The Sisters of Sugarcreek

by Cathy Liggett

  “I usually think the same thing. I do. But this time . . . I don’t know. I’m not getting that feeling.” She sighed. “I feel like the more I pray for things to fall into place, the more they keep falling apart.”

  “It does seem like that at times.” He nodded agreeably. “And in the meantime, it’s hard to do what we need to do. To trust in God’s plans and to wait on His timing. We’re generally not as patient with Him as He is with us,” he quipped, causing her to smile.

  “You’re absolutely right about that.” She poked at her quiche self-consciously. “Daniel, I’m sorry I blurted all of that out. Thank you for listening. It’s sweet of you.”

  “We all have our days,” he acknowledged easily. “At least you’ll feel better about life after your workout.” He nodded to her outfit. “Looks like you’re going to the gym at some point today, right?”

  “I could if I belonged to one. No doubt, I could use the exercise.” She glanced down at her front side, which, along with her backside, had never been smaller than a size 12, but at one time at least had been a fitter version.

  “Oh, I just thought seeing your outfit maybe that was the case. I mean, I wasn’t suggesting anything,” he backpedaled. “You look fine to me.”

  She smiled, thinking how sweet he was to say so even though it wasn’t true. At all. Which reminded her she’d never finished spiking the hair at the back of her head. Reaching up, she daintily fluffed the flat spot there, pretending to scratch an itch.

  “Yes, well . . .” Her eyes drifted to the glass patio door. “I suppose I could get some exercise with a walk in the rain.” She took her last bite of quiche and laid her fork aside.

  “True. Or . . .”

  “You can say it. I’m open to suggestions,” Liz said as she started to cover the remaining quiche with the plastic pie lid and gather up their silverware.

  “You could help me.”

  “Really? I could?” At last, a purpose to her day?

  “I could sure use an extra pair of hands and eyes.”

  “And you’re certain you want those hands to be mine? I mean, I know my way around a kitchen, but not when it’s under repair.”

  Dipping his head slightly, he answered, “I think you can handle it.”

  “Then I’m your girl!” she blurted.

  When he chuckled, she suddenly realized how her words sounded. “I’m sorry, I just meant—”

  He held up his hand to stop her. “No need to apologize, Liz.” His tone was reassuring. “I’m glad you said yes. Though you may be thinking differently after a long day of working with me.”

  “And vice versa.” She laughed.

  The work was tedious and neck-breaking, and the hammer got heavy at times as Liz worked with Daniel, removing the hundreds of rusty nails from the overhead wood laths that had been exposed once he’d removed virtually her entire ceiling.

  But even if the job was drudgery, being around him wasn’t at all. They talked easily and shared comfortable silences too. Plus, he was sensitive to her needs, encouraging her to take breaks to save her neck. But she didn’t quit until he did, wanting to be as much help as she could. Besides, it felt good having something to show for her efforts for a change. Even if it was only a pile of rusty nails.

  Once they’d tackled that job together, they stopped for a quick peanut butter and jelly lunch. Then spent the rest of the day sweeping and cleaning the area the best they could, preparing it for phase two. The last phase.

  “How much longer till it’s all finished?” Liz asked as she and Daisy watched Daniel put away his tools for the day.

  His brows knit together thoughtfully before he spoke. “I’d say there’s maybe another week of work left. Not necessarily full days. Some of that will be downtime while I’m waiting for things to dry in between the different coats that need to be applied.”

  “Oh!” she said, completely unprepared for that answer. Not ready for the work to be completed so soon. Of course, she’d be happy to have her kitchen back. She’d been missing it so much. But at the same time, when the days were up, she knew she’d be missing something else. Daniel’s presence. Which she’d so easily gotten used to. “That’s no time at all.”

  She felt a strange ache in her chest and experienced even stranger thoughts in her head, wishing she’d close on a house or two in the next week so she could hire him on for more projects.

  “No, it isn’t long, is it?” He snapped his toolbox shut and stood up. “It’ll be here and gone before you know it.”

