Claire smiled at him. "I think I'm the most grateful of all. Thanks again for the ride." Then she slid out of the truck and headed into the mechanics.
She texted Dottie on her way in before she slipped the phone in her pocket and was swept up in the whirlwind of the mechanic and the insurance agent. They had gone around about things and she only had a marginal understanding of it all. In the end, by the time Dottie arrived she had an estimated amount she would be paying and an ETA for her car’s repairs.
She texted her boss and let him know she was looking at the rest of the week if not into the next one. Immediately, he replied, telling her to do what she needed to do and the let them know if she needed any help. She really appreciated that about her bosses. Both of them were great to work for and even though she rarely took advantage of the fact that she could work remotely, in this particular circumstance she was incredibly grateful.
When Dottie came to grab her, she was in an old Subaru Outback with a fair amount of mud around the tires. The back row of seats had been turned down and there were boxes and bags piled up in the space
"How's it looking?" Dottie asked when Claire slid into the passenger seat.
Claire gave a heavy sigh as she shut the door behind her. "Looks like it's going to take them about a week to finish."
The older woman nodded as she pulled out of the parking lot. "That'll be okay. I rearranged a couple things so you can stay through probably Monday. After that I might have to do some more finagling, but we’ll see."
While Claire appreciated that she had a room, she couldn't help the feeling that tugged at her about being cooped up. Yes, she was a workaholic and she could work through the week just fine, but sitting in that one tiny room or the downstairs lobby was going to be a bit much for her. Claire knew herself and she would go stir crazy.
"I have a weird question," she asked hesitantly. She didn't want to offend the older woman since she worked and lived in the hotel. She was probably cooped up in there most of her life.
“All right, shoot," was Dottie's upbeat response.
"I can work through the week, but I'll go a little stir crazy if I stay in my room and the lobby of the hotel. Are there other places I could get work done, even for a few hours at a time? That I could get to from the hotel?"
"Oh yeah, sure. We’re not in the best walking distance for a lot of places. We do have Betsy’s diner, if you're willing to walk about twenty minutes you can hit the far side of downtown, which is closer to us, and that'll be the library and a coffee shop. They’re in the same parking lot and there's a couple other stores there, but not places you could get work done. Those will probably be the main three places unless you want to call a car to come and get you and take you somewhere. Or if you wanted to go for a long walk, you could get anywhere in Lantern Lake. Walking all the way to Bunny Ridge or Lakeside would be too much."
It was more than Claire had thought there would be, she could spend the first day or two working in the hotel and after that check out each of the three locations Dottie suggested. It might not be the most exciting, but it would at least give her a change of scenery.
"Thank you and thank you for the ride, by the way. I appreciate it."
"Don't worry about it, honey. You are on my way anyway. And now you can help me unload the car." There was a mischievous grin on Dottie’s face.
"Deal," Claire agreed with a smile. It would be nice to help somebody else for a change. It would also give her a break from work which she wasn't supposed to be doing today anyway. It wasn't as if she would run out of, there was always stuff to do but she had planned on relaxing, or at least enjoying herself this weekend and helping Dottie put things away would keep her from worrying about her car or her body, or Roland, or her job. Then she thought maybe she would go get lunch by herself; it was weird to think of it that way. She didn't often go to restaurants or places by herself; she was always with friends or family or whoever she was seeing at the time. This week though, she would be on her own for everything. It would be just her and no company as a distraction. Now that she thought of it, that prospect felt a little more daunting than it had moments earlier.
Chapter 6
"Hey, big brother, you're still here. I would've thought you would’ve hightail it out of town by now," Robert called as he and the girls, his two boxers, entered the house. He had been surprised to still see his brother’s truck in the driveway.
"They haven't cleared the roadways out of town yet. I was just talking to Billy, you know my old friend that runs one of the plows. They haven't hit that section out of town yet because apparently a couple of trees collapsed over the roadway with the snow and they have to clear that out of the way as well is the snow now. I'm probably stuck here another two days," Jared hollered from where Robert assumed he was standing in the kitchen.
Sure enough, when he turned the corner, heading the same direction the girls had dashed off to, he walked through his living room and saw his brother standing at the oven in the kitchen. That was one thing about Jared that Robert never understood. Jared more than any of his brothers loved to cook. He was surprised his older brother hadn't gone to culinary school or something of that ilk. When he had gone into computer programming, he surprised everyone. Cooking was a stress reliever for Jared and whenever he stayed with Robert, he did all of the cooking. It was an understood thing. Not that Robert would complain, Jared was a fantastic cook.
"You need any help?" he asked already knowing the answer as he kicked off his boots and peeled off his jacket, taking both back to the front entry closet.
"Nope, I’ve got it," his brother called around the corner.
Since Jared was already busy, Robert decided to indulge his curiosity. He pretended to get a glass of water and spoke over his shoulder, "I ran into an interesting person today. Her name is Claire and apparently, she's from the other side of the mountains, got into a car accident, and stayed at your house for a day. I gave her a ride to Sophie's place."
