Chapter Three
JACK MADE HIS way down the familiar streets to his childhood home. A short hour later, Mom was tucked safely in the passenger seat of Dad’s truck while Jack drove to the hospital. It had been years since he’d driven the truck—the same truck Dad had had when Jack left town—and almost nothing had changed.
Dad’s fleece-lined jacket and hat laid on the seat like they were waiting for him to come back, and an evergreen-shaped air freshener hung from the rearview mirror like it had every day of Jack’s life.
Dad loved his trees.
That was why Jack was so surprised when he’d found Casey running the lot. Doing the job Jack had expected to inherit when he grew up. But things changed. Despite the hurt in Dad’s eyes when Jack announced he was leaving town, his parents supported his choice and never expressed any disappointment that Jack hadn’t followed in the family business.
He covered Mom’s hand on the seat. “I wish you’d have told me that Dad wasn’t feeling well before it got this bad.”
“You know your father, too stubborn for his own good. If it wasn’t for Casey…”
Yeah, Casey. Jack’s head had been spinning since the moment he’d heard her voice. He couldn’t blame her for being mad at him. He’d asked her to move to Boston with him. Practically begged her. But she insisted on staying in Oak Grove and Jack just couldn’t.
For a long time, he couldn’t even think about coming back. Then days became weeks and weeks became months. Before he knew it, years had passed and he didn’t know how to come home anymore.
“That sweet girl. She was so shaken up. Thank God she found your dad when she did or he might not…”
What was this about Casey? “Casey found him?”
“She was walking in the upper lot and Dad was lying on the ground. She called 9-1-1 and then performed CPR until the paramedics arrived. They say that’s the only reason he survived. If she’d been even a couple minutes later…”
Why hadn’t Casey told him she’d found Dad? He would have said something. Thanked her instead of arguing about their relationship and how he’d left. Instead he’d teased her and questioned her running of the lot.
Casey was right—Jack was a bastard. But he was here now.
A few minutes later, he stepped into the hospital lobby with Mom by his side. His mind immediately flashed back to another trip here. One he’d never recovered from. Casey’s grief-stricken face filled his mind. The fat tears rolling down her cheeks that he was powerless to stop haunted him. He remembered his own tears falling as he scooped her up and held her close.
He’d deluded himself into believing that if he shut himself off from emotional connections that he would never suffer the pain of loss again. Now here he was, his father clinging to life. A life saved by the woman who’d shared the most painful experience of Jack’s life.
He and Mom stepped off the elevator on the fourth floor to the stench of antiseptic and the squeak of shoes on the linoleum floor. The sign on the opposite wall greeted him with a grim announcement—Cardiac Ward. Those words made everything real.
Why had Jack waited so long to come home? Why had his visits with his parents been restricted to when they could come see him? All this time, he’d told himself he was too busy to visit, but that was crap. He was a coward who couldn’t face the grief that Oak Grove held.
No more. He was here now, and things were going to change.
His cell phone beeped in his pocket, and he pushed the button to silence it. Jack’s work had been piling up since he’d left Boston earlier today, but Dad was his focus now. Jack would check his messages when he returned to the house.
The more immediate concern, after his father, was how he was going to scrub Casey out of his mind. It had only taken a single encounter for her to worm her way back into his soul, into the places he’d packed away and hoped never to see again.
Her eyes had sparkled in anger when she spat her words at him. The little five-foot-two spitfire got spun up on a moment’s notice. He’d loved her passion, but the flames had gone out after…well, before he left. It was good to see she’d found her spark again.
Mom stepped into a room in front of the nurses station and Jack followed.
“Hey, Sid, someone’s here to see you.”
Dad grumbled from behind the curtain. “I don’t wanna see nobody. I just want to get the hell out of here.”
Jack pulled the curtain aside. “Nice to see you too, Dad.”
The scowl on Dad’s face turned into a smile, and his eyes widened. “Boy, get yourself in here and give me a hug.”
Jack wrapped his arms around Dad’s narrow, weak shoulders. Dad hadn’t been this fragile when his parents had visited him in Boston a few months ago. In a short time, his father had aged years.
“Hell, Jack, if I’d known having a little heart trouble woulda gotten you home, I’da had one long before now.”
“Don’t even joke about that, old man.”
Mom fussed with the bedside table, shifting the colorful flowers and refilling the water cup. Mom always kept busy. That was why Jack was so surprised that she wasn’t involved with the day-to-day operations of the lot. She and Dad had always worked it, side by side. It had to be killing her to see Dad laid up in the bed. “Your color’s better today, honey.”
“Quit yer fussin, woman, and come over and visit with our boy. How ya been, Jack? How’s business?”
Jack helped Mom settle into the chair beside Dad’s bed and then perched on the windowsill. He wasn’t sure how to answer that question—he hadn’t spent an entire day out of touch since he’d started his investment firm seven years ago. Who knew what had happened at the office since he’d boarded a plane this morning? “Business is good, but I’m here to see you. How are you doing?”
