“Fancy seeing you here again so soon.” Jack stood across from her.
She looked up from her book and smiled. His heart jumped. “Oh, hey! Yeah, the chilly morning called for some hot tea. But your aunt insisted on feeding me a home-cooked breakfast this morning. She sure knows how to welcome someone into town.” She sat back and patted her belly, grinning. “I’m not sure I’ll eat again all day after those pancakes!”
She seemed so much more relaxed than the night before. A sparkle in her eye danced in the midday sunlight.
“Not everyone gets her cooking on a Monday. She must really like you.” Jack shook his head in awe. Aunt Bea was known for her fluffy buttermilk pancakes. No doubt, she showed off in grand form for her only guest.
“Where are my manners?” Livy waved at the empty seat across from her.
“You’ve not been back south for too long. I’ll forgive it.” His eyes scanned the place for Meredith so he could introduce them. But the midday crew had already taken over. He approached the counter to order lunch then took the seat opposite Livy.
“Reading anything good?” he asked.
“Well, I’m not really sure.” She turned it to glance at the cover. Remodeling Your Home for Beginners showcased a young woman on the cover donning safety goggles and holding a hammer with a cheesy smile and gorgeous home behind her.
“I’m getting ready to drive up to the house for the first time since I’ve been back and see what I’ve gotten myself into.” She let out a tentative laugh. “I bought this book in New York after the sale was final in hopes of having a game plan when I arrived. But after reading a lot of it, I have to remind myself it’s just a house and won’t hurt me.”
Jack could help her—wanted to. But was it just being a nice guy, or was something else encouraging him to seize the chance to spend more time with her? A jolt of energy surged through his arms, standing the hairs on end, as if he were a schoolboy about to ask a girl to the prom. Ridiculous, of course, but Livy did that to him. It was undeniable.
“I’d be happy to drive up with you to the house, if you’d like.” Jasper could manage at the store without him. Besides, when Jack brought Livy to the store, Jasper would probably be incapable of arguing anything.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to put you out. I bet you’re working today, right?” Was that a subtle hopefulness in her eyes?
“My brother can handle things for a while. Best to get started on the right foot with such a big project. I don’t mind at all.”
“Thanks so much, Jack. Really.” The smile that lit her whole face left Jack no choice but to smile back. He released a breath he only then realized he’d been holding. Being in her presence relaxed him. Like coming home.
As they stood to leave, Jack pointed to her University of North Carolina Tar Heels sweatshirt and cocked his head. “I won’t help a Tar Heel. Deal’s off!”
“Don’t tell me you’re part of the Wolfpack. I guess nobody’s perfect.”
What a night and day difference from the reserved woman he’d dined with last night—reserved one moment and cracking jokes the next. She’d keep him on his toes, for sure.
The two headed down the street, laughing about the rivalry of their former schools. Inside the mostly empty supply store, they found Jasper flipping through product catalogs behind the register. “Hey, man.” Jack rapped his knuckles on the counter.
“Good lunch today?” Jasper glanced up. “Oh, uh, hi there.” His eyes darted to Jack, eyebrows wrinkled with confusion. Jack winked. This was fun.
“Hi, I’m Livy.” She extended her hand to Jasper, who took it while looking around the store as if he expected to see Charlotte waiting to catch him talking to the beautiful woman. Poor guy. Jack couldn’t hold back a hearty laugh any longer, which only seemed to confuse both Jasper and Livy.
Jack formally introduced the two and gave Jasper the rundown of how they’d met at the inn. He totally deserved the side smile and narrowed eyes from Jasper as the three made their way toward the store’s front door. Oh, how his brother amused him. Jack patted Jasper on the shoulder. “We should get going, Livy, if you’re ready.”
Like a slow-motion movie scene, Livy brushed the hair off her shoulder. Sun shining through the door’s glass window painted her brown hair with streaks of intoxicating gold. “Sure thing. I’ll drive since you’re doing me the favor.”
