Soul Mates (24 page)

She shook her head, still frowning. “I knew someone once with an attitude like that.” She smiled, and Jace noticed a far-off look in her eyes. “He had big dreams; he was determined. You just knew when you heard him talk that nothing was going to stop him from reaching his goals.”

“Who was he?”

“Oh someone I knew when I was younger. We dated for a year or so.”

“So what happened?” Jace was curious. He suspected there was plenty she wasn’t saying, and suddenly he wanted to learn about his mom’s past. They’d never had that kind of conversation before—adult to adult—and it felt good.

“He left Port Hayden. We didn’t keep in touch. I heard through the grapevine that he became very successful, married…all that.” Her expression changed as she put a stop to the reminiscing and got back to their conversation. “It’s a good attitude to have, though. Probably the key to success. I’ve sure seen it in the people I’ve worked for.”

“I’ll be successful one day…and rich, too,” he asserted with a confidence that surprised him.

Sarah smiled. “With a mindset like that, I believe you will, son.”

Jace felt love and pride radiating from her, and he had to add, “And when I am, I’ll buy you a house and hire a maid to do your work. You’ll never have to lift a finger again.”

A tear glistened in her eye, and Jace gave her a hug. He was glad that his mom saw the benefit in a positive attitude. It was the cornerstone of what he’d come to believe. He was on a path that most didn’t understand, let alone endorse, and her support meant a lot to him. He didn’t know what was ahead, didn’t have a plan that included action, yet he believed that if he stayed on the path and was open to ideas, life would show him the way to realize his financial dreams.

CHAPTER 16

SHE WATCHED him walk into the room. Instead of the pleasure normally associated with seeing her father, talking with him, Cassandra felt the need to avoid conversation. It was because of the information she was withholding, and her guilt increased.
I have to talk to Jace as soon as possible,
she resolved.
I want to get this over with. I hate feeling this way.
She decided to go the following evening, praying she’d find Jace at home.

“Well, Sophia’s estate isn’t going to be as easy to settle as I’d thought.” Her father sat down heavily.

“Why?” Cassandra asked.

“Corruthers wouldn’t divulge much.” He shook his head. “Apparently another party has started legal proceedings. It could drag things out.”

“Who would do a thing like that?” This time Helen asked the question. She’d been sitting in her favorite chaise longue, reading a magazine.

“He wouldn’t say.”

“How can someone contest the will when we don’t even know how much the estate is worth or who all Sophia has left it to?” Helen was indignant.

“They wouldn’t be contesting it, not yet. They’re probably just trying to hold up proceedings with a caveat or lawsuit,” he replied. “Corruthers knows all those details.

“But who could it be?” Helen persisted.

Trevor had been sitting quietly, too. When he looked at Cassandra, she could read his mind.

“I don’t know,” Richard frowned. “Obviously, they think they have something to gain by it. They believe Sophia owes them something. Corruthers wants to meet with all the parties involved next week. I hope we’ll learn something then.”

Cassandra’s body went rigid as she realized that Jace could be the one they were referring to. Again, part of her argued in his defense, while another reasoned that it simply couldn’t be anyone else. The odds were mounting against him, and her opinion of him was starting to slip.

She needed to talk to someone unbiased, someone who could help her make sense of what was happening. Tanisha was the obvious choice. Wanting to make sure she wasn’t overheard, she went out to the garden and called her friend on her cell phone. “You have to help me,” Cassandra begged after relaying the news. “This is so messed. I can’t believe Jace would do it.”

“I may not be a lawyer yet,” Tanisha advised. “But I do know that one of the basic tenets of the law in this country is that a person is innocent until proved guilty. It sounds to me like you’ve pronounced the verdict already.”

“But all the evidence…”

“If you want my advice,” Tanisha interrupted, “you’ll let the professionals deal with the evidence. Cass,” she paused. “You misjudged Jace once before. Isn’t it possible that you’re doing it again?”

Cassandra stopped to re-examine the situation. Tanisha was right. As much as circumstantial evidence pointed to Jace being a thief and possibly the one interfering with the will, she also had to consider that her aunt had trusted him. Cassandra had come to trust him, too. Not only that, but she’d fallen in love with him. He was, according to a wise old woman, her soul mate.

JACE SPENT as little time at his apartment as he could. He didn’t feel good there anymore and was seriously thinking of letting it go. Chad’s brother was moving away in the fall to go to school, and Chad had offered Jace the room. The rent would be cheaper, and he could use the extra money to save for a down payment on a car. It seemed like an ideal solution—a small yet positive step in the right direction, proving that his deliberate thinking was starting to pay off.

On Tuesday after work, he went for pizza and drinks with Chad and a few other friends. It was nearly eight o’clock when he finally headed back to his apartment. Though he had no desire to spend time there, he had to be realistic. It was his home, at least for the next couple of months. Besides, he really needed to do laundry.