  While he dug in his jeans pocket for his keys, Liz reached down to pet Daisy, more for her own comfort than her pup’s. “Thanks for everything today, Daniel. For listening. For letting me help out. Oh, and for the quiche.”

  “Yeah, about the quiche . . .” He played with the key fob in his hand.

  “Oh, right. You should take the rest of it home with you.” She started for the mini fridge.

  “No, Liz.” He held up a hand. “That’s not what I meant. Earlier I was thinking, well . . .” He looked away for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. “Since you liked the quiche from Annabelle’s so much, you’d probably enjoy their dinners, too.”

  “You know, you’re right. I probably would,” she replied. “I’ll have to go there sometime.”

  “I think you should,” he agreed. “How about a week from Friday?” He gazed directly into her eyes.

  His question completely surprised her, and she wasn’t sure how to take it. Was he asking her on a date? Asking as a friend? Or thinking her ceiling might be complete by then, and it’d be a sort of celebration? Does it matter? her brain shouted. After all, it was dinner with Daniel. The nicest person ever. Why question why?

  “That’d be great, Daniel.”

  “Yes, I think it will be, Liz.” But even as he said it, she thought he looked a bit surprised at himself for asking too.

  “YOU’RE A GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER, Derek,” Jessica called out to him as she stood in her strappy black heels admiring yet another framed print hanging on his family room wall. “This sunset photo is incredible. So pretty.”

  “Not as pretty as some things I’ve seen,” he replied with a low whistle as he came around the corner from his bedroom, buttoning the jacket of his dark-charcoal suit.

  When she’d first arrived at his condo, he’d left the door unlocked for her since he was hurrying to get dressed. He’d run into complications at work and his shift had gone longer than expected. Instead of him picking her up for the sheriff’s retirement party as planned, she’d offered to meet him at his place to save time. Now she was glad she had. She couldn’t imagine what he’d look like if he’d had even more time to get himself cleaned up. As it was, the sight of him filling out his tailored suit was enough to heat her cheeks. And the way he gazed at her, a glimmer of appreciation shining in his eyes, caused her face to warm even more.

  “I . . . uh . . . ,” she stammered. “I hardly think a little black dress can outdo your beautiful shot of a snow-covered field at sunset.”

  “Eh . . . I think it depends on who’s wearing the dress.” He grinned. “And you’ve even got on your ruby earrings.” He nodded, noticing the pair of gemstones her aunt had given her years ago at graduation.

  “I thought they worked with the dress.” Right away when she’d put them on, she’d liked the way the rubies and diamonds glittered with a subtle elegance.

  “They do.” He smiled. “You look great, Jess.”

  “Thanks, um . . . so do you,” she stuttered shyly, as if the two of them had never exchanged compliments before. Dumbfounded by her lack of cool, she quickly spun back to the photo. “Was this a Wisconsin sunset?”

  “That? Oh, no.” He stepped close beside her, and she tried to ignore the way the scent of his cologne pleased and teased her senses. “I took that photo on vacation. When I was out in Vail, skiing.”

  “I didn’t know you skied.” She turned to face him.

  “Mm-hm. It took me a while, but I learned it was a less
dangerous hobby for me than mountain climbing.” He laughed in a self-deprecating way.

  “Mountain climbing too?”

  “Oh, yeah. Don’t you know, I’m quite the mystery man these days.”

  He was teasing, of course. But in her mind, what he was saying seemed to be absolutely true. Every time she was with him—or spoke to him—she seemed to learn something else about the guy she thought she knew everything about. Helping underprivileged kids, taking stunning photographs, trips out west . . .

  As he went to pick up his wallet and keys off the coffee table, she wondered what else she didn’t know about him “these days.”

  “What? You’re looking at me funny. Isn’t this thing straight?” He tugged at the knot of his tie.

  “It was just fine until you messed with it. Come here and I’ll fix it.”