Lord, help me. “Oh, no need. I know the way.” Then his breath caught as the words left his mouth.
“You do? How’s that?” Surprise flickered in her eyes as they left the store and rounded the street corner toward the back lot where Jack’s truck was parked.
In some way, he had hoped she’d remember him on her own. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
“Did I mention the address yesterday? I keep forgetting it’s such a small town.”
No such luck. It was time to step in. “Well, yeah, it is small, but there’s another reason I remember your grandmother’s house, Livy.” Jack opened the passenger door for her then climbed in the driver’s side. He started the truck and let it idle. “Do you remember the summer you were about nine or ten years old? You came to stay with your grandmother and played almost every day with a boy from the house down the road?”
Livy’s brows furrowed, her mouth pinched. Then her eyes widened, and her hand went to her mouth. “JB.” She squinted a little as if searching for something in his face. “His name was JB.”
“Yeah.” Jack watched the memories come to life for her. It awakened something more in him, too. “Folks called me that for years, until I started sixth grade and didn’t want to sound like a little kid anymore.”
“Oh my goodness.” Livy sat still, quiet for a long moment, before she suddenly gave his arm a shove. “I just don’t believe it! Why didn’t you say something sooner? Can you believe this?”
She remembered him. Jack swelled with satisfaction.
“Wow.” Livy shook her head slowly, still bearing a goofy grin. “That was the best summer, wasn’t it?” Her breathless, faraway tone told Jack she’d gone back in her mind.
“Yeah, it really was. I saw you arrive at the inn yesterday, and you looked so familiar. When you told me your name, I remembered why. I couldn’t believe it.”
“Seriously, though. Why didn’t you say anything in the hallway, Jack?”
Jack shifted the transmission and pulled the truck onto the road. “I’m not really sure. Aunt Bea called me right after, and I guess the moment that seemed natural passed. So I waited.”
“Well, I’m glad to know and remember now. I’m not sure I would have recognized you on my own. You’ve changed so much. You’re so tall and…and grown up.” She blushed at the clumsy attempt to find an appropriate word. “Well, you know what I mean. We both are.”
“You’re right. I used to be so scrawny. And, yes, you’ve grown up, too.” Jack stared into her bright green eyes, silence filling the space between them.
Livy straightened in the seat beside him. “I should be paying attention to where we’re going if I want to find this place on my own next time.”
They were a few miles outside of town, driving alongside a creek on a two-lane highway. Jack turned the truck down a short lane lined with thick trees on both sides. Soon the trees thinned to the right and revealed sprawling farmland. Fresh dirt had been turned in rows in preparation for planting summer crops.
“Corn is probably going in pretty soon,” he said. “Rob will start soybeans in May.”
After another quarter-mile or so, they began to see a few small homes. Did Livy recognize the area, even if only a subconscious familiarity? They passed a small, white church with a tall steeple and several steps leading to its double doors. The church where Jack and Livy last saw each other as kids.
Livy broke the silence. “That’s the church my grandmother went to.”
“I know.” Jack let quiet return to the cab and imagined the memories flooding over her.
***
“I can’t be
lieve how little things have changed.” If the wonderful night’s sleep hadn’t done such a good job of reviving Livy’s spirit, this drive through the countryside with her old friend sure would have. So many years had passed between them—a lifetime really. She caught her reflection in the truck window, head slowly shaking over the unexpected reunion. But it shed light on the unexplainable comfort she’d experienced with Jack last night. She knew him. He knew her. There was a familiarity between them, even though she hadn’t been able to name it. Until now.
Tall grass bending to the wind at the roadside gapped at a wide driveway. The old white church at the end of the long lane, now paved, brought a rush of memories. The old minister of the church with hair like wispy cotton who preached sermons she could actually understand in a voice as slow as dripping honey and sang hymns at the end of each message. The musty smell inside the small building next to the sanctuary and how excited she and the other kids got when the teacher announced they would have Sunday school outside under the tree on warmer days.
