Page 27 of With This Wish

Jake snorts and shakes his head. “I am happy to hear that you want to do this more often, but I wasn’t thanking you for the sex, though it was pretty spectacular.”

I feel my grin widen as I rest my chin on his chest. “It was.” The most spectacular I have ever had. While I don’t have a lot of points of reference, I know for sure that no one has ever made me feel as cherished as Jake, and no one has ever made me feel like my bones have been liquefied either.

Jake returns my smile and continues to brush his hand through my hair. “I was thanking you for everything,” he says, his gaze serious. “I’m so glad I stopped for lunch that day three years ago.”

“Me too,” I tell him, reaching up to give him a kiss. When I move back, the charm around my neck is resting against his lightly freckled skin.

His fingers reach down and trace along the three interconnected triangles of the valknut charm. “Family,” he breathes out reverently.

I nod and cup his face. “Family,” I tell him. My thumb traces his lower lip as it pulls into a small smile. He and JJ are my family now, and I plan on treating them with just as much respect and importance as I have my other family. “You know, the night we met, I wished to have a sense of family again. And it happened, just not exactly the way I thought it would.”

Jake smiles and brushes his lips lightly against mine. “I wished for something extraordinary to happen.” He rests his forehead against mine and I relax into him, our bodies messing together. “I guess both our wishes came true,” he says, leaning in to kiss me. As we once again lose ourselves in the pleasure of being with one another, there is also the wonderful feeling that we are creating something new together, something permanent, and something even more extraordinary than what we already have.

****

The week leading up to Jake leaving to go back to Denver goes by way too fast. We spent as much time together as possible while also trying to squeeze in time for Jake and Billie to work on his presentation as well as time for Billie to get to know JJ. While I’m sure there isn’t a man alive who wouldn’t flock to Billie’s side in an instant, JJ just didn’t feel the same way about her. She tried everything from attempting to play with him to bribing him with sweets, but nothing worked. I felt a little bad, but she shrugged it off, saying she can handle a man who plays hard to get, a comment which earned a snort from Jake and a chuckle from me.

When she wasn’t helping Jake or attempting to bond with my son, Billie was in the workshop out back, trying to annoy my brother. If the perma-scowl he’s been wearing all week is any indication, she succeeded. Personally, I think he’s jealous of her ability to flit around from person to person and make conversation so easily, but I can’t be sure. She left yesterday, so I tried to bring up the topic, but he redirected the conversation to something else. I’ve decided to leave it alone for now, but something tells me it won’t be the last time the topic of Billie comes up between my brother and me.

Trying to sneak in a few moments with just Jake and me has been difficult as well, especially with a two-year-old and my brother in the same apartment. It’s not like I wanted to ask Carter to babysit every night just so Jake and I could have sex, or even would if I had the inclination. That wouldn’t be fair to my brother. A woman has needs, though, so Jake and I have had to get a little creative. We have been able to sneak in a couple of quickies while JJ takes a nap in the other room, but it’s not nearly enough. I want to be able to really spend quality time exploring my man, but I’ll take what I can get. Especially since he’s taking off this morning. I know he’s coming back, I’m just not sure under what circumstances. Maybe his presentation will go well and he’ll be moving here, or maybe it will go sideways and we have to figure out a long-distance thing. Or maybe JJ and I can move to Denver. I don’t love the idea of leaving my little mountain town or Carter, but I would do it if it meant our small family could be together.

“I wish you didn’t have to go,” I tell Jake. Next to me, he holds tightly onto JJ, getting in as much cuddle time as our little boy will allow. He used to be content with playing in the office, but since Jake has shown up, he’s been more curious about exploring. One look at our son tells me he’s going to miss his new playmate just as much as Jake is going to miss him.

Jake tries to smooth out JJ’s curls, a losing battle as they spring back no matter what you do, and smiles sadly at me. “I know, Beautiful. I wish I didn’t have to go either.” He kisses JJ on the cheek. “I’ll see you soon, okay, bud?”

“Okay,” JJ tells him. He pats Jake’s cheeks with each hand a few times before wiggling to be put down. He toddles over to the office and starts playing with his blocks, completely unaware of the gravity of the situation in front of us. I’m not unaware, and my heart is heavy with thoughts of things possibly not working out.

Before he even has his arms extended, I step into Jake and hug his chest, holding him as tightly as I can while breathing in his forest scent. It’s comforting, and I might have to get an air freshener for my room to help me feel better while he’s gone. “I love you,” I get out over a sniffle.

