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“I’m going to miss you,” Laura said softly.
“Oh, honey, don’t miss me. You don’t have to go anywhere. Just stay here.”
“I can’t,” Laura said, searching for some kind of solid ground, but everything beneath her shoes seemed to be spinning. “There’s nothing for me here. I haven’t earned anything. I need to get out of here. I have a life to get to,” Laura said. A job and getting far away from Jacob Lock.
“Oh, honey,” Roberta said again, and ran her thumb along Laura’s cheekbone. It was such a motherly thing to do. “You don’t have to earn love. You’re wanted here. You’re loved here. Just for being you.”
A sting hit behind Laura’s eyes. “I . . . I’ve made so many bad choices.”
“You need to stop punishing yourself. I know things aren’t perfect.”
“I left my mother,” Laura blurted out loud. The guilt was crushing too hard and she couldn’t keep it in anymore. “She was dying, and I couldn’t be around her. And when she did pass, I flat out left. But deep down, I was gone before she was. And then I spent ten years being treated like I was nothing and I deserved that—I just wanted to make it all right.”
Roberta grabbed Laura and pulled her in tightly for a hug. “You hush with that right now,” she said against Laura’s hair. “It’s hard watching a loved one struggle with illness. You weren’t running from your mother. She knew you loved her. And I bet she didn’t want you to see her like that, either. You have to let that grief go. And living ten years in misery isn’t your penance. You don’t need to pay for your sins, Laura. You need to allow your heart to heal and allow yourself to grow.”
A tear escaped, and Laura hugged her back. Warmth, kindness, and understanding radiated from Roberta, and Laura had never been so thankful.
“I can’t face him,” Laura whispered. Because while so much of her past was crushing down on her, there was the matter of Jacob Lock she couldn’t get past. “I can’t face the man I love when all he sees in me is pity.”
Roberta chuckled and held Laura back to look her in the eyes. “Honey, that warehouse boy of yours does not pity you, I can tell you that right now. He thinks the sun shines out of that slim behind of yours, and honestly, you should go easy on him. Men will try to give the woman they love the world. Sometimes they just go about it the wrong way.”
Laura frowned. “Jake doesn’t love me. He’s annoyed with me half the time we talk.”
“Well, sure he is—you’re annoying.” Roberta winked. “But you’re kind and strong and so damn ambitious I just want to bottle you up and sell you on the streets.” Roberta tapped her chin. “That sounds like I want to be your pimp, which was not my goal, but you get what I mean.” She cupped Laura’s cheek and smiled. “Allow yourself to be who you are. Because that’s a woman you can be proud of. That same woman your mother would be proud of. The same woman I’m proud of.”
Laura smiled. “Thank you, Roberta.”
“Now, all you have to decide is what’s best for you. Truly. If this fancy job in California is what’ll make you happy, then go on. But think it through. For yourself. Not anyone else.”
Honestly? She didn’t know. Jacob had forced her to find her own strength, and she had. She’d run the shop and tried. She’d pushed through when there was no sign of hope. She’d clung to her mother’s memory and tried.
“Laura.” Roberta’s voice was softer. “It’s not going to get easier, but it’s yours. You just have to take it. Do you really want to walk away from something you’ve worked hard to build?”
No, she didn’t want to walk. To take on her life and make herself proud. Because she was a Baughman.
She glanced at her bag. “You’re right.”
“And you’re a strong woman. Go claim your future.”
With that, Laura hugged her and headed out to do just that.
Chapter Fifteen
&n
bsp; “Well, I see you two didn’t burn down the place,” Walt said, walking into the warehouse, his blue Hawaiian shirt blowing in the breeze.
“No, sir,” Jake confirmed. He’d only run off his boss’s daughter. Jake had just shown up in hopes that Laura was at the shop, but he was greeted with a CLOSED sign and no sign of Laura anywhere.
“You know, running this place has been my dream. But sometimes you need to know when it’s time to step away,” Walt said. “You have the shop, son. All of it. You always did. But Laura . . .”
“I’d never take anything from her, sir. The shop is hers, but I don’t know if she’ll take it.”
Walt smiled. “I see.”
Jake felt like he was having a joke pulled on him. Maybe Walt didn’t understand him?
“She’s gone, leaving, and it’s my fault.”
