Chapter 9
JIYA
Delia called me the next morning. The design proposals and quotes were ready, and a meeting was scheduled for noon.
I got ready and walked out of my house. As I locked the door behind me and turned around, I froze.
The house I had assumed was empty was occupied by the man from the restaurant.
This was the first time I had seen him there.
He was sitting in a chair on his porch, drinking a beer. A car sat in the driveway, even though I had never seen it before. He lived in that house? Him?
I stood there staring as my thoughts scrambled to catch up. I had passed that house so many times and had never once seen a sign of life beyond the neglect in the yard. Yet there he was, real and solid, sitting on the porch like some rough, brooding secret the neighbourhood had kept from me.
I decided to go over and greet him. It felt like the polite thing to do, and besides, we had already seen each other at the restaurant enough times that pretending otherwise would have been ridiculous.
After walking up to him, I forced a small smile and said, “Hi! I didn’t know you lived here.”
He looked at me and squinted.
The reaction immediately made my confidence falter. “I’m Jiya, your neighbour,” I said, my mouth beginning to feel dry as I realized I may have made a mistake approaching him. “I’ve seen you at the restaurant.”
He grunted in recognition, then got up without another word and walked back into his house.
I blinked after him, feeling awkward and slightly foolish. “I guess he remembers me,” I muttered under my breath.
As I turned away, I could not help thinking that I was unintentionally going to take away his drinking spot soon.
He just did not realize it yet. Once the restaurant changed, once everything started moving forward, the Tipsy Cow would no longer be the same place for him to sit in his corner and disappear into his beer.
He would probably come over one day and yell at me for what I had done to his favourite hangout spot.
Oddly enough, the thought made me feel sorry for him.
There was something deeply lonely about him, something wounded and closed off that made his rudeness feel less like cruelty and more like habit. Shaking it off, I walked to my car and headed for the restaurant.
After I entered, Jack handed me a cup of herbal tea. “This is better for you than caffeine.” He winked. Then he lowered his voice and asked quietly, “Did you go to the doctor?”
I nodded.
“That’s great. Is everything okay?”
I nodded again.
“Do you know the gender, or do you want to keep it a surprise?”
“It’s a girl.” I smiled.
He hugged me and congratulated me warmly. “I’m so happy for you. If there’s anything you need, my wife and I are here for you.”
Emotion swelled in my chest at his kindness, and before I could say much, Delia and Marcus interrupted us, asking what was going on.
“Well, I’m having a baby girl. I found out yesterday,” I said, already aware that my bump would become much more noticeable in another month.
“Congratulations!” they both exclaimed.
And then questions followed about the father.
I told them it was just my son and me.
I saw the pity in their eyes immediately.
I had seen that look before. In my neighbours’ eyes.
In people who did not know what to say, so they tried to soften their expressions instead.
It was never cruel, but it still stung. Pity had a way of making me feel smaller than I already did, as if my life had become something to be gently mourned.
Jack held my hand and patted it gently. “She has my wife, Maureen, and me, and that’s more than enough for now.”
Filled with emotion, I lowered my gaze to the floor. I had known Jack for such a short time, yet he had already helped me out so much. My throat tightened, and I had to swallow before I trusted myself to speak.
“Alright, so let’s get back to business,” I said in a choked tone. “What are the plans and the quotes?”
Sketches of the theme, design, and colours were presented, along with Delia’s plan and timeline.
Marcus delivered a schedule of the hiring and training process and the marketing strategy for the restaurant.
Working alongside Will and a Michelin-star chef, a menu would be created with local ingredients.
As they talked, I listened carefully, my mind trying to stay focused on every detail. There was so much to do, so much money involved, and so much riding on this working. The reality thrilled and terrified me simultaneously.
I could not afford to fail.
“Now that we’ve seen the designs and the plans, I want to address the elephant in the room.” I closed my eyes for a split second and opened them again to find everyone looking at me. “How much is this going to cost?” I asked.
“Well,” Marcus paused, letting the suspense stretch for a few seconds longer than necessary, “it will cost approximately $130,000... or less because we can use a lot of the material here at the restaurant and the rest we can buy locally. How does that sound?”
I looked at Jack.
He was already looking at me. He smiled and extended his hand toward Marcus. “That sounds affordable.”