Jake hugs me tightly for a moment and sways me from side to side, comforting me in a way I often use on JJ when he’s upset. It’s soothing and I wish we could just stay like this all day. Finally, he pulls back and wipes away the stray tear from my face. “Don’t cry,” he says, sealing his mouth over mine in a searing goodbye kiss. “I love you too, Maya.” His brow is furrowed, but his look is determined. “I will come back to you. JJ is my heart, and you are my soul, my home. You are my everything, Beautiful. Everything.”

Emotion clogs my throat, so I simply nod my agreement, not sure I can even speak now. After one more hug, I step back and find my voice enough to wish him luck. “Will you let me know how it goes?”

“Absolutely,” he says. His expression is hopeful, but I can see the anxiety on his face too. Knowing he wants this just as badly as I do helps, but I’m still nervous something is going to keep him from coming back. It’s like déjà vu of the worst kind, and I wish we could just fast-forward to the end where he comes back to us.

With one last glance into the office at our son, Jake steps back and heads toward the front door. Before he leaves, he turns and looks at me. “This isn’t goodbye, Maya. I will come home.”

A shaky smile comes over my face and I will my nerves to calm down. “I know.” I do know he will come back, but having the confidence to feel it is still new. “See you soon.”

Jake smiles and nods, finally leaving the store. Watching him walk away is hard, but I just keep reminding myself that he is coming home. I trust him and I trust in our love for one another. This whole thing may have started with a wish, a hope whispered into the wind for something special knowing it might never come true, but now it’s about something else. It’s about trusting that what we have is real, solid, and isn’t going anywhere.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jake

The drive back to Denver yesterday was brutal, and not just because it started to snow heavily about a half hour outside of Starlight Lake. The drive felt like an exercise in discipline, my knuckles white as I gripped the steering wheel and willed myself to keep going. My mind kept rationalizing the trip. It was what was best, I was working on something that would get me there permanently, so I had to keep going regardless of the fact it felt like I had carved my heart out and left it behind. At one point, I seriously considered just quitting my job, turning around, and working as a part-time lumberjack or whatever other available work I could find so I wouldn’t have to spend one more day away from Maya and JJ. Ultimately, I kept going, trying to focus on what was best in the long term. My heart could ache for a few days while I waited to return to them. It had three years of practice, so hopefully it wouldn’t be that bad.

It had been that bad, though. Returning to my cold and lifeless apartment felt awful. Where were JJ’s blocks? Why weren’t Maya’s crochet hooks and yarn scattered about? Where was the sense of home I had found with the woman I felt tethered to more than anything else in this world? Home was a few hours west with the people I love, and they were counting on me to do my best and come back to them. It’s something I told myself repeatedly as I tossed in a fitful sleep in my bed, getting almost no rest at all.

Luckily for me, my always cheery assistant, Kendall, appears with a cup of espresso the moment I step off the elevator into the offices of Mile High Consulting. “You are a godsend,” I tell him. I start walking and sip the hot liquid, enjoying the robust flavor and making a note to make sure I take some of this coffee with me when I go back home. Thinking of Maya and JJ as my home once again brings a smile to my face, and when I glance at my assistant, he’s a little teary eyed. “Kendall, what’s wrong?”

He waves off my question and sniffles. “Nothing,” he says. He pulls a pocket square out of his shirt and dabs at his eyes. “You just look so happy.”

I nod as we walk into what will hopefully soon be my former office. “I am happy. Very happy, actually.” I polish off the coffee in record time and place the empty cup on my desk. After starting up my computer, I give Kendall a nod and ask him to sit. “What did you think of my plan?” One of the many calls I made during my time away was to Kendall to update him on the situation and get his take on my business proposal. He’s a hard worker and whip smart, so I value his opinion highly.

Kendall clasps both hands gracefully on his knee and straightens his posture. “I thought it was good.” His eyes flick away for a moment, a tell of his that says he’s lying. When I glare at him, he shrugs. “I don’t know what you want me to say. The idea has merit, but I just don’t see the need to open a satellite office. Especially one where you don’t have an assistant,” he says, sounding slightly irritated.

“Ah.” Now I know why he seems upset. “I should have made this clearer in the proposal, but you would still be my assistant, Kendall, just a virtual one,” I explain. “Unless of course you want to move to Starlight Lake.”

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