Chapter Fourteen

 

Inside the box, was a tissue-wrapped ornament, but that wasn’t what caught my eye. Tucked into the lid was a folded note written on blue paper.

If my hands had been shaking before, that had nothing on what they were doing now. Tropical storms moved things less.

Jesse’s hand squeezed my shoulder. “I’ll give you a minute.”

I put my hand on his pajama-covered leg. “Stay. Please. I insist.”

Inhaling, I counted to three before I released my breath and unfolded the note. My eyes fell upon the words My Dearest Mona and the tears fell out like a flash flood.

Her beautiful script scrawled out a short message about how I changed her life when I made her a mom; the best thing to have ever happened and she hoped someday when I had a child, I’d understand that kind of undying love. Every day she was proud of me, for giving more of myself than I had to spare, for taking care of Dad and Lily and her. For finding strength in the darkest of places and still seeing the light on the heaviest of days.

I chuckled through tears as I read, it was typical Mom to mess up the metaphors.

She wished me unending joy and happiness and to find the one who fills my heart with love and desire, the kind of person who you miss instantly when they are out of sight and can’t wait to be back in their arms. The kind of contentment that only comes with finding your soulmate and passion.

Her final written words were: Never settle for less than you deserve, for you deserve the very best.

“Oh, Mom.” My heart ached as the tears continued to rain down my cheeks.

Jess squeezed me tight, and I pulled a touch of his strength to wipe my face with the back of my hand. I folded the note back into place and tenderly unwrapped the tissue paper, pulling out the glass ball. Inside the ornament were rolled pieces of paper, and on the outside was the word Memories and the year before my birth until her last year. Had she written all her favourite memories of us throughout the years? There were so many miniature scrolls.

I held it in front of the twinkling tree lights and stared.

Jesse whispered, “She’s always with you.”

I tipped my head against him and nestled the treasure into the box as a wave of bittersweet peacefulness settled over me. Her words replayed over and over in my mind, until the dawn of the new day broke across the horizon, brightening the living room.

 

 

When I awoke, it was clearly morning. Somehow, I was covered in a blanket, and Jesse’s lap had been my pillow. As I stretched, I opened my eyes and stared into the sleepy face looking down on me.

“Morning.” His voice was groggy and raw, and he cleared the frog away. “How’d you sleep?”

I pushed myself into a sitting position and wiped at the tiny crust of dried drool. The picture of attractiveness. Not wanting to chance breathing dragon’s breath onto him, I turned my head and stretched out my neck. “It was good.”

Better than good. One of the best night’s sleep I’ve had in ages, but I was sure it wasn’t all due to Jesse. Part if it was because the burden was lifted. At least that was my thought.

Standing on my feet, a gust of cool air settled over me once the warm blanket was lifted. I cocked an eyebrow. “You?”

He chuckled, a sweet sound I wanted to always hear. “I believe I did.”

My gaze scanned the room, settling on the base of the tree. The presents had multiplied at some point during the night.

“Merry Christmas.” Jesse stood beside me.

“That was a first for me, as an adult.”

“What was?”

“Sleeping in front of the tree like that. It was kind of pretty.”

Lights all twinkling, the rhythmic noise of a spinning ornament, the gentle crest of waves beating on the shoreline and another body to keep me warm and secure. Seriously, a person could get used to spending the holidays here.

Jesse touched the tip of my nose with his finger and then curled it and gently lifted my chin up to gaze into my eyes. “I’ll admit, I haven’t done that either. That’s a first.”

“We’re really quite the pair, aren’t we?” My eyes danced between his, and my gaze lowered over his perfect cheeks and settled on his kissable lips.

His ex-wife was crazy for not sticking around. He was a keeper. If only there wasn’t a whole cross-island distance between us, we could continue to explore this growing connection, rather than have it severed in two days time. I was due home, back to work on the twenty-eighth, back to whatever life I was willing to let myself live.

