Love After You

Chapter 4

Adam had planned for their future right from the start. When they got married, he had also taken out life insurance.

He didn't mention it to Jess, probably because he didn't think it was a big deal and that they wouldn't need it yet.

So a few months after Adam had passed, Jess got a call from them. The last thing she expected to be told was that his life insurance was covered for £150,000.

When it arrived, she just stared at the check for days. She wasn't fully sure what to do with it. Even after paying off all the mortgage on the house, she had so much left over that she didn't know what to spend it on. She eventually decided to take it to Grace, his mother, and asked her to have it instead. But Adam's parents were well off; they didn't need the money.

"He did this for you, Jess. He wanted this for you in case anything bad happened to him." Grace told her, giving her back the check. Jess frowned and looked at the money again, wondering how this had happened. How did her husband, her amazing, loving husband, turn into numbers on a piece of paper? Grace took her hand in hers and gave her a comforting squeeze.

Jess looked at Grace in disbelief. Who declined that kind of money? Even though the Hughes family came from money, no one declined that type of cash. She looked hard at Grace, hoping to find some understanding in her eyes, which pained her so much because they were the same shade of blue as his.

"You have your whole life ahead of you; put it towards something good. Chase your dreams. It's what Adam would have wanted."

And like a switch flicked on in her brain, she knew what she had to do with it.

Her own bakery.

She'd always loved baking, ever since she was a child. She and her mother would spend hours upon hours baking everything you could possibly imagine. They made biscuits with little snowmen designed on top during the Christmas season, or thick, stodgy bread that they would cut up into thick slices and eat with tomato soup in the cold evenings. They made an array of cakes and tartes for every occasion, or simply for no reason at all, other than to simply enjoy them. She always dreamed of having her own place, her own shop, and not just working for someone like she does now.

She could basically imagine Adam standing in front of her now, giving her a cheeky grin—the one he always gave her when he knew something that she didn't.

It was her dream to have her own bakery.

This money could give her that dream.

So she set to work. She gave up her day job and focused on this. Finding the perfect spot in the middle of busy Bristol. Her home wasn't too far away—a half-hour drive if there was no traffic.

She worked tirelessly, decorating the place in whites and pinks, getting decorators in to paint fruit, cute little jam jars, and different types of baked goods all over the walls. It gave you classic 1950's American diner décor, with red and white booths for guests to sit in if they wanted to. Weeks soon slipped into months, the seasons rolling into one another. She put everything she had into this. She barely had time to think of her grief; she was either here working or collapsing into a deep sleep when she went home. There was no time to think of her pain or to wonder about Jake either.

By the time it came to opening, she was so excited.

The place was everything she had dreamed of. Behind the counter, she had a picture of Adam up on the wall and underneath a chalk board that displayed his favourite sweet treat.

He loved her mini strawberry tarte, so she thought it was a nice idea to name it after him.

She found herself wanting to call Jake most of the time, just to tell him about it. To talk to him. To hear his voice. To ask him how he was. To tell him that she was sorry for what she said and that she didn't mean it. But she never did. The words she last spoke to him were harsh, and she didn't know how to speak to him now that they were said.