by Holly Jacobs
She took the Post-it. “Sure. I can make that work.”
“Great. Now, go get ready for the Castellinis. I’m going to sit back and savor my cinnamon roll. And when you have a minute, could you give me Maggie’s phone number so I can thank her properly?”
Audrey tried to keep the speculation out of her voice as she said, “She’s at my house with the kids today, so you can reach her there.”
“Great. I will.”
And because the matchmaking bug had hit, she added, “You know, you should probably think of a way to reciprocate. Maybe ask her out to dinner some night?”
She left before he could respond.
What was with her? She had romance on her mind, and that wasn’t like her at all. Between the kids, work and now the Greenhouse, her life was full. She didn’t have time to date, which was good because her last attempt had been a disaster.
She’d been held up at a meeting that ran late, and got home just in time for Maggie May to apologize profusely and say she had some stomach bug and couldn’t babysit. It was too late when... What was the guy’s name? Paul. That was it.
He was a nice zoologist. It was too late to call and cancel. She opened the front door just as Bea told her she was feeling sick. He stepped inside and... Bea barfed on his shoes.
She would have thought a guy who dealt with zoo animals on a daily basis could handle a little vomit.
He couldn’t.
That had been right before Willow came to stay with them.
Audrey still got asked out on occasion, but she’d said no the past few months. She was trying to build a connection with Willow and didn’t want to divide her attention.
So why, all of a sudden, was she trying to fix up Mr. Lebowitz and Maggie May?
And why, when she thought about them dating, did she think about dating, as well?
And the biggest question of all... Why was it Sawyer Williams she imagined sitting across a restaurant table from her?
Clutching her orange Post-it note, she hurried into her office.
She had a lot of work to do. Notes to pull together for her clients Marcia and Ms. Wilkins. The Castellini meeting.
She was not going to think about fixing up Mr. Lebowitz and Maggie May.
And more than that, she was not going to think about dating anyone herself.
Especially not Sawyer Williams.
CHAPTER FIVE
AUDREY’S FIRST THOUGHT on Saturday was, Today we go to Sawyer’s.
She felt...excited. She tamped down the feeling and reminded herself that this wasn’t a date. Sawyer was a nice man who, despite himself, was taking an interest in Willow.
That was a good thing.
She knew from personal experience that having people care about you made a difference in how you saw yourself. She got out of bed and meandered downstairs.
Weekdays were frenetic, which was why she savored moving at a snail’s pace on the weekends.
She smelled coffee before she got all the way down the stairs. Willow had beat her to the kitchen.
Most nights Willow went up to her room around nine. But she rarely came downstairs early. She definitely had that teenage ability to sleep late down to a science.
“I started your coffee,” she said. “I was just going to come wake you up. You said we could go to the DMV when I was ready. Well, I’m ready.”
This was the first time Audrey had seen Willow so excited. She hadn’t wanted to offer to let Willow learn to drive. She knew that any number of things could happen. For years she’d avoided learning to drive herself.
But it was her job to prepare Willow for adulthood. And if Audrey taught her, she could make sure Willow drove as safely and responsibly as possible.
Still, things could happen. Things you couldn’t control.
She pushed the thought away and concentrated on her smiling charge.
“Willow, I know you’re excited, but it’s a holiday. The DMV is closed.”
“Oh. I checked that it had Saturday hours, but I forgot it was a holiday.”
Her disappointment was palpable.
“Tell you what, I’ll try to get out of work early on Monday and take you up before you go to Sawyer’s.”
“Really?”
“Really. I’ll text Mr. Lebowitz today, but I’m sure he won’t mind.” He genuinely liked her kids and allowed her to juggle her schedule to make things work for them. She always made up the time later.
“You don’t have to go to any trouble for me,” Willow said.
“I know I don’t have to,” Audrey assured her. “But I want to. You’re worth a bit of trouble now and again.”
Willow looked as if she wanted to say something, but she sat mutely.
Audrey didn’t push. She poured herself a cup of coffee and took the stool next to Willow’s. “You are worth it, you know.”
“Worth what?” Willow scoffed, but Audrey knew the question was genuine. “Me juggling my schedule. You’re worth that and a lot more. I can’t say I will always be able to accommodate you, but I can say that if it’s important to you, it’s important to me and I’ll try.” She took a sip of coffee. “Do you need me to quiz you for the test?”
“No. I’ve got it.” With this, at least, Willow sounded confident.
“What’s the name of the rule that you use to maintain a safe distance from the car in front of you?”
Willow rolled her eyes. “The four-second rule.”
“You’ve read the book.” Audrey had never seen Willow pick up so much as a textbook and yet she had good grades.
Willow seemed to be thinking hard for a minute. Finally, she made her decision. “Hang on. I’ve got something to show you.”
Audrey sat drinking her coffee as Willow disappeared up the stairs. Moments later, she returned and set an e-reader on the counter. “I don’t normally read in public,” she said, as if this was a huge deal. “I got used to hiding out when I read.”
