I didn’t know that. During my stay at the hospital, it was a lot of focusing on my prognosis and monitoring the baby. We didn’t talk about the fire other than when I relayed the events to the fire marshal. My mother and sister went back to Willow Creek two days after the fire, and Delia left the next day, leaving me with Grayson.

Stella came down with Jack and Amelia because she was struggling with him being gone so long and had overheard Jack and Stella discussing the fire.

Each day, I healed a bit more both mentally and physically. I had Grayson. I had my life. I was okay.

But he wasn’t, and I didn’t see that.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask him. “I knew something was wrong, but you didn’t tell me any of that.”

“You are supposed to stay calm and stress free.”

I rub my thumb over his cheek, the scruff longer than usual. “We have a bad habit of trying to protect each other by keeping things from the other.”

“I wasn’t trying to keep it from you. Honestly, I didn’t realize it until we started talking.”

“Dr. Warvel does that. She makes you say things even when you don’t know you need to.”

She grins at us. “I try, but you two just did my job for me. Your relationship has a wonderful foundation. You know each other in a way that many couples only dream of. Your love hasn’t faded through the years, almost as if you’ve been waiting to return to each other all along. Now, you’re here and your house has the framing and the walls. Trust in that. It didn’t burn down, it’s not on fire, it just needs you to trust each other and keep building.”

Chapter 35

Grayson

“I’m selling my part of the company,” I tell Stella.

“Umm, you’re what?”

Jessica squeezes my hand in support. The last two weeks have been busy. Since the dinner with my parents, I haven’t returned to the Park Inn. One reason is that I needed to take care of Jessica, but the other is that I’d like to set it on fire, and arson isn’t really my thing.

Since the meeting with Dr. Warvel, Jess and I have focused on us. We talk about everything, and one thing we both agree on is that working for my father isn’t possible for me anymore.

I’m going to give up my role as well as any holdings in the family company because it’s time to start doing what I’ve dreamed of—fixing up Melia Lake.

“A few years ago, I purchased a plot of land. It has an old hotel—or, what might have been one, on it, and it sits on a lake. It’s the perfect place to open my own inn.”