Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jen stood in front of Colby at her parents’ kitchen counter and wiped his tears away. “It’s okay, bud. It’s just a little scratch.” She peeled the Band-Aid wrapper back and then placed it over his skinned knee. Bending down, she kissed his knee. “All better?”

He shook his head, tears still falling. “I tore my pants.”

“Aw, buddy. It’s okay. Pants tear sometimes. It’s not a big deal.” She pulled him off the counter and into a big bear hug. “It’s better than getting caught in a . . . merry-go-round!” Then she twirled, spinning him until he giggled.

“Again!” he said with a wide smile on his face.

Jen steadied herself against the counter. “Mommy might fall over if she keeps spinning.”

Her mother came in at that moment with Lindsay in tow. “Hey, look who I found outside.”

“Miss Lindsay!” Colby squirmed from Jen’s arms to get to Lindsay. “I missed you!”

Jen’s heart squeezed to see Colby hugging Lindsay. He’d always loved her best friend, but after spending the fall in her class, he’d grown especially close to her. If only she could get Colby back in preschool.

Her mother stood in the doorway. “Hey, Colby, why don’t you come with Mom-Mom back outside—get back on that tricycle?” She held out her hands for Colby, who nodded, and they went back outside.

Lindsay took her coat off and put it on the back of a chair at the kitchen table. She came over and gathered Jen in her arms for a fierce hug. “How are you?”

“Ugh...” Jen shook her head, determined not to cry. “You know the worst part about being a mom and going through a breakup?”

Lindsay bit her lip and shook her head.

“I can’t just crawl under the covers and cry all day. I have to keep putting on a smile and try not to completely fall apart.”

“But you guys were barely together.” Lindsay squinted at her. “I mean, I’m not trying to downplay your feelings, but I’m just...”

Jen sniffled, then sank down into a kitchen chair. “I know. I’m an idiot. It was just so intense. Felt so real. Lindsay, he told me he wanted to marry me yesterday.”

Lindsay sat across from her and took her hand. “Please, please tell me you were at least using protection with him?”

Grimacing, Jen covered her face with one hand.

“Jen!”

“I’m on the pill.” Her voice came out more defensive than she intended. “It was the heat of the moment. It felt like a trusting thing to do.”

“Right. A guy who tells you he likes to sleep around and have random hookups. Totally trustworthy.”

Jen looked toward the kitchen door as though her mother might walk through, even though she knew she’d gone outside. “He said he always uses protection.”

“Jen, I love you, but next time, just say no.”

“I know, I’m so stupid. I just felt desirable.” Jen slunk back in her seat. “I’m going to go to the doctor this week and get tested.”

“Yeah, well, gonorrhea and chlamydia aren’t desirable.” Lindsay held out a hand. “Not saying you have that, but just please, please try to learn from this.”

Her face turning warm, Jen said, “Lindsay, you’re officially making me feel worse.”

“Sorry, call it the teacher in me.” Lindsay drew her hand down over the air in front of her face. “Turning that off and friend mode on. I’m honestly, so, so sorry. But I guess the good news is that you’re rich?”

Jen combed her fingers through her hair. It felt greasy and tangled. She needed to go take a shower. “Yeah, I’m not rich. And neither is Colby. I don’t want anything to do with the Cavanaughs or their money. I don’t want it.”

Lindsay’s jaw dropped. “You better not tell me you’re going to turn it down.”

“I don’t want his money.” Jen shrugged and picked at the frayed edge of her shirt. “I spent all night last night thinking about it. And I don’t want it.”

“Are you crazy? That money could turn your life around.”

“But I don’t want it.” The man who’d come the day before—Ned—hadn’t given her a specific amount but said it was in the hundreds of millions. Along with the shares of a business and properties in Chicago. That amount of money sounded so absurd that she could barely process it.

Lindsay looked at her as though she’d completely lost it. “It’s not like you can decline it.”

“Actually, yes, I can.”

“What? No, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can.” Jen caught a flash of blue running across the backyard. Colby was heading toward the swing set, her mother chasing after him. Thank God for her parents.

Lindsay followed her gaze. “What are you talking about?”

This part felt harder to explain, but it had occurred to her around three in the morning and the idea felt just as fuzzy in her brain as it had when she’d conceived it. “They told me they needed a paternity test to prove Colby was Kevin’s son. And soon. Apparently, there was some stipulation that the heir had to come forward within ninety days and that window is nearly up. I’m just not gonna get one. Without proof of paternity, Colby doesn’t inherit.”

