Home is Where the Heart is(44)

“If taking him to the hospital will make you feel a little better about the situation, then we’ll take him to the hospital.” Now wasn’t really the time to label Cassie as an over-protective parent and probably worrying about something minor. Her motherly instincts had kicked in and Nick knew better than to disagree with his friend about something he knew nothing about.

Nick nodded his head, jumping into action right away like the friend he was.

“I’ll drive,” he said, gradually lifting Jake into his strong arms, forgetting that he weighed a lot more than he did as a baby. Right now though, for Nick, how heavy or light he was didn’t matter. All he cared about was getting his godson—the little boy he had come to think of as his non-biological son—some help.

Soon enough, Cassie, Nick, and Jake were on their way to the hospital, and Cassie was glad her motherly instinct had kicked in, enabling her to make the decision to postpone her date.

Along the short, fifteen-minute drive it took to get to the hospital, Cassie remembered she wasn’t alone in this journey anymore; there was now someone else who was co-parenting Jake.

“Jordan. I have to tell Jordan. He should know his son is sick.” Cassie looked over at Jake, who was hunched over to one side of his booster seat in the back of Nick’s car.

“It’s already been taken care of. I sent him a text before we left the house,” Nick said calmly, in an attempt to keep Cassie’s nerves intact before she combusted. He glanced back at Cassie’s concerned face in the rearview mirror for just a moment, but concentrated on the road in front of him quickly. The last thing they needed right now was a bigger problem in the form of a car accident.

“They will meet us at the hospital.”

But at this point, it hadn’t quite dawned on Cassie that Nick had said they were going to meet them at the clinic, meaning both Jordan and Brielle would be there together.



Jordan and Brielle were across town on their date at a shabby-chic little cafe that even she had to admit was really charming and quaint in a small-town-living kind of way. It was like the kind of place found in a TV show, complete with red and white checkered tablecloths. Brielle now understood why Jordan would make plans to come back here for visits. You didn’t want to leave a place like Yellow Valley.

“So it’s pretty nice, huh?” Jordan asked, breaking off a bite of his garlic bread and popping it into his mouth. Attempting to make conversation with Brielle was proving to be harder than he realized. When you took sex out of the equation of what they were, then they really didn’t have much at all. Despite their mutual love of the city life in Miami, Brielle was beginning to realize Jordan was still a small town country boy at heart; he merely hid his true persona beneath his sporting lifestyle. “The restaurant,” Jordan elaborated a little more.

Brielle didn’t think it could count too much as a restaurant if you didn’t have to line up at the door, and there definitely wasn’t a line waiting to dine here. It was just one of the things Brielle missed about living in Miami.

But Brielle couldn’t very well say she didn’t like the place. She couldn’t be rude. So instead, she said the only thing she could think of. “Yes, it’s charming. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I can see why you like it here so much. The town, the people—it’s all so pleasant, and very sweet.”

Well, it wasn’t a total lie, but living in such a small town sounded kind of tiring and boring to her. She much preferred life in the fast lane, but she supposed she could get used to it if necessary.

“My friends and I used to come here all the time when I was a teenager, mostly when my high school football team won games. I think you’ll probably find a bunch of group photos of the team and me on the walls.”

“Does that include Cassie too?” Brielle hadn’t meant to blurt it out, but it just happened. The words were out now; she couldn’t take them back, no matter how much she wanted to.

Jordan was taken aback. Could she actually be jealous of Cassie?

“I guess. We were kind of a big deal back then. We were crowned King and Queen at our senior prom, and voted most popular and likable couple in our yearbook.”

Yawnfest, Brielle thought. She hadn’t meant to ask about Cassie, but she hadn’t wanted to know all about their history either. They were obviously your emblematic high school sweethearts; she could see that. People still probably thought Jordan and Cassie would reunite and be the kind of family they should’ve been with their picture-perfect little boy.

Brielle didn’t have much else to say after that. What did you say in response to the man you’re interested in telling you how he and his ex-girlfriend were kind of a big deal in town? She was lost for words and couldn’t turn it into something else.