Page 39 of Curious Hearts (The Healing Hearts #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Jessica killed the engine and sat for a moment, hands gripping the steering wheel. The dashboard clock read nine seventeen p.m. The porch light was dark, but a soft glow emanated from one of the front windows—Ali was home.

The rush of blood in her ears nearly drowned out her own thoughts as Jessica made her way up the cracked concrete path to the front door.

She paused at the three wooden steps leading to the porch, noting the peeling paint and the worn welcome mat with a faded paw print design.

This house, like its owner, seemed to prioritize comfort over appearances and happiness over status—the exact opposite of the values Jessica had been raised to pursue.

“Ali!” Jessica knocked firmly on the door, not caring about the neighbors or propriety or anything beyond the desperate need to explain. “Please open the door. We need to talk!”

Silence.

“I know you’re in there.” Jessica leaned her forehead against the cool wood. “Please, Ali.”

A shadow moved behind the frosted glass panel of the door. Ali was standing just on the other side.

“Go away, Jessica.” Ali’s voice was tight with hurt. “I think I heard enough.”

“No, you didn’t. You didn’t hear anything close to the full story.” Jessica pressed her palm flat against the door. “Please let me explain.”

“Explain what? That you’re marrying Vikram? That everything between us has been—what? A distraction? A final fling before your real life begins?”

“None of that is true.” Jessica’s voice cracked. “Ali, please. I’m not leaving until we talk, and I really don’t want to have this conversation where your neighbors can hear.”

A beat of silence.

“Ali, I’ll stand out here all night if I have to.”

The lock clicked, and the door opened just enough for Jessica to see Ali’s face, eyes red-rimmed, expression guarded.

“You have five minutes,” Ali said, not moving from the doorway.

“Can I please come in? I don’t want to do this standing on the porch.”

“Why not? You’ve kept everything else outside, why start letting things in now?” Despite her words, Ali stepped back, allowing Jessica to enter.

Chairman Meow watched from his perch on the bookshelf as Jessica stepped inside, the door closing behind her. The small living room was cluttered but cozy—books stacked on every surface, dog toys scattered across the floor, and a half-empty mug of tea on the coffee table.

Ali crossed her arms, keeping the entire room between them. “So. Vikram proposed. Congratulations.”

“It wasn’t a real proposal.” Jessica took a deep breath. “It was an insane, misguided suggestion for a marriage of convenience.”

“A marriage of convenience.” Ali’s laugh was hollow. “How convenient.”

“Ali, please?—”

“Tell me what’s really going on, Jessica. Because something has been off for days. You’ve been distant, canceling plans, not answering my texts. And now this?” Ali gestured vaguely. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Jessica’s stomach knotted. “I’ve been offered a job in London,” she said finally, the words rushing out. “Director of International Investments at Hamilton Trust’s new London office. And Meridian Capital made a competing offer. It’s the position I’ve worked toward my entire career.”

Ali stared at her, the hurt in her eyes deepening. “London,” she repeated quietly. “When were you going to tell me?”

“I didn’t know how,” Jessica admitted. “I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to decide what to do. That’s why I’ve been so distant. That’s what I was discussing with Vikram on the phone when you walked in the other day.”

“So all this time, you’ve been planning to leave, and you didn’t think I deserved to know?”

“No! I haven’t been planning anything. I’ve been torn, Ali. Completely torn.” Jessica moved closer, desperate to bridge the physical gap between them. “Everything changed. I changed. Because of Vivian’s inheritance. Because of seven cats who somehow wormed their way into my life. Because of you .”

“Me?” Ali’s voice was barely audible.

“Yes, you.” Jessica swallowed hard. “I’ve been tearing myself apart trying to choose between the career I’ve always worked for and... and this. An entire life I never knew I wanted. With the old house, demanding cats—but most of all, with you.”

“Why couldn’t you tell me that?” Ali eyes narrowed, as though she wanted to believe what Jessica was telling her but not without testing it first.

“Because it wasn’t fair,” Jessica admitted.

“We’ve only been together three months. How could I possibly ask you to factor into a decision this big?

How could I tell you I was considering leaving when I wasn’t even sure myself?

And then my mother called, and Vikram showed up with his ridiculous proposal?—”

Ali’s gaze hardened again. “Explain that to me. I thought you said there was nothing between the two of you. Nobody proposes out of the blue like that, especially after… what, fifteen years?”

