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making you pay for my mistakes.” Every penny he had earned went straight to her and his son.
    “I didn’t spend it. I worried Greg had stolen it because it was so much,” Aly told him and then chuckled. “I thought I’d need to bail him out one day and figured the money was better off in a bank account.”
    “It was for you.” Jam was almost insulted that she hadn’t spent it. 
    “My charm got me everything pretty cheap here.” She winked at him and then stared at her hands. “Dorly sold me her shop in town, and I turned it into a café. It makes money, enough so we can live well off it. The house … she always thought she’d have children or grandchildren, but I guess sometimes life doesn’t work out the way we plan it.” She sounded defeated, and it made him wonder if she thought she’d never have her own child.
    “You’re not even thirty, Aly. You’ll have your own children one day,” Jam assured her. The need to touch her was overwhelming, and he fisted his hands at his side, making sure she didn’t see it.
    “Jamison, did you ever take a step back to think about why I took that child when you held him out to me? I mean besides wanting to save him from an abusive mother?” He had wondered about that more than once, but each time, Greg’s words from that day came back to him— Alessia has loved you for as long as I can think— and made him wish things were different. No matter how much he doubted what Greg had said was the truth, he needed to stop her from saying words they both would regret.
    “Collene was gunning for you when I started to date her. In fact, I started dating her because of that. You were nice. And pretty. I don’t know if you ever realized it, but she had a thing for Greg, too. She thought maybe if she’d start terrorizing you, she could bully him into being her lapdog. Besides, someone had mentioned to her that you would one day be the most beautiful girl to ever leave our high school.” Jamison knew that he’d forever feel guilty for that comment, but he hadn’t known Collene back then the way he knew her now.
    “Stop being ridiculous. She was beautiful and –” 
    “We both know that sometimes a pretty face is not enough. I knew the stories. You knew them. I should have known what a monster she was back then.” Jam watched as she closed her eyes. 
    “No one could have guessed how rotten she was to the core,” Aly said, and Jam couldn’t agree more. Only, she had no idea how bad it really was.

Alessia couldn’t say what it was, but Jam was no longer the guy she had once known. No one could rival his beauty with his unruly blond curls and green eyes, but his smile always seemed to have a shadow. Looking back at him, she realized that just watching him made her willing to take a leap of faith. She wanted to kiss him and be in his arms. He’d be going away again anyway, so where was the harm? She was lonely, and he seemed to need healing touches. 
    “Jam,” she whispered, startling him out of his thoughts. She had her knees pulled up and her cheek rested on them, watching his expression. He instantly shook his head, not even meeting her eyes.
    “Don’t, Aly. Trust me, you won’t want to open up that can of worms,” he pleaded, and she was taken aback. Did he mean them as a couple? Or had he tried to guess what she’d ask? Either way, she couldn’t help but feel hurt.
    “You don’t even know what I wanted,” she protested, and he reached out, hesitating before brushing the pad of his thumb over her lips. 
    “Why have been you been with her for so long? Why haven’t you ever seen me? What happened to you in the last years? What’s wrong? None of these questions has an easy answer, Aly, and I don’t want to ruin the image you have of me, no matter how wrong it is. I like the way you’re looking at me,” he explained, surprising her with being spot-on about her questions. There was just too much she wanted to know. Too much that … she stopped