Paper Hearts (5 page)

Abigail couldn’t be sure, but now her heart might’ve stopped beating. “What does that have to do with my shop?”

Kelly laughed. “Well, we need your space.”

Abigail decided not to like this woman.
This can’t be happening.
She steeled her jaw. “Oh.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Jacob said to Kelly, a bit of warning in his voice. He seemed almost apologetic when he turned to Abigail again. “We’re still considering our options.”

Kelly didn’t take the hint. “I have a business plan, benchmarks to grow our practice. Within the next year, maybe two, I’ll need more space. It only makes sense to renovate in stages. Start here, then
 
—” she shrugged, glancing at the wall as if to indicate Abigail’s side of the building
 
—“tackle the other side.”

“A year?”

“Maybe two,” Kelly repeated, eyes dancing.

Abigail looked at Jacob, though he didn’t seem to be the captain of this ship. “Just like that?”

“I’ll give you plenty of time to find another space. I’ll even help you move,” he said.

Well, that’s big of you.

Tears sprang to her eyes. Hot tears that needed her full attention, but she refused to let the barracuda see any sign of weakness. And Jacob? How could he just go along with this woman? Didn’t he know this store was Abigail’s whole life? “I can’t just find another space.”

“Wyatt seems to know some good ones. I’m sure he could
 
—” Jacob started.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Abigail blurted, louder than she’d intended. “This isn’t just a building to me.” Her father would have been so disappointed at this turn of events. She stared at the dumbfounded look on his face and got too flustered to continue.

Kelly raised her eyebrows, startled.

“Oh, never mind.” Abigail started for the door.

“Wait a minute.” He took a few steps sideways, blocking her. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You’re taking my store,” she snapped. “What did you think I was going to do, throw you a welcome-to-the-neighborhood party?”

He looked away, giving her an opening to push past him, straight outside and back to the safety of her office. She locked the door, fell into a heap on her chair, and cried, her dreams spilling across the desk like a careless cup of coffee on someone else’s wedding invitations.

A
BIGAIL HAD GONE
and had taken all the air out of the room with her. Jacob turned to Kelly. “Was that really necessary?”

She sighed. “Come on, Jacob. This is the way business works. Don’t tell me you feel sorry for her.”

He did, in fact, and why shouldn’t he? When he’d agreed to Kelly’s proposal, she hadn’t made any mention of putting out the locals.

“I’ve done my research on Abigail Pressman,” Kelly said. “She isn’t going to be a problem. She doesn’t even have a business degree.” She laughed. “It’s a good thing you’ve got me. I know what I’m doing here.”

He’d forgotten how intense this side of her could be, though he knew she’d been a type A roommate who always told his wife what to do. But Kelly knew business, and when she suggested the
partnership, Jacob took it as a sign. He’d been asking for a clean slate, hadn’t he? He never meant to start over like this, though. Maybe he’d made a mistake after all.

“Her store is part of this community
 
—you can’t just go ticking her off like that.” Besides, he wasn’t completely sure he hadn’t settled on this space so he had the excuse to be around Abigail. If he kicked her out, he might as well set up shop at the mall. No, that wasn’t true. He’d chosen the space because it was right in the center of town. And because nothing about it reminded him of a hospital.

Kelly raised a brow. “Oh, Jacob, you like her.” Her words crawled under his skin.

Jacob scoffed. “Wanting to treat people with decency doesn’t mean I ‘like’ them.”

“Well, not everything in business is easy, Doc.” She took a few steps closer to him. In her heels, she was nearly as tall as he was and capable of staring him down, eye to eye. “This isn’t personal
 
—it’s business. And not everyone is going to like you.”

“I didn’t move here to make enemies.” He had enough of those back home.

Kelly’s tilted head and isn’t-that-cute? expression made him feel like a puppy or a small child.

“Jacob,” she said, “I know you’re used to saving everyone, but you might have to accept the fact that you’ve got to think about yourself sometimes.”

Jacob took a step back, putting much-needed distance between them.

“You can rip the Band-Aid off slowly and let her hang around, prolonging the inevitable, or you can tear it off quickly. It’ll sting for a minute, but she’ll be fine.”

Kelly was right. It was why he’d hired her in the first place
 
—because she understood all the things he didn’t want to think about.

“Are we good?” she asked.

Jacob nodded.

“Good. Then let’s get started.” She pulled out a tape measure and handed it to him. “You said yourself we don’t have a minute to waste. I hope you’re ready for a wild ride. We’ll have you up and running in no time.”

Two hours later, Jacob pulled into the driveway of the home he’d bought on the outskirts of town. His dream house, really. Surrounded by mountains with a good-size backyard and not a neighbor in sight. It was exactly what he’d wanted, and yet something about it felt so hollow.

He parked in the circle drive behind Rosemary’s minivan. The nanny had been a blessing over the past few weeks while he hunted properties and worked on the business plan with Kelly every time she drove in from Denver. Now that they’d found the space and he saw the amount of work ahead of them, he knew Rosemary would be even more helpful.

