“You’re fourteen, Sawyer. You don’t have to keep your guard up all the time.”
“Really? My real mother is gone and we never hear from her. My father is a...” She smiled just enough to take the sting out of what was obviously going to be a snide comment. “My housekeepers are minions of evil. Should I say more?”
“No, that will do.” He stood. “I’m going to walk you back now before Ava calls her brother and has the entire eight-man police force of Holly River out hunting for us.”
He smiled as he followed Sawyer out the door. Thinking about Ava did that to him.
CHAPTER NINE
WHEN SHE SAW Noah and Sawyer approaching from the side lawn, Ava went into her apartment. Every meeting seemed like it could be fraught with tension, either concerning Sawyer or the child Noah didn’t know about. If she told him about Charlie, which was, she supposed, the honorable, honest thing to do, would he be angry that she hadn’t contacted him? Not that she had any way of doing that. But maybe he would say that she should have scoured heaven and earth to find him.
Would he want to have a place in Charlie’s life, which could potentially be even worse? Charlie did not need another parent whose lifestyle was so risky. And another recurring problem—would Ava throw caution to the wind and let him kiss her again? That would be so wrong. A woman can’t let a man kiss her, not like Noah did, when she was keeping such a huge secret from him.
She heard Sawyer and Noah talk for a few minutes, but she couldn’t hear the words. Then the front door to the administration building closed, and Ava came out of her apartment.
“How did everything go?” she asked Sawyer.
“Actually not bad, until the last sixty seconds.”
“What happened in the last sixty seconds?”
“Dad told me he’s leaving in the morning for a work trip to some remote area near Aiken, South Carolina. Apparently some stupid birds have built a nest at the top of the one cell tower in the area, and super-duper Dad has to get a crew to climb to the top and relocate the nest. It’s interfering with transmission or something.”
“Are they allowed to do that? I mean, aren’t the birds protected?”
“Not when cell phone service is iffy anyway. I guess they’ve got to follow some special rules or something. They try to preserve the nest and find a safe place for it and not upset the mother bird.”
“That’s kind of nice, isn’t it?”
“I suppose, but here he goes again. He leaves me, his daughter, to go protect some mama bird’s babies. I mean, give me a break!”
Ava put a hand on Sawyer’s arm. “You forget, honey. I know what’s really bothering you. You’re afraid for your father. Do you think he’ll be the one to take the climb tomorrow?”
“Knowing him, yeah. He’s got to get the credit for restoring cell service as well as saving all the endangered wildlife.”
Ava didn’t want to argue with Sawyer, but she no longer believed, in fact never had, that Noah was strictly a glory seeker who insisted on taking all the risks himself. Yes, he took some risks in his life and his work, but when his feet were on solid earth, he seemed reliable and dependable. When he located Sawyer in Holly River, he stayed close by, in fact, even rented a house with hopes of restoring a good relationship between them. He returned to Chapel Hill and packed some of Sawyer’s prized possessions. Ava believed wholeheartedly that Noah cared about his daughter. If he would just quit taking so many chances with his job, Ava knew he and Sawyer would be on the road to mending their differences.
“I’m going back to my cottage,” Sawyer said. “I’ve got some of my favorite music in my backpack and I want to listen to it.”
“Okay. Maybe I’ll see you later.”
Before Sawyer had reached the outer door, the phone in the reception area rang. SherryLynn answered it. A concerned look immediately crossed her normally placid features. “Oh no,” she said. “Hold on. Ava’s right here.”
Ava grabbed the phone. “What’s wrong?”
The words she heard from the woman who monitored the day care center turned Ava’s blood to ice. “I’ll be right there,” she said, dropping the phone on SherryLynn’s desk. She passed Sawyer and ran out the door.
“What’s the matter?” Sawyer called after her.
“It’s Charlie,” Ava called over her shoulder. “He’s upset and throwing some sort of tantrum.”
