“I miss you already,” Jasmine said with a sniffle.
Forcing down the lump in my throat, I unwound myself from her hug and grabbed both her hands. “You have a very busy few months ahead of you.”
She tilted her head to one side. I leaned in closer to disclose her covert assignment. “Just think of all the stores you’ll have to visit until you find the perfect flower girl dress.”
Her eyes lit up with the thrill of a newly acquired mission.
I turned just in time to see Mr. Preston releasing Riley’s hand. I’d missed what they’d said to each other, but the looks on their faces made it clear words weren’t needed.
Riley strung his arms across my shoulders. “Ready?”
“Wait!”
Everyone in the driveway spun toward a sleep-tousled version of Melody, yelling from the front door. She hustled down the driveway and ran straight into Riley’s arms. “You’re coming back, right? I mean, sometime soon?”
“I promised, remember?” Riley hugged her in a final seal of his word.
She caught my gaze.
And I thought saying goodbye to Mr. Preston was awkward?
Not that I could blame her for slanting me a wary stare. I probably would’ve done the same if it were Austin. She had a gentle side under her cover, though. You just had to know how to find it.
“Maybe we can talk sometime.” I tore out a slip of paper from inside my purse and jotted down my cell number and email address. “I need some help picking out music for the wedding.”
“Really?” she said, struggling to keep her tone dry.
“Yeah, definitely. You can email me some of your ideas.”
Melody glanced around our small circle before looking back at me. “Cool.”
The genuine smile that followed might not have meant we were officially best friends, but I’d take what I could get.
As Riley and I drove off, their reflection shrank in the rearview mirror and dissolved around the corner. Riley flashed an elusive grin at me from the passenger’s seat.
I flaunted it right back. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Nothing. Right. “I know that smile.”
It stretched all the wider. “Then you know what I’m thinking.”
“That you drive me crazy sometimes?”
He laughed. “Glad I’m not the only one going mad around here. Though, I doubt for the same reason.” He craned his head back against the headrest. “You sure you don’t want to stop on the way home? There’s gotta be a church nearby.”
I shook my head at him. “How ‘bout you concentrate on taking a nap instead. All the fatigue is catching up to you.”
“Pretty sure it’s that I’m falling even more in love with you.” He curled his fingertips under mine.
I kept my eyes on the road but couldn’t shake the smile from my face to save my life. Good thing churches didn’t show up on exit signs like gas stations did. Just keep driving.
Parked in front of my apartment, I stretched out my back. “Well, I guess it’s safe to classify that as the most eventful break of my college career.”
Instead of laughing with me, Riley kept his eyes on his lap, his thoughts obviously tied up in something else. “Em, about the other day . . .”
I unbuckled my seatbelt. “I overreacted. I’ll tell Jaycee the dance is out. She’ll understand. But . . .” I picked at a snag on the bottom of the steering wheel. “I need to know, Riley. The reason you’re not touring. Is it because you’re worried we won’t make it apart? Is that why you want to get married now?”
He didn’t lift his head. “I’m ready to spend every day of my life with you, Emma Matthews. At any cost.”
I felt the same way, but he didn’t have to sacrifice one for the other. “I’m sorry I let the distance come between us last time. I was scared, afraid of losing you. But not anymore.” I reached across the seats and squeezed his hand. “I trust this, and I just want you to do the same.”
“I do.” A long blink lifted his eyes toward mine and reinforced all the promises he’d ever made me through a single look.
“Then, please, don’t jeopardize your future because of fear. I know you resent your dad’s choices and don’t want to repeat them, but if you give up because of me, you’ll end up resenting me too.” Couldn’t he see that?
“I’m not giving up my dream.” He twisted in his seat. “I’m going to tour. Just later.”
“But Nick—”
“Nick’s a businessman. He knows how to heap on the pressure. But he knows when to fold too. There’s no way he’s backing out of this investment.”
Maybe so, but it wasn’t only about him. “You’re sure this isn’t about trust? You’re not putting the tour on hold because of A. J.?”
He rubbed his thumb over the backs of my fingers. “I’m not gonna pretend I don’t wonder what you feel when you’re with him, but you’re right. I have to let it go.”
Swallowing, I searched for words to erase any doubt in his mind.
“This isn’t a question of your commitment. It’s my own battle. And I’m not going to ruin Jaycee’s wedding day because I’m jealous.” His grin slanted. “But . . . I might have to cut in as soon as the first dance is over.”
I dished his sassy grin back at him. “Promise?”
A slow kiss answered for him.
And I was supposed to focus on school after that? Or on anything else, period? Maybe Vegas wasn’t such a bad idea. I’d probably been overcomplicating things. Trev was right. Love was enough. We’d work through everything else.
If life would slow down for at least a week, maybe we could actually think straight and figure this out. Sleep couldn’t hurt either.
I grabbed my bag and stepped halfway out of the car. “You want to come up?”
My eyes must’ve hinted the thousand pleases tacked on to the end of my question. Despite the exhausted look on his face, he nodded and followed me up to my apartment.
