Paper Hearts (30 page)

Abigail started to finally ask what happened when the door popped open and Jacob walked out, wearing sweats and a T-shirt. “You’re still here?”

Abigail smiled. “I was talking to your sister.”

Jacob looked at Kate. “Is everything okay?”

Kate glanced at him, then at Abigail, then back to him. “Everything is great. I’m going to go to bed. Night, Abs.”

Jacob winced but said nothing till Kate closed the door behind her. “I’ll tell her not to call you that.”

Abigail couldn’t believe he remembered. “Actually, it’s okay,” she said. “I kind of like it. Makes me feel like we’re friends.”

“Well, good. Now go home, would ya? Some people have to work, you know.”

J
ACOB SPENT MOST OF THE NIGHT
half-asleep, stumbling out to the porch to check on the injured dog. How he’d become nursemaid to an animal, he had no idea.

“She looks better,” Kate said from the doorway behind him.

“I think she’s going to be okay.”

The dog whimpered and sniffed his hand. He’d actually helped her. With Junie’s injury, he was mostly relegated to serving her whatever food and drink she wanted as well as putting in a new DVD when necessary, but the dog didn’t have other doctors to help her. Only him.

“I bet it feels good,” Kate said. “To fix her.”

Jacob laughed. “I do like to fix things, don’t I?”

Kate stood at his side, a steaming drink in her hand. “Jacob, I need to tell you something.”

He stood and faced her.

“Remember that I’m an adult before you say anything.”

“Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”

Kate sat on the porch chair and told him about training a horse named Titus. A wild and dangerous horse who threw her off more than once. She told him about Titus’s hoof and the callous owners who wouldn’t let him retire.

When she finished, she wiped her cheeks dry. “I know you hate it when anything happens to one of us, and after what happened with Gwen, it was even worse for you. How could I tell you I was putting myself in danger every single day?”

Jacob inhaled and sat down next to her. “You know, Kate, you really shouldn’t have to put your life on hold just because you’re worried how your big brother is going to react.”

“But I know how hard it’s been for you.”

He put an arm around her. “For all of us.”

She nodded, then sniffed.

“Maybe I’ve been too careful,” he said. “Maybe it’s time we start living again.”

She pulled out of his grasp. “Really?”

He shrugged.

“Because Abigail said something about maybe training a new horse and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. I mean, I loved Titus and I think a part of me will always miss him, but I shouldn’t stop training because of it, right?”

Jacob shook his head. “No. You shouldn’t.”

Brightness enveloped her then as her whole face lit with a genuine smile.

“It’s good to see you happy again,” he laughed.

“Feels good to finally tell you the truth.” She hugged him. “I hate keeping secrets from you.”

Something about her words made his body tense.

“Jacob?”

He looked away, his laughter gone.

“What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I’ve got to go take a shower.”

He went through the motions of getting himself ready for the day, but all he could think about were the secrets he was keeping from Abigail. About the paper hearts. About Gwen. It wasn’t fair, and a part of him was completely closed off because of it.

If he told her now, she would know he was both a liar and a failure, but the alternative
 
—how did he live with that? What chance did they have if he was always worried about her discovering the truth?

He needed to tell her. Today.

Jacob finished getting dressed, then drove into town, anxious to see Abigail again before he lost his nerve.

His stomach wrenched at the thought.

He walked around the building and went inside The Book Nook, inhaling the aroma of Abigail’s special coffee. She stood behind the counter, talking to a middle-aged couple, unaware he’d come in.

He watched her for a few seconds before she turned toward him. A smile washed across her face, pulling the attention of the couple next to her.

They’d probably have a few choice words for the man who distracted her, but he didn’t care. It was worth it to start his day talking to Abigail.

He sat down on a barstool and she placed a fresh cup of coffee in front of him before he had the chance to say a word.

“This one won’t buy into any of it,” she said to the couple. “He thinks the paper hearts are a stupid idea.”

Uh-oh.
What had he just walked into? “I never said that.”

The couple turned to him. “I’m telling you, they were exactly what we needed,” the husband insisted.

Jacob took a drink and glanced at Abigail, whose I-told-you-so expression was not to be missed.

“Is that right?” he asked. Polite, not overly interested.

The woman linked her arm through the man’s. “It was the sweetest thing. Jimmy is not romantic, but he must’ve realized we needed to spice things up, if you know what I mean.”

Jacob noticed a goofy smile forming on Abigail’s face. She was either smitten or gloating
 
—he couldn’t tell which.

The woman went on. “Well, he left me clues on paper hearts throughout the house, but I had to come here to find the actual messages. He’d marked them with a gold star so I could find them. It took a while, but I finally did it.” She grinned. “The best one
 
—” she looked at Jimmy
 
—“was the one where he asked me to get away with him for the weekend, and when I turned around, he was standing in the doorway with our suitcases. We hopped in the car and drove over to the hot springs for the whole weekend. He’d arranged for the kids to go to my parents’ and everything.”

Jimmy shrugged, looking a little like his manhood was being called into question. “Gotta keep the spark alive, brother.”

Jacob patted him on the back. “Good work.” He turned to Abigail. “Do you have a minute?”

She smiled. “Sure. Mallory, can you cover for me?”

“No problem.” Mallory grinned like she was in on their secret, only he didn’t know if what they had was actually a secret or not.

He followed Abigail into the office and closed the door behind him.

