Chapter 13
JIYA
The weeks kept me busy while the restaurant was under renovation.
Half of my time was consumed by the progress of the restaurant, and the other half by Lucas and the baby growing inside me.
I visited the restaurant every day, trying to make sure everything was running smoothly.
By the end of each day, exhaustion seeped deep into my bones, and the stress around the place felt almost tangible.
Problems piled up like dishes in a sink that never stayed empty. For a brief moment, I wondered if I had taken on too much. Small issues surfaced with the structure of the building, things none of us had anticipated. Every time one problem was fixed, another one seemed to rise in its place.
I had braced myself for problems because nothing in life ever went perfectly. Still, there were moments when it felt as if these problems were deliberately chasing me, determined to make my life more difficult.
As I looked around the restaurant, I wondered whether this whole venture would actually work out. This project was my lifeline. I was thrilled that I was a business owner. Well, fifty percent of one. But would I really be able to pull this off? Would everything fall into place the way I hoped?
The staff were counting on me.
Jack and Will were counting on me.
And then there was my partner.
Someone I knew absolutely nothing about.
The fear of failure stayed with me constantly. Some nights, it followed me all the way home and sat beside me in bed, whispering all the possible ways this could collapse.
Still, watching the progress each day made me feel stronger somehow. I felt as if I were growing into this new role, standing a little taller with every challenge we overcame.
This was my project.
My pride.
My joy.
I could hardly wait to see the final result and enjoy the fruits of my labour.
One night, after putting Lucas to bed, I sat down with my laptop.
A pop-up appeared on the screen advertising a website that promised results in locating biological parents. It was called Family Finder Tree, a non-profit organization that helped orphans and adult adoptees search for their genetic families.
My heart raced.
I entered my information immediately and submitted it, hoping that maybe this time something would come of it.
Searching for my parents had been a long and lonely journey.
It felt like walking a road that never ended.
I had started looking for them as soon as I learned how to use a computer.
There had never been any responses. Sometimes I wondered if my parents were dead.
Other times, I wondered if they simply did not care enough to look for me.
Thoughts like those crept into my mind often, but I always pushed them away.
I had spent too many years building imaginary explanations for their silence because the truth—whatever it was—hurt too much to face directly.
Maybe they did not know how to use computers. Maybe they were poor. Maybe they simply did not have the means or technology to find me. Shaking my head to push away the negative thoughts, I opened another tab and typed Caleb Evans into the search bar.
Within seconds, pictures and news about him filled the screen.
Only two days earlier, I had searched for him, unable to stop myself.
The restaurant problems had been weighing heavily on me, and part of me wished he were there beside me to support me and calm my doubts.
Then again, if we had still been together, none of this would have happened.
Even though I was only a partner in the restaurant, I was now a business owner. An entrepreneur.
The latest news about him was his youngest sister’s wedding.
Catherine had married her fiancé, Connor, and she looked beautiful in her wedding dress.
A few photographs of Caleb from the wedding appeared on the screen.
My heart twisted like it was being squeezed in a fist.
I clicked on one of the photos, enlarging it.
Caleb’s face filled the screen.
I reached out and touched the image, tracing the outline of his face with my finger again and again, completely losing track of time. Without thinking, my other hand rested on my belly.
Our daughter kicked.
The movement startled me slightly.
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
I closed the laptop and set the house alarm before heading toward my bedroom.
As I walked down the hallway, I found myself wishing that Caleb were there waiting for me.
Wishing he were leaning against the headboard with that soft look in his eyes.
Wishing I could tell him about the restaurant, the stress, the baby, everything.
Wishing life had not broken the way it had.
To see what unfolds for Caleb during Cat’s wedding, read the second chapter in his Bonus Chapters.
Marcus called Jack and me the following week to begin the recruiting process. Will updated us on the local suppliers he would be working with. A website for the restaurant was created, contracts were drawn up for Jack and Will, and decisions about schedules and menus were finalized.
The hiring process had officially begun.
The entire process exhausted me, yet my excitement grew stronger every day as we moved closer to opening. There was something deeply satisfying about watching all the pieces slowly come together, even when they threatened to fall apart every other hour.
Marcus insisted on establishing proper standard operating procedures. “All the manuals have been placed in your office for the staff to review,” he said seriously.
The Point of Sale system was taught to all the employees during training. Cameras were installed in key areas of the restaurant, and only Jack and I had access to them from our small office in the back.
The grand opening was only two weeks away.
I felt like a bundle of mixed emotions.
Every week, I visited Cole to check on his progress, and I found myself impressed each time I saw him.
When he had come to tell me that he was checking himself into a detox centre, there had been something in the way he said it—quiet, stripped bare, almost as if he were forcing himself to step back toward life again—and I found myself thinking about him more often.
Lucas always came with me, and Cole was always delighted to see him. Lucas had a way of lifting Cole’s spirits instantly. There was a softness in Cole around Lucas that was absent everywhere else, and every time I saw it, something inside me stirred.
“Hey, buddy! How are you?” Cole would ask.
“I’m good. I just don’t like all the homework I get in school,” Lucas replied.
Cole laughed. “I’ll help you with some of it when I get back.”
I noticed Lucas was slowly growing attached to Cole. I had seen that kind of bond form before with Harper and Caleb, and it frightened me.
I did not want Lucas to get hurt again. Not that I ever planned to date Cole or even leave this village, but the possibility of emotional attachment still worried me. Lucas loved deeply and trusted quickly, and that made him beautiful and vulnerable all at once.
One night, not long after we had moved, Lucas asked quietly, “Do you think he misses me, Mama?”
“Who, baby?”
“Caleb,” he said softly.
The innocent question shattered my heart.
“I’m sure he does,” I told him gently. “Who wouldn’t miss a wonderful boy like you?”
“Was it something I did that made you two break up?”
“Absolutely not,” I said firmly. “I do not want you to ever think that. We just grew apart. That is all, sweetheart.”
“Did he hurt you, Mama?”
His words cut deep.
I wanted to tell him the truth, but I could not destroy the image of Caleb in his eyes. I blinked back the tears threatening to spill.
“I’ll never hurt you, Mama. I promise.”
“I know you won’t, Lucas.” I wrapped my arms tightly around him. “I know you won’t.” After that, I could not speak anymore.
Lucas never asked about Caleb again after that conversation. I never knew whether that was a good thing or a bad one.
I tried my best to hide my pain from him, but Lucas was a smart little boy.
I wished Caleb had never hurt him.
And I wished he had never hurt me either.