She saw her younger self, standing on the church’s steep front steps to have her photo taken by a friend of her grandmother’s. Gram had pressed Livy’s white cotton dress flat and adjusted her woven hat before standing behind her with a hand on each shoulder. “Smile sweetly, my sweet girl.” Her grandmother’s old hand in hers on their walk home from church—wrinkled, of course, but soft as silk. Her nails were always filed and painted, even though it was sometimes hard for her to do when her arthritis acted up. About fifty yards from the little house, Livy would smell the inviting aroma of the pot roast waiting for them inside. To Audria Johnson, roast was simply what you had on Sunday. Sundays and any time she was expecting company. No matter what time of day they arrived or what the temperature was outside, Audria’s guests were greeted with a full roast meal.
The truck turned off the road and jolted up a steep bumpy driveway, pulling Livy back to the present. They stopped in front of an old house.
“Oh my goodness.” Livy let out a small gasp and pressed a hand to her mouth, her stomach sinking. The small photo in the realtor’s guide did not prepare her for this. While the exterior frame of the small, white home looked to be intact, a few windows were broken, awnings were rusted and tattered, and weeds crept up the walls, engulfing the once-charming cottage from the bottom up.
“How did this happen?” Livy turned to Jack sitting next to her on the bench seat of the truck. His eyes were kind, almost sad.
“After he bought it from your grandma, Mr. Charles took pretty good care of the place. Not like she did, of course, but it was still well-kept. Then several years ago, he passed away and his children sold it to someone who rented it out to a lot of different folks. After sitting empty a while, it just became neglected. I think the bank took it about a year ago.”
His words hung in the air. How could this be?
You can’t do this. It’s too hard. You’ll fail just like Sam said you would. Her head shook hard, her face falling into her hands. What was she going to do? Why did she think she could undertake such a big project? Now, here she was, life savings and inheritance spent on this home she loved just to be faced with the impossible. Defeated before she even started.
Her eyes stung, throat ached. She looked again to the dilapidated cottage. Her mind’s eye resurrected colorful flowerbeds, musical chimes swaying in the wind, and the vision of Gram standing on the porch in her housecoat waving her white handkerchief and calling Livy to supper. She drew in a deep breath that fanned the ember into a flame of determination. It wasn’t the end, but rather the beginning. It had to be.
“Well, looks like I’ve got a lot of work on my hands.” She reached for the door handle, pausing to fuel her determination with another deep breath, then stepped from the truck and walked to the house. She stopped about fifteen feet short of the front steps.
Tears blurred the scene before her, threatening to extinguish her building confidence. Where was the home she loved? How could she have let this happen to this once magical place? If she had paid more attention years ago, could she have done more?
On the left side of the porch roof, she saw the hooks, now rusted, where baskets of bright pink bougainvillea had always hung. The bright white siding was gray with dust. Bricks at the base were splashed with mud. The light pink paint on the concrete porch steps was badly chipped, exposing deep cracks. They’d probably break if she climbed them. Were her cracks that deep, too? Maybe that’s why it hurt so much to see such disrepair.
“I’ll fix this, Gram. I promise,” she whispered toward the sky.
“We’ll fix it.” Just a step behind her, Jack placed a warm and comforting hand on her shoulder. Might this house and the memories of an easier time be just the thing God had in mind to mend her hurting heart?
CHAPTER
Four
W e don’t have to do much today, if you’re not ready.” Jack swallowed the lump in his throat. His arms twitched with the instinct to hold and protect Livy, but he resisted. They sat on the concrete steps, a yard full of high weeds in front of them.
Livy had been quiet for several minutes, her elbows resting on her bent knees.
