by Annie Rains
He understood Edward’s reasons, but Jack wasn’t like his dad. He’d made mistakes, but they didn’t define him.
“Hey.” The back door opened, and Amanda walked out, wearing sweat shorts and a T-shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail that told Jack she’d just woken up.
“Did I wake you?” he asked.
“No. I mean, yes, but it’s not your fault. I heard the front door open and close, and when I didn’t hear you creak down the hall, I figured you were out here thinking.” She sat in the chair beside him and looked over. “I’m guessing tonight didn’t go well.”
“That’s an understatement. It went about as bad as it possibly could go.”
“Oh no. Mr. St. James used to like you. Wasn’t he the one who suggested you take Emma to her senior prom in the first place?”
Jack chuckled dryly. “Yeah, well, he learned his lesson there, I guess.”
“My point is he saw the good in you before. He’ll see it again. And there’s a lot of good.”
“I tried to show him tonight. I really did. He refused to even give me a chance.” Jack looked over at Amanda. “He bought an expensive bottle of wine and practically demanded that I drink with him.”
Amanda’s jaw dropped in a dramatic fashion. “What? That’s…that’s just wrong. Knowing you have an issue with alcohol and then rubbing it in your face like that. Please tell me you didn’t…”
“No.” Jack shook his head and returned his attention to the trees. “I don’t need to drink to feel good.”
Amanda reached for his hand. “You have it all figured out. I’m proud of you and also a little jealous.”
“You’re figuring things out too,” he said.
“Trying.” She looked out on the backyard with him. “It’s beautiful here.”
Jack nodded. “It is.”
“I could’ve just come here for the summer to clear my head and get it back on straight.”
Jack smiled. “I think you did the right thing. Is your head on straight now?” he asked.
“Pretty much.” She grinned over at him. “Thanks for taking care of Sam for the last few weeks.”
“No problem.”
“You know, one of the things I learned in counseling is that you can steer your life in the right direction, but you have to know that waves are going to toss you all about. Or something like that.” She furrowed her brow and looked at Jack. “It was a boating analogy of some type. My therapist said to know the people and things that will keep you afloat if you fall out of the boat. Your life preservers, he called them. You’re one of my preservers, Jack. And Sam and Mom. I need to get back to church too.”
Jack looked over. “That’s good advice.”
“Okay, then tell me. Who or what is your life preserver?”
He scratched the side of his face as he thought. He enjoyed hanging out with Granger and Luke lately. Then there was his family, small as it was. “You’re on the list. You’d save me, right?”
“After all these years saving me? Of course.”
“Good to know.” Emma came to mind too. She’d always been his friend and more. If he lost her, he wasn’t sure any of his available lifelines would keep him afloat. But he wasn’t going to lose Emma, no matter what her father thought of him. Now that he’d found her, he was going to hold on to her.
“Whoa. I don’t know what thought just crossed your mind, but it was pretty serious,” Amanda said on a laugh. “I’m guessing it was about that girlfriend of yours.”
Jack didn’t feel the need to respond, which was its own sort of answer.
“I’ve always wanted a sister,” Amanda said. “Emma would make a good one.”
Jack looked over, feigning offense. “A brother isn’t good enough for you?”
Amanda chuckled softly, the sound drifting off toward the woods and the water. She still had her hand on his, and she brought her opposite hand to cover it as well. “You’re more than enough, but you’ll never get your hair and nails done with me or go dress shopping on Main Street.”
Jack furrowed his brow. “No, I won’t. And if I did, I think your dreams of Emma being your new sister would be over.”
Amanda laughed some more. It was good to see and hear her so happy. Then she squealed softly. “Uh-oh. I think that was a raindrop…There’s another.”
They both lifted their faces to the sky to check just as a heavy downpour broke over them.
Amanda let out a quiet shriek. Then they both jumped up and dashed for the back door, already drenched by the time they got inside.
“You look like you just fell in a pool,” Amanda whispered to him.
“I’ll grab us a couple towels.” He headed back to the bathroom, grabbed two, and came back to dry off.
“I think that was my cue to go to bed,” Amanda told him when she was done. She hung the wet towel on the back of a chair to dry out.
Jack nodded. “Good night.”
“Night.” He watched as she tiptoed down the hall.
Jack wasn’t the least bit tired, especially after that unexpected shower. He listened for a second as it came down on his metal roof. The sound was its own form of music. He wished he was with Emma tonight, enjoying the sound together and making love as it stormed all around them.
For a moment, he considered getting in his truck and driving down there, knocking on her door, and doing just that. He chose the side of self-control, just like he did with the glass of wine tonight and every other time he was faced with an opportunity to drink.
And tonight, self-control meant retreating to his own bed. Another day, it might be seeking out Edward St. James and telling him that he would never hurt Emma, ever again. That he would protect her, respect her, and adore her. He had no other choice than to do those things because he loved her.
* * *
On Friday, the eve before the big event, Emma didn’t need coffee or her most recent addiction to seeing Jack to get her through the day. She was running on pure adrenaline. Nina and Sam were operating the café today, and Emma was completing a to-do list. At the top of that list was picking up the T-shirts from the printing company.
