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"He’s okay," Jesse said "We’re working our way through it"

Bill studied him for a few seconds "If you say so, darlin’"

Bill had his arm around her She see at the between theuy was just what she’d said A friend

Which should have made him feel better, but didn’t

Jesse knew she should probably be standing on her oo feet, but it felt good to be leaning on Bill, even for just a couple of ht now she needed a friend

Matt’s accusations still rang in her ears, , of course He had to be wrong She hadn’t been punishing hi his son froht of that as her motive, was it possible that deep inside she’d wanted to hurt him back? Hurt him as much as he’d hurt her? Was she really that horrible a person?

It was too much to consider, so she focused on Bill They walked up to the house, Matt co with the into the room, then launch himself at the older man

"Uncle Bill! Uncle Bill!"

The boy’s joy was ilanced at Matt His face didn’t show any ehtness in his jaw, the stiffness in his body Bill had known Gabe all his life He’d been a part of everything Matt had missed and it was possible that was her fault

She touched his ar with a rage she’d never seen before "Do you think that coh?" he asked, then turned and left

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Five years ago…

JESSE PUT THE LAST OF the plates in the cupboard, then stood back to look at the neat stacks of dishes Matt hadn’t had much in the way of housewares to move Except for his clothes and a few personal ite in the town house was new The flatware, the pots and pans, the sofa, the bedroom set, all of it It was new and lovely and made what had been an empty space seem allanced at her watch All the delivery appointet them all over at once She’d volunteered to take the day off work, because sitting in an e with Nicole at the bakery

Now as she ine what it would look like when Matt really lived here When she really lived here

Just thinking the words made her both smile and shiver He’d asked her to ned the paperwork to buy the place They’d picked out all the furniture together, had argued about towel colors and as going to do the cooking They’d made love on the carpeted floor and he’d promised he would love her forever

For all her sexual experience, Jesse had never had a real boyfriend before Not one who called when he said, didn’t explode for no reason, who seemed to love her asShe couldn’t stop wondering how long it would be until she totally screwed up everything

That was her pattern She’d done it all her life Her sister kept telling her she took screwing up to a professional level Jesse had never cared about it before because there hadn’t been anything to lose But now? Matt was everything to her She didn’t know if she would survive destroying what they had

Which hy she hadn’t yet agreed to move in with him She was beyond scared The love that burned inside of her was so strong, so real, it had become aswrong?

Matt understood why she was afraid and had told her to take her ti and then had teased her into laughing He was perfect, or as close as she needed a guy to be

The doorbell rang She hurried to the front door and let in the first of the delivery guys

The next couple of hours passed quickly The upstairs media room sofa came first, quickly followed by the kitchen table and chairs they’d ordered The living roouys showed up with the big bed he’d bought A bed they’d giggled over in the showroom

When she was finally alone, Jesse walked fro to be They still needed to get pictures and maybe some plants or books Work was required tocloser

Could she see herself here? Did she want to? She closed her eyes and i Upstairs, watching a ht

Her throat tightened as love washed over her He was the best man she’d ever known She would be crazy not to try to make it work, despite her fears She could do this, couldn’t she?

She was about to head upstairs toShe crossed the carpet As far as she knew, everything had been delivered

When she opened the door, she saw Paula standing there The tomen looked at each other

Paula spoke first "Matt said his furniture was being delivered today"

"It was I let them in"

"Oh"

Obviously Paula had expected Matt to be the one waiting She’d come by to see her son

"Do you want to co she would say no