Show Me the Way (Fight for Me #1)(89)

I choked out a laugh. Wow. She was . . . something. Confident and brazen and sweet. Country to the bone. So much like the women I’d been surrounded with all my years growing up.

I forced myself to smile, though it came out weak. “Yeah . . . I think I’m dealing with a bit of a heart breaking.”

A bit.

My stomach tumbled with the shards of jagged, broken glass that coated my insides, gouging into my flesh. Deeper and deeper with each breath.

It was a constant, excruciating pain.

She cocked her head. “So, what’s the problem then?”

That choked laugh turned into a cry. “What’s the problem?” My head shook, and I blinked at her through the motes that floated through the haze of light streaming in through the windows. “Rex is married. His wife is at his house right now. What kind of person would I be if I stood in the way of that?”

I went back to the same justification I’d been trying to feed myself, the rationale that they might be better with Janel. All week, I’d been trying to persuade myself maybe it was meant to be. That it was best if I walked away.

But I was beginning to wonder if I wasn’t trying to cover the hurt, the fear of finding her there, and what that would mean for Rex and me. If I could ever rid her face from my mind if I ever allowed him to touch me again. Or maybe I was just afraid of facing that same kind of rejection that had chased me away in the first place.

Jenny Gunner didn’t even hesitate. “Just the fact you’d even consider it proves to me that you are the exact kind of person he deserves.”

For a beat, I turned away, gathering myself, before I turned back to her. “She’s Frankie’s mother, Jenny. I—”

“You love them.” It wasn’t a question. It was a solution.

My hands pressed against my chest. “So much. Which is why I’m willing to let them go.”

She turned away from me and began to wander around my restaurant, her fingers tracing across the new tables that had been installed this week. Her voice dropped into a slow musing, “You know, I raised my son to be good. To respect whoever crossed his path. To honor his promises. Maybe it was because his father up and left me the second I told him Rex was on his way, but I drilled that loyalty into him so deep. And I won’t ever regret that. The man he became.”

She turned to gaze at me from over her shoulder. “He’s a good, good man. Honorable and noble. And when he loves, he loves with all he’s got. And that love has come back to bite him in the ass time and time again.”

She looked toward the ceiling. She inhaled deeply and a tremor slid down her spine. “When Sydney disappeared, I was terrified I wouldn’t ever see my son again. Physically, sure, he was there. But the rest of him? His amazing spirit? His smile so wide and his belief so big? It was gone. And then there was Frankie . . . Frankie Leigh. She rekindled a part of him that’d gone dim. Lit him up. He’d sacrifice anything for her.”

She glanced back at me. “And Janel? She’s always been a sacrifice. He chose to love her because he should. And I won’t diminish that. Say it was wrong. Not when my son was tryin’ to do what was right. But the bad seed in that equation was Janel. She’s always been nothing but a leech.” She looked around the restaurant, shaking her head. “Honestly, can’t believe your grandma tolerated her so long.”

Strangled confusion fell from my tongue. “What did you say?”

She turned back to me. “Your grandmother . . .”

My brow pinched. “I know you said my grandmother . . . but Janel . . . she worked here? When she was with Rex?”

Her eyes narrowed in confusion. “Don’t really know a time she lived in this town when she didn’t work for your grandma. From what I know, she started out when she was in high school.”

Oh God.

My arm went around my belly. I had no idea why I’d assumed Janel no longer worked at Pepper’s. That once I left, my grandmother would have let her go.

Regret churned.

Once I’d gotten to California and called Gramma to let her know where I was, I’d told her I didn’t want to hear a thing about what was happening in Gingham Lakes or its people. I’d told her the only person I cared about was her.

I’d wanted to shun it and hide it and pretend the rest never existed.

Of course, life here had just gone on.

Gramma had no idea what Janel had done to me. There’d been no reason for her to cut her loose.

“What’s wrong?” Jenny asked, taking a cautious step my direction.

“I . . . I didn’t know she was still working for my gramma. That she was here. It feels . . . wrong.”

So wrong.

So off.

Awareness pressed in. A thread tickling my consciousness, vying to make itself known.

“You knew her?” Jenny asked.

I barely nodded. “I lived with my gramma growing up.”

Jenny huffed. “Everything about Janel is wrong, Rynna. Make no mistake about that.”

She approached me, touched my cheek. Her expression turned pleading. “My son deserves to be happy. And my grandbaby? She deserves to be safe. Both of them deserve to be loved. The right way. And I know I don’t know you all that well, but I’ve always considered myself a good judge of character, and I’m betting you deserve it, too.”