Page 50 of Rejected Heart

Jules looked like she’d seen a ghost when my eyes met hers, and we’d both stood there in utter silence for several long moments.

She was the first to speak, and I don’t know how I didn’t burst into tears at the sound. Obviously, Jules was curious and believed I’d been back in Landing for a long time, but I quickly filled her in on what had happened to my mom. Naturally, she was horrified.

But beyond the initial conversation, things got awkward.

I wanted to ask about Liam—about the rest of the family, too—but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’d lost the right to that information a long time ago. Whether Jules understood what I was feeling or not, I didn’t know. But I wondered if she knew what it meant to me to have her share the news about her bakery with me. It took me back, forcing me to recall the times I’d spent with her and the rest of the Westwood family.

My emotions were all over the place, and once Jules invited me to Westwood’s, so I could come and check out her bakery, I struggled to hold back the tears. It was at that point when she excused herself, urging me to send her well wishes to my mom, but I could see the silent pleas in her stare.

And ever since that day, I hadn’t been able to get that look out of my head.

Why would she look at me like that, like she would give anything for me to come back into their lives? How was it possible she—or any of the rest of them—would want anything to do with me after how I’d walked away?

Maybe that was what made them who they were. Maybe that was something I’d known all along and was a small part of the reason I couldn’t accept Liam’s proposal.

Dropping my hands from my face, I let out another sigh as those eyes flashed in my mind. So much damage had been done, and the guilt I felt was immeasurable.

Back then, eighteen years old and fresh out of high school, I never considered just how wide reaching the pain would be. Looking back now, I should have seen it.

Liam would be devastated by my rejection.Iwould be devastated. But I never took the time to think through how everyone else would be impacted.

I should have known. Especially when there hadn’t ever been a question of how much they adored Liam and how graciously they’d accepted me into their lives.

Worst of all, if it had been this many years and Jules looked the way she did about it, I couldn’t begin to imagine the effect it had on Liam. Then again, maybe that was wishful thinking.

No doubt Liam had already moved on. I’d urged him to do as much. My heart squeezed at the thought.

I couldn’t do this.

I couldn’t continue to spend all my time focusing on Liam, Jules, and the rest of their family. Not if I intended to survive the next couple of months and be the daughter my mom needed me to be for her right now.

Keeping busy was the only thing that was going to help. So, I got to work on organizing clothing racks by color and size. Between helping the customers who had come in, worrying about my mom, and fretting about my encounter with Jules, the most I’d managed to do since arriving in Landing is take time to familiarize myself with the basic operations of the store again.

Today, I was going to take on several more tasks that would occupy and distract me. After I’d gotten through organizing the racks, I moved on to do the same with the counters and displays. And finally, I integrated new merchandise onto the sales floor.

I was in the thick of it when the door to the shop opened. Standing up straight from where I’d been bent over a table display and folding clothing, I looked toward the front of the store to greet the customer.

But my voice vanished.

My lungs stopped functioning.

Years might have passed, but I’d recognize those eyes anywhere. Those eyes and lips and face that now had a smattering of neatly groomed facial hair.

Liam.

God, Liam.

I was frozen to the spot, unable to breathe, and waiting for that look in his eyes to warm. I waited for the familiarity to return.

It didn’t.

His expression remained distant, cold, and there was something else in his gaze I couldn’t quite put myfinger on.

I couldn’t stop blinking my eyes, and I didn’t know whether that was the result of being so stunned to see him or if it was because I was confident that he was scrutinizing me in a way he never had before.

Unable to keep that eye contact with him, my eyes drifted down from his face. Physically speaking, time had been kind to Liam. He had always been painfully attractive to me, but the years had turned him impossibly handsome.

He was a grown man now.

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