He watched his brother stiffen at the mention of Claire and choked down the smile that threatened to form on his face. It was an interesting reaction for his brother. The reaction Claire had given him when he'd apologized for Jared earlier set off bells for Robert. Now, watching his brother's body language, Robert knew there was more here than met the eye.
"Oh? That was nice of you." It was a bland statement. Jared had never been good at keeping his voice blank.
"What do you think of her? She really appreciated people going out of their way to help her. Which I can understand, but when I apologized for how gruff you can get, she looked at me like I'd grown a second head." He held the glass up to his lips and was taking a swig when Jared turned around and frowned at him.
"I can be polite." Jared sounded offended.
Now, Robert was even more intrigued. "I know you can, you just don't normally see a reason to."
Jared grumbled gruffly without turning around.
Robert sat down at the island across from him and quietly tapped his fingers along his glass. "She's pretty," he ventured, keeping his voice as neutral as he could.
"Didn't you just start something with your office manager a week or two ago? You said things will probably get serious. Should you be looking for someone else already?" Even though he was joking, there was a slight bite to his brother’s voice Robert found intriguing.
"All I'm saying is you're one of maybe three people she knows in the area and she's stuck here for probably a week or so. You're stuck in town too; you could offer to take her to lunch or show her the sights."
He heard something close to a growl as his brother stirred the vegetables in the skillet in front of him. "She’s in a relationship so don't try to push buttons. In fact, she's in a relationship with someone who finds himself to be absolutely amazing. If that's the kind of guy she's interested in, I am certainly not what she's looking for."
Robert couldn't have been more stunned if his brother had turned around and slapped him. Those closest to Jare
d knew admitting he had feelings for someone, even in a roundabout way, was incredibly rare. It left Robert a little dumbfounded. He hadn't even told anyone about Lilianna until they'd been dating for three months and only then because Kevin had seen them on a date.
Before he could respond, Jared continued, "Besides, this week is the sixth anniversary of Lilianna’s his death, it's tomorrow night in fact. Thinking about someone else on that anniversary doesn’t feel right. Claire seems interesting and in another life, there might've been something, but Lilianna was it for me and I don't think love like that comes knocking twice. I should be thinking about Lilianna, not some woman I barely know."
Jared’s words were so sorrowful Robert was taken aback. He was so surprised to hear his older brother open up about his feelings, his brain couldn't even process sentences to put together. They all knew how deeply he had loved his wife and how deeply he mourned her. Since her death, he’d led a life of solitude that no one could shake him out of and yet this one stranded woman he had spent the day with seemed to have knocked his whole world off its axis.
Robert took a moment to gather his thoughts; he didn't want his brother to ruin an opportunity for his heart to heal, even a little. "Also, Jared, it's been six years. You and I both know Lilianna would've expected, even encouraged you, to get out into the world by now. She wouldn't have expected you to closet yourself up for this long. No one is saying it has to be anything serious. You don't even have to call it a date. Take her to a friendly lunch; be a normal human being. She doesn't live here so there's very little risk."
Jared wasn’t smiling. No jabs, no insults, no telling him to stay out of his business. Robert couldn't tell whether he was trying to put off anger or genuinely thinking about Robert’s words.
"I don't know. I'll think about it. Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes."
Robert was grateful his brother didn't turn around because he knew his eyes widened and his mouth hung open. Jared would think about it? Think about spending time with someone other than their family. The thought would have stunned any of their siblings to silence.
A light bulb went off. "Good, because I have to check on a patient and I forgot to do that before I left the clinic. I will be right back."
His brother mumbled an acknowledgment as Robert got up. Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he walked to the opposite side of the house to make sure Jared didn't hear him. For good measure he shut his bedroom and scrolled through his contacts until he found his aunt, Dottie. If anyone would know the best way to get their family hermit to join the rest of the world, it would be her.
Dottie had lost her husband to cancer and although she hadn't dated anyone that he knew of, she still led a very full social life. Aunt Dottie was much better at getting pieces into place than he was. Robert owed it to his brother to help him pick himself up and dust himself off. Then throw him into the deep end.
Chapter 7
"I can come pick you up, big sis," Leo offered. "I don't know how bad the snow is between there and here, but we only had a light dusting. Come on, it is Christmas Eve. It would be kind of weird to not have you at Christmas brunch."
Claire really appreciated her brother's willingness to come get her. But he was on his lunch break and she knew he didn't get off until four o'clock. That meant he wouldn't be getting to her until at least six with rush-hour traffic. By that time, it would be dark out and considering the trouble she had getting here, she didn't want to end up stranding her baby brother as well.
"It's fine, Leo. It's not like I’m missing Thanksgiving when all of the family is over. Christmas is just you, me, Sandy and Carrie, Mom and Dad. You can do without me for one year. I will be back next week once the car is fixed. The last thing I want is for you or Sandy to have to drive me back over here to get my car. It's better if I stick it out and not worry about it."
Before her brother could protest further, there was a large bang in the front end of the hotel. Claire had brought her laptop down to the sitting area near the fireplace for a change of scenery. People walking in and out had been mildly distracting but this thunk was loud enough to cause concern.
