AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 25
Jack
A week later, Jack was back to working on Charlie’s place. Jo had returned to New York shortly after the wedding. He’d heard she wanted to talk to him, but he’d also overheard her conversation with her boss. Her dream had come true. She would be writing her articles, and her photos would be published with them.
He was happy for her, but that didn’t mean he was strong enough to watch her go. Given the chance, he may have begged her to stay, and that wouldn’t have been right. Oh, it would have been great at first, and over time, she would have resented him for standing in the way of her dreams. He couldn’t and wouldn’t do that.
When he’d approached Charlie about buying the place, she’d flat-out refused to even hear him out. She wasn’t selling to Craig, and she wasn’t selling to him. It was her house, and that was that.
It’d been a second blow to his heart within the week. After taking a couple of days to get himself together, he’d returned to the house with a plan to replace the siding. If he worked fast enough, he’d move on to painting this weekend. Hopefully, Charlie will have a color picked by then.
The back screen door opened and then slammed shut. Likely, it was Charlie bringing him something to drink. Now, June, the heat was kicked up a notch, and she was intent on keeping him hydrated.
“You look a little hot and sweaty.”
Jack stopped what he was doing, positive he’d just hallucinated.
“I brought you something to drink.”
He slowly turned around. “Jo? What are you doing here?”
Her lips quirked up. “I live here, don’t I?”
“Live here? What? You live in New York.”
She set his glass down on a nearby stack of wood. “Correction. I lived in New York.”
“What?”
“What about your job?”
“I quit.”
His mouth dropped open. “Quit? But I heard?—”
“Only part of the conversation, apparently. I’m still keeping some of the commitments, but I’m freelance writing for Eternal Vows.”
“But your dream.”
She smiled. “It’s changed a little.”
He held her gaze as his heart raced. “It has?”
“Yeah. I’ve got this idea about a bed and breakfast. So many ideas about that… But I should probably talk to my business partner before I get ahead of myself.”
Now, he was thoroughly confused. He set his hands on his hips. After all the work he’d done? “Your business?—”
“You, Jack. My grandma is selling it to us.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, he blinked. “Us?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“That’s not all. While I was in New York, I talked to one of my contacts who owns a gallery about displaying some of my photos?—”
“That’s great!”
“And about your art. I waited for you and your family to leave for the wedding, and took a few photos .” She smiled as Jack’s jaw slowly dropped. “He loved them.”
