by Shirley Jump
“I think you’re doing great.” Katie finished her ice cream and tossed the napkin in the trash, then returned to sit beside Sam. The kids finished their treats and asked if they could play on the swing set in the small grassy area beside the ice cream shop.
“For ten minutes,” Sam said. “Then it’s time to go home.”
Libby made a face, but didn’t argue. She left her bear on the bench with Katie and Sam, then spun on her heel and chased after Henry, both of them dashing up the slide. Libby took Henry’s hand at the top and let him go first. For all her complaining about her brother, Sam could see this protective side in Libby that told him she secretly did love Henry. It was nice, and told him maybe—just maybe—he was doing a few things right.
“So what about you?” he asked Katie as they walked the perimeter of the small park. Sam had the stuffed bear tucked under his arm. “How is it that an incredible woman like you is still single? I’d expect you to be married and raising a couple kids of your own.”
She paused a long time. So long, he almost asked the question again. “I guess the right opportunity hasn’t come along,” she finally said.
“Opportunity? You make it sound like a job search.” He chuckled. “Marriage is great, you know. I really did enjoy being married. And having kids, as tough as it can be some days, is wonderful. I’d love to get married again, maybe even have more kids. If the right opportunity comes along.” He winked at her, expecting her to laugh.
Instead a shadow passed over her face, and the light mood from earlier evaporated. Her body seemed to tense, and her steps slowed. “I think the ten minutes are up. We should probably get going so you can get the kids home.”
But if he did that, the day with Katie would end, and suddenly, Sam didn’t want to say goodbye. “Why don’t I call Della and have her come over after the kids go to sleep, and just you and I go out?”
She was already shaking her head. “Sam, it’s been a long day and—”
“Are you always this difficult to date?” He grinned. “Because last I checked, you kissed me back, twice, and that doesn’t communicate ‘not interested in dating you.’”
She let out a long sigh. “It’s just...complicated.”
“You said that already. A dozen times.” Yet he read clear attraction between them. Unless maybe he’d been out of the game for so long that he was reading her wrong. “How is it complicated? Is there a boyfriend back in Atlanta?”
Please say no.
“No boyfriend. It’s not that.” She tore a leaf from a low-hanging branch, and watched it flutter to the ground. “I’m not staying here forever. You know that. I have to go back to Atlanta. Back to my real career.”
Yeah, she did. And he didn’t want to think about that day or when it would come. All he wanted to focus on was the fact that she was here now. He wanted to see more of Katie—and not with his children in the background.
And he knew the kids were getting attached to her, as much as he was. He didn’t want her to leave, didn’t want her to ever return to Atlanta. Maybe he’d come up with some brilliant idea that would keep Katie in Stone Gap.
“Either way, I see no reason for you and me not to have a little adult time. So before you can say no again, I’ll call Della.” He did just that, pulling out his cell phone and dialing Della Barlow. A few minutes of conversation and he had a babysitter lined up. “Della’s going to meet us at the house in a few hours. That’s just enough time to get the kids some dinner, bathed, in bed and asleep, especially after the busy day in the sun.”
A smile curved across Katie’s face. “You don’t give up easily, do you?”
“Nope. Not in real estate and not—” he turned to her and tipped a finger under her chin “—when it comes to beautiful and stubborn women.”
* * *
Katie had opted to go back to the bed-and-breakfast to get changed, so Sam could have some alone time with his kids, and to give herself a few moments to process how she’d gotten swept up into agreeing to dinner tonight. She should keep her distance, but there was something about his smile that drew her even when she knew he was the kind of man who wanted a future she didn’t think she could give him. Sam wanted marriage, maybe more kids.
So she’d done the only thing she could think to do—she’d checked her email to see if anyone in Atlanta was looking for a CPA. And there in her in-box were two job offers, both at firms she knew and liked. Which meant she had a decision to make—to stay or go back.
Either way, it was crazy to even consider something long-term with a man she had just met. Sam was the kind of guy a woman settled down with, living in a tiny town like Stone Gap, in the house with a fenced-in yard and a playful golden retriever. For a moment, she’d thought she was that kind of woman.
She wasn’t even sure if she had it in her to risk all that again. To dream about a forever kind of life with a husband and kids, and in the end, see both taken away in a blink.
“You look beautiful,” Della said, when Katie came into the kitchen a little while later. “I’m so glad you and Sam found a way to go out. As disappointed as I am that I won’t get to spoil those two little munchkins of his, I understand him wanting to spend time with his kids before they go to bed. Those little-kid years disappear in the blink of an eye. I love my granddaughter, Maddy, to pieces, and can’t wait for my sons to bless me with more grandchildren to spoil.”
Katie sat down at the kitchen table, a space that already felt like home, even after little over a week. She loved this bed-and-breakfast, with its warm tones and fresh-baked-bread scent. “Can I ask you something, if it’s not too forward?”
“Honey, I was raised by a woman who believed in living out loud. My mama, bless her heart, never let the sun rest without telling folks how she felt, or giving them advice they may or may not have asked for.” Della smiled. “There’s nothing you can say or ask me that I’m going to think is too forward.”
