Montana Love Letter

by Charlotte Carter

  Having finished their doughnuts, the girls were eager to go out and play.

  “You may go outside, but stay where I can see you.” Janelle hooked her hand around Raeanne’s head and pulled her closer for a kiss on the forehead. “No climbing into Adam’s boat, okay? And no running around. I don’t want you falling down.”

  “Okay,” she responded in her quiet voice.

  After the girls left, Sharon resumed the conversation. “Even if you decide not to buy the Jackson place, you’ll still have the preapproved loan available to buy another house. It’s a win-win situation. From what you’ve told me, I know your credit must be good.”

  Reasonably confident her credit was okay, she scanned the forms. Income, assets, debts and credit-card information. Not too hard to complete.

  Feeling pressured by both her current living situation and Sharon’s eager sales pitch, she nodded. “I just have to fill out the forms and take them to the bank here in town?”

  “That’s it. Paul Muskie is the bank president. He’ll take good care of you if he’s in. The answer will come back in a few days, then you’ll know just where you stand.”

  Kitty Cat jumped into Janelle’s lap and tried to get to the doughnut box. Janelle held her firmly, petting her and skinning her ears back flat against her head.

  Determining just how large a loan she could get and what the payments would be seemed a reasonable step to take. It didn’t commit her to any particular house. Maybe she could purchase something less expensive than the Jackson place and make smaller payments.

  “I’ll fill out the forms this afternoon and take them to the bank tomorrow,” she promised.

  Before Sharon left, she gave Janelle a recommendation for a pediatrician in town. Janelle planned to call right away to set up an appointment for Raeanne. She seemed fine after her accident, but Janelle wanted to make sure. Moving across the country involved a lot of changes. She needed to get her act together, reestablish the bits and pieces of her life. She couldn’t rely on Adam forever.

  * * *

  Adam cleaned up in the garage before he came in for dinner. He’d had a crank shaft to replace, the old one caked with dirt and grease from about a million years of sitting in a vacant lot beside the owner’s house. The guy was finally getting it ready to sell.

  As he walked up to the front door of the house, he eyed the wreath of dried flowers and pinecones, all tied with a blue ribbon, that Janelle had hung there. Nice touch. Made the place look homey. As if a woman lived here.

  Except Sharon’s visit that morning had reminded him that Janelle might not be living here much longer. She was intent on buying a house. Which was okay, he told himself. That had been her plan when she arrived in town.

  That thought made him realize that he’d miss her more than he’d be willing to admit to her or anyone else. But he and Hailey had been on their own for three years. No harm done when it went back to being just the two of them. They’d get along fine. They had up until Janelle and her daughter had entered their lives, hadn’t they?

  Or was that wishful thinking?

  Inside, he found the girls sitting in the middle of the living room with bits of cardboard, Scotch tape and scissors scattered all around. A couple of old shoe boxes were stacked on top of each other.

  “What are you girls up to?”

  “Janelle’s helping us to make a house for Rae’s miniature wooden dolls.” She held up a two-inch doll wearing what looked like a calico dress. “After we get the house made, we can make furniture—beds and tables and stuff.”

  “Sounds very creative.” Something he’d never have thought to suggest.

  He strolled into the kitchen, where Janelle was fixing a salad. “Need any help?”

  “No, I’m good. A chicken-and-noodle casserole is in the oven. It’ll will be done in about ten minutes.”

  “Great. I’m starved.”

  She shot him a grin. “Hard day at the office?”

  “Hard day at the garage with me on my back getting oil and gunk dripped on my face.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Sounds like a lot of fun.”

  “Not really.” He leaned back against the counter to watch her slice tomatoes. “So have you and Sharon decided on a house for you to buy?”

  “Not really. I am going to the bank tomorrow to submit papers so I can get a preapproved loan. That was Sharon’s idea. I’ll know then how much I can afford to buy.”

  “Sounds reasonable.” He plucked a crouton from the bag on the counter. It also sounded as if she was getting one step closer to making a decision, which would lead to her moving out of the cottage.

  He almost choked on that thought and had to grab a glass of water to swallow the dry crouton past the tightness of his throat.

  Later, after they’d had dinner and the girls were in bed, he sat down with Janelle’s laptop at the dining-room table. He furrowed his brow in determination. No matter how hard the lesson was, or how frustrating, he was going to get through it and move on to the next one.

  He turned the sound down low so the stupid owl wouldn’t shout the lesson for the whole house to hear.

  This time he wasn’t going to fail. His gut told him there was more at stake than just his ability to read an IRS form.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Janelle decided to take the girls with her to the bank and treat them to lunch at the diner after her business was concluded. They’d both been very good about staying close to home since Raeanne’s accident and deserved a reward.

  The bank had a definite Rocky Mountain feel, with paintings of towering, snow-clad peaks, endless forests and pristine lakes mounted on knotty pine walls. The quiet, unhurried pace and low hum of conversation reminded Janelle of a meadow with a nearby bubbling brook spilling over water-rounded stones.

  Paul Muskie, the bank president, wasn’t in, so the teller referred Janelle to the manager, Andrew Muskie, the president’s son.