"I gotta let you go, Leo. The woman who runs this place must've dropped something and I want to go make sure she's okay. I'll let you know when I'm leaving to head back home. I love you."
"Love you too, be careful."
Hanging up, she set her phone down next to her laptop; there was no one else in the room and someone would have to get by her to get to it, so leaving it should be no problem. As she walked through the doorway to the front entryway, she saw both Dottie and Jared.
"Dottie, are you okay?"
Dottie held a small box she was sliding onto the counter and the larger box Jared had been holding must have busted out of the bottom because smaller boxes were now scattered across the floor at his feet and Newt scrambled away.
When Jared saw her, his eyes widened a touch, but he didn't say anything. It was very much a deer in the headlights expression. Which Claire didn't understand because he should know she was staying at the hotel. She was surprised to see him. Surely if he lived so far outside of town, he wasn’t in the habit of coming in to town to help his aunt carry things in.
"Don't just stand there, Jared. That box is clearly of no use to us now." Dottie sighed as she bent down and started picking up the smaller boxes.
Claire moved in and began helping as Jared took a step back, still holding what she could now see was a tattered box.
"Russell should know better than to put cardboard boxes on damp or snowy stoops. The front door to the hotel was open. He could've darn well put them inside. If he doesn't think I'm going to be complaining about that he's got another thing coming," Dottie complained with a huff as they scooped up the last of the boxes and put them on the counter. "If any of this is ruined someone is going to have a very bad day."
Dottie turned, pursing her lips. "Well, don't just stand there and be useless. Get the other box of stuff off the front porch. And hold your arms underneath it in case that one falls apart as well."
Jared blinked a second before setting down the box, more gingerly than was necessary, and pivoting on his feet back outside.
When Claire looked back to Dottie, she was rolling her eyes. "I love my nephews. But sometimes..." Dottie shook her head instead of continuing the sentence.
The older woman began organizing the small boxes on the counter and part of Claire felt like she should help her but hesitated because she didn't know what any of this was for and didn’t want to get in the way. Before she could decide what to do, Dottie turned back to her with a motherly smile on her face.
"Honey, I know you're stuck here through the end of the week for your car. But I wanted to lay an offer out for you. Our family, which I'm fairly certain you’ve figured out is quite large, has a big Christmas dinner at my brother's place every year. We routinely take in strays so it's not just family. I don't like the idea of any of my guests being alone on Christmas, so I'd like to extend you the invitation. Don't feel you have to go, it is by no means something you have to do. But be aware the offer stands, and we’re used to having a large group. Me, my sister, and my sister-in-law make a lot of food and you are more than welcome. If you decide you want to come, I'll be leaving here with the stuff I've already precooked about one. And dinner is at about four. Again, there's no pressure, but if you'd like to come with me, I'll be down here at about one." Dottie turned to continue straightening boxes.
The offer threw Claire off guard. Part of her was touched the older woman was willing to invite her, that their family was so willing to take people in but she said they were used to taking strays, so it probably wasn't the first time somebody staying at the inn had been roped into their family Christmas. It also felt weird and oddly intrusive. Even though Christmas wasn't the huge holiday for her family, Thanksgiving was, she still wasn't sure she wanted to be alone that day.
As Jared stumbled back in holding two more boxes that looked like th
ey were in better shape than the first, Claire took a couple steps back to head back to her laptop. As she reached the doorway, Dottie's huff made her stop, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"You know what, I think I have more work to do here than I initially thought. I may have to go through these boxes and see how many of them are actually ruined. I don't think I'm able to go to lunch with you, sweetie. Why don’t you take Claire? Goodness knows she's been cramped up in this hotel for days now and hasn't been able to go anywhere outside of walking distance. Plus, you're one of the few people she knows; it isn’t like you’re complete strangers. You wouldn't mind that, would you, Claire? Tapping in for me at lunch and stretching your legs. Getting out of the hotel's vicinity for a couple hours?" Dottie turned her attention to Claire with the most innocent expression on her face.
So far, the boxes did not look as if they were in that rough shape to warrant canceling plans. Claire glanced at Jared and saw that interestingly he was avoiding eye contact.
"Sure, Aunt Dottie, I know a good place to take her." In contrast to his expression his voice was upbeat.
Uncharacteristically, Claire blushed; she liked Jared, he was a nice guy. His brother called him grumpy, but she didn't see it. He was kind and generous and she liked talking to him. And if she was honest with herself, she was going a little stir crazy.
"Yeah, sure. Give me a minute to put my laptop away and get a jacket." She pivoted on her heels and returned to where she'd been sitting the last few hours.
She was excited to get out but more so to spend time with Jared, which was foolish. She lived and worked in Seattle, and although she worked a job that could be done remotely, she barely knew this man. Yet, there was something about him that spoke to her in a way that was new for her. Nothing could come from them having lunch. They lived in two very separate worlds. But knowing that didn't dampen the excitement she felt as she dashed up to her room.
Lantern Lake Winter Collection: Books 1-3 Page 15
