Page 13 of Stay With Me
They not only gave me a job, but they rent me a cabin for a much lower price than I know it can go for and made me feel like I belonged.
Slowly, I came out of my shell and started to learn to trust. Soon after that, I met Amelia, Pam, and Abby at the farmers’ market, and we just clicked.
I peek out of the corner of my eye and take in Noah. He’s so respectful and patient. The girls told me he was interested in me before he took me home, and he confirmed it that night.
I don’t understand the feelings he stirs in me. I didn’t grow up knowing love. We didn’t get to pick who we spent our life with or who we had children with. In The Family, a husband could allow someone else to father a child with their wife, and many men had several wives.
So as the months passed, I stayed here in Griffin’s Den even though my gut was telling me it was time to move on. My heart just hasn’t let me.
Turning in my seat, I look back at Jess, her head resting on the window with her eyes closed.
My biggest fear is that The Family won’t be far behind her.
They never left our little town hidden in the woods, but I wouldn’t put it past Matthew to find a reason to get permission from Father to come after us.
I turn back around just as we pull into a driveway. I lean forward, and a beautiful farmhouse comes into view. “This is where you live?”
“Yeah, I got it for a steal right before COVID,” he says as he puts the truck in park. “Stay where you are, ladies. I’ll come around and open the doors.”
As he hops out, I unbuckle the seat belt and turn back to Jess. “I know today has been a lot, but are you okay?”
She looks around, taking in the world around her, before drawing in a deep breath. I know exactly what she’s thinking. This is a far cry from the small shacks we lived in.
“Yes, I believe so. You are staying with me, right?”
I smile softly at her. “Of course I am.”
Our doors open, and Noah helps us out of the car as Melissa pulls in behind him.
“Let’s go, ladies. We have a house to see and a snack to eat before bed.”
We greet Melissa, and my nerves come back with a vengeance.
This has to work because if she tells us that Noah can’t be Jess’s emergency foster, I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep her safe.
Walking up to the house with Jess on my right, I feel something brush my left hand and look down, seeing Noah’s hand right next to mine. I glance up to see if it was an accident,but he smiles at me and does it again. As we walk up the steps to the wraparound porch, he loops his pinky around mine almost like a promise, and at this moment, I feel like I can face anything thrown my way with him at my side.
SEVEN
Noah
Anhourafterwearrived at my house, Melissa walks out the door, leaving a stack of paperwork on the counter for me to fill out in the next twenty-four hours.
With everything happening tonight, I’m happy I bought a house that was far too big for me after I sold the house Jenna and I owned following the divorce.
Watching the girls chat softly while eating some of the fruit I had in the fridge, I mentally make a list of everything I need to buy.
I have the basics for my two spare rooms, but I want Jess to be able to decorate her room so that, hopefully, she feels comfortable. And Luna will have free rein to decorate the other room so she has a safe space just for her.
When I drove her home from girls’ night a few months ago, I asked her out, knowing it might not happen, even though she said yes. I never wanted to pressure her into going on a date with me if she wasn’t ready.
I’m a patient man.
I wanted it to be on her terms, with her being ten years younger than my thirty-six years and her past that she has hidden so well.
Luke, Sam, and Carter give me shit about it. But I knew it was the right choice.
Just like I knew offering to be the emergency foster for Jess and telling Luna she could stay here as well was the right choice.