We all laughed, and the tension in the room eased.
Marcus then said, “This all starts tomorrow. We will see you two weeks from now when the renovation is almost done, and the hiring process begins.”
After we said our goodbyes, Jack walked me to my car. He told me to come by his house later with Lucas for dinner, and I accepted. It had been a great day, and he wanted to celebrate.
I thanked him and then drove to the YMCA for a swim.
As I slipped into the water and began moving through the pool, my thoughts drifted just like the gentle waves surrounding me. Swimming usually calmed my mind, but that day my thoughts floated toward Caleb.
I wondered what he was doing at that moment.
I used to share everything with him. Every piece of good news, every minor detail about my day, and sometimes even the things that did not matter. He had been the one person I turned to without hesitation.
Now, standing in the middle of this new life I was building, I realized there was no one to share this news with.
Does he even miss me? Does he miss Lucas? Does he ever think about the time we spent together? The questions circled my mind endlessly, and none of them had answers.
After my swim, I stopped by the church for a quick visit before heading home. Once inside the house, I called Elle and updated her on everything the doctor had said and everything that had happened at the restaurant. Talking to her felt comforting.
“That’s good. I was so worried,” Elle said. “I was waiting for your call.”
She told me that Donna had stopped calling. Apparently, the two of them had drifted apart since I left. She also mentioned that she had checked in on Patty, who had been upset and worried about me, especially after my sudden disappearance.
Guilt weighed heavily on my chest.
I hated that I had not been able to say goodbye to Patty or explain anything to her. She had been more than a neighbour. She had been like a mother to me. She was the first person Lucas had interacted with regularly when he was younger. And I missed her.
“Why don’t you guys come over this weekend? I know Lucas will be thrilled to see Noah.”
“That sounds great,” Elle said. Then she asked quietly, “Are you still sure you don’t want to tell Caleb about the baby?”
“We’ve talked about this already,” I said with a sigh.
Even saying the words made my heart feel heavy. There were moments when my certainty cracked, when guilt and longing pressed so hard against me that I almost gave in. But then I remembered everything that had happened, everything that had shattered between us, and I forced myself to stay firm.
“Okay, I’m sorry. Forget I said anything. I’ll see you soon,” Elle said and then hung up.
And soon meant that weekend, when Elle and her family were coming to visit.
Later that afternoon, after picking Lucas up from school, I told him we were going to Jack’s house for dinner and that there was going to be a surprise for him that weekend.
“You think we can take Oreo, Mama? I don’t want to leave him alone,” Lucas asked.
“I’ll check, sweetheart.”
After Jack confirmed it was fine to bring Oreo, we drove to his house. Jack must have heard us pull into the driveway because he came outside to greet us with Max, his Golden Retriever.
“Welcome to our home!” he said warmly while taking the gift basket from my hands. “You didn’t have to bring anything.”
Maureen, his wife, stood by the door. “I’ve heard so much about you from Jack.
” She walked toward me and wrapped her arms around me in a warm hug.
“So nice to finally meet you and put a face to the name.” She bent down, her white-blonde hair blowing lightly in the wind. “Hello there, and you must be Lucas.”
“Yes, I am. I am seven years old. I am in Grade Two, and I go to Beach Elementary School,” Lucas said proudly as we walked inside.
Dinner was wonderful.
Maureen matched Jack’s personality perfectly.
She was friendly, warm, and welcoming. Despite her short stature, the two of them looked adorable together.
Their home carried the same softness they did, full of lived-in comfort and the kind of hospitality that made a person feel included without effort.
I learned more about the Bortelini family that evening. They had two daughters and a son. Their eldest daughter was married with two children. Their son was engaged and worked as an accountant in Vancouver. Their youngest daughter was studying psychology at a university in BC.
Eventually, the conversation turned toward me.
They asked questions about my pregnancy, about moving to the village, and about Lucas. I answered honestly whenever I could, though I carefully avoided revealing the deeper truths of my past. I had become skilled at that by now, at giving enough truth to appear open.
By the end of the evening, I thanked them for dinner.
Maureen told me to stay in touch, and we exchanged phone numbers before Lucas and I prepared to head home.
As I looked at the two of them standing together in their doorway, smiling warmly as we left, an ache moved through me.
It felt like longing for the kind of family life that looked so effortless from the outside.