Page 41 of I'll Carry You

A wave of anxious, breath-stealing nausea smacked her, crowding her lungs. She was letting herself get carried away by thoughts of Jason.

Travis was right. She needed to set some ground rules. Especially now that Colby had met him. Rules that might be better fleshed out with a date. This was a short-term fling, and that was that. She wasn’t being dumb and irresponsible, and she hated that Dan’s words hung on the fringe of her thoughts.

She walked up to the table, managing a weak smile. “How’s it going?”

Colby had the remnants of a grilled cheese sandwich in front of him but was busy digging into a brownie. Whatever Jason had eaten had been polished off, but she guessed it was a bowl of soup and a sandwich, from his order the previous time. He ate healthier than she did. And worked out more, too.

Great. Another thing to be self-conscious about.

“Guess what, Mommy! Mr. Jason got me a book!” Colby held it up, a story with a cartoonish dog on the front.

“Wow, did you say thank you?” Jen kept her gaze level with Colby.

Colby mumbled a thank you, going back to the brownie. Jen mouthed, “Thank you,” to Jason.

The corners of his mouth turned up in a smile, but he looked away as his phone rang beside him. Checking the phone, he frowned. “Um, I gotta take this. That okay?”

“Of course.” Jen stepped to the side to let him pass. He answered before passing through the front door to the café, then hurried out to the sidewalk.

She sat on the side of the booth Jason had vacated. “Did you have fun with Mr. Jason?”

Colby looked up between a bite of brownie, his face covered in chocolate. “Uh-huh. Can we go home now?”

Tension pushed up her esophagus. Poor Colby had barely been home since Thursday afternoon—no, Wednesday. She checked her watch. “Mommy will be done working in another hour. Do you think you can wait that long? I bet we can play with your playdough. I finished that batch for you and gave it to Uncle Travis to hold for you behind the front counter.”

She didn’t want to tell Jason that she’d had to start the playdough all over again. He’d made a good attempt. Colby swung his legs around the side of the booth, eagerly heading toward the front counter. “Wait, wait, wait.” Jen grabbed him by the back of the shirt, then wiped his face with a napkin. He grumbled, then she took his hand and led him to the front counter.

Travis was busy with a customer, and he directed Colby to sit at the front barstools for single diners while he waited for Travis. Surprisingly, Colby seemed all right being patient and took out his new book. Jen walked a few feet back toward the table where he and Jason had been to clean up some of the food Colby had spilled on the floor. Not that they went out to restaurants often, but Jen was always hypersensitive to how much food Colby spilled on the floor while eating after having worked in food service for so long.

But Bunny’s was like a second home for him. Except, not really. Because he had three “second homes”—her parents, the guest lodge, and the café. And he spent more time in all three places than in his actual home. Not to mention that his actual home—their apartment—was the fourth place that she’d rented since Colby’s birth.

And she was still struggling to pay her bills. How far behind was she on rent? Not to mention everything else.

She released a shallow breath that couldn’t encompass the actual sigh she needed for her life. What was she doing? No matter what she tried, she was constantly failing.

A shadow crossed the table, and she didn’t look up as Jason sat back down. “Hey there.”

Except it wasn’t Jason.

She looked up sharply. A familiar man sat there. She frowned. He’d checked in to the cabins the night before.

He was middle-aged with a touch of gray in the light-brown hair of his temples. His hair was short, as was his stature, but he was slender. His dark eyes were analytical. “How are you?”

“Fine.” She scanned the café. The lunch crowd had died down, so there were plenty of open seats. What was he doing?

“Ned Vickers.” He slid a business card across from her. “I’m a private investigator. I was hoping I could ask you some questions since you’re the only local I know.”

The only local he knew? She fingered the edges of the business card, which was made of heavy card stock and embossed. Not at all like the cheap business cards she’d printed at home for the cookie business she’d tried to start a couple of years earlier. These were expensive.

She eyed him warily. “What do you want to ask me questions about?”

Before Ned could answer, Jason sidled up right beside her. He slipped his arm around her shoulders. “Hey, babe.”

Babe?Despite the instant comfort of Jason’s protective stance, her brain fumbled to catch up. Jason reached his free hand over. “Hi, I’m Jason.”

Ned looked from Jen to Jason. Then he stood awkwardly. “Sorry, I didn’t realize this seat was taken.” Giving Jason another look, he slipped away and sat at another table.

“Geez, I leave you for two minutes, and men come out of the woodwork to hit on you,” Jason said smoothly. “Even with that costume on.”

---