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She never wanted to hear any of Daisy’s ideas. Something Daisy couldn’t understand. If she ran her own place, she’d welcome ideas from her employees. Love to brainstorm with them to find the right flavors and explore new twists on old standbys.
It had been so close. This dream of hers, and then yesterday she’d seen it—seen everything—slip away.
But these women were here and telling her that it was still attainable. She just had to ask for help and accept it.
Her eyes pooled with tears. “You’ve given me a lot to think about. And I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your love and support. You’re right. I have put too much time into this dream to let it slip away. I won’t let it. I might not be able to open a bakery as soon as I might have hoped, but I’m willing to keep trying.”
“And you’ll ask us for help when you need it, right?” Benny asked.
“I’m going to try,” she said honestly, still not sure if when push came to shove she’d actually be able to take that step. Yet.
“And Jack?” Payton asked more softly.
“We’ll have to see,” she said, feeling weary again, but with a glimmer of hope that maybe she hadn’t lost everything.
As the women got up to leave almost an hour later, Payton pulled her aside at the front door. “I know I said I wouldn’t make excuses for Jack, but…as someone who knows him, who knows how much he loved Lara and how devastated he was when he lost her, he really is one of the good guys. I saw the two of you together. He loves you, I have no doubt. You made him laugh like I haven’t heard in years. With or without the campaign pressure, he would have proposed to you. He knows a good thing when he sees it.”
Daisy knew Payton meant well, and rather than go into all the reasons why she was still too angry and hurt to talk about forgiveness—if that were even possible—she found it easier just to accept her sister-in-law’s hug—baby belly and all. “Thanks, Payton.”
Payton’s smile faltered a little, obviously hoping to have had more of an impact on Daisy, who stood in the doorway.
Benny rolled her car window down. “Call me tomorrow?”
Daisy nodded, waiting until the last car drove away to shut the door.
Instantly, her thoughts returned to Jack. She wondered whether he’d heard about her call to the bank this morning, that, true to her word, she’d asked them to hold off on processing the loan. Because as much as she wanted the money to enable her to lease a store front, to buy the equipment and supplies she would need to open her bakery successfully, it would have complicated things with Jack.
In time, when their tempers cooled off, their emotions weren’t quite so high, when—and if—they decided they wanted to try to work things out, it should only be about them.
She wanted to be sure it was because they only wanted each other.
…
When the doorbell rang early Sunday evening, for one quick but thrilling moment, Jack thought it might be Daisy who’d come to talk things over. That she was willing to give them another chance even as he knew she would probably be at her family’s house for their usual Sunday dinner.
But the voice that greeted them when Lily opened the door was definitely not feminine.
“Grandpa,” Lily cried and threw herself into the older man’s arms. Ollie barked and tried to jump up on them as Jack hurried over and tugged him back down.
“Lily bug, how are you doing?” his dad asked, setting her down. In his early sixties, he still was an impressive figure. His hair was thick but had turned to gray around the temples, and his face more weathered, the lines around his eyes more pronounced, but they only served to add another level of maturity and strength to a man already well respected and admired.
“Dad, I didn’t know you were back in town,” Jack said, unable to keep his surprise from his voice as he hugged him briefly. “I thought you were in Texas until next month?”
“Are you kidding? Would I miss the biggest day of my son’s life? Of our family’s? Of course I’m here. So. Is she here? I would love to meet her,” he said, his blue eyes looking past him as if Jack had Daisy hidden away in the corner.
Jack glanced down at Lily, whose joy at seeing her grandpa seemed to disappear. He’d finally broken the news to her last night. Without going into too many details, he’d let her know that he’d done something stupid—no need to go into any details or to lay blame anywhere than his own shoulders. When she asked him if she was going to still see her and the kids, it had caused him even more pain that he hadn’t been able to tell her with any level of confidence that she would.
“What? Did something happen?” his dad asked, looking back and forth between Jack and Lily.
“Dad did something stupid and now they’re not together anymore.”
His dad turned his inquisitive gaze to him, studying him for a long moment. “I see. Well, then it looks like it will be just the three of us for supper. I made reservations at your favorite Italian place,” he said to Lily.
Truthfully, the last thing that Jack felt like was a night out under the glare of photographers or the curious onlookers at the other tables in the restaurant, but he also knew that Lily shouldn’t be stuck here just because Jack’s heart was a little beat up—okay, blown to smithereens. A regular night out with her dad and her grandpa would be something maybe they all needed.
It wasn’t until they were home a couple of hours later that he and his dad holed up in his study that the old man broached the topic of the split.
“Sorry, Dad, but I’m not quite ready to talk about it.” Not to mention that the last thing Jack needed was another lecture on why asking a woman he barely knew to marry him was impulsive and shortsighted, and bound to be a monumental mistake.
