I nodded, and he stepped away from the table to pick it up. My throat tightened with emotion, so I cleared it.
Murdered? That was awful. A true tragedy, yet it made so much sense. The darkness I’d sensed in him, the heavy weight of something. It was that.
The food came about the same time Jack was back at the table, and the jet lag really tried to pull me under. My eyelids were drooping as I chewed my delicious food, and it felt like my body weighed a thousand pounds.
“I’m going to sleep for twelve hours,” I said between bites. There was a melancholy over our dinner after what Jack had shared, and I was trying to work through it.
He smiled, and I was struck by his handsomeness, which increased tenfold with that smile. “You will wake up in the middle of the night if you sleep too early,” he warned.
I yawned. “I don’t care.”
After we finished eating, we were driven in a golf cart to our bungalows, which were right next door to each other on the beach. Jack helped me out of the cart and walked me to my door.
“I hope you sleep well,” he said, but there was a sadness in his tone. Whatever lighthearted fun we’d had on the plane had been washed away by the remembrance of his late mother. But I totally understood.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” I told him. “I’m excited to meet the children at this orphanage you’ve built.” He peered up at me and his eyes looked even sleepier than mine. “I’m excited to see your excitement. Good night, Hannah.”
That was a sweet thing to say.
“Good night, Jack.”
I woke up at two a.m. after seven hours of sleep, just as Jack said I would. To kill time, I decided to finish the latest book by Eliza Boyd. I was a sucker for her small-town romances. After completing the book, it was only five a.m. and my stomach was eating itself. I showered, got dressed, and then took a walk on the beach. When it finally hit six, I grabbed breakfast from the buffet at the restaurant. I was digging into my second plate of food when Jack sat next to me.
“What time did you wake up?” he asked.
I peered over at him with a mouthful of spicy potatoes. “Two a.m.,” I muffled.
He grinned. “Not to brag, but I made it to three a.m.”
I smiled. He was funny. I liked that about him. And it seemed whatever sadness he’d had last night was now gone.
He asked me questions about my childhood and growing up in Willow Harbor, and before we knew it, our escort from Angel House had arrived.
“Namaste, Jack. I’m Asha, and it’s so great to finally meet you!” She had an Indian accent but spoke perfect English. She greeted him with prayer-clasped hands and bowed.
He wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin and stood, greeting her the same way. “This is my friend Hannah. She’ll be coming along.” He gestured to me.
After we’d been introduced, we finished our breakfast and piled into a nice van with a hired driver.
“We’re going to take you to the home in Kadyal today, but as you know, the other fifty houses you’ve built with us are scattered around South India.”
I nearly choked on my spit. “Fifty?”
Asha turned around to face me from where she sat in the passenger seat. “Jack is a very generous man.”
Jack shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and I couldn’t help but look over at him. I was sure a lot of rich people donated to good causes, but Jack seemed to go above and beyond. He didn’t hoard his money at all and shared it freely with others. I couldn’t help but find that so attractive.
With each mile we drove towards the orphanage, my heart grew deeper for Jack. But he wasn’t a believer, so pursuing a relationship with him felt like a big waste of time.
I peered up at the clouds outside the window.Lord, what is your plan here?
Chapter Ten
JACK
When that waitress had asked for my order last night at dinner and I’d found my mother’s name on her name tag, it was like a punch to the gut. I hadn’t thought about my mother lately; it was too painful to. SeeingSoniaprinted on the young woman’s tag had taken my breath away and created the hole in my heart that my mother’s death had caused to grow even deeper.
They said time healed all wounds. Not this one. Time made mine worse. I was starting to forget parts of her. What her laugh sounded like, the smell of her shampoo, how she had this little nervous twitch with her nose when stressed. I was letting her go and I couldn’t do that. She deserved to be remembered forever.
