Page 19 of A Journey For Jasmine

“You can handle anything thrown your way and you know it,” his mother said. “You’re my son after all.”

“As you remind me all the time.”

“And that means you can get sucked into your work like me. Don’t throw your life away like I did.”

“You never threw your life away. Don’t listen to the bullcrap Dad used to say to you.”

It still pissed him off his father blamed his mother for everything.

Sure, his mother worked a lot. Everyone knew it. But his father enjoyed the income more than most. To this day he was positive the divorce was more a result of his mother putting her foot down on his father’s spending and he figured if he couldn’t get the money then he didn’t want his wife either.

“He wasn’t wrong. He’s happy with his new wife and family and good for him. We all have to do what makes us happy.”

“We are,” he said.

“Are you really happy though?” she asked him.

“Is it possible to be again?” he asked out loud. He’d wondered this for a while now and just had no idea.

“You won’t know until you try and you don’t seem willing to try. No one knows you here. This is a fresh start.”

“And since you keep bringing up Jasmine’s name you think I should start there?” he asked, finishing off the first half of his sandwich and reaching for some fries.

“It looks to me as if she has her eye on you.”

“How do you know that? You only saw us together that once.”

“A woman knows when another is checking a man out.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” he said. “But I’m not in the position to hunt someone down or go on a date.”

“No one says you have to hunt anyone down,” she said. “Sometimes it shows up when you least expect it.”

“I’ve had my fill of life biting me in the ass,” he said. “If you don’t have anything else, then I need to get back to work. I’ll bring this dish back later.”

His mother got up with him and went to work. No reason to talk him out of it, as she knew by now. Once he was done talking, he just left.

The last thing he wanted was his mother to know that Jasmine had been popping up in his mind more and he had to wonder if it was time to take that step.

The problem was, the first step was the hardest and he wasn’t sure how to go about it.

6

Seen Enough Of The World

Two days later, Jasmine found herself sitting at the bar at Mona’s alone and ordering some nachos to go with her wine.

It’d been a long productive week and she’d left the greenhouses to go home and realized she was hungry...for more than food.

Maybe Poppy was right and she did need to take a step. She could be a customer at the same time and just see how things played out.

“Jasmine. It’s so nice to see you here.”

She turned to see Mona come up next to her. “I figured we’ve been doing some work together. Or will be soon enough, that I should come and try out the food. So far it’s great.”

Mona looked at the plate of nachos in front of her that she’d picked two off of. They’d just been delivered. “You’ve got an appetite like my son. Wesley loves his nachos.”

Interesting. “Can’t go wrong with them and these are awesome. I like the chicken on them rather than beef. Or the option for that.”

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