“See. You already have a good track record. You and Dylan have been in each other’s pockets for nearly a year now. Has he ever lost his patience with your kids?”
She frowned, thinking back. “Rarely. He’s actually more patient with them than their father was, and Dylan connects with them better.” Mike had been a good man and a loving father, but he’d commented more than once that he’d be glad when they were older, and he could do things with them.
“Think about it.” Jason stood. He gave her an encouraging nod before turning around and heading into the other office where he called out a flirtatious greeting to Jasmine.
Rae tried to return to her work, but her stomach was so tense it hurt. What if she believed Jason only because she wanted to so badly? Was she really in a good emotional place to make a decision about this?
Yet she’d often thought Mike and Dylan would have liked each other, been friends. Her breath caught in her chest. How could she have come to love Dylan so much so soon? It’d only been thirteen months since Mike had died.
It was too much. She pulled her purse from the desk drawer and called out to the others, “I’m going to a take an early lunch.”
“Drive safely,” Amelia called, watching Rae with interest.
She raced to her car. Once she got into it, she paused, staring at the nearby rose bush and the large red blooms. Where should she go? Somewhere calm where she could think. A light breeze brought a waft of fragrance into her open window. Rae and Tim had never made it to the cemetery rose garden. That might be the quiet place she needed.
17
After parking her car, Rae made her way through the rose-decorated wrought iron entrance to the cemetery. The heavenly bouquet greeted her, stronger than anything she’d ever smelled before. She took her time strolling along the stone paths, some with bushes and others with cascades of blooms flowing over arches.
Rae paused to study some of the names on the old tombstones. She wondered what the people’s lives had been like, what challenges they’d faced, what losses they’d suffered or joys they’d had. Finally, she found a bench underneath a particularly beautiful spray of rose blooms and sat.
Thinking back over the last year, Rae assessed her interactions with Dylan. He and Jayden had quickly become the center of her family. Yes, Dylan sometimes got cranky with the children, but so did she. And when she was having a tough day, Dylan had been there to help her put things in perspective. Rae thought she’d done the same thing for him.
Like Jason had said, Dylan was the real deal. His concern for his nephew had been strong from the beginning. She remembered the expression on Dylan’s face when he’d told her about his girlfriend’s ultimatum. Rae gave a soft laugh. She completely understood his disbelief the woman had demanded he give up his nephew.
Dylan had also said he wanted to be the kind of parental figure for Jayden his cold father hadn’t been for Dylan and Nora. He’d succeeded. An image of his face as Beth had thrown herself in his arms flashed through Rae’s mind. Her daughter had called him Daddy. And Jayden had called her Mama. Rae blinked against the stinging in her eyes.
“I finally found you,” Amelia’s familiar voice said, sounding a little breathless. She collapsed onto the bench. “I never realized how big this place was.”
“What are you doing here?” Rae asked. “Who’s covering the office?”
“My well-trained staff, of course.” Amelia pinned one of her disapproving gazes on Rae, and she knew she was in for it.
“How did you know I was here?”
“I followed you, of course. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something, and this seemed the perfect day for it.”
“What?” Rae asked, though she had an idea.
“Who,” Amelia said, “and you know it’s Dylan.”
“Yes.” Rae let out a deep sigh.
“You’re trying to decide what to do with him.”
Rae blinked and shifted on the bench to face her friend. “Dowithhim?”
“Yes. Are you going to keep him or throw him away? Isn’t that what you’re struggling with?”
Her face warming, Rae clenched her jaw to keep from saying something she’d regret.
“Now see, I can tell I’ve made you mad, and I’m sorry about that.” Amelia patted Rae’s hand and said, “What do you call it when you’re in love with a good man but kick him to the curb when he tells you he loves you too?”
“I never—” Rae jumped to her feet, but Amelia clasped her wrist.
“How do you think he felt?”
So much for the peaceful time to think through her feelings. With a sense of defeat, Rae let her friend pull her back down to the bench.
