Summer at Lake Haven

by RaeAnne Thayne

  She laughed a little. “I would much prefer if the first time was the only time.”

  “Look at it this way. You’ll be the one doing the hiring this time. You can vet candidates as carefully as you need to so you can be absolutely sure of a person’s character before you take on a new salesclerk.”

  “You’re right,” she said with a surprised kind of look. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  He was finding so much more to admire about Samantha Fremont than he’d ever imagined when he first met her.

  “If you weren’t running a boutique, what would you do?” he asked after a few more moments.

  “Design dresses.” She answered with such alacrity, he almost laughed.

  “You could give it a moment’s thought,” he suggested.

  “I don’t need to. That’s my favorite part of the job. I love creating the ideal wedding dress for someone to wear on her perfect day.”

  “Ah. You’re a romantic.” He didn’t need confirmation. He had figured that out about her already. He supposed any woman who designed wedding dresses would have to be something of a romantic.

  “In some ways, I guess.”

  “If you love it so much, why don’t you design dresses full-time, then?”

  She appeared to give his question serious thought, her cheeks slightly pink from the exertion as they walked uphill.

  The children didn’t seem to be bothered by the climb. They appeared to be having a wonderful time, scampering ahead like mountain goats. Mountain goats with walking sticks, anyway.

  “It’s not that simple, I’m afraid,” Samantha finally said. “If I wanted to focus solely on making dresses, I would have to close the boutique and I have no idea if I could make a living designing wedding dresses alone. If you do the math, there can’t be that many brides in the Lake Haven area to keep a business going indefinitely.”

  Pursuing her passion seemed an easy enough decision to him, especially in his own circumstances. He didn’t have a choice about how he would be spending the rest of his life.

  “If designing wedding gowns is what you love, why not take the chance?”

  “I can’t throw away a thriving business with a long history in Haven Point to pursue a fly-by-night dream. It’s just not practical. I have employees. Payroll. People who depend on me.”

  He wanted to argue that dreams were important, too, but knew that would be hypocritical, given his current situation, so he said nothing.

  They walked without speaking for a few more moments, accompanied by the murmur of the creek next to the trail and the twittering of birds in the trees. It was a singularly peaceful endeavor, walking in nature, surrounded by wild beauty. He had always loved it but there was something about this place that called to his soul.

  She stopped at the top of a rise to take a drink from the water bottle in her daypack and he called ahead for the children to do the same.

  Amelia trotted back and grabbed her and Thomas’s water bottles that Ian was carrying in his pack, then returned to her brother, carrying them.

  “May I ask you a question, if it’s not too presumptuous?” Ian asked after his daughter was out of earshot.

  “Until you ask it, how can I know if your question is too presumptuous?” Her eyebrows raised with both curiosity and humor. That was one of the things he was discovering he liked best about Samantha. She never seemed to take herself too seriously.

  “How about this? I’ll ask the question, then you can decide whether it’s too presumptuous to answer.”

  “Fair enough.”

  He didn’t quite know how to ask the question now that he’d started this.

  Finally, he just blurted it out. “Speaking of wedding gowns, why haven’t you had your own, er, perfect day? Why aren’t you married with a bunch of little ones of your own?”

  He winced. “And now that I hear that out loud, never mind. It is too presumptuous and none of my business. Not everyone wants that traditional life. More and more these days, it seems to be the exception and not the rule. I’m also perfectly aware a woman does not need a man to be happy.”

  He was rambling, mostly because he couldn’t believe he’d brought up such a stupid question. To his relief, Samantha didn’t seem offended.

  “Did you want to leave space in there for me to answer?” she asked with that same amused look.

  “Yes. Sorry. Go ahead.”

  Her brow furrowed as she appeared to consider his question. “I’m not married, I suppose, because I haven’t found someone I wanted to marry. Or, if I’m honest, anyone who wanted to marry me.”

  “That can’t possibly be true,” he said.

  She laughed, though he thought there was a hollow sound to it.

  “You might be surprised. Don’t you remember I told you about my reputation as a man-hungry flirt? My mother used to call me Starry-eyed Sam because I have a terrible tendency to fall in love with regularity.”

  His heart ached at the thread of loneliness he thought he heard in her voice and Ian decided he was beginning to heartily dislike her mother.

  “There’s nothing wrong with falling in love.”

  “I agree. When it’s real, love can be a beautiful thing. You said it yourself, I’m a romantic. I have enough friends who have found their perfect person for me to know the real deal when I see it. Josh and Gemma, for example, or my best friend, Katrina, and her husband, Bowie. I haven’t found that yet...and that’s okay with me right now.”

  * * *

  THIS LINE OF questioning left Samantha feeling exposed, vulnerable.

  Not very long ago, finding her soul mate seemed like the ultimate aim of her life. As each of her friends seemed to be finding her happy-ever-after, Sam had been ridiculously eager for her own.

  When she should have been trying to figure out who she was and what she wanted out of life, she had been worried if she was wearing the right kind of eye makeup, if her hair was perfect, if she was on the right dating sites or dressing the right way or asking the right questions.

