why did she care if he was going through her room?
She reached him, her lips stubbornly shut, and she swallowed. “Yeah.” It wasn’t a question; it was more like an announcement that she was there. Now what?
“Can we talk? I… I need to talk to you.” Tommy motioned toward an empty office set off to the side of the bank building. He turned, glancing over his shoulder at Amanda as if he expected her to disappear. She followed him, nervous to go into an office building alone with him.
Not because of what she was worried he might do but what she might do.
Her lack of control around him was getting to her.
Did she have any hope of ever being happy?
Chapter 43
Tommy
Tommy reached the point in his new office building where he’d practiced talking to Amanda. He stopped and turned toward her, already certain of what he wanted to say. But as he noticed the shadows under her eyes and the pale hue to her skin, all of Tommy’s practiced apologies slipped from his mind.
She was miserable. He’d done that to her. All he could do was deliver the information he’d gleaned from Jennifer and let Amanda alone. That’s what he had to do.
If he cared about her like he kept saying he did, then he had to act on those feelings and let her be. Even if it killed him.
“Cari said you had something for me?” Amanda licked her lips and glanced around; suspicion heavy in her gaze.
“This isn’t someone else’s office. This is mine.” Tommy spread his arms and watched her nervously.
Amanda huffed. “Like for therapy? You’re good, I agree, but no one gets a therapy degree in a couple days.” She stepped back like she wasn’t sure what was going on and she didn’t like being unprepared. She gripped the edges of the donut boxes in her hands until the white cardboard crinkled and groaned.
“Let me start over.” Tommy took a deep breath and spread his arms and plastered a hopeful smile on his face. “I’m Tommy Declan. Welcome to Declan Investigations. We’re looking forward to getting to know you better.”
Amanda studied him and then handed the boxes over. “I have donuts that Cari asked me to deliver. Apparently, you’ve got my family wrapped around your finger.” She clenched her jaw and let him have the boxes.
He took them and turned back to the counter, desperate to retain some of the hope her sisters had told him he could have.
Maybe they had set him up for failure. No. He had to hope they wanted happiness for Amanda like he did.
“I… Okay, so here’s what’s going on. Jennifer has until the day before Christmas to get you into the bank to open the safety deposit box and then go in and access an account that is yours and hers. She’ll get to split what you have in there with you. If Jennifer paid me one-and-a-half million dollars to get the pieces to access this account, then the amount in there is probably ridiculously large. You deserve that.”
Amanda licked her lips and dropped her gaze to the floor at his feet.
Were his boots scuffed? Maybe she didn’t like the clothes he wore. He’d opted out of office attire because that wasn’t him. And he was done lying about himself to the one person he wanted to be honest with the most.
“The thing is… I don’t want her money. Or his money. Or anything they might have left for me. It’s not rightfully mine. They broke vows and cheated and lied and then, what? They thought they could assuage their guilt by giving me everything they wanted to?” Amanda’s eyes sparkled, the brilliant blue hypnotic.
“I don’t think you understand. Jennifer wants whatever is in that box. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to get it. That’s why she’s here. She is determined to destroy this town.” Tommy’s chest rose and fell in rapid succession.
“What happens to the money if I don’t want to?” Amanda spoke softly. “Do you get it or something?”
“Do I get it? No. In fact, I returned Jennifer’s money. Your family was going to pay me for the information, but… I can’t take it. I’m not sure how I’ll do it, but I’m going to help my grams in another way. Maybe we’re not meant to have the ranch.” He could handle that. He could handle pushing his dreams off of being a farrier. He was a good investigator. Maybe that’s where he needed to focus his