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He wasn’t heartbroken over their final breakup. He’d hurt worse over the break-up that had happened prior to that one. At the time, he’d grieved and accepted that things were finally over. Then, after three months, she’d come back, wanting yet another chance. That time, he hadn’t fully committed his heart to it because he had a feeling that another breakup was looming. And he’d been right.
“She just seems really distant,” Will said. “Like she’s pulling away, but every time I try to talk to her about it, she just brushes me off.”
“Wish I had some advice for you, bro,” Jay told him. “But we both know that I have no clue about relationships either.”
“My mom said that I should propose, but I don’t know, man. If she’s not willing to communicate with me now, I don’t think I want to get married. As much as it hurts to imagine not having her in my life, I’m not willing to use marriage as a bandage.”
Jay admired the guy for not rushing into something that might end up being an even worse situation for him and Daphne.
His thoughts went to Misha, and her revelation that her baby’s father had passed away. She hadn’t indicated if he had been her husband or her boyfriend, though he’d noticed she hadn’t been wearing a ring of any sort. Whichever it was, no doubt it had been a difficult situation for her. And perhaps moving to Serenity was a way of moving forward in her grief.
When the timer went for the wings, Jay went into the kitchen to take them out of the fryer. Will trailed after him, and they filled their plates before returning to watch the game, leaving the weighty discussion of relationships for another time.
~*~
“Thank you so much for picking us up,” Misha said as Gareth pulled to the curb in front of the house. “We really appreciate it.”
“You’re very welcome.”
Once the car was parked, he and Aria got out while Misha unhooked Ciara’s car seat. Her mom gathered up the diaper bag and their purses before climbing out of the car. By the time they were out of the SUV, Janessa had joined them.
“Mom, this is Janessa Halverson,” Misha said, then turned to Janessa. “And this is my mom, Denise.”
“It’s so wonderful to meet you, Janessa,” her mom said as she shook Janessa’s hand. “Thank you for opening your home to us.”
“The more, the merrier,” Janessa said with a friendly smile. “C’mon inside. I’ll show you to your room while Gareth gets your bags.”
Janessa took one of the smaller suitcases from Gareth, then led the way into the house. Though she’d shared the pictureswith her mom, Misha could tell that she was in awe of how lovely the place was.
“I’ll leave it up to you to decide which room is whose,” Janessa said. “We have a pack ‘n play that you can set up for Ciara in whichever room you want her in.”
They’d discussed it on the plane ride and had decided that for the first couple of nights, Misha would keep her. And if she settled well and went back to sleeping through the night, she’d stay in Misha’s room. However, if she wasn’t sleeping well at night once Misha had to start work, they’d move her into her mom’s room.
“These rooms are so beautiful,” her mom told Janessa. “I just hope that a crying baby doesn’t keep you awake at night.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that. This used to be a B&B, so the rooms are very well sound-proofed. Gareth and Aria like to sit on the landing to talk, and I never hear anything in my room.”
Ciara squawked then, kicking her feet as she sat in her car seat where Misha had set it on the floor.
“How did she do on the flight?” Janessa asked.
“Pretty good,” Misha said. “Only fussed on takeoff and landing, but she definitely didn’t like not being able to meet everyone on the plane.”
“A real social butterfly, huh?” Janessa said with a chuckle. “I’m sure it was a long day for all of you.”
“Yeah. It was, but we’re here now, so it’s all good.”
Gareth and Aria brought in their other suitcases, setting them off to the side.
“We’ve planned for supper in about an hour,” Janessa said. “So we’ll leave you to get settled.”
“Thanks so much.”
Once the others had left the room, Misha bent to unstrap Ciara from her seat. After holding her for a minute, she set her on the carpeted floor so that she could move around a bit. Her mom pulled out some toys from the diaper bag and put them in front of the baby. Since they were her favorites, she happily focused on them.
“Which room do you want, Mom?”
Her mom frowned. “I know they said that they won’t hear Ciara cry, but I’m worried.”
