Page 12 of Burning Love (Looking For Love #7)

A LOST CAUSE

J ace heard the car door shut three days later while he was painting his living room and moved to the front window to see who was in his driveway.

The good thing about not having close neighbors, he knew when someone was on his property.

If he’d hoped it might be Talia, he lost that bet when his father walked up the stairs.

He put the roller down and went to unlock the door and pull it open.

“Hey,” he said. “What brings you by?”

“I need to get my tile cutter.”

“Oh shit,” he said. “I should have brought it back last week and got busy.”

Jace had a lot of tools, but some things he didn’t buy and only borrowed. He’d needed it to tile the half bath floor and feature wall two weeks ago.

“Not a problem,” his father said. “I drove by to get it on Saturday, but you had company and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Thanks.”

“And that quick answer tells me it was a woman,” his father said, smirking.

The same smirk that Jace had.

It still amazed him how much he looked like his father. Even acted like him.

How could his mother have lived with seeing that for years and never told him the truth?

“We only had dinner.”

“Normally you don’t offer that much. Dare I ask if maybe you’re dating someone seriously for once?”

“It’s been two dates.” He didn’t know what it’d be. He’d never had anything serious in his mind and hadn’t planned on it now, but Talia had him confused almost as much as she was.

She saw right through him. He knew it.

She called him out on being burned, then brought up his mother innocently enough later on.

An idiot could have figured it out.

He supposed that was why he was so confused and willing to let the door to his life open a crack more than it had before.

“Lauren would love to see you settled down,” his father said of his wife. Jace’s stepmother.

Lauren had been nicer and more accepting of him than he would have thought.

Jace knew his presence hadn’t just been a shock to Dean Rigby, but also to his wife and two young daughters.

Then for Dean to secure an apartment so that Jace could finish his last few months of high school in a familiar place was more than most men would do.

He hadn’t planned on going away to college, but made that decision to not have to live with the man and his existing family he barely knew.

If Dean hadn’t given him enough space for them to grow together, he wasn’t sure where their relationship would be.

But it was bigger, better, and stronger than most had with their fathers.

“Kelsey is married and has given you both two grandsons. What more do you want? How about Janey? Does Lauren want her settled too?”

“Janey is only twenty-five. She has plenty of time to figure it out. You’re the oldest.”

“And a lost cause at this point in my life. I’ll help you get the cutter.”

The two of them went to his garage to pick it up and bring it to the bed of his father’s truck.

He thought his father would leave after, but he only followed him into the house.

“It looks great in here,” Dean said. “I want to check out your half bath.”

He moved with his father down the hall. “It was a quick project and nice to have done.”

“You did a great job. You do a great job.”

“I learned from the best.”

He meant that.

That was where his father and he bonded.

Dean had told him he could work for the construction company on school breaks and in the summer or he could get another part-time job, but he’d have to work.

He’d already been working before his father came into his life so it wasn’t a hardship for him.

Rather than find some part-time job where he didn’t have a lot of control over the hours, he gave construction a try to find he enjoyed it.

He needed those demo days to work off some hidden aggression over the changes in his life.

Little by little, his father and he meshed and the past twenty years made up for the first seventeen they weren’t in each other’s lives.

“If you don’t have plans this Sunday, Lauren wanted to have a cookout with everyone. I wasn’t sure of your shift schedule.”

“I get off that morning.” And Talia would be gone for the day too. Might as well get a meal out of it and visit with family.

The two of them hadn’t done much more than send a few texts since she left on Saturday night. He had to work tomorrow and then again on Saturday, getting out Sunday morning.

“We’ll eat later in the day if that works.”

“Always ready for a meal.”

“Do you need a hand here with anything before I get back to the site?”

“I’m good. I’m going to finish painting, then I’ll install the trim this week. I’ll put the trim up in the laundry room after the half bath since I ran out when I finished that room a few weeks ago.”

