Carly Phillips - Lucky Break

“I get it. And I respect what you’re saying, but-”

She’d learned at a young age not to push people for more than they were able to give.

Bracing her hands on the table, she rose to her feet. “I feel sorry for you, because you don’t know what you’re missing.” She wrapped her pride tightly around her and strode from the room.

It was so ironic. There had been too many people in her life who’d found her lacking, and now here was Jason, the love of her life, telling her she was too much for him. She couldn’t take it. Because though his reasons were different from her sister’s and her parents’, he was still doing the same thing. Rejecting her, who she was and what she offered him.

To hell with all of them. She couldn’t get out of this town fast enough.

LAUREN SPENT the rest of the day in a frenzy of activity. She called Sharon, who picked her up at Jason’s. Together they ran errands in town while Jason headed to the house to meet up with his crew.

First Lauren called on the real estate agent who’d arranged the original sale. The woman agreed to contact the buyers, explain the situation and ultimately refund their escrow money. Then once the insurance company inspected the new damage, Lauren arranged to relist the house-as is. On Sharon’s recommendation, Lauren hired a service to clean out the house, box the remainder of her grandmother and sister’s items, and give them to the Salvation Army.

A whirlwind morning and she’d accomplished more than she’d thought possible. In fact, she could get away from this town and its memories by nightfall.

Sharon accompanied her back to the house so she could fill Jason in.

“Are you sure you want to rush out of here?” Sharon asked, not for the first time this afternoon.

Lauren nodded as they walked up the front walk together. The acrid stench of smoke filled the air, reminding her of everything painful. “I’m sure. And I’m not rushing. If anything, I gave everything and everyone here plenty of chances. It’s past time for me to leave.”

Using her key, Lauren unlocked the front door and stepped back, letting Sharon precede her inside.

“Lauren, is that you?” Jason called out to her.

“Yes. I’m here with Sharon.”

“You’re never going to believe what I found.”

Lauren glanced at Sharon.

“Any clue?” her friend asked.

Lauren shook her head. “Not one. Let’s go find out.”

Lauren hadn’t been in the bedroom since last night and she wasn’t thrilled about going in there now.

Turned out she didn’t have to. Jason met her in the hall, the cat under one arm and what looked like a black velvet pouch in his other.

“What’s going on?” Sharon asked.

“That’s what I’d like to know!” Lauren said.

“Let’s go somewhere where it doesn’t smell so bad.” Jason handed Trouble to her and they followed him back down the hall.

“I couldn’t find the cat,” Jason said as soon as they were in the kitchen. “Last time I saw him he was stalking mice, but he was nowhere to be found. Of course he was in the last place I checked.”

“The bedroom.” Lauren placed Trouble on the kitchen floor.

“Actually your grandmother’s office. But he escaped on me again and I just recaptured him in the bedroom. Anyway, the mice had apparently been nesting in the office fireplace.”

“Thank God we didn’t light a fire in there!”

“You’re telling me.” Jason laughed. “Look what the mice had stashed in there.” He held up the jewelry pouch. “Trouble here found it when he was sniffing after the rodents.”

Lauren shuddered. She might have spent one night alone with the mice but she hadn’t grown to like them.

Jason opened the threadbare pouch and poured a handful of diamonds onto the kitchen table.

“Are they real?” Sharon asked, leaning closer for a better look.

“They’d have to be appraised to know for sure,” Jason said.

Lauren couldn’t tear her gaze from the diamonds. “Tell me where you found them again?” she asked.

“Inside the fireplace,” Jason said. “What’s wrong?”

“In the hearth! Of the house!” Lauren cried, pieces of an old family puzzle suddenly coming together.

“I’m confused,” Sharon said.

“Hang on and you won’t be.” Lauren’s heart pumped in excitement. “I found an old diary in my grandmother’s night table. We think that’s what my sister was looking for when she came back here.” She glanced at Jason. “Remember the diary mentioned an offering. And then it said something about the heart of the house. Maybe it really read the hearth of the house! Don’t you see? Those diamonds are the offering my ancestors used to place the curse!”

LOUD BANGING woke Jason. He tumbled out of bed, his head pounding as if a freight train was rolling through it. Why did he have a hangover the likes of which he never wanted to experience again?

Another loud, banging knock sounded at his door. “I’m coming!”