Katie toyed with the edge of the red plaid place mat, her finger running along the woven edge. “How do you know if you’re ready to settle down with one person?”
“I don’t know if anyone ever feels ready to settle down,” Della said. “It’s a scary thing to do, because it means you’re giving your heart to just one person, and trusting that they aren’t going to break it.”
Della’s gaze took on a faraway look, and Katie wondered if she was thinking about the brief affair her husband had had, the one that had produced Colton. As much as Katie adored Della Barlow, she was grateful for her brother’s existence.
“I never thought I’d want to have that white-picket life,” Katie said. “My childhood was...rough, and I had decided when I was young that instead of settling down, I was going to work on my career and never end up like my mother. Then I had a chance at the very life I had avoided and...even though I...I lost it, it made me wish for that one thing.”
Della’s features softened with understanding. It was as if there was some unspoken language among women, where they knew the pain the other had gone through. “And you’re scared to take that risk again, in case the same thing happens.”
Tears burned the back of Katie’s eyes. It was all she could do to nod.
“Life is about risk, honey.” Della’s warm hand covered Katie’s. “You risk your heart and sometimes it gets broken, but sometimes it finds the greatest love you will ever know. A love that can withstand the harshest storms. A love that is there for you, especially when you suffer a loss you think you can’t ever get past.” Della’s words seemed to come from a place deep inside her, a place of shared hurt.
“Did you lose a baby, too?”
Della nodded, and her eyes misted. Even all these years later, the pain still flickered on her face. “It was my second pregnancy. Mac was only a few months old, and when I got pregnant again right away, a part of me—” she swallowed, paused a moment “�
�a part of me was resentful. I had my hands full with my first baby, and all I can remember is feeling so overwhelmed, and thinking how on earth will I do this with two babies? Then a little over a month later, I woke up in the worst pain I’d ever felt, and I thought...” She took in a deep breath, held it for a moment. “I thought God was punishing me for wishing I wasn’t pregnant. My Bobby was there for me, thank God, and we got through it, together. For a long time, I felt like a failure because my body had betrayed me.”
“That’s how I feel, too.” The knowledge that she wasn’t the only one feeling that way eased the ache in Katie’s heart. “This is the one thing all women can do, and I...couldn’t.”
“It wasn’t you, honey. It was just part of nature’s plan. It took me a long time to work up the courage to try again, but I am so grateful I did, because I have Jack and Luke. Those boys are the best part of my life, and the family I’ve formed with Bobby is the only legacy I really care about leaving.” Della got to her feet, leaned over and drew Katie into a short, tight hug.
“Take the risk, Katie. In the end, even if it doesn’t work out, you will be stronger and better for it. And your life will have a meaning you can’t find punching a time clock.”
Tears sprang to Katie’s eyes. This woman she barely knew was more of a mother than her own had ever been. Katie’s arms went around Della and she leaned into the hug. It was as warm and comforting as the sunny yellow kitchen and the fresh baked bread on the counter.
After a long time, Della drew back and gave Katie a watery smile. “You have a wonderful time with Sam tonight. He’s a good man, one of the best. And if you take a chance on him, you may just find the very thing you’ve been seeking all your life.”
“What’s that?”
Della’s hand cupped Katie’s jaw, and her big green eyes held pools of understanding. “A home.”
Chapter Ten
Sam stood on the front porch of the Stone Gap Inn, as nervous as he had been in ninth grade when he’d gone to Amy Jean Mollering’s house to ask her to the freshman dance. Tonight, he’d nicked himself shaving, spent a solid ten minutes looking for a belt, and nearly walked out of the house without his shoes.
After watching “Frozen,” taking baths and hearing three stories, the kids had finally fallen asleep. Henry had curled up in Sam’s arms as he’d read a book about pirates, but Libby had stayed on the end of the bed, like an island of one. Still, she had stayed through both books Henry picked, then requested a favorite of hers from years before—a story about a princess living in a forgotten castle. Sam had taken that as a good sign. Maybe things were turning in a better direction with his kids. Maybe he could find a way to balance everything.
All that optimism faded the minute he reached the front steps of the Stone Gap Inn. It was insane to be this nervous about taking a woman he had already spent an entire day with out on a date. But it was the first time he’d been entirely alone with a woman in a long time, and he wasn’t quite sure he remembered how this whole dating thing worked. Surely in the ten years since he’d married Wendy, the rules had changed. Somebody really should hand out a manual, because Sam didn’t have a clue. And the friend he would most likely ask for advice was Katie’s brother. Probably not the best resource for how to woo this particular woman.
There was still a lingering feeling of guilt in his chest. It wasn’t just about how he began to date again, but whether he should.
He rang the bell, and Mavis Beauchamp pulled open the door a moment later.
“Well, if it isn’t Sam Millwright!” Mavis exclaimed. She opened her arms and drew him into a tight hug. “I haven’t seen you in months, young man.”
“Evenin’, Mrs. Beauchamp.”