He tipped his head to the side and moved in closer, our chests fusing with each whisper of a kiss until neither could stand the anticipation further, and we gave into the pull. The kiss was hot enough to melt icebergs, and I desperately wanted to explore more, however, movement out on the beach caught my eye, and I yanked away in surprise.

“The wedding.” It rolled off my tongue like it had been something I’d forgotten about, which couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Jesse walked to the back door and hung his hands from the door frame, stretching out his back. “Looks like they are setting up chairs and the wedding arch thing.”

“Maybe I should throw breakfast in and go clean myself up?”

“Breakfast would be a great idea. Maybe I’ll toss it in for you, if you tell me what it needs to cook at?” He stepped over and once again held me tight.

It didn’t get old, and unlike with Charlie, whose hold I couldn’t wait to get out of, I found myself missing Jesse the moment we broke apart. It was the weirdest feeling. But I needed a shower and a good teeth scrubbing.

“Unwrap and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.” I was already halfway down the hall.

“I’m on it.” The oven beeped as he punched in the temperature.

Without another word, I headed up to the shower, and had myself a little quickie cleaning. The warm scent of cinnamon and a pot of freshly brewed coffee filled my senses as I strutted back into the kitchen in my button up blouse and blue jeans, with my prettiest underwear on beneath. Had I known I could be something unwrapped, I would’ve packed something nicer.

Jesse folded the newspaper and hopped off the stool, his gaze raking me over and warming me up nicely. “I know the invitation said business casual, but are you wearing that to the wedding? I think your sister would have a bird.”

Yep, Lily would go hog wild. “I’ll be changing after I do my hair and makeup. This way, if I spill, I’m not getting it on my dress.”

“The rollers really add to the look.” He tapped one for good measure.

For some reason, I didn’t feel the need to hide in my room as my hair set. “I’d thought I’d go with sexy beach wave hair.”

“You could go dressed exactly as you are, and you’d still be the prettiest one there.”

A building heat flashed across my chest and flooded my neck and cheeks. “Stop,” I whispered.

“I’m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable?”

My gaze fell to the timer on the stove. Three minutes remained; however, the island was already set for two.

“Didn’t your husband compliment you?”

“Of course, it’s just…” Been a while. Compliments became special occasion words, or when Charlie was really horny and hoped to turn me on for a reason other than a baby-making romp in the hay. And that was well over eighteen months ago.

“It’s unfortunate. For him, I mean.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I slowly made eye contact.

“Because I get to be the lucky one who tells you how amazing and beautiful you are. And I’ll try to say it as often as I can until you believe it for yourself.”

I had so many questions for him, and so few possible answers. The biggest was where this was going. Or where could he see it going, as I was starting to believe I wasn’t just seeing what I’d hoped to see. Would a long-distance relationship be something doable?

I didn’t know, having never been in one. Charlie had been my one and only serious boyfriend, so I really had much to learn about being in a relationship. Things had changed since I’d last dated. What if I screwed up?

The oven beeped, and Jesse headed over to remove breakfast and set it on the hot mats between our plates.

My gaze fell to the folded newspaper, still surprised the Island Gazette still published. “How often do you get the paper?”

“Sundays.”

“That’s it?”

“Not much goes on here.”

Which I supposed was true. I opened the paper and flipped through, wondering if I’d stumble upon wedding news. Nothing. However, the job section caught my eye. Bauer Mechanical was looking for a cost accountant to oversee their west coast operations on Stewart Sound, which covered Cheshire Bay.

At this point in my life, I had nothing to lose. My rental was a month-by-month situation, and my job? I wasn’t loyal to it and had no close friends or buddies there. It was definite food for thought.

For now, I sat on the stool across from the man who made my butterflies swarm and my heart beat double time, and served him a healthy, man-sized serving of baked French toast. As he poured the sticky syrup over his slices, his phone buzzed, and he tugged it out of his pocket.

“I need to take this, sorry.” Without explanation, he hopped off his stool and skedaddled down the hall. “Hey, honey,” he said in a soft tone as he bounded up the stairs.