Page 77 of After We Fall (After We Fall 2)
I dropped my eyes to the ground. I knew why, but Jack trusted me with his feelings. I couldn’t betray him.
“I mean, Steph’s clothes are still in the closet.”
I gasped and met her eyes again. That was a detail he hadn’t mentioned. “Wow.”
She shook her head. “I’ve offered to get rid of them so many times, but he won’t let anyone touch them.”
“God, it’s so sad.” My hand covered my heart. “How can he live like that?”
“He says that’s how he wants it. And whenever any of us try to help, he lashes out.”
“He does do that,” I agreed, remembering how he’d snapped at me yesterday at the market. “But it’s hard not to try, because once you get to know him, you see how sad he is. And you want to help.”
Georgia looked at me for a moment. “I will say this. He’s been different since you’ve been here. Better.”
“Me?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes. You guys were like two googly-eyed teenagers when you got back last night. Let’s not pretend there’s nothing there.”
“What could be there?” I tried for innocent, but it came out more coy than anything.
Georgia laughed. “I don’t know exactly what it is you’re doing, but he’s never called my smile magic. I haven’t seen him that way in years. It’s a shame you live so far away.”
“Yeah.” Frowning, I played with the braid trailing over one shoulder. “But I don’t know if it would make a difference anyway. I mean, does he ever date?”
“Never,” she admitted.
“And he told me the other night he’ll never get married again. Doesn’t want a family.”
“Yeah, that’s what he says to us too, any time we suggest he try getting out there again. It’s sad, because he’d make such a great father. And he’s still young.”
Exhaling, I dropped my hands to my sides. Tried to cover up my disappointment with a lie. “Oh, well. I don’t think I’m his type anyway, and he’s not really mine.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said airily. “I think you two could be good together. And sometimes opposites attract, right? Maybe you can change his mind.”
I smiled. Opposites attracted, sure, but attraction wasn’t our problem. We had all kinds of that. Our problem was that the attraction was getting stronger. It was bringing us closer. It was making me feel things with my heart and not just with my body.
But he wasn’t interested in my heart.
Georgia and I chatted a little more about the branding and social media strategies I’d outlined for them, and I was happy to hear they’d contacted a web designer and had filled out her project questionnaire. Again she asked me to please send her a bill for my time, but I politely refused. “You’re going to need every extra dollar to buy that house,” I told her. “Consider it my donation.”
She hugged me and went inside to discuss things with Pete and Brad. Presumably Jack would be in on the discussion eventually, but he hadn’t come to see the house. I hoped he’d be reasonable on the subject of buying it.
I also hoped I’d see him today. We hadn’t made any plans, but he had put my number in his phone before leaving last night. Maybe he’d call.
In the meantime, I didn’t want to sit around doing nothing, since that would just mean more time spent fretting over him. Instead, I researched some of my ideas for their market stand and displays, then drove to the nearest craft store for materials. I hit the grocery store too, buying fresh items for the next few days. When I saw the potatoes, I wondered again about baking them twice and made a mental note to look that up. Maybe I could take a cooking class or something—that would be getting out of my comfort zone for sure.
Learn to cook. Start riding again. I started a mental list of things I could do to change up my life, be happier and more fulfilled. Stop obsessing over my thirtieth birthday. Get involved with the food justice movement.
After a peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunch, I spent the early part of the afternoon working on the display projects and mulling over possible solutions for Pete and Georgia’s cash flow problem. A small business loan maybe? But I knew next to nothing
about the loan process since I’d never needed to take one out.
I was printing a price list on a chalkboard when my cell phone buzzed with a text. Hey you. It’s Jack. Want to meet Cooper and me at the park?
I picked up the phone, grinning at it like a goofball. Sure. What time?
Twenty minutes?
