Page 84 of Perfectly Matched: Harbor Falls Romance Collection

They say you can never go home again.

Jasmine Walker stepped out of her Audi and browsed the streets of her old hometown. Determined to focus on the positive aspects of the day, all she wanted was to take care of business, and get out of Harbor Falls and back to Atlanta before nightfall.

She sniffed at the crisp mountain air drifting into the valley town from the Blue Ridge Mountains, a hint of spruce and lingering wood smoke tickling her nostrils. The nights and mornings were a bit cool now, and even though it was approaching ten o’clock in the morning, the temperature was chilly. She pulled her jacket together and buttoned it.

The breeze played with her hair for a moment. Closing her eyes, she paused to let the essence of the town settle around her. She blinked, then moved out of the way and closed the car door. She headed for the sidewalk, turned, and scanned the town once more, glancing right and left.

Settling her gaze in the opposite direction from her destination, she searched just above the treetops, traveling the length of the street. Victorian shop fronts graced both sides, with mature trees, potted plants, streetlights, and awnings, complete with small-town hustle and bustle.

Some things had changed. There were a few new stores, ones that if she’d had more time, she wouldn’t mind browsing—something she never did when she’d lived there. She spotted a local gift shop across the street next to a bakery, and it looked like the library might have undergone an expansion. She’d spent a lot of time there as a kid. Much of the town was the same, however, as when she’d left fifteen years earlier.

What she was looking for wasn’t on the sidewalk or at the street level though, but in the distance above the buildings and trees.

There.

Ms. Leinie’s house.

Her stomach clutched as her gaze drifted up behind the courthouse to the big, white house on the hill a few blocks away—the one she had once called home. Suddenly, she had to shake herself. She’d been sad to learn of Ms. Leinie’s death, and had it not been for the call from Art Manchester, a local attorney, Jasmine might not have known. On the other hand, she might have belatedly found out and sent a donation, and simply reflected on her relationship with the old woman back in the safe confines of her condominium.

Reflecting on the positives, of course, and not the negatives.

She strived for an optimistic life. Glass half full, and all that. It hadn’t always been that way.

But the call did come, and she’d made the day trip back to Harbor Falls.

An older model pick-up truck with country music blaring whizzed by, pulling her out of her musing, and reminding her of the more-than-subtle differences between Harbor Falls and Atlanta.

Jasmine glanced at her watch. She had ten minutes until her appointment with the attorney. Turning, she headed back up Main Street but stopped long enough to push a few coins into her parking meter before moving on. Two hours should be enough. She didn’t expect to be long here in Harbor Falls. There was nothing to keep her, no one to see while she was in town. She’d severed all those ties years ago. Two hours should be plenty of time to deal with the business of Ms. Leinie’s estate and then head back home. She had a case that needed her attention tonight.

Her heels clicked on the sidewalk as she made her way down the street, a nagging question lingering in her head.

Why, after all this time, had Leinie Crockett decided to leave anything to her?

****

“So, you broke up with her?”

Jack Ackerman winced at his brother’s question. Instead of immediately responding, he stared ahead through the windshield and concentrated on driving down the two-lane road on Harbor Falls Mountain. He really wasn’t up to talking much about the recent events with Miss Nora Patterson.

“Jack?”

“I figured you knew.”

“No. Not until this morning when Mom called.”

Hell. He braked for a curve and nearly threw his brother into the door.

“Mom called?”

“She heard it down at Ralph’s.”

“Shit.”

He twisted the radio button to crank up Blake Shelton, hoping to drown out the noise starting to clatter in his head. That’s all he needed, for every woman of marrying age in Harbor Falls to be on his tail. How many single, thirty-four-year-old men were there out there, anyway? Not many. And he didn’t need the grocery store gossipmongers on the trail.

They traveled along for several minutes, turning at the foot of the mountain to head along Lake Road, and then into downtown Harbor Falls. They each needed to run a couple of errands and then get back out to Haven’s Hill to prep for a big landscaping job at Suzie Hart’s Sweet Hart Inn later in the week. Seemed she was hosting some fancy to-do with some New York bigwigs, and all that. He wouldn’t let his friend down.

Finally, he glanced at Sam.

“Yeah. We broke up.”

Sam shrugged.

“I don’t get it.”

“It’s for the best.”

“Becca never said a word.”

