Page 12 of Even if It Hurts

I steeled my jaw as my head bobbed unsteadily.

I hadn’t known I could hate a word so much until then.

“It’s always been you and me,” he said softly as he brushed his thumb across my cheek. “And it’s gonna be us forever.”

I accepted the kiss he placed on my lips—soft and quick and wrong because it wasonlyfine.

It didn’t make my heart race. It didn’t have wings taking flight in my stomach. It didn’t have me swaying into him, desperate to make it last.

But as he pulled away, I told myself it had nothing to do with what I’d heard, the strain I’d placed between us, or an infuriatingly handsome stranger. We just needed to figure out how to be a normal couple again. We needed to adjust after having over eight hundred miles between us for the majority of the last six years. That was all.

“I’ll be done in a couple of minutes,” he said as he took a step closer to the General Store. “Meet you in the diner?”

“I’ll order,” I offered, the words coming out unsure, almost like a question, even though we’d gotten the same thing for most our lives.

At Jackson’s nod, I turned to cross the street just as my phone began ringing. Slipping my phone out of my back pocket, the corner of my mouth twitched in the beginnings of a smile when I saw who was calling.

“Good morning, Aunt Ada,” I said in way of answering.

“Well, good morning, my Ray of Sunshine. What have I caught you in the middle of?”

I paused with my lips parted, my stare quickly darting from the diner across the street to the store behind me. “Uh...just mornings with Jackson. You know how it is.”

“Yes, of course,” she said after a beat. “Happy to hear y’all are back to those.” But her tone had me coming to a stop in front of the diner because it in no way sounded like she washappy.

“Uh-huh,” I murmured, clearly unconvinced. “You sure sound happy.”

She made a scoffing sound. “Well, if it makes you happy, then I’m happy; but I’m actually calling to offer you a job, and that would pull you away from your morning.”

A defeated laugh tumbled free as I rubbed at my temple because the subject of myworkinghad been a constant issue and source of heartache since I’d come home.

Despite putting in the same exhausting hours I had my entire life, my parents were still overtly frustrated with me.

Frustrated that I wasn’t doing more than was asked of me. Frustrated that I wasn’tat the levelmy dad expected of me. Frustrated that I’d started the application process for Huntley Academy.

With my degrees, I could apply at any school, I knew that. But ever since finding and falling in love with early childhood education, Huntley Academy was often where my thoughts led to, and it would be a dream to work at.

The massive, renovated barn that served as the only preschool and daycare for all the surrounding towns was a highly respected academy. On top of that, the white building was so stunning, it was even used as a wedding venue.

But in the middle of applying, my mom had walked in to see why I was late for dinner, which had led to another hours-long lecture about how disappointed they were in me. Jackson was siding with my parents. Aunt Ada had told me to ignore them when she’d stopped by a few nights ago, as if it were that simple.

Taking a job right now would only exacerbate the situation.

Then again, I shouldn’t have expected much else from my unapologetically defiant great-aunt.

“You can’t retire by putting me in your place, Aunt Ada,” I told her dryly, then added, “And I appreciate you trying to get me away from the farm, but I’m—” I swallowed back the wordfineand nearly laughed at how much of a lie that word was.

“I’ll retire when I’m good and ready,” she said with an arrogant scoff, even though she threatened to nearly every time we spoke, “but this isn’t about me, for once.”

A fuller laugh left me at the dramatic way she delivered the line.

“Now, I haven’t magically created a teaching position for you, but I do have a baby that is in need of your help.”

My eyebrows drew close at the shift in her tone, at the seriousness there. Glancing back at the General Store to see if Jackson was on his way yet, I took a few steps away from the door of the diner and bent my head low as I asked, “What do you mean, Aunt Ada? Whose baby?”

She made a sound that was equally flustered and worried. “My boss just became the guardian of his eight-month-old niece, and he’s plumb lost. You’d think he’d never even seen a baby before with the way he’s been staring at this poor angel. But I told him about you, and he asked if you’d consider being a nanny.”

“Nanny?” I asked, nearly choking over the word.

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