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Rehearsal lunch. Wedding.
After that, maybe she’d try to make sense of all her other jumbled thoughts.
CHAPTER 21
Jack
As soon as Jo arrived at the rehearsal lunch, Jack knew something about Jo was off. He approached her, growing more concerned the closer he got. “Hey, everything okay?”
“Grandma doesn’t want to sell.” The way she said it gave him the impression that she was upset. Unless something major had happened to shift her opinion.
“And you’re upset? I thought you didn’t want her to sell.”
She hugged herself. “I didn’t, but I started getting used to the idea of her moving in with me. I’d pictured us traveling and experiencing things together. It makes me sad that might not happen now.”
A knife plunged into his chest. Charlie and Jo gone? “Oh.”
“The developer plans to bulldoze the house, and Grandma doesn’t want that.” She sighed. “And she doesn’t want to move either.”
His spirits lifted instantly. At least if Charlie stayed, maybe he'd get to see Jo on occasion. "I'm sorry."
“Me too,” she whispered. She sucked in a sharp breath, and her eyes widened. “You could buy it. She was willing to listen to the offer, and I think she would have sold if it weren’t for the fact that they planned to tear the house down. Maybe you could even help me convince her to move with me.”
His eyebrows knitted together. “Do you not hear yourself? I mean, I want to buy the property without question. But Charlie doesn’t want to move to a big city. She loves Wishing Well. Just like I wouldn’t talk Charlie into hearing Craig’s offer, I won’t talk her into moving with you either.”
Her lips pinched together, and fire flared in her eyes. “If you cared about her, you would. She’ll need someone to take care of her. If she lives with me, I’ll be there to take care of her.” Her voice rose with each word.
Jack cupped her elbow and led her away from the people gathering at the lunch. He shielded her from the group and crossed his arms over his chest. “When Jo? You said you’re going to be so busy that you wouldn’t have time for a relationship. Where would Charlie fit in there?”
“I’d make changes. I’d just explain to Delia that my family needed me and that I needed to slow things down.”
“The same Delia that has lied to you repeatedly. The one who said she’d move you to photography and instead hired someone else?”
“This would be different.”
“How?” He tilted his head.
Her mouth opened and shut a few times. “It just would.”
His temper flared. “Keep telling yourself that lie. Maybe you believe it, but you better hope?—"
“Is everything okay?” Serenity’s voice came from behind Jack.
He turned. “Uh?—”
Jo stepped forward. “Yeah, everything is great. We were just talking.”
Serenity looked from Jo to Jack and back. “Are you sure? I didn’t realize?—”
“Nope,” Jo said. “We were done talking.” Ice dripped from the words as she glared at him.
He sagged. “Jo.”
Another glare. “We’ll… talk later.”
Translation? She would never speak to him again, but there wasn’t a single bit of him that was sorry for what he’d said. If Jo wanted to be selfish, then so be it, but she wasn’t getting a pass from him. Seemed like she wasn’t getting one from Charlie either.
Though, her turning down Craig’s offer, gave him renewed hope that maybe he could make another offer and she might take it, especially if he promised not to tear it down. If anything, he’d make it even better than before. If he had his way, it’d be the go-to place to stay in Wishing Well, and given time, he’d make it a wedding venue that rivaled anything within a hundred miles.