That surprised him. Becca and Nora being best friends and all, and Becca being Sam’s wife.

“Guess that kills our euchre game night.”

He saw Sam’s nod out of the corner of his eye. Jack slowed as he approached Main Street and searched for street parking.

“Over there by the bank.”

Sam nodded that way.

“Want me to drop you off at the hardware store?”

“Naw, I’ll walk.”

Jack parallel parked the pickup and turned to Sam.

“Guess I’ll have to ditch out of that couples thing up at the lodge on Saturday too. Hope you and Becca understand. Not sure I’m up for it.”

Sam’s brows furled.

“That woman do a number on you?”

He shook his head.

“Nope. It was mutual, actually. The relationship wasn’t going anywhere, and honestly, I wasn’t in love with her. Not like you are in love with Becca.”

I want more. Like kids. The picket fence. Normal.

“There will be a lot of women up there at the lodge on Saturday.”

Sam waggled his brows.

“It’s a couples thing, remember?”

“Sure, but it’s a benefit for the hospital, so I don’t think they’ll kick you out on your ear because you don’t have a date.”

Jack winced.

“Yeah but count me out. Not in the mood.”

“Ah. That’s all right.”

Sam opened the truck door.

“I’ll meet you back here in about twenty minutes. Just need a pair of long screws.”

Jack chuckled and watched his brother head down the sidewalk. You and me both, buddy.

****

Jasmine, 1999

Breathless, I pushed into the kitchen, letting the back screen door slap a mite too hard behind me.

“Oops! So sorry Ms. Leinie.”

I’d practically sprinted the whole way home from school, nearly giddy at what I knew the future held for me.

“Jasmine! Honey, what’s the hurry?”

Ms. Leinie turned away from the stove and smiled. In so many ways, I hated thinking about leaving, because Ms. Leinie had really been the only woman to ever influence my life—but graduation was just three weeks away.

It’s inevitable. I’m aging out of foster care and I have to think of my future.

Stepping to the refrigerator, I said.

“I know you are cooking but I’m starved. Mind if I have an apple? You know I have an appetite from hell and it won’t spoil my supper.”

I reached for the handle.

“Lord knows you have a bottomless pit for a stomach, girl. Go ahead. And don’t say ‘hell’.”

“Sorry.”

Ms. Leinie liked all of us kids to keep our mouths clean.

“It’s from running track. I burn it all off.”

“You been running this afternoon? You’re all hot and sweaty.”

She stirred the pot and side-glanced at me.

Removing an apple from the fruit bin, I stepped to the sink to wash it off, then moved closer to the stove and glanced into the pot.

“Oh, vegetable soup. Homemade. I love you, Ms. Leinie.”

I threw my arms around her next and kissed her cheek.

Her skin was paper-thin and reminded me of tissue paper. I wasn’t sure how old Ms. Leinie was, but I guessed her to be in her late sixties. She was a practical woman and dressed simply, with her hair pulled back. There were days I wondered how long it was, because most times I saw it in a clip and off her face. It was white-gray, but I could see wisps of dark curls at the nape of her neck. There were times I would sit and study her while she didn’t know I was looking. I imagined in her younger years she was a striking woman.

I often wondered what my mother would have looked like as an older woman.

“No, not running today. Just hurrying to get home and it’s heating up out there for May. But I have some exciting news! You have to promise me you won’t tell anyone. It’s like a pinky-swear thing.”

Ms. Leinie looked at me and grinned.

“Well now, I haven’t had to pinky-swear on anything in a long time. What’s up, Jasmine? I bet you got that music award.”

“No. No.”

I grinned.

“Well, maybe. They won’t announce those until graduation night. I’m still in the running for it and the cash could really help with my college expenses.”

I paused and watched as she nodded in agreement but couldn’t contain my excitement any longer. The words bubbled out.

“Jack asked me to marry him. We’re getting married.”

Her face fell. And something icky landed in the pit of my stomach.

She reached for my hand.

“Jasmine, honey, come sit down and let’s talk about this.”

She tugged at my hand, but I couldn’t move. Her tone, her words…none if it was good. My excitement was immediately squashed.

After a moment, I found my feet, drifted toward the table, and sat.

She looked me in the eyes and patted my hand.

“You know the Ackermans are never going to allow this marriage. Right?”