“I told you the hearts were a good idea,” she said. “See how they’re making people’s relationships better?”

He sat on the edge of her desk and pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I don’t really want to talk about the hearts anymore.”

Her eyes sparkled, studying his as a soft smile crossed her lips.

He held her face, brushing his thumb across her lips. “You look beautiful this morning.”

Color rushed to her cheeks as she whispered a thank-you.

When he kissed her, all the doubt and worry, all the unknowns fell by the wayside. As if there were nothing else in the world that mattered, because in that moment, there wasn’t. He wanted to stay here with her, to figure out a way to tell her everything he’d been up all night thinking about.

To come clean about Gwen. To tell her the truth about why he’d moved here in the first place. But it embarrassed him how scared he was of losing Abigail. He’d never expected to be happy again. She’d been one of the best surprises of his life.

He didn’t want to lose her. Not yet.

She pulled back and looked at him. “You seem deep in thought.”

He forced a smile. “No, I’m not. I have a meeting with my contractor soon.”

“Ah. Lots on your mind.” She stepped away from him, but he stood and grabbed her hand before she could go very far.

“Are you okay?”

She studied his shoulder for a few long seconds before looking up. “I really am, I think.”

But he didn’t miss the sadness lingering behind her brown eyes. Probably not a good time to come clean about everything he’d yet to tell her. “I should go. Do you want to do dinner tonight?”

She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I’d love to.”

And he loved how natural it felt for her to do that.

Tonight would be a better time to tell her. After dinner.

She saw him out the back door, and he resisted the urge to kiss her one more time, just in case anyone was watching. He didn’t need to answer questions right now, and he doubted Abigail did either. After all, few people would understand how she could forgive him for putting her out of business.

He walked behind the building toward his back entrance, taking a minute to stop and inhale the fresh Colorado air. For the briefest moment, he almost felt happy. Content in a way he hadn’t since before Gwen had died and, if he was honest, since long
before that. He wondered if there would ever be a day he could move past it.

I’m sorry, Gwen.

The words washed over him in the stillness.
I’m sorry.
He remained quiet for a moment, praying that somehow she could forgive him. Maybe then he could forgive himself.

“What are you doing out here?” Kelly stood in the doorway. How long had she been there? “We have a situation. You need to get in here.”

Jacob drew in one last breath of fresh air and ducked into the building, following Kelly to the main space.

“Where is everyone?”

“I fired them,” Kelly said.

“You did what?”

Kelly sighed. “I came in here this morning, and Ralph was talking about redoing the entire floor plan. Keeping this awful counter and installing built-ins along the back wall. He’d actually spent time drawing them up.” She rolled her eyes. “What a waste.”

Jacob inhaled a deep breath, hoping it would calm him down. “Kelly, how many bridges do you plan to burn before we open this place?”

Her eyes widened. “What are you talking about? I’m doing my job.”

“No, you’re ticking everyone off.” His mind spun to his conversation with Ralph. He’d faxed the contractor Abigail’s sketch and Ralph must’ve gotten right to work.
He
had done his job.

She stood taller, almost eye level with him. “I’m trying to save you money.”

“Not everything is about money, Kelly. This isn’t Denver. If you fire someone, he’s going to tell people, and in a small town, that will come back to hurt us.”

She took a few steps away from him, casting her gaze out the window. “What’s this really about, Jacob?” She shot him a look.

“This is about my practice.” He faced her. “Ralph was doing what I asked.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You told Ralph to redo the plans?”

He responded with silence.

“I know what’s really going on here.” Kelly shook her head, an incredulous look on her face. “Unbelievable. You are so naive.”

He held her glare.

“She’s using you. You know that, right?”

Jacob’s thoughts turned to the kiss he’d just stolen from Abigail. She might be using him, but she’d have to be a really good actress if she were. “She gave me a plan for this space that included knocking out the wall and renovating her space too.”

Kelly’s mouth snapped shut. “That doesn’t mean anything. She’s got to have a reason for that, Jacob. Are you so blinded by her big brown eyes that you can’t see that?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I do. I know women. And sweet and innocent only works for so long. You’ll see her true colors soon enough.”

“Kelly, I think you should go back to Denver. Today.”

Her jaw went slack. “What are you talking about?”

“You should go. I think this whole thing was a mistake.”

She put her hands on her hips. “You’re firing me?”

“I am.”

She scoffed, then walked over to the counter and picked up her bag and phone. “How long do you think you can keep your secrets about Gwen? How long until this whole town finds out what really happened?”

“Kelly, don’t threaten me.”

“Oh,
I’m
not going to tell them.” She stood close
 
—too close. “But the truth always has a way of coming out, doesn’t it?”

He didn’t move, and he didn’t respond.

“I sure hope your little secret stays safe, Jacob. Otherwise this whole town will discover that you’re the reason Gwen’s dead.” She
hitched her purse up on her shoulder, but before she turned, Jacob saw the regret on her face. No matter how angry she was in that moment, Gwen had meant something to Kelly.

And everyone grieves differently, he supposed.

After she’d gone, Jacob stood in the empty space, dust particles catching the light as it streamed in the windows.

Kelly’s words hung in a thick cloud overhead, prodding him, begging him to give them the attention they wanted. He wished he could swat them away like annoying insects, but in the deep places of his mind, he believed them.

If Abigail learned his part in Gwen’s death, she would see he had no business practicing medicine. Worse, she’d see he had no business attempting to have a relationship with her.