“Nine-thirty. We should get in by 5:00 p.m. Someone offered Monique a free tour of Yellowstone, so she’s going to stay at my place for a couple more days. But she won’t eat these, so I brought them for you.”
She pulled back to see a plastic container in one of his hands.
“My mom’s cookies,” he explained.
“Oh, Gabe. That’s so sweet.” She blinked hard, but she still had to wipe a tear from her cheek as she took the cookies to the kitchen.
“She’s a great baker. Not so great at cooking, but my dad took care of that. He does take care of that, I mean. He’d come home to make us dinner sometimes before going back to work. He’s always worked way too hard.”
She nodded. She knew what that was like, at least. “Do you want some tea or coffee? Do you need to go?”
“I should go,” he said, but he didn’t move.
“How is Naomi?” she asked.
He shook his head. “She’s okay,” he said, but then his words went quick and hoarse. “I need to tell you something. Can we sit down?”
Fear shot through her at the hopeless look in his eyes. She took his hand and led him to the couch. His fingers squeezed hers too hard, but then they slipped away. He spread his hands out against his own thighs and stared at them for a long moment.
“I’m really sorry,” he said again.
“Why do you keep saying that? Your dad had a heart attack. Why would you apologize for something like that?”
He took a deep breath. “Because...I don’t think I’m coming back.”
She froze and her heart held still for a long moment before it raced to catch up with her anxiety. “What?”
“My dad... He’s going to need help.”
“Gabe, you don’t know that yet. He could be back to normal soon. Try to be positive.”
But he was shaking his head. “He won’t be able to keep up this pace.”
“He has managers and people to help him, doesn’t he? Maybe it’ll take a few weeks to get everything running smoothly, but—”
“You don’t understand,” he interrupted. “I was worried about something like this. He works too hard. He doesn’t take care of himself, but he won’t sell the company to anyone else. He’s determined to keep it in the family, so I told him I’d take over when he turned sixty.”
“How old is he?” she asked.
“Fifty-nine.”
“Fifty-nine?” She didn’t understand what he meant. “That’s... You just moved to Jackson. That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I have a one-year contract with the library.”
“What?” she breathed.
“It wasn’t a permanent position. I was brought in to get digital lending up and running, because...” He glanced at her face and stopped talking. “Veronica. I was going to tell you...”
She stared into his sad brown eyes and shook her head. “Another thing you meant to tell me and didn’t?”
He winced.
“It doesn’t matter,” she managed to say despite that her throat was closing up. “I get it.”
“I came here to live the life I wanted for a year,” he explained.
“Right,” she said. “Of course.”