  The younger Muskie’s desk sat off to the side away from the tellers. As Janelle approached, she was struck by the young man’s relative youth, perhaps in his early thirties. It seemed promotion came fast in this family-run organization.

  Despite his apparent youth, he wore the uniform of a serious banker—a dark, well-tailored suit, white shirt and an uninspired tie.

  “Mr. Muskie?”

  He lifted his head to reveal blue eyes that danced with intelligence and welcome. He came to his feet, sparing a quick look at the two girls. His smile creased his cheek.

  “Yes. How can I help you?”

  She first introduced herself, then the girls.

  He immediately recognized Adam’s daughter. “How’s it going, Hailey?”

  “Fine, I guess. Janelle’s going to take us to lunch.”

  “Lucky you. Say hello to your dad for me.” He turned back to Janelle.

  “I’ve been house hunting with Sharon Brevik. She suggested I get a preapproved loan so I’ll know what my payments might be.” She handed him the completed forms.

  “Excellent. Please sit down.” He pulled over an extra chair from a nearby desk so they could all be seated. The girls each claimed a chair and sat primly with their hands in their laps. Raeanne’s chair was so large that when she sat all the way back, her feet stuck out in front of her. Janelle sat back, crossed her legs and adjusted the hem of her skirt.

  “So you’re planning to settle here in the area?” Andrew asked.

  “That’s the plan. Assuming the housing situation works out.”

  “Excellent,” he repeated. “You and your husband will find Bear Lake a great place to raise children.”

  Her fingertips brushed the silver-and-sapphire necklace at her throat, remembering the last time someone had referred to her husband. “I’m a widow.”

  “Oh.” His expressio
n immediately sobered. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  She nodded in acknowledgment. No need for her to go into details.

  He skimmed the forms quickly. “I see you’re working for Adam.”

  “Part-time as a bookkeeper. After I settle in I hope to find more work.”

  A shallow V formed between his brows.

  She tensed, uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. “Is that a problem?” She couldn’t imagine having trouble getting a loan, considering the amount of cash she was willing to put down on a house.

  “Our loan officer is at our branch in Kalispell. He’s the one who makes the decisions about loans and so on. It’s above my pay grade, I’m afraid.” His smile looked forced, his dimple failing to appear. “I’m confident he’ll be able to work something out for you.”

  Suddenly she was far less confident of getting a loan than when she had walked in the door.

  “When do you suppose I might hear back?”

  “This being Wednesday, I should think we’d hear by Friday, Monday at the latest.”

  “Then I’ll look forward to hearing from you, Mr. Muskie.” She stood and shook hands with him, but behind her smile she hid a frown. The meeting hadn’t gone nearly as well as she had expected or hoped.

  * * *

  Adam closed up shop early that afternoon. Word around town was that there was a late stonefly hatch in Arrowhead Cove. The flying insects were a gourmet treat for fish, and the rainbow trout were going crazy.

  He found the girls down by the lake building a fort out of driftwood. “Hey, ladies. Who wants to go fishing?”

  Hailey immediately jumped to her feet. “I do! I do!”

  Janelle, who had brought a beach chair down to the dock and was reading, lowered her dark glasses. “Can you just close up shop in the middle of the day?”

  “Sure. That’s the advantage of owning your own business.” He grabbed Hailey, lifting her in the air and setting her on her feet again. “Go put on some long pants. It may cool off before we get home. You, too, Rae, if you want to come along. When we get back we’ll have a fire right here on the beach and cook our fish over the coals.”

  Rae looked to her mother for approval.

  “Neither of us have ever been fishing,” Janelle said. “Much less cooked fish over an open fire.”

  “Then it’s a great time to learn. The flies are hatching in Arrowhead Cove and the fish are jumping.”

  “Flies? Jumping fish?” Shaking her head, Janelle stood. “Aren’t we supposed to have a license to fish?”

  “The girls are good without a license. We’ll get you one later. I know the Fish and Wildlife guy, so no problem. Now, time’s a’wasting.”

  At Janelle’s obvious reluctance, Adam grinned. “You aren’t allowed to be a permanent resident of Montana without knowing how to fish. I’m sure that’s written someplace in the state constitution.”

  She folded up her chair. “Based on my experience at the bank this morning, I may not get a loan big enough to become a permanent resident.”

  He did a mental double-take at that news. Why on earth wouldn’t Muskie grant her a loan?

  “Go get changed and bag up some snacks and drinks for us,” he said. “I’ll get our gear and we’ll talk about that once we’re under way.”

  From his stash of fishing gear in the shed at the far side of the house, he retrieved several spinning outfits and fly-fishing poles. He got enough for himself and Janelle, if she wanted to try that. Along with his tackle box, he carried all the gear to the boat. He made a second trip to retrieve the life vests and a pair of oars, just in case.

  By the time he got everything safely stowed in the boat and checked that he had enough gasoline, Janelle and the girls had returned wearing warmer clothes and carrying jackets.

