Ricky studied him intently. “You want the song, don’t you?”
Caleb nodded. “I think that song is the one that could put my career back on track, this time as a solo artist, but Jenny gave it to you. Ken thinks you could turn it into a hit. I have no right to ask you to give up that shot. I should leave well enough alone.”
“No way, man. It’s yours,” Ricky said without even a moment’s hesitation. “Like I said, I owe you. There will be other songs for me, but, to be honest, I knew when I heard that one it should have been yours. You’re really the one who could do it justice. Having a newcomer like me do it could be a big risk. It deserves to be played on every radio station across the country. Jenny put a whole world of hurt into that song. Anyone hearing it can tell it’s real personal.”
Caleb sighed, a year’s worth of guilt washing over him. “Yeah, she did. And that pain? It was all my fault—every bit of it.”
“All the more reason for you to be the one performing it,” Ricky said, then asked worriedly, “What’s Jenny going to think about my letting you have the song?”
“Now that is the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, isn’t it?” Caleb responded candidly. “Obviously, I’ll have to work out an arrangement with her.” He allowed himself a rueful smile. “And if Jenny hates my guts these days, her agent probably has tar and feathers nearby with my name on them.”
Ricky chuckled. “Yeah, I definitely got that impression when your name came up in the conversation I had with Margo when we made the deal.”
“All I can do is try to make things right,” Caleb said.
Unsaid was that maybe, just maybe, negotiating for the song could open a door for him to patch things up with Jenny, too. Or at least to make amends for the way he’d treated her.
“She’s out of town, you know,” Ricky mentioned casually. “I heard she went to that town in Maryland where she grew up. Word around here is that she needed to take some time off. Rumor has it she’s hooking up with somebody in her family to write some songs for a Christmas play.”
“That must be her uncle’s wife,” Caleb said, surprised. In all the time they’d been together, Jenny had refused to set foot in Chesapeake Shores. Why had she gone back now? He doubted it was simply to write a few lyrics for some rinky-dink local Christmas production, even at the request of Bree O’Brien, a woman he knew Jenny loved and admired.
Only one way to find out, he decided. He sure as heck couldn’t convince Jenny to make a deal for that song he wanted over the phone. This required a face-to-face meeting. He’d just have to pray that she’d been infected by the holiday spirit and wouldn’t slam the door on him.
* * *
Mick stared at his brother. Thomas, usually a pretty optimistic guy, especially since he’d married Connie and had a son, looked as if the weight of the world were resting squarely on his shoulders.
“What do you mean, Jenny’s staying with Bree and Jake?” Mick demanded, indignant on his brother’s behalf.
“Just what I said. And it’s breaking Connie’s heart, I’ll tell you that,” Thomas said, his misery plain. “It’s all my fault. I should have done a better job of winning Jenny over before I married her mother. I knew she felt as if I stole Connie away from her, but that was never my intention. I wanted to have a family with Connie and in my mind that always included Jenny. The last thing I wanted was to drive a wedge between them.”
“You ever tell Jenny that?” Mick asked.
“How was I supposed to do that?” Thomas asked with frustration. “Every single time I tried, she’d give me one excuse or another. Then it was too late. She found out in the worst possible way that we were expecting a baby, right in front of the whole family on that trip to Ireland. It rocked her world. Not only had I displaced her in her mom’s affections, but there was a baby on the way. It shouldn’t have been a competition between her and Sean, but I know that’s how Jenny felt, and she decided she’d come out the loser.”
“You have to admit some of that goes back to that father of hers who abandoned her and Connie. The man should have been shot, if you ask me,” Mick said. “Whatever the issues were between him and Connie, what kind of man leaves town and doesn’t even stay in touch with his own daughter? It’s little wonder the girl has abandonment issues or whatever it is they call that kind of insecurity.”
“You’re right about that,” Thomas said.
“And now you’re paying the price,” Mick concluded. He shook his head. “As understandable as it might be, that hardly seems fair.”
“I don’t think fair has much to do with it. I doubt Jenny would trust anyone who came between her and her mother.”
“Probably not,” Mick conceded. “But she’s an adult now. She needs to suck it up and deal with the situation. I’ve known Connie for a lot of years. You’ve made her happier than I’d ever seen her before, and you know I don’t throw compliments your way lightly.”
“Believe me, I know,” Thomas said wryly. “What the heck am I supposed to do now, though? I can’t go over to Jake and Bree’s and drag Jenny home. It’s a little late for me to throw around my weight as her stepfather.”
“Want me to go over there?” Mick asked eagerly. He’d had far too little to do lately, with almost everyone in the family happily married and settled down.
Thomas fought a smile, but Mick caught it. He couldn’t say he blamed his brother for being amused.
“As generous as that offer is, you don’t have the finesse for this,” Thomas said. “Ma was very clear that I was to leave you out of it. She recommends being patient. She says if you try bossing Jenny around, she’ll only dig in her heels.”
“You talked to Ma and she said that?” Mick said.
Thomas chuckled. “And a lot more about bulls in china shops and lack of diplomacy. Dillon agreed with her.”
Nell O’Brien certainly had clear-eyed vision when it came to her family, Mick thought, much as her assessment might rankle. He put almost as much weight behind Dillon’s opinion. Since Dillon O’Malley and Nell had reunited in Ireland and married less than a year later, they tended to be in lockstep on this kind of thing.
“Okay, I’ll stay out of it for now,” Mick conceded reluctantly. “But you need me, say the word.”
Thomas stood up. “Thanks for listening, Mick. That’s what I really needed. I can’t let Connie see how frustrated I am. Then she goes and blames herself for putting me in the middle. It just complicates an already messy situation.”
“How about this?” Mick said. “You bring Connie and your boy here for Sunday dinner, like always. I’ll see to it that Jenny’s at the table.”
Thomas frowned. “Didn’t you hear a word I just said? No meddling.”
“I believe my instructions were to stay away from Jenny,” Mick said, satisfied that he’d found the perfect loophole. “Doesn’t mean I can’t put a bug in Bree’s ear about getting that girl over here for a family dinner. I’ll speak to Jess, too. We’ll make it a welcome home celebration. It’ll be downright rude of Jenny to refuse the invitation, especially if the gathering is in her honor. I know her mama raised her better than that.”
Thomas’s expression turned thoughtful. “I think you’re bending the spirit of Ma’s edict, but I’m willing to risk it,” he said eventually. “I want to see my wife smiling again. I thought just having Jenny back in town would do it, but not like this. Earlier, I asked Connie if she’d seen Jenny yet. She burst into tears and left the room. There wasn’t a thing I could do to comfort her.”
He sighed. “Just as bad, Sean knows something’s going on, too. He ran into Jenny at Bree’s theater this afternoon and came home with a thousand and one