As he neared his building, he noticed a woman emerge from a car and walk toward the front steps.
Damn! What is she doing here?
He recognized Cassandra immediately and quickly stepped into a stairwell so she wouldn’t see him. Watching her from the shadows, he experienced a bevy of emotions. Gazing at the beautiful body he’d held and caressed and dreamed about, part of him wanted to call out to her, throw caution aside, and risk what he was sure would be eventual heartbreak.

Reason returned once she’d disappeared into the building. As he began walking in the other direction, he congratulated himself. It took willpower to resist such a woman.
I’m doing what’s right for me,
he assured himself. With his actions came a new resolve. He not only wanted to be successful, he wanted to find happiness in other areas—a relationship, for one. He had to be realistic. Dating someone like Elise made much more sense. He considered asking her out again.

Emotions swayed and shifted as Jace continued walking. He was moving both physically and emotionally away from Cassandra Van Broden. Though he felt good about taking charge, making a decision, his resolve was shadowed with something new. This time it was the distressing sense that he was walking away from rather than toward his dreams.

AS SHE KNOCKED on Jace’s door, Cassandra struggled to keep her nerves under control. Tanisha had advised against it, but she still wanted to talk to him. She justified her actions by telling herself that she was no longer passing judgment; she simply wanted to inform him of the situation and see what came of it.

There was no answer, so she knocked again, louder this time, putting her ear to the door in case he had his music turned up. She lingered a moment longer and was about to leave when a girl, appearing to be in her early twenties, opened the door across the hall. “Excuse me. I’m looking for Jace Rutherford. Do you know him?”

“Yeah, sure,” the girl replied.

A second girl appearing in the doorway gave her a friendly shove and laughed. “You wish!”

The first girl blushed as she amended her statement. “Okay, I don’t know him very well…yet. We just moved in.”

The girls giggled at what Cassandra supposed was an inside joke. “Have you seen him lately?” she asked, frustrated by their immaturity. “I need to get ahold of him.”

“Why?”

Cassandra was losing patience. “I need to get ahold of him, that’s all. If you haven’t seen him, I’ll ask someone else in the building.”

“Hey, chill. I was just curious,” the first girl shot back defensively. “I haven’t seen him for a few days.”

“He must be away or something,” the other girl stated. “I haven’t seen his car around.”

“I could give him a message. I mean…when he gets back,” girl-one offered, obviously looking for a reason to connect with her good-looking neighbor.

“No. That’s fine,” Cassandra replied hastily, glad to be done with the conversation. As she walked away, she heard ‘bitch’ and ‘not his type’ in the muted exchange that followed. Although she had no reason to care what two strangers thought of her, it stung just the same. For the first time, Cassandra saw the situation from another’s perspective.
Maybe they’re right,
she acknowledged.
Maybe I’m not his type.
It occurred to her that possibly everyone else, including Jace, could see what she had failed to see.

JACE WALKED for an hour before heading back to his apartment. He was frustrated—frustrated that he’d had to hide, that he couldn’t go to his own apartment for fear of running into Cassandra. Frustrated, too, that he couldn’t erase her from his mind. The resolve to call Elise and move on with his life had been short-lived. He couldn’t resist comparing the two women, and Elise always came up lacking.

As he searched for answers, Sophie came to mind.
What do you think?
he asked the image in his head.

“She’s a lovely girl.”

Jace laughed as Sophie’s oft-used description of her niece came to mind.
She is,
he agreed.
I’ll give you that. But I have to forget about her, and I don’t know how.
It was verging on psychotic, yet he enjoyed the conversations he kept having with the old woman in his head. It kept her memory alive and kept her much-needed advice in the forefront of his mind.

“What you both have in here…It’s the same.”

The words brought Jace to a halt. This time he not only heard them; he felt a tap on his chest.
What the hell?

He stood on the sidewalk spellbound as a tingling sensation, beginning on his scalp, spread throughout his entire body. His senses were suddenly heightened. Everything looked different, sounded different. The atmosphere took on a new feel and a distinctive color. Twilight was settling in, and shadows seemed to come to life. The windows of the buildings glowed amber in the setting sun. The scene around him was bathed in cinematic splendor.

An unusual stillness permeated the air. Through an open window, he heard a couple arguing. A cat meowed in the alley as a garbage can tumbled over. Children were laughing in a playground down the block. In the distance, a siren wailed. Traffic rumbled through a busy intersection several blocks away.

He knew it wasn’t possible, yet Jace felt as though he was hearing sounds for the first time and peering out through new eyes. And encompassing it all was a sense of well-being, the likes of which he’d never known.
What’s going on?
he managed to ask.

“Not everything is as it seems, Jace.”

“Sophie?” he inquired aloud.

A woman sitting on a nearby veranda responded. “It’s not Sophie, dear, it’s Delores. Can I help you?”

“No…no thanks,” he replied and began to run. He didn’t stop until he’d reached his apartment. Once inside, he locked the door and stood leaning against it, puffing hard.

Am I losing my mind?
He took several deep breaths to calm himself, then replayed the bizarre events, trying to make sense of them.
I was remembering,
he insisted.
I was just remembering some of the stuff Sophie told me, that’s all.