I smiled at that last line, but the rest of her letter had my stomach in knots. Of course she was a Christian. In small-town Idaho, who wasn’t? But God hadn’t sent me to Hannah. God was probably too ashamed to even look check in me anymore, and I had stopped talking to Him years ago. I hadn’t talked to Him since that fateful night six years ago. Some things were just too shameful to bring before God. The guilt, too heavy. The sin, too great.
I jotted a quick reply so I could stop thinking about this before the lump in my throat grew larger.
Hannah,
You’re welcome. I’m happy the good citizens of Willow Harbor no longer have Vinnie lording over their Italian food.
Jack
P.S. I hope the dish you named after me is really good.
That night when I went to sleep, Hannah’s bright smile and the way she made me laugh more in one afternoon than I had in years played out in my head. I hoped she was happy and would find someone good who deserved her. Because I had a no-falling-in-love rule, and I intended to erase any thoughts of that kind about her from my mind.
Chapter Five
HANNAH
Jack’s email was shorter than I’d imagined and more humorous, but he was a busy man, so I understood. I also didn’t expect Chloe to call again this morning and offer free cancer treatment for my mother! That was taking it way too far. Gifts this big made me feel uncomfortable. But I didn’t want to deny my mother the best care the world had to offer.
Living apart from me in Seattle for six months wasn’t an option; neither was my leaving the restaurant and going to live with her in Seattle. So we’d gone for the second offer of having a Seattle cancer specialist fly out and consult with my mother’s local cancer team.
Still, this all felt like too much for a man I’d met for all of ten minutes, and I felt like I had to thank Jack properly. He barely knew me, yet he’d waltzed in here and started to grant wishes like a genie. It was…unnerving in a way, but I was grateful.
I wanted to know his motivation for such a thing. Sure, he was a billionaire, but I didn’t see Jeff Bezos going around paying for people’s cancer treatments. Maybe he did, though, and you just didn’t read about that stuff.
I typed the number from his card into my phone and hit the call icon. He was a busy guy, and I’d probably get his voicemail, but…
“Jack Marrow,” he answered on the first ring, and my eyes went wide.
“Jack, it’s Hannah with two N’s,” I said, and then I felt stupid. Why had I said my name like that? “Coincidently, have you ever met a Hannah with one N?” I added.
“I have not. I was hoping you would be the first.” I could hear the smile in his voice.
I relaxed at his friendly banter. “Soo…I got your kind offer to help with my mom’s cancer treatment.”
“Is she okay?” The concern that laced through his voice made my heart melt a little. He didn’t even know her, and he seemed to care about her.
“She is…but you’ve already bought me a restaurant. I think you’ve done enough.”
“It will never be enough,” he muttered under his breath.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He cleared his throat. “Listen, Hannah, I know that for most people it’s…weird to just go around paying off single mothers’ mortgages, or funding soup kitchens, or buying beautiful women who just got fired restaurants, but it’s what I do.”
He thought I was beautiful? I felt a blush creep up my cheeks.
“Wait, you paid off a single mother’s mortgage?” I asked. That was incredibly sweet.
“Yes. And it’s no big deal. Just take the help for your mom and live a happy life.”
“Jack,” I whispered into the phone as my throat tightened with emotion. “It’s not that easy. You can’t just go around blessing people and call it no big deal. I have to be able to repay you somehow. What do you need?”
I wasn’t sure I had anything a billionaire needed, but I could try.
He was silent so long I thought he’d hung up.
“Jack? Are you still there?”