Lindsay squeezed her hand. “Please, Jen, please think about it. It’s not your money anyway. It’s Colby‘s money.”

“No, it’s not. It’s Jason’s.” His name even felt bitter on her tongue.

“But it could solve so many of your problems.” Lindsay held her hands out, motioning toward the kitchen. “Your parents are saints, but you said you wanted to give Colby a home. This money could change his life. Make you both a lot happier in the long run.”

“Really?” Jen cleared her throat. She felt remarkably settled about this, despite everything else in her life feeling chaotic. “Look at Kevin. Look at Jason. Were they happy? I might not have a lot, but I have everything I need. I was blind and stupid; you’re right. But what I was stupid about was thinking that somehow money would solve my problems. Make them easier? Yes. Solve them? No.”

Lindsay lowered her chin, her gaze down toward the hardwood as she listened. Jen continued, “I don’t want my son to grow up in a world where he thinks that the more money he has, the happier he can be. Where he doesn’t understand that love and family are far more valuable. When I met Jason, he filled that giant void in his life with cheap sex and money. Kevin tried to fill them with drugs. Colby has all he needs here in Brandywood.”

Lindsay drew a sharp breath. “And if Colby gets to be an adult and finds he could have lived comfortably for the rest of his life and you took that chance away?”

“Then so be it. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.” Jen stood and went to the fridge. She pulled out a can of seltzer and popped it open. “For right now, I have bigger things on my mind. I called Laura yesterday and quit my job at the cabins. And I think Bunny’s upset at me for missing work today again.”

Lindsay stared at her in shock. “What? Why? To avoid seeing Jason? You know he’s leaving, right?”

Jen sighed. She’d been toying with the idea—wanting to avoid Jason was just the last bit of ammunition she needed. “The cabin job has become a lot less necessary with cell phones. And now that Laura and Mark live at the main house, they’re what? Twenty seconds down the road? The main reason Laura kept that job going is that she thinks of me as family. And I realized recently that I can’t keep bouncing Colby around all over the place. When every place is your child’s ‘second home’—it might be because he doesn’t have a ‘primary’ one. So I’m going to give him one, even if it’s right here. That’s worth the six hundred bucks a week I make at the cabins. I can swallow my pride.”

Lindsay came toward her. She hugged her again. “Jen, I feel so...I’m so, so sorry. Do you have any idea how much I admire you? You’re like the hardest working person I know.”

Giving a self-deprecating laugh that did nothing to ease the pressure on her chest, Jen sipped her seltzer. The fizz of the bubbles traveled down the length of her throat. “Linds, I’m a huge screwup, but thanks. I have thousands of dollars of rent and preschool back payments to figure out, not to mention credit card debt. And my only shot at paying off any of it—the baking competition—God, I’m so embarrassed about that. I have no choice but to withdraw.”

“Which is why you should take that money.” Lindsay spoke slowly, emphasizing her words. She released her and went back to the table for her purse. “Here. Tierney asked me to give you the invoice for the preschool.” She dug through her purse and pulled out an envelope. “And I wasn’t going to, but I want you to look at that number and then think about what it’s going to take to pay it off. Don’t throw away a chance at a life preserver when you’re barely staying afloat.”

Jen took the envelope and tore it open. She’d been avoiding all her bills for so long, that she didn’t even know what she owed. Unfolding it, she blinked at the zeroes at the bottom of the invoice. She furrowed her brow and looked over the top of the paper at Lindsay. “Is this a joke?”

Lindsay sidled up to her and looked at the paper. Her eyes widened. “It says you have a zero balance. I don’t understand.”

“ You don’t understand?” What the hell did this mean?

“Your parents must have paid it off.”

Jen shook her head slowly. “I never told them I was behind on the preschool payments.”

“Who did you tell?”

Jen closed her eyes. No. Would he have done it? Every conversation she’d had with him felt so fraudulent. She gritted her teeth. “Jason.” Then she ripped the invoice up into four long pieces.

“Honey, this is a good thing. So he paid off some of your debt. It’s the tip of the iceberg with what he owes you.” Lindsay gathered a piece of the invoice from the floor.

“No, it’s not okay. I don’t want to owe him anything. He had no right to invade my privacy and throw his money at me.” Jen felt heat rising up her body. “But, Linds? Between him and Kevin, they completely and totally humiliated me. As much as Kevin broke my heart, in some ways, Jason has hurt me more—he just came down here to screw with me and my life and—” She stomped her foot, crumpling the shreds of paper in her hands. She threw them across the room, where they bounced off the wall.