  Her mother’s death had changed her somehow, given her an entirely new perspective on herself and on the life she wanted to create.

  Instead of trying to find the perfect man who would make her life complete, she should have been trying to make out of her life what she wanted and needed so that she could look for a good man who might add to it.

  She knew why the men she had dated hadn’t stuck around. She had been obsessed with perfection, with becoming exactly who they wanted her to be instead of being herself and finding out if they were willing to take a chance on Samantha Fremont, warts and all.

  “What about you?” she asked. “It’s been a year since Susan died. Will you start dating again?”

  “I made a mess of things the first time around, didn’t I?” He gestured ahead to the children. “Anyway, they’re my priority now. They have to be, as I’m all they have. The children are still dealing with their mother’s death and...other changes in our life. I can’t complicate things by starting a new relationship.”

  “There you go. We’re both in the same boat. Good thing you’re leaving in a few weeks.” She smiled, trying for a lighthearted tone.

  “Isn’t it?” he murmured, though she thought his tone said something entirely different.

  She was relieved when the children paused on the trail, waiting for them to catch up.

  “Dad, I’m hungry,” Thomas called before they could reach them. “Did you bring any snacks?”

  “I’ve got some granola bars in my pack,” Samantha offered quickly. “Will that do?”

  “That sounds delicious,” Thomas said.

  She dug in her bag until she found what she was after, then handed one to him and to Amelia. “There’s one left,” she said to Ian. “Would you like it?”

  “I can split it in half.” />
  He did so, offering Samantha the larger half, she couldn’t help but notice. They both chewed as they continued walking the trail. Ian seemed to be lost in thought. She had to hope he wasn’t wondering about the revelations she had spilled out, like water gushing from the Hell’s Fury Dam.

  “I’m sorry about earlier,” Ian said a moment later. “I shouldn’t have asked such an intrusive question and started us on that topic. It really was unconscionably rude of me to pry.”

  She swallowed the last bite of her granola bar, already feeling a little less hangry. “I didn’t consider it rude. I’m just embarrassed when I look back at my journey and the person I used to be. I want to think I’ve gained a new perspective over the past few months. I hope so, anyway. I’m only sorry it took me so long.”

  “You said the other day that your mother was difficult. In what way?”

  She gazed out at the landscape, wondering if it was disloyal to tell him the hard, uncomfortable truths she had finally acknowledged to herself since Linda died. No. She couldn’t believe it was. Ian didn’t know her mother and he never would.

  “You have to understand that I loved my mother very much. She was a tremendously hard worker and also fiercely loyal to Haven Point and the people who live here.” She paused, trying to find the right words. “But she could also be critical and overbearing. I’m only now beginning to realize how I let her strong personality dominate mine. For the first time in my life, I’m making my own decisions based on my needs and desires. I’m not only acting in ways that are expected of me. It’s empowering and terrifying at the same time.”

  “Why terrifying?”

  “When things go wrong, I have no one else but myself to blame. That can be hard. Look at Betsey. My mother would never allow a dog in our home, even after I was an adult. She said they were too much bother, messy to clean up after and a nuisance to have around. The first chance I got, I pick up a random dog a couple of strangers were selling outside the supermarket. Who does that without checking first to make sure the dog is not expecting puppies?”

  He smiled. “It hasn’t been all bad.”

  She couldn’t lie. “It hasn’t been. You’re right. But instead of a sweet, gentle companion who would sit at my feet while I sewed and keep me company in that empty house, I also ended up with three noisy, troublesome puppies.”

  “Three noisy, troublesome, adorable puppies. You mustn’t forget that part.”

  “They are pretty adorable,” she admitted. “But I was barely keeping my life together as it was. Four dogs is a lot to handle. It doesn’t help that I keep hearing my mother say I told you so in my ear.”

  “You need to give yourself a break. You’re doing the best you can. You’re finally on your own and that can be scary for all of us, no matter what age. After I moved away from home, I found myself calling my parents at least three or four times a day—until my mother gently told me I needed to stop, that it was time I started making my own decisions. That was quite a shock, I’ll tell you that. Especially when I only wanted to know which sort of washing-up liquid she favored.”

  She smiled, charmed at his confession. “It can be empowering to feel responsible for your own mistakes. I’m trying to focus on that instead of the fear.”

  “Good for you,” he said, and she wanted to turn toward the approval in his voice like a sunflower reaching for the sun.

  Oh, this was bad. She liked this man so very much. She had to continually remind herself that falling for him would be a terrible mistake—far worse than taking home a pregnant dog.

  “Are we almost there?” Thomas asked.

  Sam released a breath, grateful for the distraction. “Nearly,” she replied. “If I remember correctly, it should be just around that curve in the trail.”

  She really hoped she was remembering things correctly. The last time she had been here had been on a hike with Katrina several years ago and they had been in the middle of a deep conversation about the guys they had met the night before at a bar in Shelter Springs. She barely remembered the hike, though she oddly had a vivid memory of the conversation and of the guys.

