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“You like it?” The voice startled me, and my eyes flew open to see Jake standing in front of me.
“I love it.” I moved to stand, but he held up a hand and said, “Stay.”
I settled back in the swing, and he crouched down in front of me, holding my hands in his.
My heart was beating a hard rhythm under my breastbone.
“I’m so sorry about the other night. I wanted to make it up to you, to tell you what happened the next morning, but I wanted to show you how much you mean to me, how committed I am to being with you.”
“I don’t understand. I don’t need things.”I just need you.“Not that I didn’t love the flowers because I did.”
He smiled softly. “You always give everyone else the thing you love the most, but who treats you?”
I gripped his hands tighter because he was saying all the right things.
“But you’re right. This is more than flowers. You deserve to know what happened the night of the party. And about the phone call.”
My stomach tightened as I waited, giving him the space to continue.
His eyes were unfocused, as if he were remembering that night. “When I came out of the bathroom, your mom was waiting for me.”
“I’m so sorry—”
Jake shook his head. “It’s not your fault. She said some things. Logically, I know they’re not true, but that night, in that party, amongst those people, I fell back into old patterns. Where I feel like I don’t fit in, or I’m not good enough. And she knew that. She fed into it. But it’s my fault that I fell for it.”
“What did she say, exactly?” I needed to know. I was sick of my mother doing this.
He sighed. “That I was no good for you. If I cared for you at all, I’d walk away now before I ruined your business and dimmed your light. She was wrong about so many things, but most importantly was that no one can dim your light. You’ll shine regardless. You’ve already proven that with your parents.”
He brushed a tear off my cheek I hadn’t realized had fallen.
I sniffed. “You’re not ruining my business.”
“I know that now. But that night, she fed into every one of my insecurities, and that’s on me. Not on her. I let her get to me, and I know better.” His jaw tightened. “If I’m so lucky to get another chance with you, I’m never letting you go. You deserve to be treated like a queen. And no one comes between us.”
I tipped my head to the side, considering him. He’d gone to all this trouble, to find this many arrays of flowers, delivering them each day with a thoughtful note, but he also was very self-aware. This wasn’t a man avoiding his feelings. He was facing them head on. “You think you’re the man to do it?”
“Do you want me to be?” His expression was so open. I wanted to say yes, but he hadn’t told the whole story yet. “Who called that night?”
He huffed out a breath and stood, pacing back and forth in front of me. “My mom. She shows up every few months. The last time, Hailey told her not to come back, and I thought that was it.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“I knew she wanted something, and there was a price I could pay to get her out of my life.”
Genuinely curious, I asked, “Why do you want her out of your life?”
“Her coming and going. It has to stop. It’s too disruptive for Hailey and now her unborn child.”
“Hailey’s pregnant?”
“Hailey told me before I picked you up for the party that she was.”
“That’s amazing news. I’m so happy for them.” I wanted to reach for Jake, but he seemed lost in whatever decision he’d made with his mother.
“I wanted to protect her from my mother.”
“It’s not your place to protect everyone in your life. Hailey is an adult now, and she has Ryan.” It was admirable, but maybe not as necessary as it once was.