She’d warned me before about the Ackermans. I’d met both of Jack’s parents and his older brother Sam. Most of the time I just saw them from afar at the ball games and in town. They were always nice but distant. I knew why. I tried not to let it bother me.

Jack had been my boyfriend since football season. I played flute in the band, and he, of course, was on the team. The band went to all of the away games, and before I knew it, we were catching each other’s gazes, and it didn’t take long for us to become a couple. Jack loved me for who I am, no matter what. We were head-over-heels in love, as they say.

“Well, that’s why we’re waiting until graduation is finished to really make any plans. They don’t know yet, and Jack isn’t going to tell them right away. We’ll get married this summer and then move to Asheville and go to school. We’ll get jobs and support ourselves. We’ll be fine.”

The look on her face puzzled me. Then she said.

“Jasmine, think about this. Because you are in foster care, the state will take care of your college expenses, and all of that. But if you get married, all of that stops. How will you support yourself and pay for college at the same time? You don’t want to discount all of that. Why don’t you and Jack just wait?”

I’d already thought about all of that.

“It’s okay. I have it all worked out. I don’t want to rely on the state if I don’t have to. I want to be self-sufficient. Besides, there are work study programs that I’ve already applied to and I’m eligible for, and I will get the Social Security income from my mom, plus I get a little money because of Dad….”

Ms. Leinie interrupted.

“Jasmine, I understand all of that. It’s just—”

I smiled and tried to look upbeat.

“It will be fine! Really!”

But she wasn’t buying it.

“Honey, I fear you are setting yourself up for a whole world of hurt. I don’t want your sweet little heart to get broken. I swear, sometimes you can be so gullible. The Ackermans are never going to accept this.”

Gullible?

I felt a little prickly inside, defensive, and unsure why I felt the need to state my case. Ms. Leinie wasn’t the enemy, and I knew fully well how Jack’s parents felt. I stood up.

“It doesn’t matter. Jack and I love each other, and—”

“You don’t have to leave here, Jasmine,”

she interrupted.

“Don’t get married because you think you don’t have a home. You can stay here until you get on your feet. You’re still so young.”

“Ms. Leinie. It’s not that. I love Jack.”

She stood then, too, and took both of my hands in hers. She shook them gently.

“Jasmine, you listen to me. I have to be honest. You’ve been with me for so long, and I feel like your mama in so many ways. I’m going to talk to you like a mama would. Let Jack go off to college, you too, and then later, down the road, if you feel the same about each other, think about getting married then. Live some life first. Don’t tie yourself down.”

I eyed her, watching the concern grow on her face.

“Being young is not what you’re concerned about, is it, Ms. Leinie? You know Jack’s parents don’t like me. You know they think I’m not good enough for Jack, considering my background. But Jack loves me. We love each other. That’s all that matters, right?”

Her eyes welled up with tears. She pulled me closer and hugged me. I remember that hug well because it was the last one she ever gave me. It was warm and firm but laced with a strange sense of desperation and apprehension.

She pulled back.

“Honey, I love your heart, but not everyone has the giving and kind heart that you do. If you marry Jack, I fear your happy heart will turn. The Ackermans won’t—”

“Just say it, Ms. Leinie. Just say what’s on your mind.”

Her lips clamped shut. I stared at her until she finally did say it.

“Okay. Jasmine, this is a small town. You know this. And even though it’s almost the 21st century, it’s still the conservative south. There are a lot of people who are not so liberal. The Ackermans are like that. And well…”

She paused and took a deep breath. I knew where this was going. I didn’t breathe at all for many seconds. “Well,”

she continued.

“they are not going to stand by and let their youngest boy run off and get married to a little mixed girl.”

A little mixed girl.

My heart turned right then, on the spot. I broke the grasp with Ms. Leinie’s hands and slowly backed away, our gazes connected. I knew she didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but in my na?ve little heart, that’s how I took it.

“You mean a half-breed nigger girl, don’t you?”

She took a step forward. “Jasmine.”

I backed off.

“Fine,”

I said, right before I left the kitchen.

“then I’ll just take my poor half-white trash self out of this town and by God, I will not look back. Thank you for everything, Ms. Leinie.”

Then I turned and raced for the stairs, knowing I was placing the blame where it shouldn’t be placed, saying things that made no sense. I heard her calling after me, but the white noise in my head wouldn’t let her words in.