Sawyer hurried to keep up. “I told you that kid needed watching. It’s not just the losing things. Sometimes he acts like he’s going to have a meltdown.”
By the time she reached the day care center, Ava was out of breath and consumed with panic. Had Charlie hurt someone? Had he hurt himself? Forgetting Sawyer was behind her, she burst through the door and into a room that seemed to be filled with chaos though there was only one child present and one staff member. The rest must have been ushered to a safer environment.
Charlie sat in a corner, wedged between a wall and bookcase. He sat cross-legged in the middle of too many paper scraps to comprehend. He was crying, the most pitiful sound Ava had ever heard.
“Why haven’t you helped him?” Ava snapped at a staff member.
“Look at him, Ava. He’s hysterical. Every time I tried to approach him, he’d get more upset.”
Ava walked closer to Charlie. He cowered farther into the corner and wailed. “Please, listen to me, Charlie. Everything’s going to be okay,” she told him. Come on, Charlie, you can trust me.
“He was okay until Mrs. Hubbard left. I was afraid something like this might happen. Lately we’ve had to watch Charlie so carefully. He’s been sad a lot.”
Ava shot a quick glance at the woman before returning her attention to Charlie. “Why didn’t someone tell me about this behavior?” she asked.
Behind her, she heard Sawyer’s voice, “I sort of did, Ava.”
Ava slowly crouched in front of Charlie. He refused to look at her, squinting his eyes tightly shut.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” she said, picking up some of the scraps of paper beside him. They were pages of a book. No, several books. A quick look at the empty spaces in the bookcase told her where the books had come from. “Why did you do this, Charlie?”
“I hate the books!” he wailed. “I hate all books.”
Charlie loved books. At least that’s what Ava had thought. “But why?” She attempted to put a hand on his shoulder, but he slid farther away.
“I hate this place,” he said. “I want to go home. I want my mommy and my daddy.”
“Oh, sweetie, that’s just not possible.” Ava took a moment to peruse the ruined pages. They were all of families, children with their parents, parents together. Happy, well-adjusted families. Charlie had once had one of those, too.
“Do you remember why you came here, Charlie?” Ava said, keeping her eyes on his, holding his attention.
“Someone said my parents died, but that’s not true. They wouldn’t do that.”
“No one wants to die, Charlie, especially your parents. They loved you very much. But it was an accident. Your parents didn’t want to leave you.”
His voice was reduced to a frail whimper when he said, “It’s a lie. They didn’t die. They’re coming to get me and take me away from here.”
Ava held out her hand. “Give me your hand, sweetie. Please. I bet you didn’t even really want to hurt the books.”
“Yes, I did.” He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and frowned. Ava’s heart broke.
After another few calm minutes, Ava asked him, “Will you come with me now?”
“Okay,” he said.
She took his hand and pulled him up. She resisted the urge to hold him close to her, to comfort him. That would come later, but not just then, when he was hurting so deeply because of his mistrust of adults. Now he needed peace and quiet, so she just squeezed his hand and held
on tight.
Sawyer dashed forward and slung an arm around her and Charlie.
“You’ll be okay, Charlie. I promise,” Sawyer whispered in Charlie’s ear, but Ava could still hear every word. Charlie nodded.
Ava put her hand on the top of Charlie’s head. His dark hair was damp with sweat. His face was streaked with tears. “Sawyer, will you take Charlie back to the cottage? Tell Mrs. Carmichael that I’ll be over later to explain what happened. But in the meantime will you stay with him?”
“Sure.” Sawyer reached for his hand. At first he knotted his fingers into a fist, but finally, tentatively he tucked his hand in hers. They started for the door.
“You know what?” she said to him.
He looked up at her with wide, inquisitive eyes. “What?”
“I don’t have a mom. She didn’t die, she left me. But that’s almost the same thing, except your mom didn’t mean to leave. Lots of the kids in this place don’t have parents.”