The upcoming remodel would be a welcome distraction. Keep his mind occupied. Keep his hands busy. That was the way to move beyond the past. The only way.

Inside, he hung up his coat and inhaled.

“Dr. Jacob.” Rosemary stood at the stove, stirring a large pot of sauce. Probably homemade. His mouth watered as the tangy smell of garlic wafted to his nostrils.

“Evening, Rosemary,” Jacob said, flipping through the mail on the counter. “Smells delicious.”

She smiled, but seconds later her face fell.

“What is it?”

“I’ve really loved getting to know you, Dr. Jacob.” Rosemary covered the pot and set the wooden spoon on the spoon rest.

Uh-oh.
In the month he and Junie had been in town, he’d already had their first nanny quit after a week. Tabitha had cared much more about painting her nails than taking care of Junie or the house, though, so in the long run that had been for the best. But Rosemary? She’d been like a gift from God.

But then God had a way of taking back the things he gave, didn’t he?

“Don’t say it, Rosemary.” Jacob propped himself on one of the barstools, that familiar feeling of dread in his gut.

“And I love Junie. You know I do.” Rosemary’s eyes turned glassy.

Please don’t start crying.

“But my husband thinks I need to be home more. He likes dinner on the table right at five thirty. And he thinks our son is missing me.” She wiped a tear. “He got in trouble at school last week, and Paul
 
—that’s my husband
 
—he thinks it’s because I haven’t been home to keep an eye on him.”

It wasn’t Jacob’s place to have an opinion about Rosemary’s personal life. Instead he just nodded, hugged the plump woman, and thanked her once again for dinner, though he had a feeling it wouldn’t taste as good now that he knew it was her farewell meal.

She hugged Junie before she left and told Jacob she’d watch for them at church on Sunday.

He wanted to say, “Don’t bother,” but something stopped him.

Now what? He’d promised Kelly they could start full-time renovations next week, and he had no one to shuttle Junie to and from school, much less take care of her until he got home. What about the nights that went long? He’d have several if he wanted to open by summer. That was the goal, after all. Jacob would just have to find someone else to help with Junie. What other choice did he have?

He dished up the spaghetti and meatballs that Rosemary had prepared, covered it all with sauce, added the garlic bread, and
called Junie to the table for dinner. When she didn’t come, he headed down the hall toward her bedroom.

“Junie?”

No response. Her room, with its bare walls and plain wood floors, looked nothing like a little girl’s room should. Gwen had known how to take a space and make it feel like home. Come to think of it, anywhere Gwen was had felt like home to him.

He couldn’t give that to Junie. He didn’t know how.

And he couldn’t stand it.

Again the anger rose up inside him, then the guilt. He hated that he was mad at Gwen, but he hated even more that he hadn’t been able to do anything for her. And he’d tried and he’d prayed, and he’d believed for a miracle.

But none came.

Junie’s empty bed gave him pause. Her light was on, but she wasn’t in her room. “Junie?” Was she feeling sick again?

As he turned to check the bathroom, he heard rustling from the walk-in closet.

He opened the door and saw her feet sticking out from under the hanging clothes. “Hey, Mouse.”

She pulled her feet in.

He sat down inside the closet, resting his back against the wall. “Kind of nice in here, huh?”

Nothing.

“It’s quiet and private. I can see why you’d want to hide out here, but your dinner’s getting cold.”

No response.

Carefully, Jacob parted the clothes, revealing his little girl and her tearstained face. He frowned, and that parental heart tug yanked him sideways. “What’s wrong, Junie?”

“Miss Rosemary is gone.” Junie hugged her legs and rested her chin on her knees. “Just like Mommy.”

The words sat in the air between them, weighty and unfair.

“Not like Mommy, Junie,” he said. “We can find time to go see Miss Rosemary.”

She scrunched her lips together. “Why do they all leave me, Daddy? Did I do something wrong?”

He reached over and pulled her onto his lap, wishing he could extract every ounce of pain she felt, fighting the anger that always bubbled below his surface. “Junie, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Then why do they all leave?” She let the weight of her head fall onto his shoulder, and he wished he could stay there forever, just the two of them hiding away from the rest of the world.

“I don’t know, Junie. It’s not fair.” He hugged her. “But I can promise you something.” He leaned in closer, his mouth on the back of her head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Without a word, she turned and buried her head in his chest, clinging to him in a way she hadn’t since the day they buried Gwen.

He held her and let her cry, willing away the sorrow that hung over them like a black fog, too thick and close to the ground. Zero visibility. Moving hadn’t taken away the pain; it just packed itself right up in their U-Haul and came along with them.

He couldn’t change anything for his daughter the same way he couldn’t change anything for Gwen. Some healer he turned out to be.

If only he’d been there for her
 
—seen the signs, done something, anything. This whole mess they were in was his fault, and that was something he’d never live down.

“I miss Mommy.”

The words were soft, whispered in the air of the only place that felt safe to either one of them.

“That goes double for me, Junie Moon,” Jacob whispered back.