celebrating.â She rested her head against his chest and he held her as she cried.
âYou are whatâs important right now. And itâs going to be all right.â
âI canât stay here forever.â She sniffed. âShay has school.â Her body shook. âI just canât go back there, Jack. I canât.â She buried her face in his shirt. âWhat am I going to do?â She snorted a derisive chuckle. âAt least I donât have to worry about a job.â She sniffed hard and swiped at her wet eyes. âTravis made sure his wife didnât have to work. Biggest mistake I made other than marrying him was not holding on to some part of my identity.â Her chest heaved. âI was just Travis Holderâs wife and Shayâs mommy.â She cried harder.
âShh. Itâs going to be okay. You are a helluva lot more than that bastardâs wife and Shayâs mother. Youâre my sister. Thatâs what matters,â he said in a teasing tone hoping to get her to smile.
She glanced up through tear-filled eyes and a smile crept across her mouth. She playfully socked him in the arm. âSee what I mean? Thereâs no me.â
âThereâs plenty of you,â he said seriously. âLook, we have the weekend to come up with a plan. On Monday, youâre going to call Shayâs school and tell them that there was a family emergency and she will be out for a few days. Weâll take it from there. One day at a time.â
Michelle sighed heavily and rested against her brother. âAll right,â she whispered.
Jackson leaned his head against the back of the couch and momentarily closed his eyes. This hasbeen a day for the record books, he thought as he gently rocked his sister in his arms. First it was Victoriaâs cryptic bombshell, then Michelle showing up with her horrible news and then meeting Zoe Beaumont. It was almost too much to process. But he had to.
He didnât know who had it in for him at the college or why. Travis had an ass-whipping coming and Carla⦠Well, like his grandmother always said, God donât like ugly. Her day was sure to come. He gritted his teeth. Then there was Zoe. In the midst of all the turmoil and confusion she was the calm, the peace amid the storm. When he was with her, even for that short period of time, his mind and his spirit were at rest, as if heâd come home after a long journey. He didnât know how it was possible to feel that strongly about someone that you barely knew. But he did know her. A part of him knew her. He had no idea how or why, just that it was a truth that he accepted without question. Did Zoe feel the same connection?
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âWait, wait, tell me again,â Sharlene squealed with excitement. âYou find this little girl and itâs his niece? O-M-G.â She shook her head in amazement. âYou know this is fate, girl, no two ways about it. And you can kick all that logic crap of yours out of the window, âcause there is no explaining this.â
Zoe hugged herself and scooted to the corner of the couch. âIâm really finding it hard to stick to myguns. I mean itâs all so surreal.â She reached for her glass of iced tea from the coffee table. âBut what if it is true, that someone, some cosmic force or family legacy really brought us together. And what if we fall for each other and what if it doesnât work out, just like all the others? What then?â
âZee, you canât think like that. Remember what Nana said. Youâre the one, girl, but you have to believe.â
Zoe closed her eyes for a minute. She didnât know what to believe. The struggle in her mind still ragedâlogic versus the inexplicable. She had to admit that the instant sheâd laid eyes on Jackson Treme, a trip wire went off inside her. There was a connection, a vibe, a sense of awareness that she had no way of explaining. And if she