Ever After (Nantucket Brides 3)

But she didn’t reassure Jamie. Instead, she waited in silence. If there was the possibility of anything permanent between them, wouldn’t he say something? Even if it was just a hint?

But Jamie said nothing.

Hallie put her empty mug on the windowsill and got up. “I need to go back to bed. Thank you for the tea. It was very thoughtful of you.”

“You said you were homesick, but the people you love are…gone. So is it Braden who you’re homesick for?”

“I guess so,” Hallie said, even though it was a lie. But letting him think that was better than Jamie believing what Todd had said—that she was desperate for his family. What a terrible word. Desperate.

She paused at her bedroom door. “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Anything,” he said.

The look in his eyes made her want to go to him. It was a kind of emptiness that she’d seen flashes of, but it had never lasted long. Now it seemed to be there permanently. “Could you ask your family to stay away tomorrow?”

Jamie’s eyes brightened. “You want us to stay here alone, just the two of us? I’d like that too. We could—”

“No, that isn’t what I meant. All this”—she waved her hand to indicate the house—“has made me think about things. I’m a single, unattached female with good credentials. I can live anywhere in the U.S. No! In the world. So I’m going to try to get a really fabulous job in some place that’s glorious. Do you think I could get your father to write me a recommendation?”

“Yes. Everyone in my family will write letters praising you. My uncles know people who can help you find a job—if that’s what you want.” His voice had a tone of resignation to it, as though he knew he’d just lost something important.

“That’s a very kind offer, but no thanks. I’d like to be hired on my own merits, not because I know the right people. I was thinking that in a week or so you’ll have healed enough that you’ll no longer need twenty-four-hour supervision. Once you leave, I’ll be free to go and do anything. See the world.” She smiled at him as sweetly as she could manage. “I owe all of your family. You’ve made me see possibilities. Goodnight. See you tomorrow.”

He didn’t say anything, just looked at her.

Hallie went into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. As she leaned back against it, she couldn’t help the tears that came to her eyes. She’d wanted to know if there could be anything more than work between her and James Taggert, and now she knew. It looked like his little jealous fit about Braden had been just that. A male marking his territory.

It had been a spur-of-the-moment idea to apply for a job somewhere. What had she expected him to say? “No, don’t leave. Stay here and let’s get to know each other better?”

How ridiculous that was!

But as much as Todd’s words had hurt—especially about her father—Hallie also remembered what he’d said about her work. Maybe she wasn’t good enough to be part of his illustrious family, but she was good at her job. “Magic” and “brilliant” were the words Todd had used.

She got back into bed and turned out the light, but she didn’t sleep. She waited until she heard Jamie go to his own bedroom. His walk was slower, as though his leg was hurting him. Only when she heard the clink of his crutches as he dropped them did she start to settle.

“Are you happy now?” she whispered into the dark, meaning her words for the ghosts in the house. “So much for matching people up.”

She felt like crying, but then she began to feel very calm. When she’d first heard that the Tea Ladies showed themselves only to people who’d not yet found their True Loves, she’d immediately thought that hers was Braden. All she had to do was make him see that she was all grown up and he’d realize how compatible they were. They’d had a lifetime of sharing laughter and good times. They knew each other, understood each other. So why not keep on with it?

“Is that it?” she whispered. “I was getting too close to Jamie? I was forgetting Braden? Are he and I True Loves?”

She couldn’t remain awake. As she heard the swish of a silk skirt, sleep overcame her. She didn’t awaken at two A.M. and if Jamie had a nightmare, she didn’t hear it.

Chapter Eighteen

Hallie put the papers she’d printed out down on the desk and leaned back in the chair. Her shoulders were stiff from sitting in front of a computer for most of the day. When she woke up this morning she’d made a plan to be as cool as possible to Jamie. She’d be professional but nothing else. No joking, no teasing, just do her job as best she could.

Jamie had done what she asked and his family had stayed away, so all day it had been just the two of them.

In the early morning she’d worked on his knee. No full massage, but she’d manip

ulated his leg deeply. She could feel that a lot of the tension had come back into his body, but she didn’t work on it.

Only once did he refer to her near silence.

She was directing him in some gentle leg lifts and she could see by the sweat on his forehead that he was in pain. He didn’t complain. What he said was “If you want to talk, I’m here.”

In answer, she gave him a cool look but no words.