Visions of crashing onto my bed beside him for a much-needed nap welcomed me at the door. Prepping for classes could wait. After this crazy trip, we were definitely due a little breather.
One step inside killed that possibility.
Trevor, Jaycee, and A. J. all swung their heads in our direction. Riley and I stopped in the doorway. A. J. scooted to the edge of the couch, straightened his jeans, and slumped back again like he couldn’t decide whether to sit or stand.
In a matter of seconds, Jaycee and I had an entire conversation through nothing but facial expressions. She elbowed Trevor to intervene, but A. J. tossed a throw pillow aside and hopped to his feet before Trevor got a word out.
“Trev told me what happened.” He started toward us. “I came by to make sure everything was okay.”
“Everything’s fine. We found Jasmine.” I lowered my bag to the floor, thankful my jaw decided to work again. “She’s safe. Just a little audacious.” And impossible not to forgive.
Jaycee exhaled. “Thank God. I tried to call you like ten times yesterday.”
“Yeah, sorry. It was kind of a crazy night.” And morning. With everything on my mind, I hadn’t even thought to call her on the way home. I glanced back at Riley.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with jaw problems. He looked like the tin man, waiting for someone to oil his joints. Either he was trying not to relive memories from last night, or he was trying to restrain himself from decking A. J. in the face. I couldn’t tell which.
Trevor must’ve been on the same page. He crept forward as if gearing up to intercept a potential brawl.
A. J. paused in front of us, head down, and then passed through without a word. Riley remained perfectly still. He might not have completely let go yet, but at least he was trying. I angled in front of him until he met my eyes.
The shell of a grin pushed through his tight muscles. “One day at a time.”
With the rest of the semester still ahead of us, that was probably all any of us could handle.
chap
ter seventeen
Choices
The busy start to the semester hadn’t kept my heart away from the center. After rearranging my shift around my new course schedule, I finally made it back to the office and back to the fight I wasn’t about to give up on. The clock could tick on to the end of February all it wanted. We still had a month and a half to beat it.
Other than an increased pile of papers in my inbox, my desk hadn’t been disturbed over the break. Too bad I couldn’t say the same about the “For Rent” sign still posted on the door. If refraining from tearing it down when I came in hadn’t proven that Trey’s perspective mantra was rubbing off on me, I’m not sure what would have.
I thumbed through the mail. No new leads on grant requests. Figured. Had Jim Brake burned all those bridges for us last semester?
Last semester. My pulse jumped at the thought. It’d probably be a long shot, but what if he wasn’t with the Success Foundation anymore? Even if he was, the organization had been interested in supporting us originally. Maybe he didn’t have the final say.
I opened my contact spreadsheet, scrolled to their office number, and grabbed my phone.
A woman answered the line. “Thank you for calling the Success Foundation, how may I assist you?”
Good question. I coiled the cord around my finger. “Um, finance, please?”
“Mr. Chandler or Da Silva?”
Anyone but Mr. Brake. “Whoever’s in charge.” Might as well go straight to the top.
“May I ask who’s calling?”
The memory of Mr. Success and his wife stopping by the center that time clipped into my side. She worked there too, didn’t she? What if she was on the other end of the line right now? After how worked up he’d gotten when he’d accused Dee of breaking into his daughter’s car, he would likely never let her forget us.
Holding in a breath, I snagged a pencil and scrambled for a way to deflect any connection to the center in case she knew who I was. “Emma Preston.” Close enough.
“Hold, please.”
I flipped the pencil between my fingers while waiting for someone to pick up.
Neal Chandler’s voicemail kicked in. I sat up and cleared my throat. “Yes, Mr. Chandler, this is Emma from the Downtown Portland Center. You may remember offering us a provisional grant a few months ago.”
I pushed down a dry swallow and dug deep for confidence. “I’m afraid personal matters might’ve influenced Mr. Brake’s decision to revoke the offer, and I’m calling to request another representative reconsider our proposal. I’ll follow up with an email so we can work on the quickest resolution. Thank you for your time.” I hung up and exhaled.
If Riley’d been there, he would’ve flaunted one of his famous lawyer-looks at me. That business law class was bound to come in handy at some point. Hopefully, it’d pay off.
The classroom door opened a few minutes later. Trey tapped my desk on his way toward his own. “Welcome back.”
“Thanks. Glad to be home. What’d I miss?”
“Oh, you know. The usual.” He bottomed out in his chair. “Teneecia almost cut off all her sister’s braids on Friday. Parker decided to turn the classroom wall into an art project. And Andre managed to instigate a mass battle of the sexes on the basketball court.”
I laughed so hard I snorted. “Never a dull moment.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” He stretched his chair back as far as it would go and flashed a look of insanity across his face. “How was your break away from all the chaos here?”
“Um . . . let’s just say, I’d take the chaos here any day.”
He sloped his glasses down his nose and looked at me for an explanation.
“Don’t ask.” I wouldn’t have known where to start, anyway. So much had happened. Being back at the center felt like pushing a reset button. As crazy as things were, life made sense here.
The conversation I’d had with Mr. Preston around the dinner table the first night we were at their house came flooding back. Our work here had to be more than charity.