“But you have a dad, don’t you?” Charlie asked her.
“Yeah, and I’m always afraid he’s going to die. Not like your dad did. Your dad didn’t mean to while my dad knows he could die anytime, and it makes me mad.”
Ava started to intervene. She wanted Charlie’s attention away from death or abandonment. But she never got the first words out.
Charlie stared up at Sawyer in rapt attention. “Why does he do something that makes you mad?” he asked.
“Let me tell you something, kid. Parents aren’t always the shiniest block in the toy box. They make mistakes just like you did today with those books.”
“What do you mean about the shiny block?”
“I’ll explain it all to you when we find some milk and cookies to drown our sorrows.”
Ava just stood and watched them. Charlie may not have understood everything Sawyer was telling him, but he went willingly out the door with her. Perhaps shielding youngsters from the truth wasn’t always the smartest way to go. Ava sighed with relief as she went about the task of picking up a small mountain of torn paper.
* * *
THREE DAYS LATER, on Thursday, December was a week old and Noah had returned from his trip to Aiken, South Carolina, where he’d successfully relocated a nest of baby ospreys to a turtle preservation area. He and two crew members had restored service to the remote properties of horse farms and vegetable growers. He’d assigned a small job to his crew over the next two days with the hope of spending time with his daughter.
With time to kill before the next day, when he’d go to the school and try to make a date with his daughter, he sauntered into the Holly River Café where the smells were too good to resist. He brushed a light dusting of snow off his jacket and removed his gloves, then took a seat at the counter.
After placing his order, he sat with his hands around a warm mug of coffee. The counter was empty except for him. Most of the tables were full. After a few minutes a man came in, one Noah recognized.
Jace came right over, took a seat next to Noah. “How you doing, buddy?” Jace asked.
Noah smiled. At least someone was happy to see him. “Still a bit mortified over the scene that played out between me and my daughter on Sunday.”
“It’s forgotten, Noah. Heck, even I have a kid now, something no one ever thought would happen, so I know not to expect quiet and peaceful ever again.”
Noah chuckled. He liked Jace Cahill. He’d heard almost everybody in town did. “I can’t tell you what I’d give for a few minutes of quiet and peaceful with my daughter,” he said.
“It’ll get better,” Jace said, with all the puffed-up wisdom of a new dad. “Remember, kids grow up to be adults and outgrow all their childhood problems. Then they get to act just plain foolish like we do.”
“So what are you doing here?” Noah asked. “You and Kayla not having dinner in tonight?”
“Nope. She’s meeting with some of the town council at city hall about her run for councilwoman in the special election. I don’t know why she’s so worried about her chances. She’ll win hands down.”
“You sound pretty positive.”
“Only one other person is opposing her, and he doesn’t seem to be taking the election too seriously. His eighty-fifth birthday is the day of the election. I truly believe that what he wants for his birthday is the announcement that he lost. But it seems more fair to have two candidates, so...”
When Jace let his voice trail off, Noah had glimpsed another fact about small town politics. “Does Kayla have aspirations beyond Holly River?” he asked.
“You bet. She hopes to end up in the North Carolina state senate eventually and spend the workweek in Raleigh. Nathan and I will be living like bachelors until the weekends. Like tonight. I dropped him off at Carter’s and came to pick up takeout for all of us.”
Remembering that Jace had recently taken over operation of the family’s Christmas tree farm, Noah asked, “How is the tree business?”
“Couldn’t be better,” Jace said. “Maybe you heard that I avoided taking over the farm for years. But now that I’m into it, I’ve realized it’s a good thing for me. Making a bit of money and still have plenty of free time for my other business, or at least I will after Christmas.” He laughed. “If we didn’t do gangbusters in December, we’d be in a heap of trouble. Two and a half weeks till Christmas and half our stock is gone. Doesn’t help that Mama and Kayla have picked out the prize trees to decorate the barn for our wedding on Christmas Eve.”
