Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"Mr. Zimmerman, I'm sorry about last night—I really thought Timothy wouldn't

show up."

Vince shook his head. "No, I should be the one apologizing. I'd already spoken to him, and he said he wasn't coming. Someone else in my family must have invited him behind my back."

The truth was, when Vince called Timothy and told him not to come to his grandfather's birthday dinner, he'd only done it to take a jab at Timothy. He never really intended to keep Timothy away. He'd said it because he couldn't imagine Timothy leaving Jessica's side, but he also didn't want Jessica to realize he was lying. In the end, he still wanted to be close to her.

He couldn't say exactly why, but there was something different about seeing her compared to everyone else.

"By the way," Vince added, "the gift you gave my grandfather-he absolutely loved it. He came here today looking for you, actually. There are two things he wanted me to pass along."

him,

craft. Second, my grandfather wants you to be his goddaughter. He wanted to ask you last night, in front of everyone at the party,

hadn't been given was simple-Larkin wanted to see Jessica again, and have a proper conversation with

status seemed like a good idea; it would help fulfill a wish her

Larkin's goddaughter... that was

knowing she had

Larkin being so kind to me? Is it just because of

haven't told you yet. When I brought your work home, my grandfather recognized it immediately-he knew it was your grandmother's style. She was

had ever said about Jessica's grandmother. Jessica hadn't expected

could barely remember her grandfather, and her mother had died young. Her father had disappeared long ago, and she