She drew back and assessed him, an ample hip cocked to one side, her bright floral housedress looking like a garden exploded. “And what brings you by?”
“I’m here to call on Katie.” There was just something about being around Mavis that made a man revert to the more formal language of the old South. Maybe it was the way she was so deeply rooted in the traditions of this area, or the way she looked at folks, as if expecting them to trot out their Sunday best on a Tuesday afternoon.
“Oh, yes. Della said something about that, just before she headed out the door. You come right on in and make yourself comfortable. I’ll go get Katie.” Mavis ushered him into the front parlor and waved him toward a rose-colored love seat. “Do you want some iced tea? Lemonade?”
“I’m fine, ma’am, thank you.”
“All right. I’ll be back faster than a squirrel can shake his tail.” She gave him a wave, then headed down the hall. He heard Mavis in the kitchen, telling Katie her gentleman caller had arrived, and Sam had to bite back a laugh. He didn’t think he’d ever been referred to as a gentleman caller in his life.
He rose as Katie entered the room. She’d changed since their day at the beach, and wore a light blue dress that flared at the waist and danced around her calves. Her long brown hair hung in loose waves around her shoulders, and she’d done something different with her eye makeup, because her eyes seemed even bigger and browner. “You look beautiful,” he said.
She blushed. “Thank you.”
“I know we already ate, so I thought maybe we could head to one of my favorite places in Stone Gap.”
“Where’s that?”
He grinned. “It’s a surprise.”
“Don’t you dare take Katie to Makeout Hill,” Mavis called from the kitchen. “No lady should be sitting in the backseat of your car, getting busy.”
Sam laughed. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Beauchamp. I’m not a getting-busy-in-the-backseat kind of guy.”
“Uh-huh. I don’t know about that. Most every man I know is a getting-busy kind of guy.” Mavis poked her head into the front parlor. “You two get on out of here before I shoo you out. I have things to do, and I can’t be standing around, visiting all night.”
Sam laughed again, then put out his arm to Katie. “I think that’s our cue.”
She slipped her hand in the crook of his elbow. “Good night, Mavis. Don’t wait up.”
“You know I will.” Mavis waved them off, then headed back to the kitchen.
Sam led Katie out to his car, opened the door for her, then waited for her to settle into the seat before going around to the driver’s side. Once he was behind the wheel, the nerves returned, so he defaulted to the common ground of talking about the kids. “Even after that day at the beach, I ended up reading three stories to the kids before they finally fell asleep. Even Libby requested a book she used to love when she was little. It’s the first time she’s done that in a long, long time.”
“That’s wonderful,” Katie said.
“I think Della was a little disappointed that the kids were asleep when she got there,” he said.
Katie laughed. “She wanted to spoil them. She’s one of the most motherly people I’ve ever met, especially with the guests at the inn. I have hot coffee and warm fresh bread waiting on a tray outside my room every morning. And there are always fresh cookies in the kitchen, and heck, even the linens smell like lilacs.”
“She’s the mom everyone wishes they had, even the people that had cool moms.” He liked Della, liked all the Barlows, in fact. They were a great family and had made Stone Gap proud.
He started the car, then pulled away from the curb. Night was falling and the streetlights winked on, one by one, as he headed away from the bed-and-breakfast.
“I don’t know about you but I’m crazy nervous,” Katie said.
He laughed. “You read my mind. Maybe it’s because it’s been a while since I dated, or maybe it’s because you work for me—”
“But this feels a little weird.” They both nodded. “Then how about we don’t call it a date? Just...getting together. Nothing more.”
Not calling tonight a
date kept him from feeling like this was wrong—too soon, too much, too something for a man widowed only a year and a half ago. Though a part of him wondered if he was using those feelings as a way to not deal with the fact that he did, indeed, want very much to date Katie. “Okay, it’s not a date. Technically.”
“Good.” She sat back in her seat. “So...where are you taking me on our not-date?”
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?” He turned left, then right, winding his way out of the neighborhoods near Stone Gap’s downtown area. The house-lined streets gave way to more trees, fewer residences, and then finally to a long stretch of woods that nearly swallowed the moonlight above. He took another turn, down a rutted road, and pulled to a stop beside a decaying house that had stood on this land for so long nobody in town could remember who had first owned it. He parked the car and turned off the engine. “This is my favorite place in all of Stone Gap.”
“This...place? But it’s...”
“A piece of crap,” he finished. “Yup. But it’s a piece of crap with serious potential. Come on, let me show you.”
He grabbed a flashlight from the glove compartment, got out of the car, then came around to her side and took her hand as she exited. She’d worn flats with her dress, which was a good thing, because the terrain by the house was rough. “It still has good bones,” he said as they walked up the slope of the bumpy driveway, their path illuminated by the flashlight’s beam. “And one hell of a view.”
Sam led Katie up the porch steps and around to the back of the house. At the base of the hill, Stone Gap Lake spread its deep, dark waters before them like a man offering his palm. The moon caught the slight ripples and bounced off them in tiny sparkles. A loon called from somewhere far across the lake, a lonely cry that echoed in the quiet.
