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New York was safe.
Everything, everything about her life was safe. Reliable disappointment because having hope in something better could hurt her worse. What if they just decided they didn’t want her anymore? All the broken promises… she’d come to expect them. It was easy to brace for the blow when you knew it was coming, especially when she’d spent her life fashioning armor tough enough to withstand it.
Loving Jack would be reckless. It would hurt if something went wrong, deep and profoundly. He was all the things she’d wished for, plus some. When she’d made that wish, she’d based it on Jack. Or what she knew of him when they were in high school.
Now, she was back in Wishing Well, and she was running from something she’d wanted since she was seventeen. Real love. Someone who wanted her, who cherished her, listened to her, considered her when they made plans, and all of it was staring her right in the face.
“You’re right,” Jo said softly. “I’ve been at war with myself, trying to make myself happy with the life I’ve built, but it’s not what I want.”
“What do you want?”
“A home. Somewhere I belong. Somewhere with roots. Somewhere with people who love me and push me to be the person I’m supposed to be.”
Lucy hugged her around the shoulders. “That’s my Jo.”
“I owe you a huge apology.”
She leaned back. “For what?”
“I’m the one who dropped the ball. I’m the one who put all the distance between us. You were pushing me at the time, trying to understand why I suddenly wanted to leave Wishing Well and had to get out as quickly as possible. I didn’t want to hear it or talk about it.”
“I know. You wanted to be what Craig wanted. It didn’t take a genius to see what was going on.”
Jo ran her hands through her hair. “I’ve hurt Grandma. She thinks that she wasn’t enough, and she was. I pushed Jack away and told him I never wanted to see him again. I—” She groaned. “I’ve made a huge mess.”
“So… fix it.”
“You think I can?”
“Charlie loves you, and if I’m reading him right, Jack does too. The people who love you, really love you, love you when you aren’t likable. They forgive you. See your faults and understand that they have faults of their own. They meet you in the middle.”
With a laugh, Jo nodded. “Yeah, and when they’re a little too broken to get there, you walk a little further and help them get there.”
Jo pushed off the ground and held out a hand to Lucy, “I need to talk to my grandma.”
Lucy grabbed her outstretched hand, letting Jo pull her to her feet. “You go talk to your grandma, and I’ll run to the café and get goodies. Meet you there in say, an hour?”
“Deal,” Jo said and darted off.
By the time she hit the steps and burst through the door, tears were streaming down her face. “Grandma!” When there was no answer, she took the steps two at a time, racing to her bedroom, disappointed when she found it empty. “Grandma!”
She jogged down the steps and nearly bowled into her grandma. “Grandma!”
“I heard you. What’s wrong?” She took Jo’s hands. “Why are you crying, sweetheart?”
“Because you were right. I was running.” Her bottom lip trembled. “I played it safe all my life, and I’m tired of it.” She held her grandma’s gaze. “I stopped wanting to open the bed and breakfast because Craig said it was too big of a financial risk. That you’d go bankrupt, and you’d taken me in when I had no one else. I knew you’d try, even if it meant you’d fail, and I couldn’t let you do it.”
Her head tilted to the side, and she replied, “Oh, Jo…”
“Craig hated it here because he wanted to go back to New York. He started saying that he thought we should break up because long-distance relationships didn’t work. I love Wishing Well, so I had to convince him I didn’t. He didn’t want me resenting him later if I changed my mind.”
“I stayed at Eternal Vows because it was a reliable disappointment. There was no risk, and anytime there was even the inkling that I’d get hurt, I’d run. I don’t want to do that anymore.”
Taking Jo’s face in her hands, her grandma smiled. “I knew you’d figure it out.” Then she pulled her into a hug. “I’m so proud of you.”
They held each other a few moments, and Jo leaned back. “I have so much to do.”
“You need to go talk to Jack.”
