The Path to Sunshine Cove (Cape Sanctuary #2) - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,103

opened her mouth to speak but hesitated, swallowed and turned away.

“Good night,” she said.

Somehow he had the impression that wasn’t what she had been about to say.

“Jess.”

He knew what he wanted to say. Stay. Please stay. But the words seemed to jumble up inside him in a tangle and he couldn’t figure out how to make them work.

She took a step up into her trailer to stand in the doorway. “I’m glad your mom is doing better. I’ll try to check in with her tomorrow and then again Monday before I leave.”

She hurried inside and closed the door behind her, leaving him standing alone with only the night and his regrets to keep him company.

38

Jess

She had to get out of here. Fast.

Monday couldn’t come soon enough. Jess sat on her sofa, wishing with all her heart she had been able to drag him inside with her to spend the night.

That kiss.

She was still reeling, a full half hour after he had walked back to the house. She could still taste him, still feel the tenderness and intensity of it.

She knew she needed to leave Cape Sanctuary but had no idea how she was supposed to walk away from a man who kissed her like that, as if she were everything he had ever wanted or needed.

She was in love with him.

If she had any doubt, that kiss had sealed it. Somehow Nate Whitaker had burst past all her careful defenses like they were nothing.

When she went through basic training, she had faced one obstacle course that had kicked her ass time after time, a ridiculously complicated thing with insane jumps, climbs, nets.

Some of the soldiers she trained with didn’t even seem to work up a sweat as they made their way through.

Nate would have been one of those soldiers. Somehow, she knew it.

She thought she had been so careful to protect herself but she had fallen for him anyway.

What was she supposed to do now?

Nothing.

Jess let out a shaky breath. Nothing at all. Okay. So she was in love with Nate. What did that change? Exactly nothing. Monday, she would hitch up her trailer and drive away from Cape Sanctuary. It was her only option.

Yes, leaving him would hurt, but she would get over it, eventually.

Wouldn’t she?

* * *

“I so wish you didn’t have to go.”

Jess, sitting beside Eleanor’s bed at Whitaker House on Monday morning, picked up her friend’s hand and pressed it.

The older woman still seemed frail, with no makeup on and her hair not as carefully fixed as usual. But her color was much better and she was obviously happy to be home in her own bed.

“I know. But my job here is done. I have to move on to the next one.”

She was aware that every passing moment was leading her inexorably toward that moment when she would drive out of town.

Not yet.

She had promised she would say goodbye to Eleanor first, so here she was, though she had been half-tempted to slip away in the pearly predawn, when she wouldn’t have to face any of them.

Eleanor turned her hand over and squeezed Jess’s fingers. “This old house won’t feel the same without you. I will miss our long talks.”

Jess mustered a smile. “So will I,” she answered. It was true. This had been her most enjoyable job ever. She had loved every moment of helping Eleanor.

“If only I had four or five more rooms for you to clean out. But I suppose you’re tired of Whitaker House by now and ready to move on.”

“I’m not tired of it at all. I’ve loved the house, the town, the scenery. I’ve especially enjoyed getting to know you. Thank you for sharing your life with me. But the job is done now. It’s time for me to go.”

“You’ve been so wonderful. Whitaker House has never looked so good. It’s almost like a new place, now that you’ve cleared away all the extraneous things.”

“Amazing what a difference decluttering can make, isn’t it?”

“Such a difference.”

Eleanor shifted to a different position, sitting up more. “I’ll tell you the truth, before you came, I had been thinking I should sell this old house and move into something smaller without all that upkeep. Or even trade houses with Nate and let him worry about all the things falling apart here while I live in that cute house he has fixed up so nicely.”

“Were you?”

“Yes.” Eleanor looked around. “But here’s the thing. I don’t want to sell Whitaker House, especially now that everything seems