“Then the first floor will be complete,” his father said.

“Finally. It’s been a long six months.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t have to take the whole house down to the studs. It could have been worse.”

“I pretty much did except for my bedroom and most of the living and dining room and another bedroom upstairs.”

He’d changed the layout in his bathroom to put in the large shower over having the tub. Another bedroom had water damage from a roof leak.

He had to put new sheetrock up from where he’d ripped a wall down to open the layout down here.

A new roof had been the first order of business. Then windows. His furnace and water tank had enough life left in them he didn’t need to replace them right away, but the AC unit was upgraded once the weather turned warm.

He’d poured a new patio at the same time he’d done the AC unit and was able to grill outside until his kitchen was done. Having his fridge sitting in the living room was comical, but it worked for him.

He still had a shit ton of work to do outside. He’d get to it in time. Probably next spring.

“I’m glad I got to see the progress.”

“I didn’t think I’d ever see this when we started.”

“Demo was fun as always,” his father said, laughing.

“Who doesn’t like smashing down walls? Putting up supporting beams is a bitch like always though.”

His father slapped him on the back. “The bad comes with the good and vice versa. It’s the balance we have to figure out in life.”

That was the thing about his father.

He was always good-natured and it burned his ass that his mother couldn’t see that.

Since he’d never got to meet his grandparents, Jace had no clue if anything his mother had said about them not accepting her would have held true.

His father could have carried a grudge against Stella Miller for hiding a child for seventeen years, but was only thankful he was given this chance to have a relationship with his son.

When Dean asked if he wanted to legally change his name to Rigby, Jace had thought it was a joke.

He found out it wasn’t, and agreed.

That move finally let him feel like he wasn’t going to be kicked out and end up on his own.

“I’ve balanced it as well as I can so far.”

“You have. I’ve got to get it out. I’m proud of you, Jace. You should be proud of you too. Your mother would be.”

“Yeah,” he said quickly and turned away to pick up the roller.

His father sighed and took his leave. There had always been hints and statements dropped for years about his mother but nothing more.

Jace never wanted to talk about it much.

Twenty minutes later, his phone went off with a text. He pulled it out of his back pocket and noticed it was Talia asking if he was busy.

He hated to text and wanted to finish the last coat of paint, so he found his earbuds, popped them in, and hit call while he tossed his phone on the counter.

“Hi,” she said happily when she answered. “I didn’t think you’d call me.”

“I’m painting and don’t like to text. This was easier so I could talk and work.”

“Are you painting your living room?”

“Living and dining. I’ll be done soon. I’ll get the molding up and my downstairs will officially be finished.”

“That’s great. I never asked how long you’ve been working on the house.”

“About six months. The first few I was living in my apartment, then moved in here about three months ago.”

“Do you have living room furniture that is in storage or something?”

“My garage. I’ll have to get some more things, but I’ll be good enough for now.”

“I love shopping,” she said.

“I would have never guessed that.”

She laughed and the vibration of the sound sent his arm moving faster on the wall.

“I want to say it’s a girl thing, but I’ve got a few brothers that might put me to shame when it comes to shopping.”

He wouldn’t ask who. It wasn’t his business and he didn’t really care.

The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was interested in her family when he’d said enough times that he only was interested in her.

“Then you’ve got someone to go with.”

“Maybe,” she said. “So, I know you work on Saturday, and Sunday I’ve got plans, but if you’re not busy on Friday, how would you like to do something?”

“Sure.”

“That doesn’t sound convincing.”

“Did you want me to jump up and down and squeal like a girl?”

“That would be a sight to see.” He heard the humor in her voice.

“Not one you ever will.”

“I figured as much. I’m open for anything. Think about it and let me know. I’ve got a call to get on in five minutes. Talk to you soon.”

She hung up on him before he could say another word.

It was a good thing because he would have most likely made some sexual comment about how open she could get and he was trying damn hard not to be that person with her.

The question was—why?