So, I took it upon myself to make sure she was healthy, trying to take some of the burden from his shoulders. I would do the same with Ryland.
I pushed out a sigh, trying to find the right words. “It was amazing. Hard and exhausting and trying, and still the best thing I’ve ever done.”
“It must be incredibly difficult . . . seeing all those sick children. Caring for them. Worrying about them. And still knowing it’s worth it, making the difference that you do.”
I guessed Rynna got it anyway.
Made me so happy she’d found Rex and he’d found her, two of them needing each other more than anyone I knew. She was right. Some people were just meant to be.
“You’re right. It is really difficult. Only thing I can hope for is that I really do make a difference.”
Rynna looked at me seriously. “Kale . . . of course, you make a difference. I think probably more than you know.” She walked up to me and touched her baby’s cheek as her eyes flicked between me and him. “I just want you to promise me one thing . . . no matter what you see or what you deal with . . . don’t lose you. Don’t let it break you. And don’t ever, ever give up on hope. Because it’s always there, no matter how dismal things might seem.”
Emotion clutched my chest, that terror that I was right there, at the ledge I’d stumble and fall over.
Fail all over again.
I refused to ever repeat it. Because I knew that this time there was no chance I’d be able to get back up.
I forced a smirk. “Come now, Rynna, do I really look like I could be broken?”
Her expression said yes, you do. But Frankie Leigh was calling my name, and I was shifting my attention, her little hand scribbling across the page. “That’s ’cause you’re a superhero, too, rights, Uncle Kale? Wonder Woman and Cap’in ’merica, right? We’re the bestest team.”
“Heck yes, we’re the best team.”
And this little team was all I was ever going to need.
7
Hope
The door swung open for what had to have been the thousandth time that morning.
But this time . . . this time, my entire being took note.
The breath burst from my lungs in a rattled gasp, and my feet wanted to give out from under me.
It sent my heart taking off at a sprint, banging around in the confines of my chest like a big spoon whipping up something sweet in a metal bowl.
Jarring and vibrating.
Penetrating all the way to the bone.
I tried to swallow around it and focus my attention on where it should be—the customers lined up at the front register during our normal morning rush. Today it seemed as if the traffic had been multiplied.
Jenna, Claire, and I had been hustling nonstop, trying to keep up with the demand.
But as soon as he walked in the door, it seemed impossible. All my eyes wanted to do was get lost in the sight set in front of me.
Kale was back.
All tall, lean body and easy, casual way. His grin was pure confidence as he strode through the door. His crop of blond hair burned like white fire in the rays of bright morning sun that poured in from above him.
Lighting him up. Making him glow.
As if the light couldn’t help but be drawn to him, too.
I blinked through the daze, scolding myself under my breath as I finished swirling the whipped cream on the café mocha I’d been making, quick to move on to the plain coffee that went with the order.
I was being ridiculous, wondering if he was back for any other reason than coffee. He’d told me he had started a job just down the street. It wasn’t as if him swinging by would be out of his way.
Still, three days had passed.
Three days, and I’d begun to think I would never see him again. Oh, I knew the overwhelming sense of disappointment that thought left me with made me a fool.
Just asking for trouble when every time the bell jingled over the door, I looked that way.
Like a beggar who was looking for anything to hope for.
Even if it was just a spec of his time.
A moment in his day.
Because I’d forgotten what it was like to feel this way.
To have my tummy turn and my pulse race. To have someone make me toss sleeplessly in my bed, imagining what it would be like to be touched by those big hands.
Adored.
And there he was.
His fancy suit from the other morning had been ditched in favor of a crisp, white button-up, dark gray dress pants tailored to fit and accentuate every immaculate inch of his body.
A shiver traveled my spine, spreading out, drenching every cell.
No man should be that gorgeous. Or that sexy.