Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,9
against their child—labels that last for life—instead of actually doing the work to believe in and support their child.
He’d thrived because of his mom, not in spite of her.
Same with his dad. His dad hadn’t seen a kid who flunked chemistry, he’d seen a kid who could rely on sense of smell and taste and memory to blend flavor profiles. “The roses down the property line are all from cuttings from the roses at Dad’s old place.”
“You guys sold it?”
Jake nodded as he put his key in the door and unlocked it. “We had no choice. We needed the money to fund the distillery renovation. Emerson made sure she dug up and took cuttings of all the plants we wanted. Plus, a family lives there now, which is how it should be.”
Cassie smiled. “I love the idea of a new generation spending time in the tree house.”
“Me too. A friend bought it, so I get to see his kids and their friends play in it.”
With the door pushed open, Cassie yawned as she stepped inside.
Jake flicked the light on. “Are you hungry at all? Need anything to drink?”
Cassie turned to look at him. “I don’t know what I need. I’m so exhausted I could fall asleep standing up. But I honestly think a shower would be helpful because I’m covered in airplane and hospital germs. A part of me is hungry, and yet my stomach is in knots. And while chugging a bottle of merlot might help me sleep, the idea of a hangover in the morning is one thing more than I can handle.”
“Why don’t you go jump in the shower? While you’re in there, I’ll figure out a light snack, so you don’t wake up hungry in the middle of the night. You can make a call if you want a glass of wine with that once you’ve showered.”
“Thank you,” she sighed.
Jake showed Cassie to his spare room and placed her suitcase on the bench at the bottom of the bed. “There are towels in the bathroom. Use as many as you want. I’ll go make food.”
In the kitchen, he opened the fridge, then two of his cupboards for inspiration.
“Jake?”
“Kitchen,” he called out. When she appeared, she looked a little forlorn, as if all the confidence had been sucked out of her.
“In my rush to get to the airport, I forgot to pack anything to sleep in. Any chance I could borrow a T-shirt or something?”
The idea of her wearing his T-shirt was a little too close to feeling . . . something. For the sake of his sanity, he chalked it up to fatigue and a completely natural, brotherly need to look after her. Nothing more.
“Sure thing. There’s a pile of clean laundry I haven’t put away on the chair in my room. Grab a T-shirt, shorts, whatever else you need.”
Her eyes met his and, for a millisecond, he thought he saw something more than gratitude. And man, he really was tired. Now he was hallucinating.
Focus. He needed to figure out what to make her. They’d talked about his mom earlier and her love of roses. And there was only one thing his mom would make for their ragtag friend group if they were ever down or sad.
He pulled two slices of bread out of the bag and smoothed peanut butter on one piece and gooey grape jelly on the other. A memory came to him of his mother cutting the crusts off for Cassie because she hated the idea of curly hair so much, she’d refuse to eat them. He knew she wouldn’t believe in the old wives’ tale about bread crusts making hair curl any longer, but he cut the crusts off just the same.
He placed two glasses on the counter next to the plate. One for milk, the other for wine. Her call. There were beers in the fridge if she wanted something else. For a moment, he considered popping the cap on one for himself, but the idea slipped away when he realized he should be getting up in a little over four hours.
Jake yawned and rubbed his hands over his face. He’d gotten up at five the previous morning and was currently at over twenty hours standing on his feet. No wonder he suddenly felt exhausted. There was one person who could help him, and he picked up his phone.
“Jake. What’s up?” Sienna asked. He’d never been more glad that they’d added a night shift crew under Sienna. She wasn’t a master