Page 46 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
“I could never hate you, Jessa. I don’t understand why you hid this from me. And I really can’t understand why you’ve been working at that crappy job to pay for college, either,” he sighed. “But you don’t have to answer anything right now. This is about you and your loss. I want to be with you. I know you need me to be with you.”
I did need him. But I didn’t want to need him. “I’ve got to do this on my own. And there’s more to it than that, Stone. Things in my life are going to change drastically now. My sister won’t be able to run my father’s business. It’s going to be up to me to do it. And I’m pretty sure it might always be that way. Leaving North Carolina isn’t going to be in the cards for me anytime in the foreseeable future.”
“I still want to be there for you, baby. We’ll deal with things as they come.” He cleared his throat, giving me the impression that he was getting choked up. “Jessa, I don’t want to lose you.”
Despite everything, I couldn’t stay quiet about what I’d seen him do earlier that day. “Stone, I saw you with that woman today.”
“Ah, I get it now. You turned your phone off because you were upset with me. I should’ve known. I thought you would know who she was. But I guess you didn’t.”
“Who is she? And why would that matter anyway? You were hugging another woman, and both of you were over the moon about your date tomorrow.” I bit my lower lip, trying not to resume crying again.
“Our date tomorrow is about signing the papers for the bistro inside the hospital. She’s the foodservice administrator. I’ve been working with her to get the space. And the hug she gave me came out of nowhere. I chalked it up to her just being excited for me. I’m sorry you took it the wrong way, baby. That makes me feel terrible.”
It made me feel pretty terrible too. “Shit. I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. I should’ve been an adult about it, instead of hiding and eavesdropping. I should’ve joined you and talked to you.”
“None of that matters now. Don’t even think about it.”
“I won’t. But it’s nice to know that you weren’t screwing around on me.”
“Not in a million years, Jessa. No way. You’ve got me in the palm of your hands.”
“Stone, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I’ve got to put some things on the backburner for a while. For how long, I don’t even know. You and I are included in that. I have other things to think about for now. Please, tell me that you understand. Things might never be the same again.”
But I wish they could be.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Stone
Grief can make people act like someone they’re not. That was the case with Jessa. All the drive she seemed to have had disappeared with the death of her father. I knew a thing or two about losing one’s parents. Of course, I was just a little kid when I’d lost mine, but I was sure Jessa felt a lot like I did back then. I’d felt alone in the world, at first. I did have my brothers, and Jessa had an older sister. Just knowing that there’s someone here on Earth who shares your blood makes a hell of a lot of difference. But it takes time to come to that conclusion.
I’d barely slept at all that night, and as soon as the sun rose, I got out of bed and put my clothes on, joining my oldest brother, Baldwyn, downstairs for a coffee in the breakfast room. “Hey, Baldwyn. Thanks for throwing that great party last night. Sorry I disappeared on y’all. I got a call from Jessa last night and really didn’t feel much like talking after that.”
“You said her father passed away. I’m sure she was upset about that. Who wouldn’t be?” He blew across the surface of the coffee, making steam twirl above the surface like a mini-tornado.
That’s how I felt inside — like a tornado was running amuck through my body and mind, pretty much tearing up everything within its reach. “I told her I would go to her, but she doesn’t want me to. She said I need to stay here and deal with everything I’ve got going on right now. But the thing is, my heart is already with her, and my mind can’t even think straight. She’s going to have loads to deal with. I know she needs me right now.”
“You have to let her do things the way she wants to, Stone. You said that she works at some fast food place as a night manager to help pay her way through medical school. Someone who’s gone that far to avoid telling everyone that she’s got tons of money must have a reason. If she doesn’t want you to be there with her, I’m sure she has her reasons.”
“I’m sure she has her reasons too. But I don’t care about any of them. I know she needs me right now, and she’s just being stubborn about it. She’s got this thing about acting like she's the strongest person in the world. Her self-discipline is off the charts. And she said she needs to move us to the backburner for now, and who knows how long that will last. I can’t take that.”
Baldwyn shook his head as his expression turned grim. “Look, you’ve gotta accept what she’s said. And you do have a hell of a lot that you need to do. Today you’ve got to meet with the hospital board to finalize the details of your lease. And you need to be on top of your game, or they could refuse you.”
I couldn’t let everything go. My brother was right. “How do I shove this horrible feeling to the side so I can deal with the things I have to today?”
“It’s important to you, isn’t it?”
“Extremely.” But so was Jessa. “What about Jessa, though?”
“She’s with family and friends. She’s as fine as she can be right now. You know how things like that work. It takes time to get back to who you were before a parent dies. Even if you’re right there by her side every minute of the day and night, it won’t take her pain away. It’ll make you feel better, sure, but you know that you’ll be there, thinking about what you’re giving up back here.”
“I could postpone things.” That was a viable option.
His chest rose and fell with a heavy sigh. “Look, I want you to succeed. It doesn’t matter when you succeed, but I know you can do it, and I want you to make that a priority. Now, I know that when a woman gets under your skin, it’s next to impossible to shut that feeling off. I get it. But this situation is different. Jessa has lost her father, which means she won’t be the same person for the next little while. That’s just how grief works. And you shouldn’t put things off with your own life to wait around for when or if she even goes back to being the girl you knew and fell for.”
“Baldwyn, I love her,” I admitted. “I’ve never met anyone like her. I’ve never felt so completely connected to anyone the way I feel with her. And her not wanting me with her just so I don’t miss out on an opportunity to start a business that, let’s face it, I can start at any time, shows me how truly selfless she is. She’s the one, brother. She. Is. The. One. And I know that without a shadow of a doubt.”
“You sound pretty sure about that. And I’m not saying that you’re wrong. But have you thought about the fact that she might have to stay with her sister for a while? Where did you say she’s from?”