The thought of every encounter, every touch made her want to scream with fury.

Yet every hour that went by without hearing from him, she fought the urge to find some excuse to send him a message. Just to talk to him.

They hadn’t even been in an actual relationship—had they?

Lindsay stared at her quietly, then said, “Jen, I think you really care about this guy. And he hurt you. But you’re not making any sense. You say you don’t want Colby’s inheritance. You don’t want the money he’s given you. What is it you want?”

To find my soul mate. To find someone who respects me, loves me, and wants the very best for Colby.

She’d been foolish to think what she was missing was some fun in her life. Or even sex. And as good as that had been with Jason, what he’d provided was something much more meaningful—a soft place to land, someone to have an adult conversation with, friendship, even.

That day that he’d helped her with Colby at Bunny’s, she’d let herself imagine what life with a proper partner and father figure for Colby would be like. Losing that, having to start that search all over again, made her feel like giving up altogether.

“Him.” Jen gave a weak, defeated shrug, dropping her hands to her sides. Because for a moment, she had thought she’d found all those things in Jason. “I want him. The chemistry and fun we had together wasn’t fake. At least, I don’t think he could have faked that. All last night I kept tossing and turning in my sleep, wondering if anything he told me was true, but especially if he meant what he said about marrying me and adopting Colby. Because even if he just wanted me for money, I don’t know...it still gets me him in the end, right?”

“No, not right. Colby deserves a dad, not a creepy uncle who married his mom so he could control his money. You deserve a man who loves you. Sure, sex with him might be good. For now. Until he decides he wants to go back to his lifestyle of brief affairs. How can you ever trust anything he says again?”

Jen wanted to agree—if only for the sake of having Lindsay not think she was foolish—but did she? She’d seen the hurt in his eyes, the desperation when he pleaded with her to listen to him.

Lindsay crossed her arms as though trying to figure out what she was thinking. “You know what? I take it back. He shouldn’t have paid off that bill. Because I can see the way your brain is working. He probably did it so you’d think he’s some great guy who cares about you. Don’t let him use this to manipulate you. He’s clearly good at it.”

Jen narrowed her gaze at Lindsay, then whipped out her cell phone. She typed out a text to Jason before she could regret it.

Jen: Did you pay off my bill?

Three dots immediately appeared in a bubble. He was texting her back. That it made her heart lighten only helped to reinforce what she knew. She wanted to hear from him. Wanted to talk to him.

Jason: Which one?

Jen: ...which one??? Was there more than one?

Jason: Maybe.

Her pulse pounded in her neck, and Lindsay drew closer, reading over her shoulder. Jen exchanged a look with Lindsay. Then she clicked over to her bill pay system for her apartment complex. She logged in and then clicked on the balance.

Zero.

“What the hell?” Jen rubbed her temples hard with her palms. She had a headache crowning at the top of her head, radiating pain through her upper back.

“How did he even have access?” Lindsay stared, astonishment in her eyes.

“I don’t...I don’t know. I mean, I showed him my eviction papers. Maybe he took them? Though would that work? Or maybe he just went to the landlord?”

“I guess you could always ask.”

The front door closed, and Lindsay glanced out the kitchen door. “Oh, hey, Mr. Bob.”

Her father removed his jacket and shoes, then padded through the hallway in his socks. Mom had always required shoes be removed at the door, a habit that had driven Jen nuts until she’d had Colby. Now, with the amount of mud that came in with his shoes, she completely understood it. Her patient father had never once complained about the edict.

“Hi, girls.” He smiled at Lindsay and grabbed his own can of seltzer from the fridge. “Good day?”

“Weird.” Jen put her phone face down on the table. “Turns out Jason paid off some of my debts.”

Her father’s gray eyebrows drew in a puzzled frown. “Did he?” His voice didn’t show what he thought about it. Her father had always been a quiet person, though cautious in making any sort of emotional response.

“But she wants to decline the inheritance. Refuse to get the paternity test for Colby.” Lindsay’s words were fast—as though she wanted to get them out before Jen could stop her.

“Lindsay!” Jen shot her a wide-eyed look. How could she have betrayed her?

Lindsay gave her a sheepish, apologetic look. “I know, and I’m sorry. I love you, though. And he’s your father. He can give you much better advice than I can.”

“I can’t believe you right now.” Jen crossed her arms.

