a lot to you, doesn’t it?” she said. She recalled words Mary had spoken the night before: People and places become buried by the sands of time. Forgotten. “You want to preserve your past. Your memories.”

Jackson nodded. “It probably sounds trivial—getting the deed to that old house. I mean, it’s not like it’s worth much money. But to me, that place means something. To someone else, it will just be a piece of property to sell off. They’ll demolish the structure, fill in the foundation, and then go about building something new. That thought breaks my heart.”

He drifted into silence for a few beats before speaking again. “My past feels so broken, you know? I don’t mean to