“Of course.”
“Then why are you questioning his judgment? The only question you really should be asking yourself is whether you love him enough.”
“You mean as much as he deserves?”
Abby smiled at her. “No, enough to take the chance that what you two have is strong enough to last forever. Last time I checked, you were a pretty big risk-taker. Don’t let fear and caution start ruling your life now.”
Relieved by the show of support, Jess jumped up and hugged her. “You’re the best big sister in the entire universe.”
Abby grinned. “Even though I’m going to tell you that the figures on the contract for that inn you want to buy don’t make financial sense?”
Jess laughed. For once she didn’t resent Abby’s interference. “I think I’d already figured that out. Besides, who needs a new inn, when I can have this one and the best man in the world?”
Abby nodded approvingly. “See how smart you are? Will’s going to be a very lucky man.”
Jess shook her head. She was the lucky one, not just because of Will, but because she had her family behind her, no matter what.
Despite her resolve to open her heart to Will, the time they spent apart as he dealt with the Lunch by the Bay crisis was starting to take a toll on their relationship. Once again, Jess’s insecurities kicked in, because it seemed no matter what she offered in the way of help and support, Will rejected it. He insisted that the entire burden for fixing things rested on his shoulders. He was wearing himself out.
Tired of being pushed aside, Jess went to Sally’s at noon one day, determined to get in Will’s face. She’d heard that’s pretty much what Connie had done with Thomas, and look how that had turned out. They were now officially engaged.
But when Jess arrived at Sally’s, she found Jake and Mack in their usual spot, but there was no sign of Will.
“Where’s Will?”
“Hiding out in his office, I imagine,” Mack said. “He hasn’t shown his face in here for a week.”
“And you two are just sitting here when he needs you?” Jess demanded. “What kind of friends are you?”
Both men flushed guiltily.
“She’s right,” Jake said. “We shouldn’t be letting him get away with this.”
Mack didn’t look entirely convinced, but he asked, “Are you suggesting we stage an intervention?”
Jess thought about the various O’Brien interventions to which she’d been a party. She hadn’t much liked them. Still, it was a method Will might appreciate.
“Let’s go,” she said grimly.
At least if Will was furious, she’d be there with backup.
Will was staring out the window of his office when the door opened, and Jess, Mack and Jake barged in.
“Enough of this!” Jess declared forcefully.
Will stared at her bleakly. “Enough of what?”
“Hiding out,” she said.
Mack gave him a commiserating look. “She’s right, man. No one’s as upset with you as you are with yourself. That guy who made the calls is the criminal, not you.”
“I know that,” Will said testily. “But it was my company he used to do it.”
“Then shut down the company,” Jake said. “I imagine a lot of people will be upset at losing a way to connect with other people, but you might as well punish them, too.”
Will blinked at Jake’s tone. “It’s not about punishing anybody. It’s about making sure people are safe.”
Jess regarded him with understanding. “You can’t singlehandedly keep the world safe, Will. There are creeps out there. Even if you shut down Lunch by the Bay, they’ll still find some other way to harass women.”
“But this happened on my watch,” he said stubbornly.
“And you’ve apologized repeatedly, individually to your clients and publicly,” Jess said. “Laila’s not blaming you. Neither is anyone else.”
Mack draped an arm around his shoulders. “Come on. Have lunch with us. Sally has a tuna on rye with your name on it.”
Will frowned. “It’s a tuna melt.”
Mack shrugged. “Whatever. It’s time for you to get your life back.” He glanced pointedly toward Jess. “You get what I’m saying?”
Will chuckled despite his sour mood. “You’re not a man of great subtlety, Mack. I get what you’re saying. You two go on ahead. I need to speak to Jess for a minute.”
“But you’ll come to lunch?” Jake pressed. “This intervention thing worked?”
Will laughed at the hopeful note in his voice. “It worked.”
“Thank goodness,” Jake said. “This kind of stuff is way out of my comfort zone.”
After they’d gone, Will turned his attention to Jess. “How’d you talk them into coming over here?”
“I didn’t have to do that much talking. They care about you.”
“And you? Do you care about me?”
She looked into his eyes. “So much it scares the daylights out of me.”
Will recognized the genuine fear behind her words and knew they weren’t over the hump quite yet, but they were getting there. One of these days Jess would take that final leap of faith. If for that reason only, Jake was exactly right. He needed to be ready to claim the life he’d always wanted and not sitting in his office wasting his time on regrets for things over which he’d had no control.
23
Despite the display of caring evident in the unexpected intervention Jess had staged in his office, Will was still terrified he was going to lose her. He knew that the time he was spending on this business crisis was scaring her, that she felt neglected and abandoned.
Will knew firsthand how dangerous it was to let her go on allowing her insecurities to take over, but up to now he’d felt he had no choice. He was spending every spare minute trying to reassure his clients or debating with himself the merits of simply throwing in the towel on a business that no longer held his interest.
Realistically, he knew that even before the crisis, Jess had been pulling away from him, and it didn’t take someone with his advanced degree in psychology to figure
