with reluctance as he gave her the particulars of how he intended to resolve the issue. She found herself nodding at each point.
“That’s exactly what I would do.”
Jack huffed out a satisfied sigh. “Good.”
“Is there anything else?” she asked.
“There’s something I need to ask you,” he said, and she sensed the same reluctance that she had earlier.
“Fire away.”
Jack hesitated before he spoke. “It didn’t take me long to realize my mistake in insisting you stay away from the office. It was stupid on my part, an effort to keep the peace between me, my mother, and my sister. I made a mistake ever agreeing to let Annette come work for the firm, and it’s cost me dearly.”
Everly appreciated that he recognized this.
“The thing is, Everly, I have this gut feeling you aren’t going to come back.” He hesitated, and it sounded like he was holding his breath before plunging ahead with his question. “Are you? Will you be back come January?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Everly hadn’t really answered Jack’s question. Until he’d asked if she was going to return to Easy Home, she hadn’t considered that as an option. As soon as he posed the possibility, it struck her that selling her half of the company had been playing in the back of her mind since her return. Now that he’d voiced it, she’d begun considering it without addressing it openly.
Jack hadn’t pressured her for an answer; although he’d been quick to explain how badly the company needed her. He continued by saying it would devastate him and the entire team if she were to choose to leave. He added several inducements about taking on a larger part of the responsibilities and made promises Everly wasn’t sure he could or would keep. For the first few weeks, she knew Jack would put in the effort and then gradually everything would return to the way it was before she left for the cruise.
“Was that Jack again?” her mother asked, once Everly was off the phone.
“Isn’t it always?” she joked. The only other calls she’d received had been from her friend Lizzy and her two sisters. Everly felt a wave of peace at the realization that she got along better with Rose and Lily now than she had at any other time. It was enlightening that while they might have different skills and interests, they were a lot alike, too.
After that initial talk at the Mexican restaurant, Rose hadn’t asked Everly about Asher again. She was grateful her sister had kept her confidence. Her heart hurt, but each day she was away from the Amazon and Asher, the ache dulled a little more. Before long he would be nothing more than a distant memory.
That’s what she told herself. And if she said it often enough, she might even start to believe it.
“Is anything wrong?” her mother asked. “You looked so serious when you hung up. Jack isn’t demanding you return to Chicago, is he?”
“Not at all.” Everly sat down at the kitchen table and her mother joined her. “He asked me if I intended on ever coming back.” The shock of the question continued to rattle her. Deep down he must have sensed that this matter was weighing on her mind as well as on his.
Her mother’s eyes widened with surprise. “Are you?”
“I…I don’t know. After the cruise I made it clear to Jack that changes needed to be made. He listened, but I’m not convinced he heard me. Then again, maybe he did and that’s what prompted him to ask.”
“You’re considering it. I can tell by the look in your eyes.”
Her mother had a succinct way of looking at problems. What her mother didn’t know was that Everly had been weighing the direction of her future before this conversation with Jack.
She squeezed Everly’s hand. “Your heart will guide you, and when it does, you’ll know the right answer.” Lois Lancaster stood long enough to pour them each a cup of coffee and bring out what was left of Grandma Ruth’s fudge.
Everly reached for the coffee mug and took a piece of fudge. “Grandma’s fudge always makes things better,” she joked.
“It sure does.”
Climbing the stairs sometime later, Everly’s head felt full, her thoughts buzzing like a swarm of bees searching for a place to settle. Her mother had suggested she listen to her heart. Everly had done that with Asher, convinced she was as important to him as he was to her. She’d been wrong. Dead wrong. She’d been so sure, confident,