Stay with Me (Return to Haven 1)

“Wanting to cut those final ties? I guess being a city girl now you’re more concerned with promotions, getting to the top of that corporate ladder, and forgetting your roots.”

Olivia knew anything she said would only make her sound like she hated this place, so she remained silent.

“I guess it’s easier to move on than it is to water those roots, huh?”

Swallowing that lump of remorse, Olivia refused to answer. No, she didn’t want to revisit the past. Obviously, that was the entire point of trying to get out from under this burden.

“You can buy my half,” she suggested, as if that solution would wrap up this mess in a neat package.

“In a perfect world I would. But I have bills to pay and no extra cash.”

“How about a loan?”

“My wife pretty much destroyed my credit while I was overseas. I’m still digging out of that mess.”

Who was this woman he’d been married to? She left a newborn baby and had demolished Jackson’s finances all while he was fighting for their country. What was wrong with people?

“I’m sure there’s something we can work out,” she murmured, more talking to herself than anything. She refused to believe there was no way around this.

“Why don’t I get the property appraised and let’s take it from there.”

Jackson started their descent and part of Olivia was thankful their time was drawing to an end. The other part, the one she wished would shut up and get out of her head, wanted to learn more about the man who stood in her way. She wanted to know what happened after she left, how his relationship was with her father. Most likely Jackson was the exact child her father had wanted. With his love of aviation, Jackson made the perfect replacement once Olivia was gone. Hell, Jackson had been perfect while Olivia had still lived here. Maybe that was just another reason why her father stayed at the airport so often—he’d had someone to bond with.

Olivia couldn’t deny the hurt. She couldn’t deny that when she’d secretly wished her father would put her ahead of everything else, but instead he’d turned to the skies, to Jackson.

“You can do what you want, but you’d be wasting your time.” His voice came through seconds before he tapped the control and announced his landing. “This is my life, Livie. You wouldn’t like it too much if someone showed up at your place of employment one day and told you to give everything up.”

“This isn’t the same thing,” she argued.

“It’s exactly the same thing, I just reversed the scenario.”

He wasn’t going to make her feel guilty. Hadn’t she already had that pep talk with herself? The whole single father, ex-soldier, small-town hunk was too damn appealing on levels she couldn’t even address in her own mind. She refused to let him get to her, but that grip she had on the control was starting to slip. If she didn’t watch herself, she’d lose more than just this sale.

As he lined up with the airstrip, Olivia’s trained eye instantly went to the lights to the left of the runway to make sure all three were green for a safe landing.

“You’re a great pilot,” she found herself saying. “You can tell you have a passion.”

“I would’ve still been in the air force had my life not taken a different turn,” he explained. The plane made a gentle bump as the wheels hit the pavement. “But Piper is the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Not every parent would have given everything up like that.”

“I never walk away from what’s mine. Not even when my marriage was falling apart. I would’ve stuck it out to make things work.”

Olivia didn’t understand that type of dedication. She’d never been shown such devotion or love. She couldn’t help but wonder if he loved his wife that much or if he was just determined to give his daughter the best life he knew how. No matter, she didn’t need his whole backstory. She didn’t need to know what made him tick to move forward with her plans. Selling this airport was nonnegotiable.

“Let me buy your half, Jackson. I would make it worth your while and give you enough until you found something else.”

He taxied around the runway, slowing the plane down and letting the engines cool. Olivia waited on him to flat-out refuse once again. It seemed to be their song and dance. But she wasn’t giving up . . . then again, neither was he.

“Not everything is a business decision,” he finally stated. “You don’t even bother getting to know someone before you try to turn their life inside out. You know the young boy I used to be. You see me as some sort of replacement for you in regard to your father. If you only knew how he was after you left, you might not be in such a hurry to sell his legacy.”

The unwelcome burning in her throat had Olivia swallowing hard. Those emotions she’d once thought buried kept creeping up at the most inopportune times . . . and even more so since she’d been back. Living in her childhood home, sleeping in her old bedroom, and dealing with Jackson really thrust her into dealing with things she’d rather run from. But she’d been running long enough. She was a big girl now—time to act like one.

“You only saw my father’s side of things,” she explained. “I’m sure you think you know the situation, but I promise you don’t.”

As they neared the hangar, he slid off his headset and placed it between them. Bringing the plane to a complete stop, he turned to face her.

“Then tell me,” he stated, as if things were that simple, and that open, between them. “Tell me what it was like. Because I assure you that you also don’t know all the sides of the story. You have no clue that your father kept those little overalls you used to wear as a toddler hanging in his office behind the door until he died. You have no clue that he was sick when you left, and you can’t possibly know that he busted his ass to hold on to this when his medical bills had become so much that he almost had to sell. He stayed at the airport more than usual because he didn’t want you and your mother to see how run-down he was from the illness.”