She stepped into the store and headed straight to the counter, where a balding middle-aged man greeted her. “Hi. I’m Emma St. James, here to pick up an order of T-shirts.”
He nodded, put a receipt in front of her, and X’ed the bottom signature line. “Sign here, and I’ll help load the boxes in your car. That’s a lot of T-shirts,” he observed.
“Yes. Much more than I’d expected to order.” She couldn’t contain her smile as she said it. She was so proud of herself that she was practically giddy. She’d pulled this off. She was celebrating her mom’s life by influencing the lives of so many women in the community. This was a great way to begin her thirtieth year. “Hopefully next year my order will be even bigger,” she told the man, sliding the signed receipt back toward him.
They filled her entire car with boxes of T-shirts, and then Emma headed off. She had one more important stop to make. She needed to go see Angel. She felt awful about the way she’d behaved the other night, and it was time they sat down and talked.
Angel worked as a nurse in a walk-in clinic in town. Emma thought she’d just stop by and leave a message for Angel to call her. She could text but she was in the area. She parked and went inside the small building with few cars in the parking lot. The receptionist looked up and smiled.
“You’re Angel’s stepdaughter,” she said immediately.
Emma slowed her walk. “Yes. I’m, um, Emma.”
The woman nodded. “She has a framed picture of you and your dad in her area. She talks about you a lot. And she brings us coffees from your café all the time. Love the brew. Best in town,” the woman said.
Emma nodded. “Thanks. I just wanted to leave Angel a note. Do you mind if I borrow a pen and Post-it?”
The receptionist didn’t listen. “Angel!” she called behind her. “Hey, Angel, your stepdaughter is here.”
&
nbsp; Emma should’ve just sent a text.
Angel appeared a moment later, a look of confusion and surprise on her face. “Is Eddie okay?” she asked immediately.
Because why else would Emma pay her an unexpected visit? “He’s fine. I was just going to leave you a message to call me. I was hoping we could talk sometime soon. Just you and me.”
Angel nodded and started peeling off her white nurse’s coat. “It’s not busy. There’s a picnic table outside.” She started leading the way.
This was why Emma didn’t usually act on her impulses, which is what stopping here had been. She hadn’t planned out what she’d say to Angel. She didn’t know how or what she wanted to discuss.
Angel sat at a picnic table outside and Emma plopped down in front of her.
“I’m sorry,” Emma said. “I guess that’s what I really wanted to say. About the other night. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
Angel reached for her hand.
Emma considered yanking her hand away, but she wasn’t a kid. She’d been a budding teenager when she’d first met Angel, and she was still acting that way toward her.
“When I first met your mom, as her nurse, one of the things that impressed me most was how much she loved her family. You and Edward. Your mom and dad had one of the best relationships I had ever seen.” Angel blew out a shaky breath. “I came from a broken home and a broken marriage.”
“So you were jealous of my parents?” Emma asked. It was an honest question with no attitude behind it. She really wanted to know.
“No,” Angel said, pulling her hand back now. “Yes. I was inspired by watching them together. Your mom was my patient, and I loved her. I grew closer to her than I ever have with a patient, and when she was gone, I missed her.” Angel looked down at her hands on the table for a moment. “She told me that she had recently been working on her marriage to your dad. She said she wanted to fall in love with him all over again, and I think they did.”
Emma remembered the checked item on her mom’s list. Fall in love with my husband all over again.
“She sent me out to get little trinkets for him. I played matchmaker in a way.” Angel looked at Emma. “I never had any feelings for your father during that time. We barely even talked. When your mom was in the room, Edward only had eyes for her. You need to know that.”
Emma rolled her lips together as emotion surfaced. This conversation was way overdue. But maybe she wouldn’t have listened until now. Maybe she wouldn’t have believed Angel if she’d tried to explain this to her before. “I believe you,” Emma said.
Angel smiled. “After your mom died, I never saw your dad until about a year later. He was sitting alone, and I felt like he needed someone to talk to. So we talked, and it felt good to both of us so we decided to do it again…” She squinted under the shelter of the umbrella. “You don’t get to choose who you fall in love with. He was Jenny’s Edward. But he became my Eddie.”
Hearing Angel call her dad Eddie had always scraped on her nerves, but now, in this context, it made sense. “I’m sorry, Angel,” Emma said, reaching out for her stepmother’s hand this time. “I’m really sorry.”
Angel shook her head. “No need to be. I was a hospice nurse. I know all the stages of grief. You were angry.”
“I stayed angry too long, and you didn’t deserve it.”
“One thing I learned in hospice is that there are no rules for how people deal with the bad stuff. They just do and feel what they need to in order to get through it. That’s all any of us are doing.”
Emma nodded. “I’m glad my dad has you in his life. I’m glad he’s not alone.” She hated to think about Angel being lonely once upon a time. “I’m glad you have him too.”
“And now we have each other,” Angel added, her eyes squinting warmly, hugging Emma across the table like she’d done for years. This warranted a real hug though.