Audrey couldn’t imagine why Willow would feel that was necessary. “Why hide?”
“People stole my books at one house,” she said simply.
It was as if a lightbulb clicked on. Audrey remembered what it was like to know that privacy wasn’t an option.
Willow continued. “And I tried going to the library, but a lot of the places I’ve stayed weren’t close to a branch. And I couldn’t count on rides to return the books I borrowed, so I saved my money for a year and bought this. And I worked for the money,” she said hastily, as if she didn’t want Audrey to think she made stealing a habit.
“I was staying with a family and they paid all the kids allowances. We had a chore list, so I did the other kids’ chores for a stake in their allowance. It still took me a long time to save.”
Audrey cocked her head, silently asking for permission to pick it up. Willow nodded. The small device weighed less than Audrey imagined. “I’ve never had an e-reader.”
“They’re amazing. You can borrow ebooks from the library. It’s not quite the same as a real book, but...” She shrugged.
Audrey picked up the reader. “Why hide it from us?”
“Because people take your stuff at most places. I just sort of expect it. But it didn’t happen here. For the first month I put tape on my door, just so I’d know when you all broke in,” Willow admitted. “But the only time you ever came in here was to take clothes or change the sheets. And when Bea snoops, but she doesn’t usually take anything.”
“I would never invade your privacy.” Audrey hesitated. “Well, under normal circumstances, I would never invade your privacy. If I thought you were doing something dangerous, I might.”
Willow nodded. “I know that now.”
Audrey set the e-reader back on the counter. “What do you like to read?”
“Everything. Anything. The library has limited supplies of ebooks, but a lot of the public domain classics are available for free online.”
“Can I see your list?”
Willow nodded.
Audrey turned on the machine and homed in on the bookshelf page. “Wow.”
From Pride and Prejudice to Tarzan to Sherlock Holmes, page after page of classics.
“I watch for older books that are free,” Willow said, “and I borrow newer releases from the library.”
Audrey handed the reader back to her. “I hope you feel comfortable reading in front of us this summer. That’s why I never saw you with the permit booklet?”
Willow nodded. “I knew that no one would steal that, but I just read it instead of my books at night.”
That explained how Willow could go up to bed at nine and still manage to sleep away her weekends. It also explained why sometimes Audrey saw the light on in the girl’s room when she went to bed.
She realized that even though she sometimes doubted it, she was making inroads with Willow. The girl trusted her, at least a little.
“Thank you for sharing with me,” Audrey told her.
Willow nodded. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I still think you all are nuts, but this has been the best placement I’ve ever had. When I realized that you guys weren’t going to rip off my stuff, I felt...relieved. You don’t know what it’s like having only a few things that matter to you and having to guard them all the time.”
“You’re wrong, I do understand that feeling.”
“And I just realized that when I ripped off Sawyer, I was doing the same kind of thing to him. They said...” She fell silent.
Audrey couldn’t help but wonder if the they Willow referred to were the other kids involved in the break-in. Willow regrouped. “Most of what we...what I took was electronics, and this—” she held up her reader “—is the same thing, just a piece of electronic equipment, but it’s mine. And it means a lot to me. I worked hard to get it, and I’ve worked even harder to keep it. So it hit me that I did the same thing to him that others did to me. I took the things he worked for. I stole his sense of trust. I never had that until I came here. Sawyer did—he felt like his home was a safe place until I came and stole that feeling away from him. Even if we’d taken all his stuff and it was covered by insurance, that feeling of safety is gone forever. He comes home every Monday to watch me mow because he’s afraid I’ll do it again.”
“Willow, I think he respects what you’re trying to do. That’s why he invited us over today.”
Willow shrugged.
“And even if Sawyer doesn’t realize you’d never rip him off again, I do,” she said, meaning every word of it. Something in her eased just to express that trust out loud.
She’d thought Willow might look pleased with her assurances, but instead she looked confused. “Well, thanks, I guess.”
“And thank you for the coffee. Between you and Bea, I’m getting spoiled.”
“Its just coffee,” Willow said as she picked up her e-reader and left the room.
Audrey took a long sip. It didn’t taste like just coffee to her.
It tasted a bit like success...or at least the beginnings of it.
* * *
BY THE TIME Audrey packed the kids in the car later that morning and headed over to Sawyer’s she’d spent a few hours mulling over Willow’s revelations. And the longer she mulled, the more optimistic she felt. She was making progress.
It was the first time the girl had really opened up. Plus there was the fact that Willow was a reader.
She was going to make it a point to take her to the bookstore soon.
By the time they reached Sawyer’s she was flying high. She put the car in Park, turned around and looked at the kids as she said, “Remember, everyone be polite and on your best behavior.”
Clinton and Bea gave her their best innocent looks. Clinton went so far as to point to himself with raised eyebrows.
Audrey laughed. “Yes, I mean you two.”
