By the time she’d finished with her little speech, Emma’s hands were clasped in front of her as if pleading with him. Gabby sat beside her, nodding in agreement.
Fucking hell.He turned away.
“I don’t know if she’ll be able to forgive you,” Gabby said from behind him. “But you’ll never know if you don’t try.”
“And not for nothing, but you guys all fucked it up before you got it right,” Emma said in a laughing tone. “Ryan messed up big time, but he got over himself and came and groveled for forgiveness.”
“So did Ethan,” Gabby said.
“But we were afraid you’d need an extra nudge, Mark. So here it is. Nudge, nudge. Go after her before it’s too late. Beg. Grovel. Do what you have to do.”
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and when he turned, Emma pulled him in for a hug.
“We love you too, Mark,” she said softly, pulling back. “We want you to be happy. And we want Jess to be happy.”
“And we’re really hoping you guys can be happy together. We’re rooting for you.” Gabby pulled him in for a hug too.
His chest felt uncomfortably tight. He didn’t have much experience with hugs from anyone but Jess, and it left him feeling somewhat off-balance.
Gabby and Emma walked toward the front door.
“Good luck!” Emma called over her shoulder, and then they were gone.
After they’d left, he took Bear for a long walk while he tried to make sense of their visit. He’d fucked things up with Jess. There was no undoing that. Was there? He walked until a couple of important truths rose to the surface of his mind. He loved Jess, loved her more than anything in the world. And if he wanted a second chance, he needed to offer one first.
When he got back to his apartment, he picked up the note Jess had painstakingly smoothed out and left on his kitchen counter. He typed in Sharlene’s number and brought the phone to his ear.
“Hello?”
“It’s Mark,” he said, his fingers clenched around the phone.
“Mark?” Her voice hitched. “I hoped, but I never thought…I’m so glad you called.”
He hadn’t thought he’d ever call either. Funny how things changed. “Maybe it’s time for us to talk.”
***
Jessica walked through the woods, a backpack on her shoulders and a blanket clutched in her arms. Today was her day off, and it was unseasonably warm for December so she’d decided to hike to the back of her new property and spend the afternoon by herself. She’d brought a book to read, and she might do a little meditation while she was out here too.
She was tired of moping around, tired of feeling sorry for herself, tired of missing Mark. She was a capable, independent woman, dammit, and it was time to find herself again. She needed to make peace with her illness and losing Mark and move on.
The worst—on both fronts—was hopefully behind her.
She found a leaf-strewn spot on top of a hill with a view of the stream below and spread out her blanket. She sat, pulled out her phone and earbuds, and started up her meditation playlist. A sense of calm flowed through her as she closed her eyes.
This was what she’d been missing.
No more chaos. Just peace.
She sat like that for a long time, eyes closed, as she focused on relaxing her body and letting go of all the negative energy clinging around her. A gentle breeze rustled through her hair, and she inhaled the damp, earthy smell of the forest.
Peace.
How lucky was she that she owned this beautiful spot? She could come out here every day if she wanted to. Yep, she was pretty damn lucky. It was lucky that she’d received a diagnosis, and she’d keep fighting the Lyme disease until she’d beaten it. She’d spent a lot of time in the last few weeks researching holistic treatments to augment what the antibiotics had done for her.
Drawing in another deep, cleansing breath, she opened her eyes.
And tumbled over sideways on her blanket with a shriek.