The tab on the top of her father’s soda can popped as he opened it. He gave Jen a thoughtful look. “Were you not planning on telling me?”

“No, it’s not that—” She looked away from Lindsay, closing her eyes as her embarrassment crept up her back. “I just don’t want you to hate Jason any more than you already do.”

“I don’t hate him, Jen. I don’t particularly trust him with my daughter and grandson, but hate is a different story. I actually stopped by Millie Price’s today to talk to her about him.”

Of course he had. She glanced at the back window, wishing Colby would need her suddenly and that she could escape this conversation. “What did she say?”

“She told me a great deal. He’s a complicated fellow, that’s for sure.” Her father lifted the can to his lips and took a sip. “It might be good for you to talk to her.” Then he cleared his throat and gave a wary glance at the swing set outside. “Your mother probably wouldn’t like me telling you, but she said that he told her last week that he was planning on telling you the truth about the whole inheritance issue. And that he wanted to do right by you and Colby.”

“Then Millie knew about everything?” Her disappointment pierced her lungs, making it so hard to breathe that she grabbed the back of a chair to steady herself.

“Millie knew some things. Not everything.” Her father set his seltzer down on the granite counter, then unbuttoned the top button of his collar. He glanced at Lindsay. “I know you’re like a sister to Jen, Lindsay. But if you don’t mind, I need a chance to talk to her for a minute. Thank you for bringing Jen’s intentions up with me.”

Lindsay bit her lip, her expression clear that she wasn’t sure she had made the right choice. She mouthed, “ I’m sorry, ” then grabbed her coat and went outside with Jen’s mother and Colby.

Her father held a chair out. “Why don’t you sit?”

Jen felt too agitated to sit, but she did anyway. Her knee bounced under her hand with nervous energy. “Dad, I’m sorry. It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you. I just”—she swallowed and looked down, her eyes filling with tears—“I know I messed up.” She sniffled loudly. “I fell really hard and really fast for Jason, and I should have told you the truth about everything with him. Somehow, he made me feel less lonely, and I was just so embarrassed. Because I know it’s hard to be proud of me—”

“Jen, I don’t know where you got the idea that we’re not proud of you.” Bob reached across the table to the tissue box. He pulled a few out and handed them to her, then scooted his chair closer. “But if I’ve given you that impression, please forgive me. I’m in awe of you. You have blossomed into a wonderful mother and a very talented baker.”

Jen let out a sputtery cry, then wiped her nose with the tissue. “But I keep messing up—”

“You are human . Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on yourself? If anything, Mom and I have failed you.” He leaned over and took her hand. “You’re kind. And compassionate. And stubborn as all hell—you won’t ask for help when you need it—and we just sat back and assumed you were okay unless you said otherwise. I didn’t know you were lonely.”

His words made her cry harder. He came closer and wrapped his arms around her, tightly. She cried in his arms, feeling safety in her father that she hadn’t really allowed herself to feel for so long. When she’d settled, she sat back, and he wiped her cheeks with a tissue. His own eyes were red-rimmed. “I’m so sorry, Dad.”

He gave her a sad smile, then held her hands. “I want you to know a few things. The first is that you’re welcome to stay here as long as you want. But you remember Price’s Hardware store on Main? It’s been available for rent for the last few years.”

He dug into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a wrinkled envelope. “I talked to Millie today. She said you mentioned to Jason your interest in the property. She’s having trouble renting or selling it because of the cost of the updates needed. But she’s going to let you use it. Rent free. The contract is here, just to make things official, but there won’t be a cost to you.”

Jen stared at the envelope. What? “Why?”

“It’s a good place. Prime location on Main. And it has a nice apartment on the top floor. The interior needs a lot of work, but I had Garrett Doyle meet me there. He’s willing to do all the work it needs at a good price. To convert it to a bakery, that is. I know you’ll need a business loan to get you started and pay for the updating, but I’d be willing to help by cosigning a business loan.”

A bakery for her.

“Dad!” Jen pushed the chair back. “I can’t accept this. You and Mom—you don’t have the money to just give me such an enormous gift.” And what if she failed? She was the screwup of the family. The one who was back at her parents’ house with her hand out.

“I know it’s a lot to consider. And if you’re not comfortable with it, then we don’t have to do it. And you know me, I’m not going to just jump into something like this without making sure we do our homework. We’ll have to draw up a proper business plan, get your finances sorted, meet with a financial planner, my lawyer, and a loan officer at the bank. Think of a way to handle childcare for Colby. But those are all details we can figure out with hard work and diligence. And together, Jen.”

