When Kent had left, she broke. Her whole life had collapsed because he wasn’t shouldering his portion of the weight any longer.
That would never happen again; she wouldn’t allow it.
This life thing, this job of hers, both could be done without help. She didn’t need her training wheels.
“Okay. I get it.” He said the words, but they weren’t smooth. He stepped away, holding up his hands and taking away the warmth of his touch.
She lifted her chin. This was the absolute right thing, because training wheels had to come off someday. Otherwise, they weren’t training wheels.
They were just…wheels.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“I’ve been crossing things off my to-do list, and I just discovered it was yesterday’s to-do list.”
—Serena Bell
Jack
Jack didn’t screw up often. Apparently, however, when he did screw up, he did it in an epic way.
He could fix things for his clients. But he couldn’t fix his heart. Not when he’d fallen for April.
The feeling wasn’t mutual.
How could he go back to his career and his office and his work hours knowing that a few states away, a woman and her children were eating Crock-Pot chili without him?
On that thought, he opened the fridge at his sister’s house and grabbed a beer for him and for Travis. A beer and a goodbye and he’d be on his way.
“Tell the boys I’m sorry I missed them.” Jack had grabbed a few of their favorite candy bars before he headed over for goodbyes. If they’d been home he would’ve showed off his newfound skills at cutting sandwiches into shapes. Harmony had been teaching him. He had a hunch this wasn’t for his benefit though—she just liked her sandwiches cut into shapes and didn’t like to do it herself.
The little girl was sly, that was certain. Sly and awesome. She’d crawled right into a space in his heart he hadn’t even realized he’d saved for her. Right next to spaces for Rohan and Lola and, yes, even Mayonnaise.
Rachel knew better than to ask him to stay longer. Apparently, she’d shared that information with Travis, because he took Jack’s leaving with resigned understanding.
“You can come back, you know.” Travis sat on the sofa, crossing his ankle over his knee. “Anytime. If you make it a habit, we’ll even buy you an air mattress so you don’t have to sleep on the couch.”
Jack grinned, but he didn’t feel it. Not really.
“How did you know my sister was the one for you?” he asked, offering Travis a brew.
Travis and Rachel had a love story that wasn’t of the usual variety. They’d taken the back roads to find each other, realizing somewhere down the line that happiness overcame everything else.
“I didn’t.” Travis popped the top and took a pull from the bottle. “Sometimes I think it must all be some big universal mistake, because there’s no way I deserve her.”
“As her big brother, I can agree to that.” Jack grinned at his brother-in-law, then toyed with his bottle top before cracking it open. “But she’s happier than I’ve ever seen her, so I’m good with the arrangement.”
“I’m glad we have your approval.” Rachel rolled her eyes and dropped to the sofa beside her husband. He wrapped his arm around her and leaned in for a forehead kiss.
Jack had never thought he would want that kind of intimacy. He’d seen it with Ben and Sarah lots of times—the little touches, the innocent kisses—but he’d never wished it for himself.
Until now.
“I like the kids.” Jack cleared his throat. Took another pull from the bottle. “April’s kids.”
“Is my big never-having-kids-ever brother softening to the idea?” Rachel quirked her eyebrows.
“They’ve definitely grown on me.”
