Page 9 of Unexpectedly Falling
But it’s fleeting.
Because the moment my eyes lock on Nessa, it feels like all the air has been sucked from the room. I’d looked her up. I thought I knew what to expect, but I had no idea.
She’s a stunner, and even from this far away, I know she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
I don’t need any complications, but Nessa Hart has captured my attention and what I’m gonna ask just got a hell of a lot harder.
5
NESSA
My eyes glance to the sleeping baby in the back seat for what seems like the hundredth time since leaving Nashville. The baby that isn’t mine.
“You’re going home today, Remi. You finally get to live with your daddy,” I say quietly, my voice sounding foreign to my own ears but I keep going because it’s the one thing I’ve allowed myself to commit to fully with the sweet little girl in my temporary care. “He’s the sheriff…and handsome. I can see why your mama was,”—my eyes dart to the rearview mirror as I worry my bottom lip—“sointerestedin him.”
I smile but it’s bittersweet. There’s nothing easy about any of this. A woman lost her life, a man is about to be thrust headfirst into fatherhood, a baby will grow up without ever knowing her mother. And then there’s me, the estranged cousin who’d somehow been listed as next of kin on the hospital paperwork and deemed guardian to the unborn baby as designated by Scarlett.
Remi Maeve.
The nurse I’d met with after arriving at the hospital had said that’s the name Scarlett had picked but that they’d left the paperwork blank and the decision to me.
She’d given her daughter my middle name.
As if we were still as close as we were as kids—as if time and school and careers and bad relationships hadn’t pushed us into thewe’ll catch up on the next holidaycategory.
“She was really cool, Remi. Your mom and I would race around the block, throwing elbows in that last stretch to make sure we’d come in first before collapsing in the front yard of my parents’ house, giggling and out of breath. We’d eat popsicles from the general store and stare up for hours at the clouds, making up stories.” I swallow down the guilt and nostalgia. Things had been so much simpler back then. And now I’ll make nice with the Sheriff so I can tell Remi all the best things about her mom.
“Why Ya Wanna” by Jana Kramer plays softly through the speakers. It’s one of my favorite songs even though I’ve never had a love like that—never let anyone in long enough to miss them when they’re gone.
“You won’t be like me, sweet girl,” I whisper as I look in the mirror at her, little bow lips parted as she dreams.
I’ll make sure all her dreams come true. So many things her mama and I had wished for as little girls were nothing more than fairy tales. We’d grown up and grown apart, albeit for very different reasons, but I wouldn’t let that happen again.
Remi would always be loved, and I’d be the cousin I should have been to Scarlett.
Focusing back on the road, I follow the GPS the last few miles into Blackstone Falls. I’d been here a couple of times, just driving around, catching glimpses of Jensen and doing my best to make sure that Remi would be happy here.
Safe.
By all accounts, Blackstone Falls is idyllic with its fields of crops, charming center of town, and waterfalls surrounding Cedar Lake. It seemed perfect, and I’d kept up on the local news in the Blackstone Gazette.
My favorite story so far was about the teens who’d held a lawn mower race in Jamison Downey’s field. The field had been donated as a thank you to the town for help in rounding up his cows a couple of months prior.
Several elderly residents were pictured in the crowd, and it was reported that this year’s betting pool was upward of twenty-five hundred dollars. The winnings had been split with the driver, and all participants and spectators had headed into town for a generously, and anonymously, paid for lunch.
That last piece had the townspeople talking.
I’d heard about stuff like that but had never experienced any of it. Any of my free time growing up was dedicated to training and getting to the next level. I’d made it, but I’d missed out on a lot too.
I’m nearly vibrating with nerves by the time I pull into Jensen’s driveway—nerves I’ll be sure are hidden from sight when I finally meet him.
The ranch-style house is beautiful with black siding and a large maple door. The bushes are trimmed with precision, the yard well-kept. The man is meticulous and it makes me smile because Remi is about to turn his neatly organized world upside down.
Parking my car, I step out and zip my jacket up a little higher. I’ve barely had a chance to make it to Remi when the front door opens, Jensen taking up the majority of the space.
He’s even more handsome up close with sandy blond hair and a chiseled jaw. His button-down shirt is stretched tight across his chest and tucked into dark wash jeans. His belt buckleand boots are everything I’d expect out here, but I’d somehow thought I’d be immune to the look.
I am not.
