Running Home (Warm Springs Trilogy Book 2)

  Table of Contents

  RUNNING HOME

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  RUNNING HOME

  Book Two in the Warm Springs Trilogy

  CHRISTINA KIRBY

  SOUL MATE PUBLISHING

  New York

  RUNNING HOME

  Copyright©2015

  CHRISTINA KIRBY

  Cover Design by Syneca Featherstone

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, business establishments, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Published in the United States of America by

  Soul Mate Publishing

  P.O. Box 24

  Macedon, New York, 14502

  ISBN: 978-1-61935-837-9

  www.SoulMatePublishing.com

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  For Honey,

  the best Grandmother a girl could ever ask for.

  Acknowledgements

  Many thanks to my editor, Janet Clementz at Soul Mate Publishing for continuing to be my biggest fan. Thanks for all of your help, encouragement, and wisdom.

  Thanks to my cousin, Tyler, for loving the game of baseball and sharing your knowledge with me. Play on, cuz.

  To my friend and Kappa sister, Jen, thank you for always entertaining me with stories from your life on the front lines of dating and watching our favorite shows together via text. The distance may be great, but you’re never far from my heart.

  To my friends, family, and new found fans, I hope you will love Jenny’s story as much as you did Sam’s. Your excitement makes all the work worth it. This one’s for you.

  Chapter 1

  Jenny Fillmore checked her reflection one last time. Her hair was smooth, thanks to the straightener she’d used that morning, her suit neat and her pale lip gloss had the desired effect: shiny, but not slutty. Professional, but pretty. Subtle, but good enough to have her picture in the paper without being embarrassed.

  Turning her head to the side, she dropped her mouth open and covered it with her hand. Too much, she thought and tried again. She nodded. Much better. Surprised, but not in the ‘I knew that’s why you called me in’ kind of way. She smiled. It was going to be a great day. She grinned to her reflection. “Time to make our entrance.”

  As she crossed through the office, a sense of butterflies taking flight mounted an assault of nervous energy beneath her heart. Other realtors and receptionists waved to her and smiled as she passed their desks. She ducked her head to avoid direct eye contact. Did they already know she was getting the Top Seller Award, or would they find out through the announcement that would come later?

  “Hey, Jenny,” the receptionist winked. “He’s ready for you.”

  With one hand on the handle of the heavy door, Jenny inhaled through her nose, smiled, and leaned into the gold handle, ready to absorb the words she’d been longing to hear for the last three years in a row. Finally, it was going to happen.

  “Good morning, Daryl. I was . . .”

  Daryl, the man who had started the real estate company, hired her and trained her from the ground up, waved the receiver in the air and then continued his phone conversation. The heavy door closed behind her at the same time her shoulders sagged with disappointment.

  “Very good, then.” A crease formed between Daryl’s dark eyebrows. “We’ll use those parameters and get some ideas together for your boss. You’ll be hearing from Miss Fillmore before the end of business hours today.”

  Jenny sat in the chair across from Daryl’s desk and tilted her head at the sound of her name. She was happy to get more business, but it was unusual for Daryl to field her calls. Clients generally contacted her, directly.

  After exchanging goodbyes, he set his phone down and looked at her, his eyes still troubled.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, exactly,” he started slowly, “more unusual than anything. That was the assistant of a potential client. She said her boss asked for you specifically, but she wouldn’t tell me who he is.” Daryl studied her face a moment. “You look especially nice today.”

  She cleared her throat. “I, um, have a date later. With James.”

  “Well, that sounds nice. Now, about this potential new client. He’s looking for land, somewhere in the three to five hundred acre range and he would like a house with a barn. He says it’s okay if it needs some fixing up, would prefer it, actually.”

  Jenny blinked twice and then grabbed a pen off of Daryl’s desk.

  Daryl smirked at her. “Wow, Miss Prepared, what’s going on with you today?”

  She shrugged off his teasing. “I forgot my phone in my office.” In the awkward pause she wished she could find a way to sink into the floor. It wasn’t like her to be caught off guard. So far this morning, she was coming across like it was her first day on the job.

  Daryl cleared his throat. “Right. So, he’d also like four bedrooms or more, a spacious kitchen, and a large fireplace. A lake or pond on the property is a must, and it would be an added bonus if the land is already fenced.”

  “Is that all?”