“Mm hmm.” Trey grunted.
I blinked. “What?”
“I don’t think you’re fully back from your trip.”
“Sorry.” I shuffled some papers around. “I’m here. Promise.”
“Well, that’s good. Because in about five seconds, you’ll have no choice.” He looked at his watch and pointed to the door leading to the classroom. “In five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one.”
On perfect cue, the door swung open. A stampede of kids gushed out with enough noise to pass for a marching band.
“Miss E. Miss E. You’re back!”
A group of girls almost knocked my chair over, trying to climb onto my lap.
“Missed you too, girls.” More than I’d realized.
Tania finally won the battle and secured her spot in my lap. She could’ve been a younger Jasmine. They were about the same build. Both carried an energetic and contagious drive. Except I didn’t know if anyone was at home to shower Tania in the same affection Mrs. Preston gave Jasmine. But if we offered her even a faction of it, then our work at the center wasn’t a waste. It’d carry on, even if we closed. Wouldn’t it? Somehow? The question ached without an answer.
“Okay, girls.” Trey headed over. “Let’s give Miss E some breathing room.” He lifted Tania off my lap and prodded them all toward the basketball court. “I bet there are some rowdy boys out back waiting for a rematch.”
That did it. A split-second glance flitted between the girls before they scampered through the door to the court and the competition awaiting them. If the stack of paperwork looming on my desk weren’t glaring at me, I would’ve joined them.
The front door creaked open. Two of our younger girls tiptoed through the office while eyeing Trey in a game he probably had no idea he was playing. As soon as he peered up from his desk, the girls blazed through the screen door with a trail of giggles following them.
After the third time they’d snuck back through, Trey’s expression pushed my grin into outright laughter. I hid my face behind a piece of paper when the sound of the front door opening signaled yet another round of the girls’ endless entertainment.
Trey rose to his feet but made no warning. In fact, he made no sound at all. I peeked above the page and dropped it.
For the briefest moment, I would’ve sworn I was looking into Dee’s eyes again. “Ms. Mendierez?”
Instead of the disillusioned, frayed woman I’d seen in her house, a composed and neatly manicured one met me now. Her short-sleeved button-up shirt and apron bore the trademarks of one of the local diners.
She turned to Trey. “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting. I came to see Miss Matthews.”
He nodded with perception. “It’s about time for me to go check on our little warriors out back. Those boys don’t know what they’re up against.”
He closed us in a room weighed with silence. Ms. Mendierez fiddled with the edge of her apron. “I’m on my way to work.” One hesitant step forward turned into a determined stride across the room. “Miss Matthews—”
“Emma,” I said. “Please, call me Emma.”
“Emma, I came by to thank you.” She stared at her feet. “When I lost Dee, I thought I lost my reason for living. But I was wrong.” She released her apron and raised her head. “Someone may have stolen my boy’s chance to live his dreams, but ain’t nobody gonna take away my chance to honor them for him.”
Instead of bitterness or vengeance, conviction colored her eyes. She studied me as though I was a tangible connection to her son. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Dee isn’t the only one you taught to be courageous.”
A ball of emotions claimed my voice.
She backed up and blinked away her tears. “Did you find out anything about the possibility of selling his artwork?”
“Actually, I just gave some samples to my brother to pass on to some of his connections. I’m hoping to hear from him in the next couple of weeks. Once we have a buyer, I
’ll put him in contact with you.”
“That’s great.” She stood tall and collected in front of me. “I’d like to donate fifty percent of any proceeds to the center.” She shook her head. “I know it might not be much, but I believe it’s what Dee would’ve wanted.”
“Ms. Mendierez—”
“No arguments.” She smoothed out her apron. “Now, then, Trey mentioned something about having classes here for adults.”
“That’s right,” Trey said from the doorway. “And you’re just in time to start our class on financial management. I think you might like the teacher.” He brandished a telling grin my way.
He couldn’t be serious. “Me?”
He sauntered over. “I seem to recall you being interested in teaching this class when you first started here.”
“Yeah, when I was gullible enough to let you talk me into it.” And before the center was on the verge of closing. What was the point now?
He waved off my response and turned to Ms. Mendierez. “The class starts next week.”
I latched on to his forearm for balance.
He chuckled. “Or maybe a few weeks from now.”
Or a few years.
Ms. Mendierez drew her keys from her pocket. “Sounds great. I should be going. My shift starts in fifteen.” She glanced from Trey to me. “Thank you both. I’ll be in touch.”
She’d reached the door before my brain fog cleared long enough to remember I had something for her. “Wait.” I snagged Dee’s journal from my desk drawer and jogged over. “I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to return this. When you’re ready, I’ve bookmarked a page for you to read.”
I handed her the journal and squeezed her arm. “It’s easy to see why Dee looked up to you as a strong, courageous woman. You’re much braver than you think you are.”
She cradled the journal close to her chest and looked away. Glassy but determined eyes found mine again a moment later. “Thank you, Emma. For everything.”
I smiled back, and she trekked outside toward a chance to prove me right.
Hope Unbroken (Unveiled Series Book 3) Page 11