She opened her car door and they were in the house before Audrey had gotten her salad from the back. Willow had insisted on making something, too, and had held it on her lap for the ride.
“Are you going to tell me about that?” Audrey asked, nodding at the dish.
“It’s a joke,” Willow told her. “Sawyer will get it.”
He was waiting at the front door for them. “The other two asked if they could go out to the pool. I hope you don’t mind. I told them to stay in the shallow end until we get out.”
“That’s fine,” Audrey assured him.
He took the macaroni salad from her.
“I made something, too,” Willow announced. “Just for you, Sawyer.”
“She wouldn’t even let me in the kitchen yesterday when she cooked it—whatever it is,” Audrey added.
Sawyer started to laugh. “I think I can guess at least one ingredient.”
Willow grinned, “Quinoa salad.”
Sawyer’s chuckle graduated to a full-blown belly laugh, and Willow joined in.
Audrey felt totally left out. “Is anyone going to share?”
The two of them were laughing too hard to get out any coherent words.
“Fine. Keep your joke to yourselves.” She tried to sound disgruntled, but secretly she was pleased that Sawyer had made some kind of connection with Willow. This day was getting better and better. “We should probably go make sure the kids aren’t drowning each other.”
Sawyer stowed both of the salads in the refrigerator, and asked, “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Just ice water for me,” Audrey said.
“Nothing yet for me,” Willow said. “I’ll go check on the kids.”
“So are you going to tell me what that was about?” Audrey asked.
“The day I agreed to let Willow come mow? She used quinoa as a threat...well, really, she was threatening me with you, and quinoa was her example of how diabolical you are.”
“Diabolical?” Audrey asked. “Willow threatened you with me?”
“She said if I said no to letting her come mow, then you’d get out of the car and convince me. She said that once you set your mind to something, you made it happen. She used the fact you got her to eat quinoa as an example. I had to look it up,” he added.
Audrey laughed, thoroughly delighted. “It’s good to know she thinks I’m persuasive.”
“Let’s go out by the pool,” Sawyer said, and led the way.
“There you are,” Bea shouted, and swam from the shallow end of the pool toward the deep end with Clinton on her heels.
Willow was sitting on the edge of the pool, dangling her feet in the water.
“Are you going in?” Audrey asked her.
Willow shook her head. “No. I can’t swim.”
Clinton swam over to Willow. “Come on into the shallow end. I’ll teach you.”
Willow shook her head. “No, that’s okay.”
“Me and Bea couldn’t swim when we moved in with Audrey.”
Bea nodded. “She got us lessons. All three of us—I mean, her and us. She couldn’t swim, either, and said that it was ridiculous to live on a Great Lake and not be able to swim.”
“Now I know why you don’t go in when Maggie May takes us to the pool,” Clinton said. “Really, come on in.”
Willow eyed the water. “I...”
Audrey could tell that she was going to say no, but Clinton said, “If Audrey can learn, you can. She doesn’t float. She sinks. Like a stone.”
“Hey,” Audrey shouted.
“It’s ’cause you’re not fat,” Clinton hurriedly added. “Fat gives you buoyancy. You don’t have
any so you sink.”
“I can’t tell if that was a compliment or an insult,” Audrey whispered to Sawyer as she watched Clinton coax Willow into the water. Bea swam over to help.
“I think it was a compliment,” Sawyer said.
Audrey nodded. “Well, okay, then.”
“Can I ask you something?”
Audrey hesitated a moment, then said, “Sure. You can always ask, but it doesn’t mean I’ll answer.”
“Why? Or maybe how? How did you end up with three kids?
Audrey took the seat next to him. “I got to know Clinton the summer after my senior year of high school. He was a five-year-old in foster care.” It was more than that, but she didn’t owe Sawyer the whole explanation. “I kept in touch with him when I was away for college. We’d hang out when I was in town. After I graduated, I wanted him to come live with me.”
“You were twenty-one, twenty-two?”
“Twenty-three. It was a five-year program. But that’s just how the social worker sounded. As if a twenty-three-year-old couldn’t manage to parent. I pointed out there were a lot of kids who became parents in high school and it was better for him to have someone young who’d stick it out rather than older foster parents who were just transitional. I might be young, but I was going into it looking at it as a permanent placement—his permanent home. I jumped through so many hoops in order to get him. I took parenting classes and... Well, I won. While he was at his last home, he’d met Bea and they’d clicked. He’d taken her under his wing. So after he came to live with me, we kept in contact with her, and I knew she was part of the family, too. So more hoops, more paperwork, a lot more fighting and eventually she came to live with us.”
“How long after you got Clinton?” Sawyer asked.
She did the math. “About ten months.”
“And Willow?”
Honestly, the man was nosy. Normally, if someone asked such personal questions she’d brush them aside. Mr. Lebowitz knew most of the story, so did Maggie May, but she hadn’t shared it with them just weeks after they’d met. Offering their family history was an act of trust. Like when Willow had shared her e-reader.