  Daryl laughed. “He must be something.”

  Jenny glanced down at the list. Something equaled money it would seem. “I’ll get right on this.” She stood to leave.

  “Jenny, if there’s anything strange about this guy, or if you feel uncomfortable, you know you just have to tell me. Or, if you want, I can go with you when it’s time to meet him.”

  She smiled. Daryl was always sweet to her, but after the ordeal the year before, he was borderline overprotective. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, but thank you.” Besides, she’d been taking self-defense classes. She wasn’t going to be anyone’s victim, ever again.

  Out in the hall, no one seemed to notice her on the return walk to h
er desk. Maybe she’d just been imagining everyone’s congratulatory looks. Since she’d been so sure she’d won, her mind had played tricks on her. She kept her head held high until she reached her office, just in case anyone was looking her way, and saved the disappointment for when she slumped into her chair.

  How could this have happened? She’d been so sure today was the day. She glanced down at the date circled on her shoe calendar. There it was in red and black. She’d even taken it as a good sign when the important month on the calendar had been represented by a stiletto, her favorite. So much for signs. No wallowing, either. She clicked on the most current listings to start compiling some possible choices for the new mystery client.

  Award or no award, she had a job to do. At least she still had her date with James to look forward to. She continued to scroll. So far, she had two places that might work. She needed at least two more, but it was a tall order. Nothing she wasn’t used to, though. She’d had more than her fair share of picky clients and she always made the sale, no matter how difficult the situation.

  Once she had a list she deemed satisfactory, she returned phone calls, emails, and prepared for a showing setup for later in the afternoon. She welcomed the busy schedule. It gave her less time to dwell on the Top Seller Award that always seemed to be just out of reach.

  Who’d won it, if not her? There was a girl in Harrelson County having a good year. She guessed it was possible she’d gotten an additional sale at the last minute.

  Jenny drummed her fingers and debated whether or not to ask Daryl, but decided against it. No need to look as desperate as she felt. It was only an award after all. A simple office decoration.

  As the sun began to set, Jenny walked around the front of the fountain which stood outside their three story office building. At one time it was a large home, but like many of the other historic downtown houses, it was turned into commercial space when it became too expensive for the family to maintain. The realty offices took up the first floor and a law firm used the other two.

  Setting her briefcase on the side of the stone ledge, she peered over the side of the fountain and watched the sun reflect off of the coins lying at the bottom. In the afternoon light they sparkled like jewels. Her eyes cut to her empty left hand and she curled her fingers into a ball. She knew James was close to asking her to marry him. He’d been dropping hints, here and there, for months.

  She forced her fingers open and ignored the weight which had settled in her stomach. He was a good man. He had a steady job. He spent time with her—when he was in town. But, she wasn’t in a rush to get married. She was focused on her career.

  “Hey, baby.”

  She turned and smiled when she saw James waiting for her at the curb, the top down on his Mustang. He wasn’t too bad looking, either, with his dark hair and muscled arms.

  “You ready to go?”

  She picked up her briefcase, walked over to the waiting car and slid onto the soft leather seat. “I’m more than ready to go. It’s been a day.”

  As he pulled away from the office, Jenny leaned her head against the headrest, careful not to mess up her French twist, and sighed. She was content with James, relaxed. When he reached across the center console for her hand and kissed her knuckles, she turned her face in his direction and studied his dark eyes.

  She’d been hurt once before and she hadn’t given another man a chance to hurt her since. She didn’t doubt James’ feelings for her. And, she knew she’d be lucky to have him.

  But, do you want him? Her mind seemed to whisper. The truth was, she wasn’t sure.

  Two days later, Jenny smoothed a hand over her navy skirt and tucked a loose hair behind her ear as she waited to meet her new client. After speaking with his assistant several times to setup a schedule that would work for everyone, it was finally time to meet the man himself.

  She glanced around her office where they’d be meeting before she took him out in her freshly washed Lexus SUV. Everything was in place. There were no loose papers strewn around or files left open on the back counter.

  A partially open drawer caught her attention at the bottom of one of her filing cabinets. She moved to close it and found it was stuck. She knelt down on the carpet and tried to push it again, but it still wouldn’t budge. “Close, you stupid—”

  “That’s my Jennifer. Still talking to herself after all these years.”

