week, she’d thought they’d reached an unspoken agreement to be candid with each other. His honesty about his grief had been at the heart of the connection she’d felt with him.
He furrowed his brow with a guilty look. “Yeah. Something like that.”
She sighed. “Tiptoeing around delicate topics is so tedious. Can we agree not to play that game? We both know it serves no purpose.”
He gave her a nod and a relieved smile. “Agreed.”
“In that case, yes. I’ve got plenty of questions about why the doctors and modern medicine didn’t save Grace. And now, in light of what Kim said about their baby dying the same way….” Elise lifted a trembling hand, flipping her palm up in frustration. “What am I supposed to make of that?”
Jared didn’t answer. Instead, he glanced toward the kitchen area where Joleen was cleaning up the last of the refreshments. “Would you like to go somewhere? Get a cup of coffee?”
“I—Don’t you need to get home? I’m sure babysitters are expensive.”
“They can be. But my mom watches Isabel when I come here.” He paused and jingled the keys in his pocket. “I know Kim just dropped a bomb on you, and I don’t want you going home alone to stew and drive yourself crazy over the news.”
Elise lifted a corner of her mouth. “That’s what I’d do. You’re right.”
“I’d be happy to be your sounding board for a while.”
When was the last time someone had offered to just listen to her, let her vent and unburden her heart? Too long. Gratitude for his thoughtfulness tugged in her chest.
“I’d like that. How about Brewer’s Café? It’s just a couple blocks from here.”
He gave a nod and a smile. “Meet you there in five.”
Jared climbed behind his steering wheel and blew out a long, cleansing breath. What the hell was he doing? Hadn’t he just told his mother tonight that he wasn’t ready to date?
“Okay, so this is not a date. Not,” he muttered to himself as he gripped the steering wheel and stared out the windshield into the church parking lot. Despite his denials, guilt thumped a drumbeat in his chest. “You’re just giving your support to another group member who had a shock tonight. It’s not a date.”
So why were his palms damp with sweat, and why was his conscience pricking him with images of Kelly in the last days they spent together?
Not a date. Not a date … He let the words repeat in his brain as he backed his car out of the parking space and pulled up behind Elise to follow her to Brewer’s Café.
He recalled the look in Elise’s eyes when she’d learned how the Harrisons’ baby had died, and sympathy twisted inside him. No matter how conflicted he felt about meeting Elise for coffee, he wanted to be there for her tonight. Elise was in shock and needed a friend. He could be her friend without it meaning anything else, couldn’t he?
Of course. He released a deep breath. It was not a date.
“Tell me about Isabel,” Elise said after twenty minutes of small talk. She cradled her mug of cappuccino, which had grown cold, and met his startled look with an encouraging nod.
“Are you sure? Doesn’t hearing other people talk about their kids hurt?”
She sighed. “Of course it does. But am I supposed to avoid people with kids the rest of my life?”
He took a slow deep breath. “No.”
“Do you have a picture of her?”
He chuckled, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. “Seriously? You have to ask?”
She returned his grin. “A long shot, I know, but …”
He flipped open the wallet and turned it so she could see the bright-eyed cherub with blond curls. Elise’s breath caught, and it took a moment to recover. Like all babies, Isabel was precious, but something about her sweet smile and chubby cheeks grabbed Elise by the throat.
“Wow,” she rasped when she found enough air to talk. “Look at those curls. Believe it or not, I had curls like that when I was younger.” She tugged on her straight hair and scoffed. “I’d kill for a few natural curls now.”
“Those curls make for a pretty wild-looking bedhead after her naps, let me tell you,” he said with a soft laugh. He flipped the picture to show her another more recent shot of his daughter. Two teeth peeked from her happy grin, and she wore a lacy white dress with a matching bow in her golden-colored hair. “This was at her baptism a couple months ago.”
Elise admired the shot, fighting down the bittersweet pang clambering inside her. Opposite the picture of Isabel was a picture of a raven-haired woman with olive skin and large almond-shaped eyes. Elise pointed to the woman. “Kelly?”
He nodded.
“She was beautiful.”
“Thanks. I think so, too.”
Elise bit her bottom lip in thought and studied the picture of Isabel again. “I’m trying to decide which of you Isabel favors more, but …”
“But … you don’t see any resemblance to either of us. Am I right?”
“Well …”
“That’s because she was adopted. Kelly couldn’t have children.”
Elise’s gaze darted to Jared’s. “Oh … I—” She didn’t know how to respond, so she changed the subject. “So your family lives in town and helps you take care of Isabel. That’s pretty handy.”
“Yeah, most of my family is local.” He closed the wallet and put it back in his pocket. “My mom and dad live across town, and I have a brother and sister-in-law, Michelle, who live just a couple blocks away. My sister-in-law is the one who keeps her while I’m at work.” He tipped his head in inquiry. “What about you? Any family?”
“A brother who deigns to talk to his younger sister when I call him.”
Jared arched an eyebrow. “He has something against talking to family?”
“Naw. He’s just busy and doesn’t think about calling his little sister. We’re not especially close. After our mother died, our dad couldn’t be bothered with raising kids, and we ended up in foster homes. Sometimes together, more often, not. I think he put an emotional distance between us as a defense mechanism. It hurts less to be separated from someone you only care marginally about.”
Jared was quiet for a moment, studying her. “But clearly family is important to you. You make the effort to stay in touch with your brother.”
She sighed and stared at the tabletop, idly tracing a crack in the top with her finger. “Yeah. And I was planning to raise a child alone, planning to start my family even if there was no husband in the picture.” Jared didn’t comment right away, and she glanced up when she sensed his reluctance to say what was on his mind. “Go ahead … ask. Remember, we promised to be