“You’re getting married in a barn?”
“Sounds weird, doesn’t it? But yeah. Only these days even the oddest places are called venues. Believe it or not, Crestview Barn is a wedding venue.” He paused a moment before adding, “Hey, you ought to come.”
“Me? Thanks, but I’m sure you’ve got plenty of guests already.”
“Always room for one more. You’re renting that house next to the school, aren’t you?”
Noah nodded.
“Then you’re a member of our community. And you’ve been to Mama’s for dinner, so that practically makes you a member of the family.”
“Jace,” Noah reminded him, “I haven’t been invited.”
“You have now,” Jace said. “I’m inviting you.” A huge grin spread across his face. “Just had a great idea. My sister, Ava, doesn’t have a date for the big event yet. I don’t think she plans to invite anyone from Holly River. How’d you like to be her escort?”
A lot of time had passed since a simple suggestion like Jace’s had lit a fire in Noah’s bloodstream, but it sounded like a great idea. “I’d like it fine,” he said, “but I’m not exactly Ava’s favorite person, not that I wouldn’t like to be.”
Noah wasn’t sure why he’d said that, perhaps to give Ava an out. However he knew Ava had liked the kiss the other night.
“I’m not asking you to marry her, Noah. Besides, Ava likes everybody,” Jace said. “When are you going to see her again?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Great. I’ll stop by her office in the morning and tell her what we talked about. Then you just have to do the asking when you see her.”
All at once Noah experienced a bout of nervousness he hadn’t known for years, not even when he was four hundred feet up a tower. Climbing a tower, riding a motorcycle, racing a boat—these were all activities he was good at, used to. But asking a smart, pretty woman like Ava Cahill on a date, well, that was a totally different, nail-biting experience. Resigning himself to being turned down tomorrow was the only way he’d get through his dinner tonight at the café.
The waitress brought Jace his takeout meal in two huge sacks. “Tell the family I said hi,” she said.
“I’ll do that, Allie,” he said. “And since I figure you’re going to see Sam McCall later, you tell him I said hi, too.” He stood up, patted Noah on the back. “And take good care of my pal here, okay?”<
br />
Noah wished someone would take good care of him. He was the fearless guy who climbed cell towers and balanced in a harness four hundred feet in the air. But he was much more comfortable meeting a woman in a dark cocktail bar or even taking Ava in his arms in a quiet barn and kissing her than he was asking her for a date.
CHAPTER TEN
“YOU DID WHAT?” Ava had heard Jace correctly, but she needed him to repeat the words again anyway. Her Friday had not been going well, and an unexpected visit from Jace and this announcement didn’t make it any better.
“Yeah, I ran into him yesterday and I told him to ask you to the wedding.”
“Why would you do that? Don’t you think I can get my own date?”
“Well, sure, but every time we’ve talked about who the lucky dude was going to be, you’ve avoided the topic. I just figured the pool of eligible bachelors in Holly River wasn’t offering up too many choices.”
“That’s up to me to decide,” she said. “When I need you to manage my social calendar, I’ll let you know.”
Jace backed away, holding up his hands as if surrendering. “That’s funny. Mama and I didn’t know you had a social calendar these days, Ava.”
She was furious that Jace had interfered in her life, but even more than that, she was curious. She studied his face as he stood in her office, but nothing was revealed. What had Noah said when Jace made the suggestion? Had Noah laughed? Had Noah made some excuse about being busy on Christmas Eve? Had he...?
Oh heck. She blurted out the question. “What did Noah say?”
“He liked the idea,” Jace answered. “He’s going to do it. And I think you should say yes.”
“But I only know Noah as a business connection. He’s the father of one of my residents.” Okay, that was a blatant lie. In one way, she knew him much better than other men she had dated. “Why would he want to take our relationship in a different direction?”
Jace grinned in that boyish way that had always made her do whatever he wanted. “Say yes, and maybe you’ll find out.”
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