Emma stood and wrapped her arms around Angel’s neck. She felt Angel tense initially and then relax. When she pulled away, Angel looked at her.
“I knew about your mom’s Life List. I never left her side toward the end. I’ve thought about that list over the years. When I heard about the race you were planning, I knew you’d found it.”
Emma’s lips parted. “Deb Hershey sent it my way.”
“Your mom’s best friend.” Angel nodded. “The 5K was the one thing on the list she never got to do.”
“Well,” Emma hedged, “she didn’t save a life. And she wanted to leave something special behind when she died.”
Angel pushed back from the table and stood, meeting Emma at eye level. “It depends on what you consider saving a life. I was a different person back then. I was bitter about all the things that had gone wrong in my own life, and I was lonely. I thought it would always be that way. But while I helped your mom die, she helped me learn to live. She saved my life, Emma. I’m not the same person because of her.”
Emma’s eyes burned. She didn’t want to cry.
“And she did leave something wonderful behind when she passed,” Angel said quietly, laying a hand on Emma’s shoulder. “That one’s obvious. She left you.”
Emma couldn’t help it. Tears started streaming down her cheeks. Angel started crying too. “We probably look a mess out here,” Emma finally said, sniffling and wishing she had some Kleenex on hand.
“It’s okay. These are happy tears. At least for me.”
Emma swiped her hand under her eyes. “Me too. But you need to get back to work.”
“And so do you,” Angel agreed. “I’ll see you soon. You and Jack should stop in and visit with me and Eddie.”
Emma nodded. “We will. I look forward to it,” she said, meaning it for the first time.
They hugged one more time, and then Emma returned to her car in the parking lot. There was a voicemail from Dr. Rivers waiting for her on her phone. Nervous prickles ran up her spine, which was silly. She didn’t need to be anxious. Dr. Rivers was probably calling about the event and wanting to review some detail. Emma tapped her screen and listened to the message.
“Emma, this is Dr. Rivers. I need to make an appointment with you to review the results of your genetic testing. Please call the office at your earliest convenience.”
Emma played the message again, listening for any hint of whether this was good news or not, but Ashley’s tone was nothing short of professional. There was no hint of anything positive or negative.
It was fine, of course. Emma’s other tests had come back fine, and if it was serious, Ashley would have said so. Wouldn’t she?
Emma gathered her courage and called the office back, but it had already closed. It was Friday, and the message said it wouldn’t reopen until early Monday morning. She had Ashley’s cell phone number but calling would seem desperate, and Emma wasn’t desperate. She could wait until Monday. This weekend, she needed to focus on the event anyway and make sure everything went off without a hitch.
Jack’s truck was in her driveway when she got home. He was sitting on her front porch steps, waiting for her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as she stepped out of her car.
He grinned. “That’s some greeting.”
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m just surprised.” Did they have plans and she forgot?
“It’s Friday night,” he said. “Everyone’s bringing their special someone to Music in the Park. I was hoping you’d be my date again tonight. Unless you feel like you need to rest up for tomorrow. The day starts early, but I promise not to keep you out too late.”
Emma headed toward him. The closer she got, the more she thought it might be even better to tug him inside and stay there for the next few hours.
He chuckled under his breath and wrapped his arms around her waist. “We could just make a quick appearance and come back here. In which case, I promise not to keep you up too late,” he said, brushing his lips over hers.
“I like the sound of that.” She smiled up at him. “Let me just change inside
.”
He followed her in and shut the door behind him. Barnaby trotted over and propped his paws on Jack’s shin. He dutifully rubbed behind the dog’s ears. “I’m not picking you up tonight, pal, because I can do without your sloppy kisses. It’s your owner’s kisses I’m interested in,” he said.
Emma laughed. “Make yourself comfortable. I won’t be long.”
When she got into her room, she closed the door and stood behind it. She didn’t want to think about the message from Dr. Rivers tonight, or even this weekend. When Jack was around, her head was in the clouds, and it was hard to think of anything other than him.
She slipped into a sundress and slid on some sandals. Then she headed back down the hall, stopping short when she saw Jack holding a bottle of wine in one hand and a glass in the other. “Jack? What are you doing?”
He turned toward her, his expression dissolving from a smile to a grim line. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jack wasn’t a defensive guy, but the way Emma had just looked at him made all his defenses go up. “This is for you,” he said. “My glass has the apple cider from Merry Mountain Farms in it.”
Emma looked from the wine bottle to the second glass that Jack was lifting up now. “Oh. I’m sorry. I just…”
“Thought that I’d break my sober streak for a glass of wine?” Jack shook his head. “No. I never liked wine that much. I liked beer and hard alcohol, but I’m never indulging in either of those again.” He poured wine into the empty glass and handed it to her. “I thought we should make a toast.”
Emma took the glass and then he reached for his glass of juice. “To what?” she asked.
“To a lot of things. But mostly to how amazing you are. The event is tomorrow, and it’s going to touch a lot of lives. You decided to do something, and you did it, whereas a lot of people just talk about doing things.”
