Page 12 of Valentine's in Bayberry

“It is, but it’s totally worth it.” She moved around the kitchen, checking on this and moving that. She was totally in her element.

“You’re really happy here?” It wasn’t until the words crossed his lips that he realized he’d vocalized his thoughts.

She set a timer and then turned to him. “Of course I’m happy. This was my dream.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “But don’t you ever wonder what it would have been like if you’d have made another choice? You know, like moving away from Bayberry?”

“Why would I do that? I love it here.” She studied him. “What’s going on with you? Why are you over there demoing the old restaurant? And why are you visiting when your mother isn’teven in town?” She studied him, as though trying to read his mind. “Something is going on with you.”

He’d wondered how long it would take for the probing questions to start. The part that surprised him was that he wanted to open up to her, but he knew once he told her the awful story, she’d blame him as much as he blamed himself for what happened to his mother.

He wouldn’t even know where to begin the terrible tale. Perhaps the story would start when the bank contacted him because his mother wanted a second mortgage. Since he was the secondary signer on the account, he’d been alerted. Still, his mother had written off the incident as a silly mistake. He believed her. Why wouldn’t he?

Or maybe he should have suspected something when she started taking all of those bus trips. Instead, he thought it was good that she was getting out of the house and enjoying her retirement. How was he supposed to know those trips were to casinos, where she’d spent all of her savings and cash advances on her credit cards?

“Jackson?” Carrie’s voice drew him from his troubled thoughts.

He blinked and then looked at her—really looked at her. How was it possible that Carrie grew more beautiful each time he saw her? But her beauty started deep inside with her compassion and understanding. Would she understand this?

He cleared his throat. “Carrie, there’s something I need to say—”

“Carrie, I was just thinking about the peanut butter cups.”

The two voices spoke over each other. Jackson stopped speaking and turned to find a young woman at the entrance to the kitchen, shrugging off her winter coat. She looked to be a little younger than Carrie and himself.

When the woman lifted her head and found Carrie wasn’t alone, her eyes widened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had company.”

“It’s okay,” Jackson said. “I have to go.”

While the women talked, he slipped out the back door. The interruption had saved him from making a grave error by telling Carrie how he’d failed his mother. Carrie never would have looked at him the same way, and he wouldn’t blame her.

But he would fix this. He would take his mother to Europe with him. He would find her a nice place close by his, and he would help her deal with her addiction to gambling.

Chapter Five

“Wow! Who was that?”

Carrie couldn’t help but laugh at Alice’s reaction to seeing Jackson. The passing years had only made him more handsome, if that were possible. Not that it mattered to her what he looked like. It was his fun personality and loyalty that had drawn her to be his friend as kids.

However, she’d noticed that the fun seemed to have gone out of him. Since he’d been back in Bayberry, she hadn’t seen him smile. Not even once. Jackson was not quite himself.

She couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with what he was going to tell her when Alice interrupted them. She had the feeling it was something important—maybe something to explain why he’d traded in his designer suits for jeans and old T-shirts. And why in the world was he demoing an old storefront instead of sitting in boardroom meetings?

“Is he your boyfriend?” Alice whispered.

Carrie let out a laugh. Since Alice hadn’t lived in Bayberry that long, she wouldn’t know about Carrie’s complicated history with Jackson. “No. He’s not. He was one of my best friends growingup.” She noted that Alice still had that glassy-eyed stare as she glanced toward the back door. “And he no longer lives here, so don’t get any ideas.”

Alice turned and frowned at her. “You take all the fun out of things.”

“I do not.” She couldn’t help but smile as Alice strode off to put her coat and things in the small office that was more like an oversized closet.

When the timer went off, Carrie removed the tray of graham crackers from the oven. All it took was one look to know they belonged in the garbage. Now she had to remake them. Hopefully, this time they wouldn’t get ruined.

“Hey, why did you do that?” Alice sent her a concerned look.

While Carrie gathered the ingredients to whip up a new batch of graham crackers, she told Alice what had happened with the power outage.

“I’m starting to wonder if that guy is out to sabotage you,” Alice said.

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