  She waved him close and then felt foolish that she had. All week long, every time he’d called or left a message, just the sound of his voice had rattled her in an unexpected way. Made her forget whatever job she was in the middle of. Caused her thoughts to slip into memories of him. And now that he was so close—near enough that she could feel his breath on her face—she tried to steady her hands and not wobble in her heels as she worked to pull the tie back to center.

  “I thought you said you could clothe yourself. Now I have to be your date and dress you too?” she kidded, attempting to lighten the moment for her own sake.

  “You do owe me, remember? After my day with you at Spooky Festival.”

  “Creepy Carnival,” she corrected as she smoothed his shirt collar over the tie.

  “Right, Creepy Carnival.”

  “I guess we are even then.” She shrugged in mock resignation. “And I’m all done here.” She patted his lapel dismissively and felt the surprising hardness of his chest underneath. He caught her hand, keeping it pressed against him, before she could step away.

  “Well, actually—I wouldn’t assume we’re even until the night is over. I could be the one owing you again.” His brow tilted apologetically. “I forgot. Rob is going to be at the party tonight.”

  “Big-mouth Rob? Oh, Derek . . . ,” she groaned.

  “Yeah, sorry about that. I know how you dislike being the topic of conversation. And I have to agree, Rob has always had a big mouth.”

  It had slipped her mind that Rob was on the city council so, of course, he’d be at the event. Once he saw the two of them again, he’d have half the town believing that she and Derek were not only “together” but that they were engaged to be married by the time the evening’s festivities came to an end. More awkwardness. More gossip to overcome. More of a chance that Derek might start shying away from her in the future.

  At the present time, however, he didn’t seem disturbed by the possibility of more talk. And if that was the case, she needed to get past it too.

  “You’re right.” She slid her hand out from under his. “You are going to owe me, Deputy Reeves. Big-time.” She shook her finger at the handsome man in front of her.

  “I think I can handle it.” His blue eyes smiled into hers.

  As Derek ushered her out of the condo and down the walkway to his car, she realized once again that he certainly wasn’t the shy, awkward guy who had picked her up for the prom so many years earlier.

  But once they were in the car and headed toward Manor Lake’s reception center, everything about him felt much the same. He was the same easy person to talk to that he’d always been. The same person who seemed to understand everything she had to say—even the times when she didn’t completely finish a thought.

  “So did you go out to Vail very often?” She found her mind drifting back to the topic of his vacations—not because she was interested in where he’d gone but because, silly as it was, she suddenly felt nosy and proprietary and was very curious to know who he’d taken with him.

  “Just a few times,” he said nonchalantly, not sharing any details before turning the subject back to her. “Has Cole ever skied?”

  “No, we’ve never gone.” For a moment she wondered what it must’ve been like for Derek. Always being so free—actually, still being so free—to do and go whenever and wherever he wanted. For a guy who’d come from nothing, he’d already seen a lot and done so much. Far more than she ever had.

  “I think it’d be good to get started with it when you’re young. I consider myself to be fairly athletic, but I had a heck of a time learning. It took a lot of lessons—and nerve.” He smiled. “We could take Cole to Mansfield sometime. Maybe over his Christmas break?”

  “You mean to Snow Trails?”

  “Yeah, it’s only an hour or so away. He might really like it. You might too.”

  “That’d be great, Derek. But then, of course, I’d owe you again, right?” she said in jest.

  “That’s my devious plan,” he teased before they launched into another dozen subjects to talk about, reminding her of the times she’d return from a week at summer tennis camp and they’d barely take a breath, so eager to catch up with one another. It seemed like only minutes later when they pulled up the drive to Manor Lake’s event center.

  “Our old stomping grounds,” Derek murmured.

  “Yeah. It doesn’t look much different, does it?”

  Each window of the oversize cabin shone with a warm, golden glow, not to be outdone by the sparkles of moonlight reflecting off the bed of water that lay next to it. Silhouettes of pine trees flanked every corner of the center. She’d always thought they looked like large, caring gatekeepers, protecting the place.

  “I’m glad some things don’t change,” he said.