  “Okay, everybody hang tight. We’re going across the lake.” Hailey loosened the mooring lines for him and then jumped back in the boat. Slowly he eased the boat away from the dock. Janelle sat next to him up front with the girls settled in the open cockpit.

  Janelle tugged her baseball cap down firmly on her head. “I feel like this is senior ditch day in high school.”

  He shot her a grin. “Everyone needs to take a break sometime.” He accelerated and the boat rode up higher on the water.

  “How do you know the fish are jumping in this cove you’re taking us to?” she asked, holding her cap in place. She’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail and stuck it through the opening in the back of the cap. The ponytail swished back and forth in sync with the rocking boat like a flag signaling a friendly greeting.

  “There’s sort of an informal telephone tree among the locals. One guy spots the hatch and texts his buddy. The word spreads pretty fast.”

  “You do texting?”

  He grinned. “Fish isn’t that hard a word to read.”

  “But you don’t share the news with the tourists.”

  “Not if we can help it.”

  She laughed. “Then I guess I’m lucky I know a local.”

  “You better believe it, kiddo.” He steered a little to starboard. He spotted one other boat en route to the cove. Looked like old Ron Taylor, a local plumber, in his aging cruiser. The guy spent more time fishing than he did fixing broken pipes and replacing hot-water tanks. If the fishing was good, you could forget about seeing him.

  “So what happened at the bank this morning?” he asked over the sound of the wind and the engine noise.

  “I turned in my papers for the preapproved loan. Andrew Muskie acted as though my not having a regular job might be a problem.”

  “You told him you planned to work part-time, didn’t you?”

  “Yes. He didn’t seem impressed.”

  Adam scowled. While he wasn’t eager for Janelle to move out of the cottage, he didn’t like the idea of her being turned down for a loan, either. “Maybe I can talk to Paul, Andrew’s dad. Kind of smooth a path for you.” It was the least he could do, since Janelle had been the one to get him off the hook with the IRS. That ought to carry some weight with Paul.

  “Anything you can do to help, I’d appreciate. I’m worried about getting settled before school starts.”

  “I’ll give him a call tomorrow.” He eased back on the power as they approached the cove. He watched a fish rise. Ripples circled out from where the fish had surfaced to snatch a fly from the air.

  He grinned. Here comes dinner!

  * * *

  Janelle looked around the cove in awe. Shaped exactly like an arrowhead, a stream entered the lake at the tip of the arrow.

  Fir trees grew all the way to the shoreline. The trees grew so close together, no sign of human encroachment appeared possible. A huge bird’s nest sat perched in the top of one tree. As she watched, a giant white bird with a fish held in its claws circled the nest and then landed with the grace of a ballerina.

  “Looks like the local osprey are on our text-messaging service, too.” Adam switched off the motor, letting the boat drift in the quiet cove.

  “She’s beautiful.”

  “Just as long as she leaves a few fish for us.” He pulled the fishing poles from under the seats in the cockpit.

  Janelle didn’t have a clue what he was doing, but she watched with interest as he deftly put the poles together and strung the fishing line through the eyelets. He tied hooks at the end of the lines, added a couple of orange salmon eggs and slid a red plastic ball Adam had called a bobber in place. The man had good hands, she’d give him that.

  Another boat putted into the cove and cut the motor. Adam waved to the fisherman, who tipped his cap in response.

  “There you go, Hailey.” He handed his daughter one of the poles. “See if you can cast your line over there, as close to the big rock as you can get it.”

  With considerable ex
pertise, at least in Janelle’s eyes, Hailey tossed the line exactly where Adam had instructed.

  “Good job,” she said.

  “Hailey’s been fishing since she was about four years old,” Adam told her with obvious pride in his voice. “Okay, Buttercup, let me see if we can get you a great big fish for dinner.”

  Standing behind Rae, he put her hands in place, covered them with his own and then cast the line out over the stern of the boat.

  “All right. Now, you hang on to that fishing pole real tight and watch that little red bobber out there. If it jiggles, you pull real hard.”

  Wide-eyed and intent on her responsibility, she nodded.

  “Now then, Ms. Townsend. Spinning gear or a fly rod?”

  “I think we novices ought to stick with spinning gear.”

  “You got it.” He put together another rig and showed her how to hold the pole and cast, letting go of the line as it shot out. “Give it a try,” he ordered.

  Totally lacking any confidence she could cast properly, must less catch anything, she reared back and tossed the line toward the water.

  Unfortunately, she hadn’t let go of the line as instructed. Instead, the lead section of the line with the bobber, hook and salmon eggs spun around the pole, the salmon eggs flying off in the process, plopping into the water about five feet from the boat.

  Adam coughed and choked, trying to prevent the laugh that sparkled in his eyes.

  Her own laughter bubbled up. “Oopsy. Looks like I could use another lesson.”

  “Daddy! I caught one.”

  Janelle turned to see Hailey reeling in her line. Adam stepped quickly to her side. “Keep your line taut. Thatta girl. When he gets close, he’ll see the boat and make a run for it. Hold on tight.”

  He grabbed a long-handled net and leaned over the side of the boat. Hailey’s line bent over with the weight and pull of the fish.