What Matters Most by Courtney Walsh

Author:Courtney Walsh [Walsh, Courtney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Christian / Romance / General, FICTION / Romance / Clean & Wholesome
ISBN: 9781496455109
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Published: 2022-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

After a full day of working on the apartment and trying not to think about the fact that Emma’s in-laws were on the island, Jamie showered and dressed for dinner.

The day had taken a swift turn, and he was unsure how to process it.

He and Emma were new, and getting to know her inside this little bubble they’d put themselves in had been ideal. How would the outside world react to the two of them? More to the point, how would her former husband’s parents react to the two of them?

Should he make his feelings for Emma known? Hold her hand? Steal kisses when helping her do the dishes?

Jamie stopped in the kitchen before walking out the door. He opened the drawer, the place where that stupid letter had been banished, and took it out.

You’re betraying them all.

The thought turned around inside him like a persistent gymnast trying to land a backflip on a balance beam. He stared at the envelope, her name on the front.

“Emma,” he whispered, as if he hadn’t practiced the speech before. Only, it had been easier before. He hadn’t known her. He hadn’t developed feelings for her. “I didn’t come here because I saw an ad. I came here to tell you it’s my fault your husband was killed.”

The words, whispered in the silence of this empty apartment, haunted him.

He wanted to leap to his own defense, but what else could he say? He was at fault. If he’d listened, Emma never would’ve lost her husband.

“It’s my fault,” he whispered again.

And now he was going to sit at the table with that man’s family—his parents, his son, his wife—and eat dinner like he belonged with them. Who did he think he was?

He absolutely needed to tell her the truth he’d been avoiding for so long. He’d been selfish and thoughtless entering into a relationship with her the way he had.

His phone buzzed on the counter in front of him. A text from Emma: Hey, can you bring that French bread I know you’ve got stashed up there? We forgot to grab some.

It felt so normal. So casual. They were friends on their way to becoming more. This precarious, precious relationship was the best thing in his life, and he was going to lose it because he was a coward.

Which was the same reason those men had lost their lives.

Coward.

He hated the word. He hated that it defined him.

He replied, Of course, then grabbed the bread, stuffed the envelope back in the drawer, turned off the light, and decided the charade ended tonight.

Tonight he would tell Emma the truth. And if it meant that he lost her . . . Well, he didn’t want to think about that, though he knew it was a very real possibility.

He walked downstairs and onto her porch, knocked quietly, then pushed the door open.

He could hear voices in the kitchen. Emma was telling them about the gallery, about her job, about the show.

“Honestly, Jamie is saving my life here.” He could hear the smile in her voice.

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