Page 2 of Rejected Heart (The Westwoods #5)

Unfortunately, I hadn’t ever really had a clear idea of what I wanted to do with my life.

And that made things extremely difficult.

I hadn’t expected it would be a walk in the park, but I wish I would have had some direction before I decided to take off to the city.

Because while it was a great place to be to find opportunities, it was easily one of the most expensive places in the country to live.

“Yes, it’s my job, but you’re my mom.”

She sighed. “I’m so sorry about this, Layla.”

I shook my head. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“Just give me some time to think about it, and we’ll figure things out. Maybe the doctor will have some suggestions,” she reasoned.

“Suggestions? Suggestions for what?”

Her eyes roamed over my face, a sense of disappointment etched in her features. “Maybe things won’t be so bad for me, and you can head back to the city.”

“Are you in a rush to get rid of me?”

Her expression turned horrified. “Not at all. I just don’t want to put this burden on you.”

For several long moments, I stared at the woman who’d given up everything just to support and raise me, and all I felt was disbelief. “Are you joking?”

“About what?”

“Mom, I could spend hours upon hours here reminding you of all the things you’ve done to take care of me my entire life.

” She pressed her lips together at the same time her fingers twitched in my hand.

Evidently, this conversation was making her emotional.

“Taking some time off from work to care for you for a few weeks is not a burden. Besides, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me, because you can’t do this on your own. ”

My mom, despite the exhaustion she felt and the pain she was in, didn’t hesitate to argue with me. “It might not be so bad. I could always call Carmen to help occasionally. She’d do it.”

Carmen was my mom’s best friend. There was not a doubt in my mind that she’d step up to help. In fact, I probably needed to make it a point to reach out to her today to let her know what had happened. My mom might have appreciated having another visitor.

“Of course, she’ll help. But she has other responsibilities, too.”

“Maybe I could hire a private nurse.”

I cocked a brow. “Did you stumble into some money I’m unaware of in order to pay for this private nurse?”

It was that question that did it. The reality of my mother’s situation settled heavily on her shoulders. She remained quiet for so long as it hit her, and I gave her the time she needed to come to grips with it.

“I never wanted to be on my own,” she murmured.

My hand squeezed hers. “I know.”

“He was my everything.”

Pain slashed through my heart. “I know.”

“I never thought he’d leave us.”

My throat grew tight.

I was five years old when my father left.

At the time, I didn’t truly understand what happened, but the older I got, the more I learned.

And when I asked questions, my mom didn’t hesitate to tell me what I wanted and needed to know.

For all she told me, I couldn’t begin to understand what the problem had been.

Mom explained to me how she and my father had gotten together and had what could only be described as a whirlwind romance.

She claimed they were madly in love, and I didn’t doubt that for two reasons.

First, he’d proposed to her, and they’d gotten married.

Not only that, but even though I’d been young, I had a handful of memories I could still recall with my dad.

Except for him leaving us, all those memories had been good.

My mom had even more, and somehow, it was those good memories that had managed to last her a lifetime. She never moved on. She never got over him.

Instead, she focused on raising me. And considering we were broke, she had no choice but to put all her time, effort, and energy into providing for both of us.

Meredith Snow hid her pain well. But I guess I should have expected that at a time like this, her loneliness would get the better of her.

“We had each other.”

A small smile spread across her face. “Yes, we did. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

I returned the smile. Following a few beats of silence, I declared, “I’m going to call Carmen. She’ll probably be upset I didn’t reach out to her yesterday.”

“I’m sure you’ve had other things on your mind.”

“Yeah, like not knowing what the state of you was for hours,” I agreed.

Squeezing my hand, she said, “I wasn’t referring to you being worried about me.”

I didn’t need to ask her what she was referring to when she spoke in that tone. I already knew she was hinting at how I was handling being back in Landing without having planned for it. Though she’d supported me completely after I ended things with Liam, I knew it broke her heart.

In fact, I often wondered if that upset her more than it had when my dad left us. There was something about me calling it quits with Liam that impacted her in a way I hadn’t anticipated.

Not wanting her to believe the worst, I smiled brighter at her. “I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

I wasn’t going to tell her about my dream. “Yes. In fact, after I call Carmen and we talk to the doctor, I’m going to head over to the store.”

“What?”

“We’ll have to figure things out for when you are out of the hospital, but for now, the store shouldn’t be closed.”

Mom sighed. “Now I feel even worse.”

“But you know I’m not wrong.”

And I wasn’t.

My mom owned a consignment shop. She’d had it since I was little, and it had been the way in which we survived. While the store did well enough for her to pay her bills and put food on the table, she wasn’t living lavishly. Every day she wasn’t open, it impacted her ability to live.

So, I was going to have to take over the operation of the store in the meantime. It wasn’t like I hadn’t spent many days helping her out in the store when I was a kid and teenager. At least I wouldn’t be walking into some unknown situation now.

“Thank you, Layla. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

I lifted her hand in mine and kissed the back of it. “I feel the same.”

A matter of minutes later, her doctor had arrived. He assessed her pain, talked a bit about what we could expect in the coming weeks, and answered all our questions. My mom finally admitted she wasn’t going to be able to do this on her own.

Once the doctor left, we called Carmen. Suffice it to say, she nearly lost her mind when she learned about the accident my mom had been in yesterday morning.

I spent some time sitting with my mom, and once Carmen showed up, I took off to head into the store, doing it with the promise of returning later that night.

As I drove to the consignment shop, I replayed my morning with my mom in my head, attempting to juggle through everything we’d discussed with the doctor and trying to come up with a plan for after my mom was released in a couple of days.

Though there was a lot in front of us, I was grateful for the distraction the planning provided. Because I didn’t have to sit and recall the dream that I’d had last night and wonder about the man who’d been in it.

But that relief was short-lived.

Because no sooner had I arrived at the shop and parked, it smacked me in the face .

I’d walked up to the front door, pulling the keys out of my purse, when I heard, “Layla?”

My head snapped up, and my breath caught in my lungs.

Standing there, looking utterly shocked to see me, was a former dear friend of mine.

Jules Westwood—Liam’s younger sister.