Page 112 of The Love Ambush
She trails off. “Because what?” I ask.
She glances at Emily before looking back at me, mouth pressed in a firm line, and I get it. She’s just as worried as I am that Dad will leave again. I guess having parents who vanished out of our lives has made us both expect the worst.
“Okay,” I say. “So, I’ll tell Deacon to go full steam ahead with blocking the sale of our house.”
“What can we do?” Emily asks.
“Nothing,” I say, because they’re kids and they shouldn’t have to be involved with a plan to thwart their own father.
“We want to help,” Sophie says. “You need to stop trying to do everything on your own. If we’d known you never wanted to be a nurse, we would have told you to stop going to nursing school. You don’t have to be a martyr all the time.”
Wow, I guess Levi’s not the only one who thinks that about me. “I’m not-”
“You are,” Emily says. “You gave up everything you loved for us and never told us about it. If you had, we would have helped you have time to paint. We’re not little kids. We can help.”
I look at my two sisters, so smart and strong and kind. Maybe I have been babying them too much. Maybe in trying so hard to do right by them, I’ve been doing a whole heck of a lot wrong.Like doing to them exactly what I’m so mad about Levi doing to me. “Okay,” I say. “I have a few ideas.”
***
I’m sitting on the porch swing Sunday morning, enjoying the unseasonably warm September day and sketching in my notebook when Jamie Stinson parks in front of our house and gets out. He’s dressed in gray slacks and a polo shirt, his hair slicked back, his smile showing all of his teeth.
He strides up the sidewalk and stops at the bottom of the stairs. “Oh, crap,” he says, all mock-innocence. “I forgot to call y’all and let you know I have a client who wants to see the house right now.”
“You sure did,” I say, smiling. “It was kind of you to send Deacon over to inspect the house yesterday.”
Jamie’s smile widens. “He said the two of you reached an understanding?”
“We did.”
He nods. “So if you don’t mind not mentioning I’m here, that would be super helpful.”
“I’ll be glad to help however I can. In fact, I think I’ll go for a walk and get out of your way.”
“I appreciate that, Gentry.” He hops onto the first step as I start down the stairs. “I see you sometimes across the way at the clinic. Would you like to get dinner with me this week?”
If my heart didn’t already belong to Levi Sullivan, I might have said yes to Jamie Stinson. He’s very handsome, and Ellery, who keeps tabs on every single man in Catalpa Creek, says he’s a good guy and looking to settle down. “Unfortunately, I’m hung up on someone else,” I say.
He nods, his smile never slipping. “My loss. Enjoy your walk.”
I carry my sketchpad with me just in case I get the urge to stop and draw, and walk down the stairs past him. I’m at the end ofour walk, about to step onto the street when a car pulls up and parks behind Jamie’s car.
I’m about to hurry past when a woman gets out and says my name.
I spin to see Hailey Holiday walking around the front of her car. She’s wearing a cute little sundress, and her hair is in a slicked-back French braid. She gives me a little wave.
I hurry over to her. “Thank you.” Hailey is thrilled with her apartment in the middle of downtown. If she’s here, it’s part of Levi’s plan to convince my dad not to sell.
“Of course.” She glances at the house. “You don’t think your father will remember me, do you?”
“I spent more time at your house than you did at mine. And you’re all grown up now. I think you’re safe.”
“Good,” she says, but she doesn’t look happy. “I know we aren’t as close as we once were, but I wish you would have called me and told me what’s going on.”
My heart sinks. Levi and my sisters are right. I have been acting like a martyr. “I’m beginning to understand that I’m not great at asking for help. I’m going to try to do better from now on.”
“Good,” she says.
But it doesn’t feel like enough. “I really want us to be as close as we used to be. I’m sorry if I made you think I didn’t.” I swallow hard and take what feels like a gigantic leap. “I guess I thought I wouldn’t be fun anymore, now that I’m pretty much a mom.”
