Page 38 (1/2)

"Jesse, no Stop Talk to me There has to be more"

She looked at him "There should be, but this is all we have now"

Then she left, doing her best not to run, not to shoeakness But it was hard to go, with her eyes filled with tears and her heart begging her to listen and given him onehis son arrived in Jesse’s e- with a notice from her bank about an autoe amount and suspected it would appear at the same time every et her thehow he’d found out her bank account number AAnd he had near unlimited resources

No doubt her bank would be stunned by her new balance She’d always been one of those customers who sometimes had to ride her balance down to the last couple of pennies She’d never bounced a check, but it had been close a few ti and now there was ht was to put e, but to what end? Matt would take care of that She could offer Paula rent, again, but doubted she would take it Eventually she would et her own place, but Paula had made it clear she didn’t want that to happen anyti with her grandson and Gabe thrived under her attention Jesse appreciated having another adult around So for now, she would stay

Gabe ran into her bedroom and stood next to the bed where she sat with her co, his expression hopeful

"It’s Grandma’s birthday on Saturday," he said in a loud whisper "I heard Uncle Bill say that Grandma needs a party"

Paula’s birthday? Jesse had never known the date She pushed her coht," she told her son "We need to have a big party for Grand Bill would want to take Paula somewhere nice for dinner "What about lunch? We could have balloons and presents and a cake"

"And ice creaether "And presents"

"Lots of presents" Paulato accept rent ifts Jesse kneas the least she could do Plus it would be fun "I’o tell Uncle Bill our plan I think the party should be a surprise"

Gabe grinned "A secret?"

"Uh-huh So you can’t tell"

"I won’t"

She had her doubts Excitement usually won out in the four-year-old consciousness, but either way, Paula would know she was loved and appreciated

"Can Daddy go shopping with us?" Gabe asked

Jesse hesitated "He’ll buy his own presents for his n he was about to be stubborn "I want Daddy to go shopping with us"

Refusing would be so easy She could say that Matt was busy and Gabe would never know the difference Except that would be lying and she’d done her best to never lie to her son But spending tiht of hi around hih, the way he knew her, understood her Telling herself that knowledge had allowed him to devastate her didn’t take away the fact that she still loved hiht thing to do Knowing she would get through it and hey, nore the fact that every time she ith him, another piece of her heart withered and died

GABE SNIFFED ONCE, then sneezed Matt laughed "Not that one, huh?"

His son wrinkled his nose "It doesn’t smell like Grandma"

Jesse bent down and touched Gabe’s cheek "Are you sure you want to get perfuloves to keep her warm this winter"

Their four-year-old shook his head "I want ’fulanced at the sales associate who had patiently sprayed scents on half a dozen paper sticks and handed them to Gabe "Sorry about this," he said "We should have headed hiht scent is i in a way that let Matt know she was more than interested Not that he cared His attention was solely on Jesse, who had been polite and emotionally distant ever since he’d picked both her and Gabe up an hour ago at his mom’s place

He’d been surprised when she’d called hiested the three of the it clear that the idea had been Gabe’s didn’t detract froot to spend time with her was fine with hie

"You don’t like any of these?" Jesse asked

Gabe shook his head

"Not even this one?" She picked up the sarance

"Uh-uh"

"Maybe we should take a break froet Grandma a sweater, so let’s do that and we’ll try somewhere else"

"Okay" He slipped his hand in hers "Grandlanced at Matt "Is thisyou crazy?"

"Not yet"

She smiled It was an easy sotten to be on her guard Then the so upstairs," she said "I saeaters there"

Matt hesitated "I’rab a coffee You want one?"

"No, thanks"

He waited until they’d gone up the escalator, then returned to the perfu

"You’re back," she said, her tone suggestive

He ignored that "The first perfu It’s lovely One of my favorites" All he cared about was that Jesse had liked it

"Give me a bottle Or a set Do you have a set?"

She showed him a box with perfu Jesse that he paid attention would help

He caught up with thee "What happened to the coffee?"

"I changed my mind"

She held up a dark red sweater "I think Paula would look great in this What do you think?"

"I agree"

She glanced at the price and winced, then shrugged "She’s worth it"