My eyes watered, and I blew my nose.
She stood, brushing a piece of lint from her jeans. “Now, get some rest. Heal fast, so he doesn’t have to know.”
“Okay.”
Waving, she left the room, leaving me to a head full of cotton and a throat full of knives.
Staring at the ceiling, I made a request to whatever all-seeing power was out there.
Please, please keep Jacob away until I’m better.
Don’t let him realise I’m not immortal like he needs.
Closing my eyes, I wished and prayed that Jacob would hate me enough from the kiss to stay away for a few days. Because if he didn’t. If he heard me…I had a bone-chilling knowledge that everything between us would end.
That our friendship would be over.
Our connection destroyed.
He’d cut me out.
He’d send me away.
For good.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Jacob
* * * * * *
“JACOB? YOU IN here?”
I looked up, shielding my eyes from the sun’s glare as Mom strode into the greenhouse where I’d planted some apple seedlings. I was deadly serious about dabbling in orchard growing.
There was money to be made in stone fruits, as well as berries—if I could figure out a way to grow them consistently.
“Yeah.” I used the rag from my pocket to wipe the sweat from my forehead.
I wasn’t in a good mood. Hell, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been in a good mood. Once again, it was Hope’s fault.
That kiss.
That goddamn kiss would forever be linked to the fiery taste of whiskey.
And that cough that echoed in my nightmares.
At least she’d kept her distance. Mom had delivered Hope’s excuses about needing to study with her tutor via Skype, but I reckoned she’d finally realised that kissing me was a mistake and was as pissed off about it as I was.
She needed space, just like me.
Thank God.
“Jacob…are you listening to me?”
I focused on Mom. “Sorry. Yeah. What did you say?”
“I said I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Well, you found me.” I didn’t have time for this. I wanted to be left alone.
Brushing past her, I grabbed a tray of baby peaches and carried them toward the potting table.
“You know, your father and I lived on an orchard for a couple of months as fruit pickers.” Mom followed me, stroking the leaves of an infant plant with a wistful smile. “We stayed in a shack and worked every hour possible, but it was one of the happiest times of our lives.”
It wasn’t often Mom brought him up this nonchalantly, and my heart definitely wasn’t strong enough for her tales today.
Clearing my throat, I said, “Don’t you have more rescues to pick up?”
She narrowed her eyes, reading me too well. “I do. But not for another hour or so.”
“Ah.”
I wouldn’t be getting rid of her anytime soon then.
Silence fell as I pulled a seedling from its tray and placed it into a bigger pot. Mom watched me work, her presence not nearly as annoying as Hope’s.
After I’d transferred four plants and bedded them in with new dirt, she moved. Her hand went into her back pocket before slipping forward to place a small box on the earth covered bench before me.
The second I saw at it, I knew. “What the hell are you doing?”
The package was identical to the one she’d given me on my graduation in the diner.
Green wrapping.
Purchased by a ghost and given by a dead man.
“I don’t want it.” I backed up, slamming into a trestle with yet more baby fruit trees.
Mom bowed her head, staring at the gift. “I’ve been wondering when the right time would be to give you this. I’ve been watching you and Hope. Not knowing if I could. If she was the one for you. But…she told me you kissed her yesterday. And…I just had to.”
“She told you?”
What the fuck?
Nudging the box toward the edge of the table, she murmured, “Ren told me to give this to you when you found the girl you were going to marry. I don’t know if you’ll end up marrying Hope, but in my opinion, she’s the most important girl who will come into your life. You guys might break up, you might settle with different people, but without Hope, you wouldn’t be ready to love anyone. And that is why I’m giving this to you now.”
Our eyes met.
Mine frantic, hers resolute in grief. “Open it, Wild One.”
“I-I can’t.”
“You have to.”
“He wouldn’t want me to have it yet. I don’t deserve it.”
“You do, and he would because he would’ve loved Hope, and you know it.”
I clenched my jaw.
Goddammit, why did he have to do this? Why did he have to give Mom the same number of packages he gave me? Why did he keep making life so fucking hard?
“I’ll go. Open it on your own.” Skirting scattered soil, she came toward me. Standing on tiptoes, she dared kiss my cheek. “I love you. And I think she does too. Don’t be afraid of that. Never be afraid of that.”