Hey Jude (Lennox Valley Chronicles #1)

“Yeah, well—” I start, feeling the need to defend myself.

He cuts me off. “And I mean… finding out some dude is threatening your girl and then leaving her alone… That doesn’t really sound like your thing, man.”

I grimace. “Hold on. My thing?”

“Yeah, Jude.” I hear him scoff. “You’re the guy who takes care of people. You know, like how you took care of me after Mom and Dad died. How you took care of Grandpa when he got sick, remember? And how you’ve been taking care of me all this time, you know, with my drinking and shit. It’s what you do.”

The silence hangs on the line for a moment as I take this in.

“Fuck.” I squeeze the bridge of my nose between my fingers. He’s right. I hate that he’s right. I’ve up and abandoned Olena to fend for herself when she’s got a potentially dangerous man trying to track her down. And, to make matters worse, I’ve gone back on my word and run away from her. I let my pride and my own hang-ups get in the way of being there for her when she was in crisis.

How the hell did I not see this?

“Look, I don’t know what her deal is,” Miles says. “I could be talking outta my ass here, but… from what I saw? It looked like you cared about her.”

“Yeah, Miles, I—”

“Like, a lot.”

“Yes, Miles,” I say again. “Point made. Thank you.” I shake my head.

“What?” He sounds like he’s smiling on the other end of the line.

I realize what I have to do. “Miles, I gotta go.”

* * *

Realizing that I’ve never been to Olena’s house and I have no way of calling her, I head to find Wyatt. I pull open the door of the deli about two minutes before closing time and let out a breath of relief. Wyatt is wiping down the sandwich station countertop. He looks up and frowns in confusion and surprise when he sees me.

“Jude, hi…” He tilts his head at me. “Is Olena with you?”

“What?” I frown. That’s not what I was expecting to hear. “Why would she be with me?”

“She was just here. She left to drive back to the job site—said she left her phone there. And she said she wanted to talk to you…” he says, trailing off, both of us realizing at the same time what’s happened.

“Fuck.” I reach into my pocket and pull out Olena’s phone, holding it in front of me. “I’ve got her phone.”

“And she…” Wyatt starts slowly.

“And she just drove back to see me while I was driving here to see her.” I press my lips together and grimace.

Wyatt looks apologetic. “You probably passed each other.”

“Shit.” I look up at the ceiling.

“I know she wasn’t sure she’d make it before you went home. I mean, obviously, she didn’t get there before you left,” he says with a half-smile.

Connecting the dots, I tap the top of the sneeze guard and point at Wyatt. She would have gone to my house after seeing I’d left. “I think I know where she is. Thank you!”

“Jude!” Wyatt calls out before I’m fully out the door. I pop my head back inside, my hand on the door handle. “Sean showed up here. At our place.”

My eyes widen as anger swells inside me.

“She’s fine,” he quickly adds, and I exhale. “She gave him hell. You’d be proud.” He smiles sadly. “But just… watch out for her. I don’t trust that asshole. He might still be in town.”

I nod, frowning, suddenly feeling uneasy that she’s alone right now. Not only do I want to find her—now I need to find her. I turn to leave again.

“And Jude…” Wyatt calls out again. Again, I pause, almost out the door. “Hear her out.” He levels me with a look. “This isn’t all on her.”