Page 95 of The Library of Borrowed Hearts

The house felt oddly empty after my mom and Todd finished dropping off the promised groceries and headed out to pick up Theo and Trixie from school. In an act of absolution, they’d gone way overboard, investing in things like gourmet frozen pizzas that I had no room to store and exotic juice blends that the kids would be sure to avoid, but there were several boxes of name-brand cereal in the bags, so my mom hadn’tcompletelyfailed.

I had just finished reorganizing the freezer so that I could cram the last of the groceries inside when I heard a knock at the door.

“It’s open!” I called as I pushed against the freezer door with all my weight. I heard a cardboard box tearing inside, but the door managed to latch shut, so that was good enough for me. “And if you’re a child coming home from school, please don’t dump your backpack on the floor. Put it in your room where it belongs, or I won’t hesitate to revoke your internet privileges.”

“Is it bad that I like it when you get all authoritative and mean?” called the last voice I expected to hear.

“Zach!” I cried, more to myself than to the man in question. I poked a tentative head out of the kitchen to find him standing in the foyer, looking somehow both sheepish and like a man who’d never feared anything or anyone a day in his life. “What are you doing here?”

He whipped the knit cap off his head and clutched it in his hands like a beggar of old. I didn’t buy his act for a single second. No one who looked that good while pretending to be sorry was the least bit trustworthy.

I crossed my arms and glared at him. “If you’re here to see Noodle, you came to the wrong house. He’s over at Jasper’s—I mean, yourgrandfather’s.”

The venom in my voice was so thick that even I winced a little at the sound of it. Zach glanced quickly up, his expression bleak enough to wring a heart made of much stronger stuff than mine.

“You’re really mad about that, aren’t you?”

Since I’d already gone this far, I saw no reason to hold back now. “You mean, about that time you lied about who you are and why you live in Colville? About why you sought me out and inveigled yourself into my life and the lives of my brothers and sister?”

“Chloe, please. It wasn’t like that, I swear.”

I flung up a hand to stop him. I didn’t want to hear the way his voicecracked over my name or see the way his lips turned down at the edges. I didn’t want to see those crinkles around his eyes, which held so much sadness that I almost—almost—believed him.

“I did try to tell you, you know,” he added. “That day at the library when I gave you my grandmother’s copy ofA Farewell to Arms. I told you it was from my fairy godmother, but you thought I was joking.”

The air constricted around me. “That’s not fair, Zach.”

“I know it isn’t fair. But itisthe truth.”

Something about his simplicity caused me to fight even harder against the pull of him.

“It’s not as if it matters either way,” I said. “You might find this hard to believe, but I get why you did it. I’ve lived next to your grandfather my whole life. I know how prickly he can be. You wanted an in, and I provided the perfect opportunity.” I smiled then, a little wryly but with genuine feeling. “I’d have probably done the same thing, to be honest. When it comes to doing the tough jobs, I don’t think there’s a limit to how far I’ll go.”

He didn’t return my smile. If anything, his expression tightened to one of genuine pain. “Do you remember what I said to you that night we went bowling? About how lonely I was growing up? How much I enjoyed being around a family as loud and fun as yours?”

Of course I remembered that night. It was forever burned in my mind as the first time I actually allowed myself tohopethat my life might be something different. But all I said was, “Sure. Why not?”

He lifted his hands as if to reach for me before dropping them again. “I meant what I said, Chloe. My dad is every inch Jasper’s son, even if the two of them have never met before. He’s just as prickly and self-contained, an avid outdoorsman like me.”

“So? What does that have to do with me?”

“Everything,” he said. “And also nothing.”

That time, he really did reach for me. He didn’t pull me into hisarms or anything like that, but he did take both my hands in his own. His fingers were large and rough and capable, and I could suddenly see why a young Catherine had fallen so hard for an equally young Jasper.

“I moved to Colville last year for no real reason other than a curiosity to see the place my grandma used to talk about. She used to say that it was both the best and the worst place she’d ever lived. It was where she’d first fallen in love and learned to stand up for herself—where she’d buried one part of herself and given birth to a whole new one. Obviously, I was curious about Jasper, but that was only secondary to the rest.”

“Which was?” I asked. I didn’t try to pull my hands away.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I think that’s the Jasper in me. As soon as I set foot in the forest here, I knew it was where I belonged. Like my father—and my grandfather—there’s something about the wild that calls to me. It’s where I feel most at home. But like my grandmother, I also need more than just a few trees and the night sky. I don’t mean nice clothes and a high-powered career, butpeople. Siblings and friends and family. Maybe even you.”

I tried not to let that last remark get to me, but I was only human, after all. “Does this mean you’ll be sticking around for a while?” I asked, watching him through my half-lowered eyelids.

He seemed to sense that I was asking more than just a passing question. “Yeah, I am. I enjoy the town and my work, and Jasper has yet to slam the door shut in my face, so I figure that’s as good a sign as any that he’s willing to see what we can make of this whole grandpa/grandson thing. I’d also like to see what we can make of this whole Chloe/Zach thing, but I know I’m going to have to work hard to regain your trust. But if you’ll be here, I’d like to try.” His smile quirked again. “No pressure or anything. Just hope.”

My heart gave a sudden, heaving lurch. As fun as it was to indulge in the what-if dreams of selling the house and packing up the kids, of moving to Spokane and finding a way to pay the bills and pick up wheremy education had left off, the reality was that my life would very much continue the way it always had. Theo and Trixie were deeply entrenched in their respective schools. Noodle was happier than I’d seen him in a long time. I had Lonnie and Pepper to look out for and a job that, despite its low pay and even lower prestige, I genuinely enjoyed.

Besides, Zach was here.Jasperwas here.