Donna couldn’t stay at the party and make chit-chat. She didn’t think she could hold it together for even another minute.
“Excuse me,” she mumbled.
She made it to the front door without anyone stopping her.
She was halfway to her car before Jacob called out behind her.
She heard the front door slam, but she didn’t stop.
When she opened the car door, she almost sat on the plate of brownies she’d saved for him.
Stupid.
She was so stupid.
Hot tears blinded her as she reached for the plate.
“Donna!” He was right behind her now.
She whirled and pushed the brownies at him. She was gratified when the plate tipped toward him. He caught it, but not before half the brownies escaped the tin foil and dropped to the ground at his feet.
She got in the car, but when she tried to pull the door closed, it wouldn’t budge. He’d grabbed the top and was holding it open.
He set the plate on the roof of her car. “Get out of the car.”
What was she, a suspect?
She jammed the key in the ignition by muscle memory only, because those stupid tears were blinding her.
“Come back in the house.” Any other time, his commanding tone might’ve made her weak in the knees, but right now she was too angry and hurt to comply.
She cranked the key, and the engine sputtered to life.
“Leave me alone.” She swiped at the tears now falling down her cheeks.
She’d written about broken hearts but hadn’t really known what decimated felt like. Shattered. Her heart had been ripped to shreds.
And he just stood there, holding on to her door, keeping her from escaping like she needed to.
She let her hurt pour out as anger. “Will Jacobs would’ve said something back there.”
His voice was flat. “Honey, I’ve told you before. I’m no hero. I’m not always gonna say what you want to hear. Maybe I don’t want to have to defend you every time some jerk says something cruel. You could’ve told her she was dead wrong.”
If Ashley’s words had been an arrow to her heart, Jacob’s were a bomb detonating.
A soft sob escaped, and she threw the car in gear. When she hit the gas, Jacob was forced to let go.
The door slammed, and she pressed down the accelerator.
She wanted as far away from Jacob as she could get.
Her mind whirled in a frenzy as she drove toward home. She tried to puzzle things out in a way that made sense, but she couldn’t do it.
If Jacob could sling such horrible words at her, he must not love her.
She was a half mile from home when flashing red and blue lights came up behind her.
Jacob.
She didn’t want to see him. Not tonight. Not ever again.
She didn’t slow down.
He fired off a single siren whoop.
And she realized that if he rolled up into Gram’s driveway with lights and siren blaring, her grandma would wake up confused and upset.
She gritted her teeth as she took her foot off the gas pedal.
She rolled to a stop and watched him get out of his SUV on the shoulder behind her. For a second, she considered backing over him.
She didn’t open her door and only rolled down her window a hair.
“Leave me alone.” But her voice didn’t emerge commanding like his had on Hank’s lawn. If she could hear the wobble, that meant surely he must, too.
At least she’d stopped crying. But he’d probably notice the balled up fast food napkins on the floorboard. Stupid sheriff’s deputy.
“Get out of the car.”
She shook her head.
“Donna. Get out of the car.” He paused as if the next word hurt. “Please.”
Anger fired, and she turned off the car and burst out of her seat and into the cool night air. “What? What do you want, to break my heart again?”
He looked haggard. Maybe even grimmer than he had before.
And a piece of her stupid heart that still belonged to him went out to him. Her anger melted away, leaving her feeling empty.
He ran one hand down his face. “Look, I’m sorry. Can we please just… have a do-over?”
He sounded as broken as she felt.
And she remembered with sudden clarify that Ashley had said a child had died in the accident today.
When he reached for her, she went into his arms. He held her tight and buried his face in her neck.
He was shaking.
She curled her arms around his back and held on to him.
His shuddering breaths told her he was close to tears. And she realized that Ashley was wrong. Or Donna was wrong.
She didn’t have to know the details of his day to offer him comfort. Maybe there would be some days where the job was too hard for him to talk about.
But she could still hold on to him.
She clutched him tighter. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into his shoulder. “I’m sorry I let her get to me.”
He set her back slightly. Wiped his face with his sleeve. Oh, Jacob. “I’m sorry I said that. I was the one being a jerk. I should’ve told her off. I just…” He shook his head, the bleak look on his face one she’d never seen before. “It was a bad day.”
He leaned against her car.
She slid her arm around his waist, tucked herself next to him.
His arm came around her shoulders. He leaned his head back to stare up at the sky.
She would’ve been content to just stand beside him and hold him, but he spoke softly.
“It wasn’t just the kid. After… after. It hit me hard. Remembering how fragile life is. Amber was fighting one day, and the next she was gone.”
She laid her head on his shoulder.
“And everything I feel for you felt like this big, jumbled mess, like a freight train, sitting on my chest.”
Her heart thumped painfully. Was this a longwinded breakup speech? She hadn’t thought so, but tonight she’d been spun wildly around. She didn’t have her footing.
Her throat squeezed tight. “If you need to… take a break. From us—”
“I don’t need that.” He squeezed her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “I need you.”
The wave of relief was so strong it brought tears. She closed her eyes against them.
“Hank reminded me. He followed me out after you almost ran over my foot. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me and said if I let you go, I’d be the dumbest man on the planet.”
She’d always liked Hank.
“And I remembered that the only thing that’s gonna ease this vice on my chest is letting you in. I’d forgotten that. After Amber died.”
She lost her breath again as he turned her toward him. He let go of her shoulders to take both of her hands in his.
The look in his eyes…
“I love you, Donna. I know it hasn’t been that long and maybe I’m rushing you…”
She shook her head, her eyes filling now for a completely new reason. “You’re not rushing me.”
“No?”
She felt the tremble in his hands. Took a breath for courage. “I love you, too.”
He exhaled, and the tension drained from his expression.
He touched their foreheads together. “I’m gonna try my hardest not to let you down again.”
She rose up on tiptoe. “Just remember to let me in.”
And then his arms swept around her, and she fell into his kiss.
Maybe he wasn’t Will Jacobs, but the real Jacob was better after all.
And he was hers.