  “I think I hear it,” Amelia said.

  Samantha listened closely. “I hear it, too,” she said at the low rushing sound that seemed to grow louder as they neared the bend in the trail ahead.

  They walked on a little farther and then suddenly the falls dominated the landscape ahead of them, much more beautiful than she remembered from previous trips. Bridal Veil Falls did indeed look like a veil, plunging through a narrow break in the rock and rippling down at least thirty-five feet, glinting in the sunlight like it was sewn with diamonds. Around it, pine and fir trees seemed to have sprung out of bare rock, clinging precariously.

  She caught her breath at the majesty of it. She lived an hour away. Why on earth didn’t she make more of an effort to come up here?

  She would from here out, she promised herself. She would come hiking with Betsey again this summer and into the fall, when the sugar maples would be on fire with color. When she did, she knew she would always remember the day she came here with Ian and the children.

  “Wow. That’s really pretty,” Amelia said. She stopped in her tracks, her expression captivated.

  “It’s bigger than I thought it would be,” Thomas said, eyes wide. “Can we swim in it?”

  “Brrr. That water would be terribly cold,” Samantha told him. “It’s basically melted snow coming down from the tops of the mountains.”

  “I believe I would still like to go swimming.”

  “Not here,” Ian said firmly. “Why don’t we take some photos in front of it, though, to send to Nana and Grandfather?”

  “I’ll take your picture,” Sam offered.

  For the next few moments, she tried to pose them in a way that allowed her to catch them and the falls in one frame, which turned out to be a difficult shot. Either they were tiny in the frame or she cut off the top of the water, which was the most dramatic part of the waterfall.

  After a few different angles, she managed it.

  “That’s a good one,” she finally said, handing Ian’s phone back to him so he could see it.

  “We should take a photograph with all of us,” Amelia said. “That way we can always remember today and how much fun we had on our hike together.”

  “Great idea,” Ian said. “I can set my phone up and hit the camera shutter with my watch.”

  As she had done, he experimented with angles for a few moments and she and the children made funny faces that made them all laugh until he set it just right.

  She felt a little odd being photographed with them in what was really a family picture but decided to just go with it.

  “That should do it,” Ian said after several frames. “Wait right here while I make sure the pictures worked.”

  He crossed to where his phone was propped on a rock facing them and looked at the images with a curiously intent look on his face. “Wonderful,” he finally said. “They’re perfect.”

  “I want to see, Dad.” Amelia hopped down from their spot to where her father held his phone and took it from him. “Oh, it is wonderful!” she exclaimed. She held it out for Sam to see.

  She looked at the image and felt a funny little catch in her throat. They all looked so right together. The children smiled brightly, as did Ian. She hadn’t seen him smile very often. It made him look young and handsome, even with his perennially messed hair.

  “Can you text me these?” she asked. “It will make a wonderful memento of today.”

  “Certainly. I’ll do it as soon as we get back to a signal.”

  She handed the phone back to Ian. As he took it from her, their hands brushed and Sam hoped he didn’t notice her shiver.

  “Who’s ready for lunch?” Ian asked.

  Sam and both of the children raised their hands at the same time, then smil
ed at each other, in full accord.

  * * *

  SAMANTHA COULDN’T WAIT for Ian to send her those pictures, but she knew she wouldn’t need that tangible evidence to recall what had turned out to be one of most delightful days she had enjoyed in a long time.

  The picnic was simple roast beef sandwiches Mrs. Gilbert had prepared, but they were made on fresh-baked bread with a creamy mustard and horseradish sauce and tasted better than anything from the best restaurants around the lake.

  Sam had a vague memory of going on a camping trip with her father once when she must have been six or seven. She could remember him saying something about how food eaten outside always tasted better. Was it a true memory or something she had imagined? It didn’t really matter, she supposed. Either way, it was definitely true.

  They ate under a tree with the waterfall in the background, serenaded by birds as a light breeze made the wildflowers dance around them.

  Samantha wanted the moment to go on forever.

  When Amelia finished her dessert of shortbread cookies, she gave a happy sigh. “This has been the best day. Thank you for showing us such a beautiful place,” she said. “I shall remember this always.”

  “As will I,” Samantha said softly.

  “I still wish we could go for a swim,” Thomas said mournfully.

  “You wouldn’t enjoy it, trust me,” his father said.

  After lunch, they walked around trying to identify wildflowers. Sam shared as many as she knew, mostly Queen Anne’s Lace, wild iris, columbine.

  “June is still a little early at these higher elevations for flowers. That’s what my friends who are experts say, anyway. In another month, there will be many more wildflowers up here, of all colors. It’s quite a spectacular display.”

  “We’ll be back home by then,” Amelia said with a little pout. “Maybe you could send us a photograph.”

  “I’ll do that,” Sam said, trying to ignore the pinch in her heart to think about them leaving. How had they all wormed their way into her life so quickly? She adored the children and was well on her way to developing a terrible crush on Ian.