Page 37 of Always My Comfort

“Baby, why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I fingered the chain around my neck I always wore while I searched for the right answer.

“I wanted you to think I was perfect—with the family and everything. I just get tired of everyone looking at me like I’m broken because of it.” He reached for me, his fingers latching onto my bouncing knee, his warmth sinking through the thick fabric of my jeans.

“With or without parents, you’re pretty damn perfect to me, sweetheart.” I waited for him to ask how they passed, just like everyone else, but after two songs played, I decided to volunteer the information for once.

“My dad died from a complication with surgery. It was a freak accident, and it happened when I was in middle school. And my mom…” My voice shook. Her death had rattled me to the bone. “She was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was very young, and eventually, it spread everywhere. The chemo was only hurting her. A few weeks after my 18thbirthday, she told me she couldn’t hold on any longer.” His grip tightened, and the tears I’d fought every time I told someone slowly rolled down my cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you had to go through that so young. I wish I could have been there.” His words struck a chord. No one had ever said that. They always offered condolences but never wished to be there.

Scarlett had been there. She had held me up at the funeral, wiped away every tear, and forced me to live again when all I wanted to do was to die. She was more my sister than my best friend.

“Sometimes, we get dealt a rough hand in life, but then, we all have two hands.” I wasn’t following him. I knew he meant well, but I was clueless.

“Jax, I don’t understand.” He linked his fingers through mine.

“I’m offering you the other hand, sweetheart. I can’t promise it’ll always be perfect, but I can promise I ain’t goin’ anywhere. I don’t think I could ever leave you.”

Was it possible to fall in love in such a short amount of time?Yes. It most certainly was.

And I was going to ruin everything with this secret.

* * *

Driving into his hometown,I noticed the streets were lined with Magnolia trees, and I finally understood the name. It was like stepping into a time capsule as we drove through downtown, where I watched people greet one another. I saw the historic buildings and wondered what it must have been like growing up here.

“Why did you leave?” I asked, almost pressing my nose to the glass of his window in pure excitement.

“Couldn’t play ball here. All my brothers left chasin’ big dreams, and somehow, they’ve all ended up back where they started.” He turned the truck onto a dirt road, and I saw his family’s name on a large sign.

“Do you plan on doing the same?” I found the courage to ask.

“Depends, I guess.” I caught his shrug out of the corner of my eye. “You told me once you like lists. What was your plan?”

“Find love. Get married. Buy a house, preferably on the water, with lots of land for all the kids and dogs I want. Rescue a dog. Fall pregnant with the man of my dreams. And raise a beautiful family.” I recited the list I had memorized a long time ago.

“In that order?” he questioned, driving past a big house, his tires crunching under the gravel.

“Exactly like that.”

“And when did you make that list?”

“After my mom died. I didn’t want to live anymore either, so Scarlett showed me by making lists every day that there was a life worth living, and then, I made my ten-year plan. By now, I was supposed to have two kids, a dog, and a husband. I was supposed to have it all.” He stopped in front of a tiny log cabin.

“You can keep your list, but who says it has to be in that order?” Shifting the truck into park, he shut it off and turned his attention to me.

“Me, of course.” He shook his head with a chuckle.

“I can help you check some of those things off your list,” he said, opening his door and hopping out. I waited for him to get to my door to open it, something I learned he loved to do.

While he rounded the hood, I studied him, trying to figure him out. Here, he was no longer the city boy I’d come to love. And what the hell did he mean he could help me check some of the things off my list?

“Humor me. How are you going to check off things on my list?” I wanted to tell him he had already done that, but I feared now wasn’t the right time, not when things were so perfect between us.

“I could make you fall in love with me.” My heart stopped, and I stumbled into him as he led me into the cabin, twisting open the knob on the bright red front door.

“Jaxon,” I whispered his name, unable to focus on anything other than him.

“Tell me you aren’t already fallin’, sweetheart.” He pressed me against the front door, cradling my face in his large, calloused hands.