Emily flipped over her barn drawing and began to doodle. “I have the money from the sale of my parents’ house,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “I haven’t touched it.”
Jake stilled. She’d sold the house three and a half years ago. He’d assumed she’d been living on it all this time.
Mom touched Emily’s shoulder. “Honey, we don’t expect you to invest in our orchard.”
Emily kept her eyes focused on the paper, and soon a dock and lake took shape. “I’d love to spend some of the money on something that’s important to me, and this place is like my home.”
Jake’s heart turned over in his chest. He’d always known that Emily felt comfortable here, but having her call the orchard home was overwhelming in a way he couldn’t quite comprehend.
Mom met Jake’s gaze with a warm smile. “Thank you, Emily. But we can’t let you do that.”
Jake took a long drink of sweet tea, hoping to quench his suddenly dry throat.
“It’s a nice gesture, but the orchard is fine as is,” Dad said.
Emily’s head popped up. “What was the barn used for, Leon?”
“Storage, years ago.”
“We can keep that spirit.” Emily opened a fresh page in her book and started a new drawing. “Tell me what it looked like.”
“I still don’t think...” Dad’s voice trailed off.
Emily grinned. “Just humor me, okay?”
Jake’s phone began to ring, and he found Claire’s face grinning at him on the screen. His stomach twisted. It was time to stop avoiding the painful conversation and tell Claire she had to move on.
He stood. “Excuse me, I need to take this.” Then he slipped into the den, took a deep breath, and answered the call. “Hello?”
“Jakey,” Claire crooned into the phone. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”
He dropped onto the sofa and reclined his head against the back. Claire was the master at avoiding big conversations, so it was just like her to call and act like everything was normal between them. It had been two weeks since he told her that they should see other people, but she was acting like nothing had changed.
“How are your folks?” she asked.
“Fine.” He rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “We were just eating supper.”
“Your dad’s okay?”
“Yup.”
“That’s good.”
An awkward silence expanded over the phone line, and he knew he had to end this conversation and get back to his folks and Emily.
“Look, I really can’t talk long,” he said.
“Just give me a minute, okay?” Claire’s voice sounded thick, and his stomach clenched. “I know you said we need to move on, but I don’t want to. I still think we can work this out. Just consider coming out to Nashville—maybe over a weekend. Then you could see how great it is here. I know you’d love it. There’s so much opportunity, and we could finally settle down and build a life here. Get married. Start a family.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Hadn’t she heard a thing he’d said? Maybe he hadn’t made it clear that he wasn’t ready for any of that.
She sniffed. “I want a future with you—andonlyyou. I don’t want to see other people.”
He squeezed the bridge of his nose as the all-too-familiar guilt crept back into his chest. He felt like a jerk for breaking her heart, especially after all they’d been through.
Claire had been in town when his dad had the heart attack, and she’d heard the news through the Splendid Lake grapevine. She’d shown up at the hospital with food for him and his mom. He’d told her he needed some time alone, and Claire had held his mom’s hand while he went outside to get some air. When he returned, he found Claire hugging his mom while she cried.
