Page 11 of A Magnolia Move-In
My legs were stiff, and I was sore as I moved to stand on my good leg. I kept my arm wrapped around Jackson’s shoulder as I hopped to my chair. Once I was settled, he grabbed my purse and backpack from the car and plopped them in my lap.
He paid the taxi driver and then turned to face me. “Ready?” he asked.
Did it matter if I wasn’t? I nodded, but like I’d anticipated, he wasn’t waiting for me to respond. Instead, he began to wheel me across the driveway. When we rounded his house, my gaze landed on the ocean. It was beautiful, I had to give him that. I could see why he liked it here.
It was peaceful.
“Fiona made us some dinner,” Jackson said as he unlocked the front door and swung it open.
I nodded, not sure what to say until I settled on, “That’s nice of her.”
He pushed me into the house and shut the door behind us. I glanced around, taking in his house. It was huge and open, nothing like the small home I’d just left. Unlike Jackson, I wasn’t rich, and neither were our parents. I lived a modest life, so it always surprised me whenever I visited my brother.
At times, it felt as if he were on a different planet than I was.
“Thirsty?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I’m tired. I just want to lie down.” Ieyed his couch and wondered if I had enough arm strength to lift myself onto it. That was one thing no one told you about when you injure yourself—how much the rest of your body has to make up for what you are lacking.
“You should drink some water,” he commanded as he made his way to the fridge.
Knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to talk him out of this, I just nodded and wheeled myself to the table. “Fine.”
He busied himself getting me a drink and heating up something that smelled Italian. My mouth watered at the fragrance. It had been a long time since I had a home-cooked meal. Back in North Carolina, Jackson served frozen TV dinners and ordered out. He took care of me the way he could, but it made me miss the taste of fresh cooked food.
“Fiona’s a good cook,” he said as if he could read my mind. Then he paused. “She’s become a good cook.”
I glanced over to see him open the microwave and set the plate down next to the glass of sparkling water he’d filled for me.
“That’s good,” I said, not sure how I was supposed to respond.
“She’s going to come over later to introduce herself.”
I winced. That was not what I wanted. I wanted to hide out here. To heal and figure out what I was going to do with this baby. Once I was able to pick up the pieces of my broken life, I was going to leave. I was going to besomebody. And maybe find Walker so he could explain himself.
Making friends in Magnolia wasn’t a high priority for me.
“She doesn’t know about…” I let my voice trail off as I made circles around my stomach.
Jackson flicked his gaze down and shook his head. “She doesn’t know about the baby.” He swallowed, his jaw muscles tensing from his emotions. I knew he wanted to talk to me about it. He wanted to know more. But I wasn’t ready to tell him. One might call it denial, but I called it survival mode.
“No one knows but me,” he added.
“Good.” I wanted to keep it that way.
The last thing I needed was the excitement of other people. I was trying to remain levelheaded about this. To make the right choice for the child. The last thing I needed was to feel hope. I had little to offer a baby. If I decided to give it up for adoption, all emotion needed to be taken out of the equation.
It was too painful to think of anything else. I was supposed to be doing this with Walker, and if he wasn’t around, I was certain I didn’t have the mental fortitude to do it myself.
Jackson set the plate of food down in front of me, followed by the glass of water. I thanked him and dived into the food. It tasted divine, and before I knew it, I’d devoured the entire plate. Jackson was just settling downwith his dinner to join me when he glanced over and his gaze flicked down to my plate.
“Done already?” he asked, moving to stand as if he was going to head into the kitchen to get me more food.
“I’m okay, really,” I said as I lifted a hand to stop him.
He hovered over his chair for a moment before he settled back down. “You sure?”
I nodded. I think any further eating would be purely from wanting to eat instead of being hungry. It was hard to get comfortable with my cast, and the last thing I needed was to add a full stomach on top of that.
