She hated that this was happening to him and Alex, but she especially hated it for Marion, who’d never really know her grandchildren or the women her sons married. It was so unfair.

Hope had just had that thought when a soft knock sounded at her door. She went to answer it, knowing it would be Paul. He stood with his hands propped on either side of her door.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

“Come in.” When he stepped inside, she said, “Wine?”

“I wouldn’t say no to that.”

While he took a seat on the sofa, she went into the kitchen to pour him a glass and to gather her resolve. If Marion were leaving soon, she and Ethan would be, too. It would be better, in that case, to end this before it really began. To let it continue would be to invite in heartache for herself and Ethan as well as Paul. Even as everything inside her cried out for him, she knew it was what she had to do.

She just couldn’t go through it again, even if the circumstances were vastly different this time. She couldn’t do it—and she couldn’t do it to Ethan either. He was already bonded to Paul, Alex, Jenny and Marion. It would be hard enough to leave as it was. To get even more involved would be a fool’s errand.

And then Paul was behind her, his arms encircling her waist and his forehead leaning on her shoulder. “Whatever you’re thinking, knock it off.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?”

“I can see it in the tension you carry in your shoulders.” He gently massaged her neck and shoulders, sending a sigh shuddering through her. “Talk to me.”

“Is Alex with your mom?”

“Yeah, I asked them to stay so I could come talk to you. Tell me what’s on your mind, Hope.”

“This. Us.”

“That’s on my mind, too.”

“We need to stop this, Paul.” As she said the words, a sharp pain registered in the area of her heart, which was exactly when she realized that at some point over the last few weeks, she’d fallen in love with him.

He turned her to face him, his hands on her hips. “Please don’t say that. I can’t take any more bad news today.”

“And I can’t take any more heartache in this lifetime. We’re setting up ourselves—and Ethan—for disaster by pursuing this when we both know it can’t last.”

He tucked her hair behind her ear, and the simple gesture made her heart flutter. “Why can’t it last?”

“Because! When your mom goes, I have to go, too. I need a job, Paul, and it’s not like there’re tons of nursing opportunities here.”

“If Lizzie succeeds in getting the rest home opened, they’ll need qualified nurses.”