“I understood, and Tessa did too, even if she wasn’t happy about it. She was pretty mad at her big brother for a long while. If it’s any consolation, for months, he never made it through a single day without hearing your name, and I could tell it ate away at him every time.”
“A little,” I said, a real laugh bubbling out of me when I lifted my head.
“It’s almost like Tessa is pushing you both back together.” She raised a brow as she sifted through a drawer of silverware.
“I don’t know about that, Mrs. Evans.” I shook my head. “Granted, it’s a lot of coincidence, but?—”
“Maybe it’s my old and foolish heart wanting to believe my daughter is still around or that there’s a higher power with some kind of plan after all.”
She handed me a stack of plates, a watery smile curving her lips.
“Whatever it is, I’m happy to have you back here at my table, with my son, who is trying to hold back how happyheis to have you here, and my granddaughter, who needs someone like you right now,” she said, sniffling as she nodded to the dining room. “I’ll keep watching the signs and hold on to the hope.”
Did I believe a greater power had put me back in Jesse’s path because it was fate, or just to screw with me?
I favored the latter.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Jesse grabbed my arm as I set the plates on the table.
“Fine, why?”
“You look…upset,” he said, concern pulling at his features.
I clenched my eyes shut and nodded. I’d forgotten my crying jag on his mother’s shoulder, and while I’d wiped away the tears, my eyes were probably still red and swollen.
“I’m okay, Jesse. It was just too many memories there for a minute.”
His shoulders softened as a relieved smile coasted across his face.
“I know what you mean. When you went into the kitchen with my mother, I kept trying to remember when the last time you were here was. I know it was a lot of years ago, but I don’t remember the exact last dinner?—”
“I do,” I admitted as I set down the last plate.
Jesse squinted at me. “You do?”
“Well, not the last dinner with your parents. But I remember my last meal here. We decided to have a taco night when your parents and your sister went on vacation and left you here alone because you were working that warehouse job for the summer with Caden. It was about a week before…”
Jesse shut his eyes, nodding as he leaned back against the wall.
“You picked me up after work, and we bought way too much from the grocery store to make tacos for only two people.” I huffed out a laugh as I made my way around the table. “My mother actually bought that I was staying at Sabrina’s house for the night. That was my last sort of dinner and my first and last breakfast here.”
I hated my stupid brain and its airtight clarity when it came to my history with Jesse lately. I couldn’t tell you what I’d had for breakfast this morning or dinner last night, but I could recall with complete detail devouring blueberry pancakes in Jesse’s bed that next morning, starving since we’d abandoned our crazy dinner the night before to feast on each other instead.
“That was a fun night,” Jesse rasped as the corner of his mouth tipped up, taking a quick glance behind him. “The kitchen was a disaster, but we managed to clean it up enough before everyone came home. Other than my mother asking why my sheets smelled like syrup, none of our parents were tipped off.”
We laughed at the bittersweet memory. I blamed the fact that I’d—mostly—forgiven him for breaking up with me on losing that shield of anger I’d needed to ground and protect myself.
Even though we’d been young, too young to ever truly plan for a forever or even understand it, it had been good between us. Too good to last, but both heartbreaking and wonderful to remember.
“What’s your other job? You said you have to sit on your butt all day and edit.”
Jesse and I both straightened at the same time, the usual spell between us broken by his niece’s question.
“I’m a book editor. I analyze manuscripts and make sure they have no mistakes before they get published.”
Her tiny brows pulled together. “What are manuscripts?”