  Jenny’s hand froze at the same time a flush of heat surged through her body. A fire she hadn’t felt since the last time she’d been with him, the owner of the deep voice. A voice she’d know anywhere. Adam.

  “Here,” he knelt beside her, “let me give you a hand.”

  “I don’t need your help,” she shook her head, but he didn’t seem to care. He lifted the drawer and pushed, and it closed like the traitor it was. Damn drawer.

  Adam took a step back from her, but it did nothing to dissipate his scent. His aftershave hung in the air and with it a flood of memories of the two of them, together, crashed down around her. Memories it had taken her years to repress because forgetting was impossible.

  Keeping her back to him, she tugged her skirt back into place and did her best to calm her nerves. How dare he show up at her office out of the blue? It wasn’t fair and it hadn’t given her a chance to prepare a suitable insult.

  She took a deep breath. There was no need to overact. All she needed to do was find out what he was doing there and get rid of him.

  She turned. “So, are you just passing through?”

  “Not exactly.” He sat down in one of her office chairs, his tall frame filling the space.

  Unsure what else to do and not wanting to be rude in her place of business, she sat down, more than aware that three different people from the office had walked passed her door in the last thirty seconds. Word must’ve gotten out the great Adam Hamilton was in the building.

  Gritting her teeth, she smiled. “Why, exactly, are you here, Adam?”

  “I’m your ten o’clock.” He grinned, held his hands out in a ‘here-I-am’ gesture, and laughed when her mouth fell open.

  “You?”

  “Yes, I believe we’re supposed to go see some houses this morning.”

  She blinked twice. “Wait, why are you looking for a house here?”

  “I like it here.” He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world and smiled again, the same smile that had gotten her out of her clothes more than a few times when they’d been younger.

  “But, you live in Atlanta.”

  “Not for long.” He leaned the chair back on two legs, like he used to do when he was seventeen.

  “Wait, but,” she pressed her palms flat on her desk, “does this mean you’re moving back here?”

  “That’s my plan.”

  Adam in Warm Springs, indefinitely. The words swirled around in her head like a tornado, tearing apart every other thought, until he was all she could think about. How was she supposed to live in the same town with him again? It was too small for the both of them.

  Seeing him sitting across from her, relaxed with one ankle resting on the opposite knee and his hands clasped across his stomach, it was like the clock had been turned backward except he wasn’t her boyfriend anymore. He wasn’t anything to her now. Just a piece of her history. A piece she’d worked very hard to let go.

  “So, are you going to show me some houses, or are we going to sit here all day? Don’t get me wrong, I like the view, but I have some other things to do.”

  She bent to pick up her purse and tried to mask her burning face with a professional smile when she met his eyes again. “I’m ready when you are.” Even if her insides were sparking like a live wire, there was no reason for him to know how much he could still affect her. No reason for him to know he’d hurt her heart so badly she’d feared she’d never get over it.
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  All he needed to know was that she’d changed while he’d been away. She wasn’t the same girl anymore. She would find Adam Hamilton a house and then steer clear of him—the way she should’ve a lifetime ago when he’d first approached her in the hallway of their high school.

  Chapter 2

  Jenny looked exactly like Adam remembered: long hair, full lips, and legs he’d dreamt about since he was a teenager.

  Sitting beside her in the front seat while she drove him through town and out onto a remote highway, something stirred inside his chest. It was the same longing that had brought him home after receiving the doctor’s diagnosis, almost as though those emotions had been lying dormant.

  He rolled his shoulder once as Jenny pulled to a stop in front of a large wooden home with dark green shutters and a metal roof.

  “Now, I know it’s a little different, but it has the space you want and a large barn out back.”

  “Then we had better take a look.” He followed her lead up the porch steps and didn’t mind the view when she turned and bent over to deal with the lockbox hanging off the doorknob.

  Her body had matured in the last decade. Long skinny limbs had been replaced with curves, and flip flops exchanged for heels. He pulled his eyes away from her body before she caught him staring. She was being polite toward him, but he could tell she was making an effort. And, he hated it.

  He missed her easygoing nature. The fake, polite persona she was using toward him wasn’t what he’d expected. He’d been ready for a fight, or anger, or something, but not this. He knew her well enough to know that all was not forgiven, or forgotten. He didn’t blame her. If she’d felt half the hurt he had when he’d left, there was no way she was over it.