Her eyes met Gretchen’s, and for the first time in over a year, Jax didn’t see the woman she blamed for every bad day. She saw the woman she married, and the woman she knew she’d love until her dying day.

“We’re okay, Gretchen, you and me. We’ll be okay.”

“But not together.”

She saw every ounce of pain shimmering in Gretchen’s amber eyes, and she saw what Carly claimed existed. This moment of vulnerability and sadness was what Jax needed to save her marriage, but she needed it a long time ago. Jax conjured up the strength to say the one thing her brain forced her to believe. “It’s too late. I’m sorry.”

Gretchen forced a watery smile. “You should probably go because I need to clean this up, and I’m going to cry a lot while I do it.”

She stepped forward, fully intent on wrapping her arms around Gretchen and holding her until she felt strong enough to stop crying. But Jax stopped and thought, and she knew her touch was likely unwelcome. She left the room without another word but paused just after she closed the door behind her. Did her heart believe it really was too late?

Chapter Thirty-one

25 days, 18 hours, 9 minutes

Jax knew with complete certainty her day couldn’t possibly get worse. She was running late because Caleb threw a temper tantrum, she spilled her coffee during her dash to her truck, traffic was backed up due to heavy rain, and she had forgotten her umbrella. Jax spent her morning in cold, wet clothes, and the conference room she needed for her eleven o’clock meeting was double-booked. Jax wanted to scream at everyone around her. So when Randy called her into his office just after she had finished her lunch, Jax knew there was no way for this to go well.

“Jax, thanks for stopping in. Have a seat.”

She bit her tongue to keep from expressing to Randy how little she wanted to be there. She breathed in deeply as she sat, stealing one of Gretchen’s calming techniques to aid in her own survival. “What’s up?”

“I like what you did with the festival flyers. Good job.”

“Thank you.”

“But I need you to redo them.”

“Redo them?”

Randy scratched at his chin where no more than fifteen hairs sprouted, but he still called it a beard. “It’s a family festival, and this just isn’t giving me a family vibe.” He turned his computer screen around to point at her proof image.

“The first three attractions I listed are bounce houses, face painting, and the petting zoo.” Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

“The font you chose is very mature.”

“Helvetica bold is one of the easiest fonts to read and the one we use for all of our flyers.”

“It could look younger.”

Jax’s phone buzzed again, and she itched to check it. “Okay…”