Page 88 of The Hermit on the Hill

"She's never going to forgive me, and she's right not to. I hurt her, Marcus. I hurt her for no good reason."

"Come on. Let's get you inside and into a chair. We're going to figure this out, Sam."

I shook off his help and walked back inside on my own. He was wrong. There was no figuring this out. I'd turned my back on Jenna at the time she needed me most. She'd be an idiot to take me back, and Jenna was no idiot.

"I can hear you spiraling," Marcus said. "Snap out of it. Jenna liked your grumpy ass once. You'll probably be able to convince her to do it again."

I didn't want to talk about that anymore. I needed space to absorb how badly I'd ruined everything. "You came over here to talk to me about something."

Again, Marcus glanced at Damian in that silent communication I was beginning to hate.

"Now's not the best time for that conversation," Damian said. "Let's focus on getting you back with Jenna."

"Just tell me," I said. "I'd rather hear all the bad news at once."

Marcus cleared his throat. "Well, the bad news is that I want you to do fifty percent of the face-to-face stuff with the business owners in town. There's no reason for you to hide up here anymore, and I'm going to need to work from home more often."

"Of course." Talking to people every day was the last thing I wanted to do, but it was only fair. I might not be the guy destroying the town anymore, but I was still an antisocial grump. "I'll get it done this week. What's the good news?"

"No good news," Damian said. "Let's talk about Jenna."

"Quit treating me like I'm on the verge of a breakdown," I said. "What's the good news?"

Marcus looked over at Damian, and the love and joy on his face were blinding. "Damian and I are getting married, and we're going to have a baby."

I jumped to my feet. "What? When did this all happen?"

"Marcus and I had been talking about it for a while." Damian's smile was enormous. "He proposed this morning after we signed off on the first step in the adoption process."

"Congratulations." I hugged them both. "This is the best news. I can't believe you weren't going to tell me."

Marcus rolled his eyes. "When have you ever known me to keep a secret? Now, get some pizza and fuel up, we're going to come up with a grand gesture so good even someone as sensible as Jenna will be won over."

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Jenna

Istopped in the bakery to get something sweet before I headed up to my apartment, two cinnamon buns and two cupcakes, some for now and some for later.

I almost dropped all of it when I was halfway up the stairs to my place. There was a very large stranger leaning against my door.

"It's okay." He hurried down the stairs, like he might catch me if I fell.

Sam.

Up close and smelling like rain and himself. My heart thundered so hard, I wobbled again.

He gripped my elbow and walked with me up the stairs. "I didn't mean to scare you. Let me help you carry this stuff."

In front of the door to my apartment, he tried to take my cinnamon buns and cupcakes.

I stepped out of his reach. "What are you doing here?"

He held up his hands, palms out. "I just want to talk. Hear me out and, if you want me to leave, I'll go."

He looked awful, with dark circles under his eyes and glitter in his hair and stuck in the few days' old scruff on his face.

I stuffed hope back down deep where it couldn't hurt me. Like it or not, no matter how much it hurt, he was the father of our child. I couldn't cut him out of my life entirely, but I could set boundaries.

---