Jessica winced. “We both have difficulty in managing our families’ expectations. I don’t think you understand the pressure it puts on us?—”

“I understand you are two grown adults in your thirties, with minds of your own… maybe better than either of you do.”

Jessica let her gaze drop to the floor. Ali was right. Vikram’s behavior was indefensible… even if she could understand the desperation that sat behind it.

“You’re right. It was ridiculous and if you’d been ten seconds earlier, you’d have heard me say exactly that.

We are both in love with people our families wouldn’t approve of and, ridiculously, he thought we could get married, move to London, present a united front to our families while maintaining our.

.. separate relationships. He has someone in London.

I would have you. It was completely insane, and I was telling him that when you walked in. ”

A heavy silence stretched between them.

Ali studied her face, searching for the truth. “So what were you going to do? About London?”

Jessica took a deep breath. “I don’t know. That’s the honest answer. I’ve built my entire identity around my career, my ambitions. Then suddenly there’s this other path—this possibility of something different, something more. And I’m terrified, Ali.”

“Of what?”

“Of making the wrong choice. Of giving up something I’ve worked toward my whole life. Of letting down my parents, my mentors.” Jessica’s voice dropped. “And then there’s the other side of the equation...”

Ali’s expression softened. “Yeah, go back to that for me. You and Vikram are both what with other people?”

Jessica’s heart pounded as she realized what she’d said.

“We’re both in love…” The words were out, living and breathing, existing in their own reality, fully formed.

“Wait,” she added, panic rising. “I mean, with other people. Not each other. I don’t love him, at least not in the way I love you.

” Still, Ali just stared at her as though she hadn’t fully registered what Jessica was telling her.

“And this wasn’t supposed to happen.” Jessica was almost babbling now, her voice shaking.

“I was supposed to stay in that house for six months, fulfill Vivian’s ridiculous conditions, and move on.

I wasn’t supposed to care about a bunch of neurotic cats.

I wasn’t supposed to find a home in that creaky old Victorian.

” Her voice caught. “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you. ”

Ali uncrossed her arms, the rigid line of her shoulders softening. “Jessica...”

“I know it’s too soon. I know three months isn’t long enough to make life-altering decisions. But I also know that when I imagine London now, all I see is what I’d be leaving behind.”

Ali closed the distance between them, taking Jessica’s hands in hers. “It’s okay to be scared. I’m scared too.”

“You are?”

“Of course I am.” Ali’s eyes were bright with unshed tears. “Right now, I’m terrified that you’ll choose London. And at the same time, I’m terrified that you’ll resent me if you stay. That I’m not enough to compete with the life you planned.”

“This isn’t a competition?—”

“Isn’t it? Your mother’s expectations, Walter Hamilton’s mentorship, the career you’ve built—those are powerful influences, Jessica. I don’t want you staying for me and hating yourself, or me, for it later.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“You can’t know that.” Ali reached out and took Jessica’s hand, her thumb tracing circles on the softness of her wrist. “I love you too. God help me, I do, with every little bit of me. But love isn’t about guilting someone into staying when they need to go.”

Jessica pulled Ali closer, pressing their foreheads together. “What if I don’t need to go? What if what I need is right here?”

Their first kiss was gentle, tentative. The second was deeper, edged with the desperation of almost-loss, of fear transformed into need. Jessica’s hands found Ali’s hair, fingers tangling in the dark waves as Ali backed her toward the bedroom.

“We still have things to figure out,” Ali murmured against Jessica’s neck as she pulled her backwards towards the bedroom.

“Tomorrow,” Jessica whispered, her fingers already working at the buttons of Ali’s shirt. “Tonight, I just need you.”

The bedroom was bathed in moonlight, illuminating Ali as she pulled Jessica onto the bed, their clothes trailing behind them. Their bodies found each other with the urgent familiarity of lovers who had feared separation, each touch an affirmation, each kiss a promise.

“I love you,” Jessica gasped as Ali’s mouth traced a path down her stomach. “I love you. I love you.”

Ali looked up, her eyes dark with desire. “Show me.”

Jessica did—with her hands, her mouth, her entire body. She mapped every inch of Ali’s skin, lavishing attention on the places that made her gasp, that made her arch beneath Jessica’s touch. Their bodies moved together with increasing urgency, finding a rhythm too long denied.