a lot of money, but we always made do. Lori and I were staying with my grandma Dasher for the weekend. We’d only been at her house a few hours before there was a knock at the door, and we found two police officers standing on my grandmother’s porch.”
He watched her closely. “What happened?”
“They were there to tell us that our parents had been in an accident. That’s when we learned that my mother and father had died like they lived—helping people.”
“What do you mean—helping people?”
“A woman was on the side of the road trying to change a flat tire, and they stopped to help her put on the spare when a drunk driver plowed into them. From what the officer told us, it happened very quickly. They were both gone by the time the ambulance had gotten them to the hospital. After that, Lori and I lived with my grandmother until she was taken by cancer almost two years later. Thankfully, she didn’t suffer too badly, and just like that, we’d lost them all.”
He knew she was strong—but what she’d endured would crush the spirit of most people.
But not her.
“Jesus, I’m sorry, Bridget. I don’t know what to say. I had no idea.”
Of course, he didn’t because he hadn’t taken a lick of interest in Tom’s fiancée and her family—or lack thereof.
“You don’t have to be sorry. I only had my parents and my grandma Dasher, but Lori and I grew up surrounded by love.” She shook her head. “That was insensitive of me! I didn’t mean to sound so thoughtless.”
He took a step toward her. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and in the moonlight that came and went as the clouds lumbered across the night sky, hiding and revealing the curve of her cheek and the set of her chin, he twisted a lock of her hair between his fingers before tucking it behind her ear.
“You’re not thoughtless, Bridget. You’re…”
Luminous.
Truly good-hearted.
Extraordinarily devoted to others.
“You’re smart and focused. I don’t think there’s anything you can’t do. You assembled an army of mostly lawyers to bake a shit ton of delicious cookies for charity, and you don’t give an inch when it comes to your family. Your work ethic is almost as insane as mine. Hell, I’d hire you,” he said instead, chickening out.
He wasn’t lying. He’d spoken the truth—just not the whole truth.
She huffed an amused laugh. “I’m not qualified to work for you. I’m barely an assistant baker. My only credentials are my grandmother’s seal of baking approval and a few online courses.”
“I think you underestimate yourself,” he countered.
She stared at the ground. “You don’t know me.”
“I know you’ve dedicated your life to making sure that your sister had what she needed to succeed.”
“That was my grandma Dasher’s dying wish. Both Lori and I spoke to her alone before she passed.”
“What did she say to you?”
He wanted to know everything.
“She asked me to watch out for Lori. I was the oldest—still only eighteen, but the oldest. And we got by once it was just the two of us. I had to put college on hold. I got a job at a bakery, and Lori worked her butt off at school and earned a full-ride scholarship to Harvard. She would have made my parents and grandmother so proud.”
“What about you?” he asked, growing more in awe of this woman by the second.
She gave a sad little chuckle. “I’m not sure. Currently, I’m unemployed and recently dumped. Maybe it’s time to start looking for something more.”
He traced the line of her jaw with his fingertip, unable to stop himself from touching her.
“What’s that more look like for you?”
She rested her hands on his chest and pushed onto her tiptoes. His arms encircled her waist, and he drew her in.
“Tell me, Bridget?” he coaxed, completely enthralled and powerless to resist.
She gripped the fabric of his coat. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never let myself dream. I’ve never taken the leap and just gone for it.”
The leap. The letting go. Putting it all on the line and rolling the dice.
He’d never allowed himself that luxury either.
But none of that seemed to matter when she was locked in his embrace.
All the bullshit faded away, muting the grating pain that dwelled deep in his heart.
He inhaled her vanilla scent as their breaths mingled together. They inhabited this space, this place where time stood still. The anticipation grew palpable—the air buzzing with a delicious expectancy.