Jen let herself imagine the possibilities for a moment. She’d been working for Bunny long enough to know that being a small-business owner wasn’t easy, especially in the restaurant industry.

Yet she’d also daydreamed about it. What she would do with her own place. How she could balance being a bakery owner with being a single mom. Strangely, the obstacles her father mentioned didn’t overwhelm her—they excited her. She cocked her head to the side. “But why are you doing this?”

He removed his glasses from his face and wiped them down with a tissue. “The truth is, Jen, I know you told Mom and me you want roots for Colby. And you will always, always have our home as an option. But I know how independent you are, too. I want you to be happy. And to give your son the home you want to give him. Sometimes you have to let other people carry you a bit. We do it because we love you.”

Jen felt choked. Had she been so stubborn about accepting help? “I don’t know what to say, Dad. And Bunny. Don’t you think she’ll be angry with me for setting up shop around the corner from her? I’d be competition.”

Her father smiled lightly. “Well, think about it. And then talk to Bunny. She loves you a lot, Jen. And she’s getting up there. She can’t keep running that café forever.” Then he drummed the table, the envelope flapping under his fingertips. “But I also want you to reconsider your position about the inheritance.”

She’d known to expect this. “Dad. No. I’m not going to. I don’t want Jason’s money.”

He gave her a wary glance. “Strictly speaking, it’s not Jason’s money.”

“Cavanaugh—whatever. I don’t want it.”

Her father scratched his eyebrow. “I can’t say I’m happy with Jason. And whatever his position now, he came down here with opportunistic, self-absorbed intentions. But I think you should know that I had a hunch about who Jason was when I met him.”

What the hell was he talking about? She gawked at him.

He folded his hands in his lap. “Do you remember that time Kevin went hunting with us when you were dating?”

“Yeah, I remember.” Kevin had looked so out of place with her father and brothers as they loaded into Warren’s SUV. They all wore their hunting camos. Kevin had worn a red-and-black buffalo checkered shirt.

“On the trip, Kevin and I got to talking, and he let it slip that his last name was Cavanaugh. Just to me. He begged me not to tell anyone and said he came from a bad family situation, and I accepted that. Then after he left you pregnant, I didn’t know if he would make the best sort of father anyhow, so I let it be.”

Her father had known and had said nothing? Had he kept it from her mother? She tried to be attentive, keeping an expression devoid of her response.

“Anyhow, after Colby was born and you were so sick, and you ended up in such bad financial shape, I decided it was time for that boy to pay some child support. So I attempted to track him down. I tracked down Tom Cavanaugh, his grandfather, instead.” Her father paused as though giving that information a chance to settle.

Jen gasped. The thought of her father doing all this behind her back was both endearing and hair-raising, which felt like a strange paradox. “That’s when you met Jason’s grandfather?” She could barely imagine her father doing all that. He was one of the least confrontational people she knew. “You knew about Kevin?”

“Yes. And he was floored to find out about you and Colby. He wanted to meet you. But as we talked, it became clear that Kevin left Chicago to get away from his grandfather. Tom was devastated. He blamed himself for Kevin’s death and promised he’d make things right. Since it was clear that child support wasn’t an option, I came home. Then I never heard from him again.”

She shook her head, any anger that she would have felt choking in her throat. “Why didn’t you tell me that my son’s father was dead? That Kevin was never coming back?”

“I didn’t know how to tell you. And you never wanted to talk about Kevin. I didn’t want to open a wound when you seemed to have moved past it.”

His explanation sounded reasonable, but at the same time, it wasn’t. It spoke volumes that he’d felt the need to find Kevin’s grandfather. Trying to think of what her reaction would have been was hard to imagine, given everything that had happened in the past few weeks.

Jen clenched her jaw, staring at the table. “You should have told me, Dad. That’s a pretty big thing to have kept from me.” Still, it was hard to stay too angry with him. Her father had always been protective of her—just like Warren and Dan. Sometimes to a fault. But he’d also always been supportive and loving. How could she complain when she’d basically won the lottery with the type of dad she’d been given? Look how he’d just stepped up for her, yet again.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. You’re right.” Her father took her hand. “But the point is—I don’t think it’s a coincidence or luck that Tom put that information in his will. He knew Colby existed. Knew you could be found with ample digging—no matter how hard Kevin had tried to prevent that from happening. I think he meant for Colby to have it. It’s not Jason’s money, sweetheart. It’s Colby’s.”