Jack’s gaze followed Dad’s hand when he pressed his chest. Jack’s own heart lurched. What if Dad had died? “Fine. Old ticker just had a little hiccup. I’ll be back out there before you know it. There’s stuff to do, ya know.”
“Don’t worry about that. You need to get better first. I’m here and I’ll help out as much as I can.” Whether Casey would accept his help or not.
Dad nodded and scrubbed his hand over his chin. “All kinds of changes since you been gone. I’m lucky I put that Casey in charge. She’s done some great things these past couple of years.”
Did Dad not want Jack helping with the farm? It sounded as though things were well in hand with Casey. Maybe he could visit for a few days and return to Boston without seeing Casey again. “I stopped by. The lot looks great.”
Mom gasped. “You stopped by? I thought you’d come to the house first.”
Maybe they hadn’t wanted him to know Casey was running the business. They’d certainly had plenty of opportunities to tell him, yet they hadn’t. “I wanted to check things out, see where I could help while you’re laid up.”
“So you’ve seen her?” Mom’s voice was soft, her concern apparent.
His parents knew how heartbroken Jack had been when Casey hadn’t moved to Boston with him. And they were the only other ones who knew about Jack and Casey’s private grief. He couldn’t bear to share it with anyone else. The heartbreak had been too raw when he made his plans to leave town. Once he left, he’d shoved all of his painful memories of Oak Grove aside. “Yeah. It was quite the reunion.”
Jack laughed as he shared how Casey had fainted when she’d seen him and then read him the riot act for not coming home sooner. His parents shared a few stolen glances. What did they know that he didn’t?
“Jackie, hun, how about you go get yourself a cup of coffee?”
Mom fussed with a handkerchief in her lap. “Oh, honey, I’m fine.”
“Then how about you give me a few minutes with my boy?”
Jack marveled at his parents’ exchange. Dad might sound gruff, but there was so much love between the two of them. How many years had it taken them to become so content with each other? Jack had thought he and Casey shared that kind of comfort and love when they were together, but age and experience had proven to him they’d been young and naïve about the realities of life. Maybe if they’d been a little older, more mature, they could have weathered the grief neither of them should have experienced.
Mom rose. “Oh, all right. I’ll check in with the nurses. See if I can get the real story on how your night was, instead of your whitewashed version.” Mom kissed Dad on the forehead and spared a quick glance at Jack before leaving the room.
After she stepped out of the room and the door clicked closed, Dad’s gaze turned on Jack. “She fusses over me too much.”
“She loves you.” Jack had never doubted the ferocity of his parents’ love for one another. Or for him. Unlike many of his high school classmates, he’d never been afraid his parents might split up.
As his love with Casey had grown, he’d hoped to have the kind of relationship his parents had.
But one night had changed everything, and Jack had shut himself off to love ever since. As a wealthy business man in Boston, he’d had his share of socialites on his arm at a party or between the sheets for a few steamy hours. But he hadn’t allowed any of them to crack the icy shell he’d built around his heart.
A shell that had split wide open the minute he’d had Casey in his arms.
Jack could use the excuse of his father’s heart attack for why he was so shaken, but it would be a lie. Casey had broken through his carefully built walls without even trying.
He couldn’t let her sneak any deeper into his soul. He’d barely survived the last time.
“Took ya long enough about comin’ home.”
“I saw you guys a few months ago.” For years, he’d claimed to be too busy to visit, and his parents had always obliged him. But that excuse fell flat now, seeing his dad laid up in the sterile hospital room, surrounded by the machines helping him recover.
“It isn’t the same, and you know it.”
He sighed. It had been too long. “Yeah, I know. But I’m here now.”
“For how long?”
Wasn’t that the question of the hour?
Before Jack answered, Dad barreled through the conversation. “We could really use your help. Casey says she’s doing fine by herself, but there’s a lot of work to be done. I worry about that girl and…”
What were Mom and Dad not telling him about Casey? “And what?”
“Nothin. She’s just working too hard these days. I want you to help her out, Jack. Just through the season.” Dad covered Jack’s hand. “Please?”
Jack ran through the long list of tasks waiting for him back in Boston, and the vibration in his pocket indicated more to be done. He’d somehow convinced himself that he could check in on Dad and jet back to Boston. Nope. His original plan to squeeze work in between hours at the tree lot would have to be enough. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d worked long hours. It was how he’d built his firm into one of the most successful in Boston in the first place.
So much for making sure the manager had things in hand and then heading home. Hopefully he and Casey could work side by side for a few weeks. Jack would keep his defenses up and no matter what, not touch her again. Certainly not hold her in his arms like he had. He’d liked it. Too much. “Of course, I’ll help. Don’t worry about anything except getting better.”
“Good, good. That girl has had a rough time of it. She shouldn’t be having to worry about me on top of everything else.”
Now he was really intrigued by what was going on with Casey. And since he was going to be in Oak Grove for a few weeks, he planned to find out.