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His voice is soft and not at all like the Mr. Jacobson I’ve known since I was sixteen. Now he’s different. He stares into my eyes, his blue gaze shiny like oysters in a shell. “Is everything all right?” I ask him. Why is he up at this hour?
He nods slowly. “I’m a little worried about my boy.”
“Jake?”
“That’s the only boy I have,” he retorts, sounding a little more like himself.
“Why are you worried?” I pull out a chair and sit down across from him without him even inviting me to do so.
“He’s had a tough year.” He attaches one piece of the puzzle to another, pushing it to make it tight.
“He told me a little about it.”
“Did he tell you about Laura?”
I nod. “A little.”
“He was a mess for a while.”
“He looks like he has it together now.”
He nods. “He’s getting there.” He looks down to put together another piece of the puzzle. “So don’t break him again, okay?”
I lay a hand on my chest. “You think I’m going to break him?” Surely he doesn’t mean that.
“He’s needy right now.”
No, he’s not. He’s just Jake.
“I think you’re needy too.”
I am. I can’t help it. “Do you want me to go?”
He shakes his head. “When your dad called me and told me your situation, I didn’t think Jake would be here, so I didn’t realize there could be problems. Then he saw you, and he immediately had a light in his eyes that I haven’t seen in months. He has a skip in his step, and I’m not worried he’s going to go on a bender again any time soon.”
“That’s good, right?”
“It’ll be good until you leave to go back to your life. Then you’ll break his heart. And my boy has had enough heartbreak this year.”
I shake my head. “I wouldn’t hurt Jake.”
“You wouldn’t do it on purpose. But you’ll do it.”
“I won’t,” I protest.
“You will. You won’t even realize it. Neither will he. But you’ll be gone, and the light in his eyes will go dim.”
“I won’t hurt him.”
He stares into my eyes. “Don’t.”
I shake my head again. “I won’t. We’re just friends.”
“You need saving, and he’s in the mood to save someone so he can avoid his own problems.”
I get to my feet. “I don’t need saving.”
“I invited you to come here. I wouldn’t have done that if I’d known Jake was going to be here and you’d be…” He looks down at my stomach. “…you’d be like you are,” he finishes. “I thought you were just running from trouble. Not that you’d be the trouble.”