  “I know what you mean. Me too.”

  As they got out of the car, beds of fallen pine needles unseen in the darkness offered up their welcoming aroma. Smoke curled from the cabin’s stone chimney with its own familiar, inviting scent.

  “Ready for this?” Derek crooked his arm in a friendly, gentlemanly way.

  “Ready as ever.” Jessica slipped her arm in his. But with every step they took, she couldn’t help feeling uncertain. Manor Lake may not have changed. But something inside her kept feeling like it had. And she didn’t have a clue what she was saying yes to.

  “I hear you have a really nice Amish lady working for you at the Cottage,” one of the girls in the group standing around Jessica was saying.

  The party had been more bearable than Jessica had first thought it would be. Having dropped out of college and jumped into life as a single mom, she’d rarely had much time to reach out to the girls she’d gone to high school with. The few who were still left in town had come to her aunt’s funeral, and that was the last time she’d seen them. There was a lot to be said for catching up with them under happier circumstances.

  “Oh, she’s more than nice,” Jessica replied. “Lydia knows everything about knitting and quilting that I can’t even pretend to know, even gives classes just like Aunt Rose used to do—which lets me take care of the business of running the place. I feel extremely fortunate the two of us came together, for sure.”

  “Speaking of togetherness . . .” Her friend Beth glanced over her shoulder in Derek’s direction, where he was talking to a group of guys. “It seems Rob has been spreading rumors about you and our new deputy.”

  Not surprised by that news, Jessica answered in as firm and friendly a tone as she could. “And that’s pretty much what they are, Beth: Rob’s crazy rumors.”

  “He is a strange one.” Another old friend laughed. “He’d have his own gossip column if the newspaper would let him.”

  “I don’t know.” Beth’s eyes twinkled. “You and Derek still seem to have that thing.”

  “If you mean we’ve been friends for a long time, that’s true; we have.” Jessica shrugged off her friend’s comment.

  Beth snickered and the other girls offered up polite smiles. “No, I mean a thing. A definite thing.”

  “Honestly, I don’t know what you mean. . . .” Without even realizing what she was doing, she glanc
ed across the crowded room at Derek. As if he could feel the heat of her gaze in that very instant, he looked up and smiled at her. What else could she do but smile in response?

  As she turned back to the group of girls and realized they’d all witnessed the exchange, Jessica could feel her face flush slightly.

  “Uh, yeah.” Beth chuckled knowingly. “You two have always had a connection. I always noticed how you and Derek could connect just like that—across a room, or a gym, a party like this. With just a glance. Or a smile.”

  Jessica shook her head. “You’ve been reading too many romances, Beth,” she objected, although she knew exactly what Beth meant. She’d always been able to feel Derek’s presence anywhere . . . and obviously from his smile, he could feel hers, too.

  “Oh, come on, Jessica, it’s not a bad thing.” Beth smiled, repeating the word. “It’s a good one.”

  “And obviously it’s not as serious as you think. Not as serious as your thing with Jason.” She took a lesson from Derek, turning the conversation around. “Did I hear you guys just celebrated your eighth anniversary? Almost a decade—that’s amazing. How’s he doing, by the way? And your girls?”

  As Beth launched into updates about her family, Jessica felt pleased she’d recovered so nicely from the speculations about her and Derek. With the topic behind her, she was glad to settle into the conversation. Until the Sugarland song came on.

  At first she didn’t hear the melody through the din of conversations floating around her and the room. But then the chorus came on, and suddenly—as childish as it seemed—her body responded in a way she couldn’t seem to control. All at once she needed air. Lots of air. And some distance from the past. Something to make sense of the present.

  “Would you girls excuse me? I need to grab my phone,” she fibbed in the middle of Beth’s monologue. “I just remembered something I forgot to tell my sitter.”

  She slipped away from the clusters of people and, without bothering to grab her wool jacket, stepped out the back doors into the chill of the November evening. Trying to get as far away as possible, she stole across the upper deck and descended the stairs to the lower one.