Page 87 of Stay for Me
“You don’t have to say that.”
“I know I don’t. I’m saying it because I wish it could be different. I wish I could come over, have dinner, and watch a movie before getting to spend time with you after the kids went to bed. It would be you if I could choose someone.”
I clear my throat. “You could choose differently, Jacob. You could try.”
He shakes his head. “To what end? I have to leave.”
“And I have to stay, so I guess being honest is the right thing.”
He looks away. “I don’t think it’s the right thing. It’s just the only option. Being out there, seeing marriages fail more than they succeed, seeing how couples are torn apart by the media . . . how would that be fair to you or your kids? How could I live with myself knowing that I harmed a family? I’d be no better thanhim.”
He’s doing everything he can not to be like his father, which means keeping his heart free. The sad part is that he’s failing. If he were truly trying to do that, he wouldn’t be here with me tonight or directing Sebastian’s play. Jacob’s arguments are all invalid. Hollywood isn’t destroying marriages—it’s the people in them. I want to tell him all the ways that it could be different for us if he wanted it to be, but I’d be fighting for what? Jacob and I made an agreement. No promises and no questions.
Sure, he makes it hard for me to sleep at night. Yeah, when I’m around him, I want to run into his arms and soak up the strength and comfort he offers. And who cares if, every time I see him, I find yet another thing about him that makes him perfect for me? No matter how much we both want things to be different, they are what they are.
So, I keep my mouth shut.
Sebastian exits the kitchen, and Jacob and I lean away from each other quickly. He looks over with a smirk. “We did the dishes for you.”
My eyes widen, and I plaster a grin on my face, hoping he didn’t see us holding hands. “You did?”
“Yup.”
When Melanie joins us, her shirt is drenched. “I did the dishes. Sebastian flung water.”
“Well, thank you both. The floors probably needed to be mopped.”
“Do you think we couldpleasehang my new mirror after Jacob leaves?” Mel asks.
She’s been asking for a week, but I haven’t had a minute to think. “Of course.”
Sebastian, not willing to squander this chance, jumps in. “Oh! Can we fix the shelf that Papa hung? The books slide off the end.”
“I’ll do my best.”
My father-in-law has started to do things wrong in an effort to get us to stop asking—at least, that’s my theory.
“I can help,” Jacob offers.
“What?”
“I can hang a mirror and fix the shelf.”
“Jacob, that’s sweet, but—”
He lifts his hand. “My handyman skills are limited, but I can do this. You cooked me dinner, so consider it a thank you.”
Melanie looks like she’s about to squeal because, for all the things I can do, hanging pictures is not one. I try, but at some point, whatever I put up, always comes down.
She jumps in. “That would be great. Seriously, I have been asking my gramps, but he’s been hanging everything else because Mom—”
“Mom has been busy,” I try to offer an explanation.
He purses his lips. “I’m sensing a story here.”
“No story.”
Mel laughs. “Nope, not a story, just broken glass.”