“No. I’m ready. Things aren’t going to get fixed just sitting here.” Her voice wavered, but her spirit remained tenacious. A memory sprung to life, of a time that first summer they biked down to the part of Lawson’s Creek that ran behind the old mill at the end of the lane. Although he was sure she’d been scared, Livy had taken his hand and led him across the slippery, moss-covered tree trunk lying across the rushing water. Her words then, in her matter-of-fact tone, echoed hers today. “We’re not going to get to that abandoned barn by staying over here where it’s safe and easy.” Together they had made it across and spent much of the remaining days of that summer playing in and around the old barn.
Livy gripped Jack’s hand and pulled him up from the steps, bringing him back to the present. “You just call out things you see that need to be done and I’ll make notes.” She pulled out a small red spiral notebook from her pocket and looked to Jack. He couldn’t help but reciprocate her wide smile.
“Yes, ma’am. Let’s get started.” They began walking the exterior of the home to prioritize repairs.
Jack tapped at the frame of a few windows. Warped wood gave way in several places. “The windows look to be original. Most will need to be replaced, even some that aren’t broken.” He paused as Livy scribbled in her notebook, then reached above one window and gave the white awning a tug. Fairly sturdy. “These metal awnings aren’t a total loss. I bet most just need to be taken down for a good cleaning. But let’s keep an eye out for any that may be rusted through in spots. And a few will need to be pounded back into shape.”
Continuing to the left side of the house, Jack pulled away several vines grown up almost all the way up to the roof. Chunks of decayed siding crumbled into his hand at the slightest pull. “You’re gonna need new siding, for sure.”
Just a few paces behind him, Livy sighed. When he turned to face her, she had two fingers pressed against her temple. Deep wrinkles formed between her furrowed brows.
“Are you okay, Livy?”
“Oh, sure. It’s just a lot to take in. I think my brain isn’t catching up as quickly as my heart. My heart is committed to this project, but my brain is doing the math and calculating the time and money.” She offered Jack a half-smile. “Let’s keep going.”
“I know it’s probably more than you expected. But, as I see it, there’s no rush to get this just right. Is there? The house didn’t get this way overnight. There’s no pressure to fix it in a day.”
“You’re right.” Livy stood a bit straighter and shook her head as if to also shake the stress she’d begun to feel.
“But it will get there. I promise.” Jack’s chest tightened in an unexpected ache to fix things for Livy. He’d always been the sympathetic type, but it overwhelmed him how much he wanted to see Livy unburdened by the project set before her.
Aft
er another half hour, their to-do list had grown to include minor masonry work around the chimney, clearing debris from the gutters, repairing the broken railing on the front porch, pressure washing the stone base of the house to remove the quarter inch of mud and whatever else clung to it, and lots of fresh paint. Even to Jack, who had a lot of experience, it was daunting—and this was just the exterior of the house.
After the inspection, they returned to the front steps and sipped water from the cooler in the back of the truck.
“I know you own the supply store, but you seem to know an awful lot about home repair.” Livy drew circles in the dirt with a stick.
“You’re right.” Jack leaned back, resting his elbows on the step behind him, his feet stretched onto the grass. “My degree from NC State is in architecture. For a while I designed homes, but enjoyed being out on the build site much more.”
She sat up straighter and tapped him on the knee with the stick. “Hey, how fun to design people’s homes.”
“It was a real joy. I worked for several years as a contractor with a large company out of Boone before moving back to Laurel Cove.”
“What brought you back here?” Livy spoke through a big yawn. With arms reached high over her head, her elongated torso revealed gentle curves. The loose ponytail that held her dark-brown hair off her neck exposed a gracefulness that stole Jack’s breath. As she glanced out at the yard, he moved from her neck to the soft features of her cheeks and lips. Mercy.
“Uh, well…” He looked away to clear the distraction. “Dad had a heart attack. I came back to help run the store while he recovered, but he never got better. Soon after that, Mom was diagnosed with cancer. She died less than a year later. Before I knew it, it was just Jasper and me. Neither of us could bear selling the store, so we decided to keep it going ourselves.”
Someplace Familiar (Laurel Cove Romance Book 1) Page 4
