Page 24 of Escape to Lighthouse Cove

“Jacob…” Grace’s voice caught and then leveled out. She crouched down so she was eye-level with her son. “I’m sorry, buddy,” she said softly. “It’s not going to work out for you to have a lesson today.”

Okay, now Noah didn’t just feel like a complete heel, but a total monster. Jacob stared at his mother, his jaw working, like he wanted to speak but simplycouldn’t. It was the most emotive Noah had seen the boy since he’d met him. He clearlyreallyliked chess. And he really couldn’t speak, for whatever reason. Almost, Noah reflected, as if hechosenot to.

Grace slid her hand through her son’s hair, the gesture reflexive and so full of love Noah’s chest hurt all the more. Right then, he hated himself a lot more than he usually did. “Another time, okay?” she said softly, although Noah suspected hell would be frozen over and six feet under snow before Grace graced the halls of Grayhaven again, another thought that made everything in him cringe in shame… and disappointment.

This time Jacob shook his head, a rapid back and forth that gave Noah whiplash just watching it.

“Jacob…” Grace’s voice caught again, and she took a steadying breath. “I’m sorry.”

More head shaking. Noah was starting to feel dizzy. Grace sighed and sat back on her heels. “I know this is disappointing—” she began, only for Noah to hear words coming out of his own mouth.

“I can teach him.” He sounded gruff, his voice rusty, but he meant it. Hewantedto teach him. For Jacob’s sake, for Grace’s sake, maybe even for his own although he suspected teaching Jacob would hurt because he reminded him so much of his brother. But maybe, in some weird way, he needed that. In any case, it was the least he could do, and it would be a kind of penance for acting like such an absolute ass.

Grace glanced over her shoulder, her gray eyes turning to the color of smoke as she gave him a darkly simmering look. “That’s a kind offer, but I don’t think so,” she said firmly.

“Grace, I’d like to. I… I really am sorry for what I said. And you can stay in the room if you like, to make Jacob feel more comfortable.” Although he suspected it would makehimfeel less so. He gestured to the little boy. “He wants this. Let me help.”

Grace glanced back at Jacob, who was looking decidedly stubborn, his chin thrust out, his eyes dark. A sigh escaped her and then slowly she stood. “All right,” she said, her voice resigned. “This once.”

“Okay.” He paused. “Thank you.”

She didn’t deign to reply and Noah couldn’t blame her. She touched Jacob’s head briefly and then retreated to the opposite side of the room while Noah came forward hesitantly, the cocky confidence that had once been his instinctive armor now deserting him completely. He felt strangely raw and decidedly uncertain. Jacob was gazing at him steadily, expectantly, in a way that should have given him confidence but made him feel more unequipped than ever.

He had a rating of twenty-three hundred, had played the top youth players in the world at tournaments across the globe, but right now he felt undone by a six-year-old boy with the same trusting expression as his own brother.

And Jem had had no reason to trust him. No reason at all.

“All right, then,” Noah said, and then had to clear his throat.

From behind him he heard Grace drop into a chair with a soft, sad sigh. He steeled himself and gave Jacob a brighter smile.

“Let’s play some chess.”

Grace had learned the rudiments of chess, back when Jacob had, but that was as far as her understanding went. She’d tried to play him once, and he’d beaten her in four moves. She didn’t believe her son was a prodigy, per se, only that she was really, really bad. Airheads, she thought wryly, trying not to feel bitter, couldn’t play brainy games like chess.

Of course, Brad hadn’t played chess, either and neither had he been particularly impressed that their young son was so good at it. He would have far, far preferred Jacob to be brawny and athletic like he was, with his prowess in football or track rather than a game that he viewed as simply requiring moving pieces across a board. Sometimes Grace had feared Brad had beenembarrassedby their son—by his shyness, his seemingly nerdy intellect, his lack of athletic ability, missing or maybe dismissing all his amazing qualities—his humor and gentleness, his curiosity and compassion.

Hewasn’ta weird little kid.

Grace swallowed thickly, feeling like a boulder had taken up residence in her throat. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to forget those cruel, cutting words. She could take broken Barbie—God knew, Brad had called her worse, even if the aptness of the term stung more than a little—butweird little kid? Her eyes and throat both burned and she had to blink back tears that were of anger as much as they were of grief.

Noah might have said he hadn’t meant it, but the fact that the words had been able to pass his lips, that he’d been able to see a six-year-old he barely knew that way and say such things so dismissively, made Grace look at him with new and unforgiving eyes.

It was hard simply to sit here and let a man who had thought that way about her son now teach him the thing he loved most.

And hewasteaching him—although she couldn’t make out the words or understand the terms even if she could—Noah’s low, gentle murmur and Jacob’s eager attentiveness made her realize it was working. She was grateful, but she was still furious. And worse, she was still heartsick, in a way that made her want to lay her head down and sob.

Grace wasn’t even sure what she’d be crying for, only that she wastiredof feeling this way. She’d thought here on Lighthouse Cove Island, it might have been different. She and Jacob might have been able to seem—and feel—different.

Some things, it seemed, never changed.

“Grace?”

Grace blinked the world into focus, and realized Noah was standing right in front of her, a look of tender pity on his face that made her want to squirm. He might think she was a broken Barbie, but that didn’t mean she had to act like one.

“Yes?” She drew herself up, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Is the lesson over?” How long had she been staring into space?

“I’ve set Jacob a few challenges. They should take him a while.” He paused. “I wanted to talk to you. Privately.”