Small Town, Big Hope

Chapter17

Christian had been distant with Emma ever since Luke accidentally let it slip that she’d been texting Wade.

At first, Emma hadn’t thought much of it. Christian was eight. Some days he was attached to her hip, and other days he acted as though answering a simple question required far more energy than he was willing to give.

But this felt different.

His answers had gotten shorter. He didn’t curl up beside her on the couch anymore. When she reached over to ruffle his hair as he passed through the kitchen, he ducked away from her hand.

Something was wrong.

Emma just couldn’t figure out what.

What she didn’t know was that somewhere along the way, Christian had started believing that maybe his parents were finding their way back to each other.

Jackson had been around more since they moved to Hickory Ridge. He’d been showing up to baseball games, taking the boys to dinner, spending weekends with them. Emma and Jackson had even managed to be in the same room without arguing more often than not.

To Christian, those small things meant something entirely different.

They had meant hope.

Hope that maybe his dad would come home.

Hope that maybe his mom and dad would remember that they loved each other.

Hope that maybe their family could go back to the way it was supposed to be.

Emma could understand why he would want that. What child wouldn’t?

She just hadn’t realized he was still waiting for it.

And now, with one careless comment from Luke about their mother smiling at Wade’s text messages, Christian suddenly understood something Emma hadn’t been prepared to explain.

His mother might be moving on.

And in Christian’s mind, Wade wasn’t simply a man making his mother smile.

He was the reason his family might never be put back together.

Christian pulled his phone from his pocket and stared at the screen for a moment before opening his messages with his dad.

He hesitated, his thumbs hovering over the keyboard.

Then he started typing.

Christian: Dad when are you coming to stay again?

A few minutes passed before his phone buzzed.

Dad: I’m not sure yet, bud. Why do you ask?

Christian glanced toward the living room. Emma was sitting on the couch, looking down at her phone with that same little smile she’d been wearing a lot lately.

His stomach twisted.

He quickly typed back.

Christian: Because if you’re gonna get Mom back you need to hurry.

The three little dots appeared almost immediately.

Then disappeared.

Then came back.

Dad: What are you talking about?

Christian frowned, annoyed that his father apparently wasn’t understanding the seriousness of the situation.

Christian: There’s a man here that likes her.

Another pause.

Christian: I think she likes him too.

Jackson stared at the message longer than he wanted to admit.

Dad: What man?

Christian’s fingers flew across the screen.

Christian: His name is Wade.

Then, after thinking about it for another second, he added:

Christian: You need to act fast Dad.

Jackson leaned back in his seat, staring at his son’s message.

Wade.

He didn’t know a Wade.

And he certainly didn’t like the sudden tightness in his chest that came from imagining Emma smiling at another man’s name on her phone.

He had no right to be jealous.

He knew that.

He and Emma were separated. Their marriage had been broken long before she packed up the boys and moved to Hickory Ridge. He had been the one who let distance grow between them until neither of them seemed to know how to cross it anymore.

Emma was free to talk to whoever she wanted.

Date whoever she wanted.

Move on, if that was what she wanted.

Still, Jackson found himself typing.

Dad: How do you know she likes him?

Christian responded almost immediately.

Christian: Because she smiles when he texts her.

Jackson’s jaw tightened.

He knew that smile.

There had been a time when Emma used to smile at his messages that way.

Before bills and schedules and arguments.

Before they became Mom and Dad more often than Emma and Jackson.

Before everything between them became so complicated.

Christian sent one final message.

Christian: I think he’s trying to be her boyfriend.

Jackson stared at the screen.

For the first time since Emma had left, the possibility that she might actually move on didn’t feel hypothetical anymore.

And he hated how much that bothered him.

Jackson stared at Christian’s last message long after the screen went dark.

For the first time in a long time, he felt like he needed to do something.

Not think about it.

Not tell himself there would be time later.

Do something.

Somewhere along the way, he and Emma had broken something that should have been fixed a long time ago. Maybe he had convinced himself their separation was easier. Maybe he’d told himself they were better apart because admitting he had failed her—and their boys—was harder than accepting the distance between them.

But the thought of another man stepping into the life Jackson had walked away from made something inside him shift.

Wade.

He still hated the name.

Jackson stood from the couch and headed toward his bedroom before he could talk himself out of it.

He pulled an overnight bag from the top of his closet and tossed it onto the bed.

Jeans.

A few shirts.

Underwear.

Toothbrush.

He stopped halfway through packing and stared down at the open bag.

“What am I doing?” he muttered.

He didn’t have an answer.

Emma hadn’t asked him to come.

Christian certainly hadn’t asked him to tell his mother about their conversation.

And showing up in Hickory Ridge because some man was texting his estranged wife sounded dangerously close to jealousy.

Which was ridiculous.

Emma could date.

He knew that.

He’d known that from the moment they separated.

Knowing it and seeing it happen were apparently two very different things.

Jackson grabbed his phone and searched for somewhere to stay in Hickory Ridge. The small bed-and-breakfast near downtown had a room available, so before he could change his mind, he booked it.

Confirmation flashed across his screen.

That was it.

He was going.

Not just for the weekend with the boys.

Not because Christian had a baseball tournament.

Not because Emma needed help with something.

For her.

Jackson zipped his bag and carried it toward the front door.

He still wasn’t sure what he planned to say when he got there.

He wasn’t even sure Emma would be happy to see him.

But for once, Jackson wasn’t going to wait until something was completely gone before deciding it mattered.

If there was anything left between him and Emma worth saving, he needed to find out.

And apparently, he needed to find out before Wade did.