“Don’t.” She put her hand up. “I appreciate you being here and helping, but I need to get dressed and get out of this house every day and start doing normal things. Painting today was a great start, but I need to work too. I can’t just sit around all day gestating and crying.”
Enzo snorted. “I don’t want you sitting around crying, either, although I do want you to feel better. You don’t have the energy to work at a bar yet.”
“Yes, I do,” she said. “I’m only going back for a few hours a day until I have more energy. Staying home is depressing me. All I do is think about my mother and all the things that I wish I had said. All the regrets. Then I get angry at all the things she made me go through and it’s just…well, it’s depressing. I miss my mom, then I don’t, then I do again. Plus, I’m all hormonal. It’s too many things floating around in my head. I just think that work is step one in feeling better.”
He exhaled loudly. “I’m in awe of you, sweetheart.” She opened her mouth to say something, but he held his hand out to quiet her. “Don’t. You don’t have to say anything. I know I screwed up. I don’t even know if you want the same things I do. I’m sorry I lied to you, but I fixed things. Today I got the news I’ve been waiting for, and everything is going to be okay with the Walls, but I can’t undo what I already did. I know it’s my fault you were arrested, and I know that the things Marianna said were unforgivable. But I’m going to do everything I can to show you that I’m not that guy—the guy who’ll steamroll your feelings, the guy who puts business over his heart.” He lifted a shoulder, then dropped it. “When you’re feeling better, when you’re up to it, I’d like to try again. I want to be those people who didn’t leave the house for four days because we were so happy together. I’ll wait as long as you need. I just wanted to tell you that. Been meaning to say it since I came back.”
“I think I want that too. I just need to get a handle on my emotions first. I don’t want this to be about the baby or my grief. I want to be with you because I want to be with you, not because of circumstances. Thank you for not leaving. I’m sure you’re dying to get back home and back to your life and out of this tiny apartment.”
He smiled sweetly and cupped her face with one of his hands, his thumb moving back and forth along her cheekbone. “I’m right where I’m meant to be. You and the baby are my life.” He kissed her nose, then left to do the dishes.
Chapter 20
Another week rolled by. Enzo continued to stay with JL, sleeping on the sofa, making sure she was fed and rested. She had gone back to work on a part-time basis only and was starting to feel a little less tired. Every day she went to the Walls to paint, but she never let him go with her because she said she wanted it to be a surprise.
Even though she seemed to have gotten over their financial disparity and Enzo was still on a mission to show Jamie Lynn how much he’d changed, that didn’t mean he still didn’t worry about her. She was working tonight, more hours than usual, due to a party Patsy was throwing for the bar’s fiftieth anniversary. She was going to be on her feet for too many hours in a smoky bar while still feeling tired. But she was such an independent woman that she’d be mad if she thought he was checking up on her, which was exactly what he was doing.
Enzo could hear the sound of a banjo from the parking lot. It was such a foreign sound to him, not quite unpleasant but harsh against his ears. He’d had a lot of trouble fitting into the town when he first arrived, but after spending time with Jamie Lynn, he now felt completely at home—more so than he’d ever felt in Brazil.
He dusted off his new cowboy boots, straightened his red plaid shirt and crisp dark blue jeans, and stepped out of his