He swung his door open wide to find his entire family standing outside. With a groan, the reasons for his hangover came flooding back.

Two days ago, he’d found the diamonds. Then Lauren had made the connection between the jewels and the Corwin Curse and she’d immediately called Clara to come over. Clara, with her otherworldly wisdom, had revealed that the offering-in this case the diamonds-was the key to breaking the curse. It was up to Lauren Perkins to figure out how.

Lauren had figured it out immediately. She’d turned the jewels over to the Corwin family, giving the offering to the cursed family and thereby breaking the curse forever, at least according to Clara.

All good news until in the midst of the chaos, Lauren had snuck out, leaving his family to celebrate and Jason with a note. I hope you find what you’re searching for. Love, Lauren. To add insult to injury, she’d asked Sharon to look after her cat while she was in Paris. Not Jason.

Which brought him back to his current hangover.

And his family who’d followed him inside his house.

“Tell me why I can’t get any peace in my own home?” Jason asked.

“It’s not your home, it’s mine. You just live here,” Hank said, stepping forward.

“Nice, Uncle Hank.” Jason glanced around, waiting for his father or another relative to step up and support him.

The way they’d done for Lauren.

But his entire family stood by and let Hank abuse him.

Jason groaned. “Okay, why are you all here?”

Thomas straightened his tie and grinned. “To tell you those diamonds were worth a fortune. Split among the three families, we’re not broke anymore!”

“We weren’t broke before,” Jason reminded him. And Lauren needed the money a lot more than he did.

“Neither were we,” Derek said, glancing lovingly at his wife, whose books sold well.

“The point is, we have a nest egg now,” Thomas said. “Jason, you’ll get your share, too.”

Jason would make sure his share went to Lauren.

“Even Edward said he would accept the money,” his father added.

“Because his medication and therapy are working.” Gabrielle turned to Jason. “Maybe we could put you on the same regimen and you’ll come to your senses, too.” Her pregnant belly protruding from beneath her jacket, she poked Jason in the shoulder.

“Hey, what was that for?” he asked.

“After all our hard work getting you two together, you let Lauren just pick up and leave!” Amber said, obviously upset.

The two women were like a tag team. “I’d call it meddling, not work,” Jason muttered.

“He does have a point,” Mike said.

Amber hit her husband in the arm.

“Let’s not forget, if it wasn’t for the mice we brought over, you wouldn’t have found the diamonds, so I’d quit complaining about our so-called meddling.” Gabrielle eyed Jason with frustration.

“Leave it to the women to twist things,” Derek said, stepping out of his own wife’s reach.

Jason rubbed his burning eyes. “They happen to have a point about the mice and the diamonds.” Even Jason knew when it was smart to concede defeat. “As for Lauren, it’s more complicated than it seems.” And he didn’t intend to discuss this with his entire family. “Can everyone go home and let me deal with my own life?”

Gabrielle frowned. “Fine. Amber and I will go with Hank and Thomas back to their house. I’ll let your cousins knock some sense into you.”

Amber ushered the older men out the door and Gabrielle followed.

Mike waited until they were alone before turning to Jason. “You look like shit. We both know it’s because Lauren’s gone, so cut to the chase. What will it take to get her back?”

Jason decided to suck it up and admit the truth. Who better than his cousins to understand? “She asked me to go with her and I said no.”

Derek shook his head. “Have you learned nothing from all the years I lost with Gabrielle? So tell me why the hell you’re sitting here hungover instead of being with the woman you love?”

Wasn’t it obvious? “What the hell kind of life do I have to offer her?”

“If this is about the bogus drug test-”

Jason scowled at Mike. “Hell no. It’s about life. I’ve lived my whole life going after the gold, then one day it’s gone. I’m home running a contracting business that’s boring as shit and I don’t recognize the guy I see in the mirror each day.”

“So do something about it!”

“I have. Before I got stinking drunk, I called a couple of snowboard companies-Venue, Flow and Sapient to start-and offered my services for testing. I’d kill to get back on the mountain again.” And though testing wasn’t the same as sponsorship, Jason would start somewhere and work toward proving himself. If he could get a company to ignore his jaded past.

“Are you waiting for me to applaud?” Mike asked, his tone laced with sarcasm. He paced the den before turning back to stare at Jason. “Do things your way and you’ll have a career and no one to share it with. Is that what you want for yourself?”