Lindy was beginning to understand this lady well enough to know what she was really trying to do. “You’re giving me another day to spend with Ethan and Jerry.”
She waved a hand. “You could put it that way if you want to, but you’ll still be working for us, any way you look at it. You’re helping us make sure all of our customers are happy. That’s part of your job, too, you know.”
Lindy swallowed thickly. “I don’t know what to say.”
“‘Thank you’ usually works,” she answered with a light giggle and a pat to Lindy’s cheek.
“Thank you, Mrs. Bowers.”
“Why, you’re welcome,” she said, releasing Lindy from the embrace and giving her a comforting smile. “Now why don’t you let me fix you a little breakfast before you head to work?”
“I’m anxious to get to the fishing hole and get things ready,” Lindy said. “But I’ll take an apple along for the drive.”
“Pfft, that’s not enough to start your day,” she said, frowning. “I’ve got some fresh eggs from the Cutters’ farm. Why don’t you let me fix you a couple? And I have some of my homemade sourdough bread and blackberry jelly to go along with it.”
Lindy smiled. “That sounds delicious, but I do want to get to the fishing hole early, especially if the kids will be trying out the pedal boats today. I’ll need to have plenty of life jackets ready, right?”
“Right,” she said, then winked at Lindy. “You are a great employee, you know that?”
“Am I?”
“Yes, dear, you are. And if you won’t let me fix you a real breakfast, here’s an apple.” She picked a big red apple from the fruit bowl on the counter and handed it to Lindy. “I’ll be out there soon to take over in the store so you can enjoy some time on the water with your two guys.”
Her two guys. She really liked the sound of that—even if it was only temporary.
Chapter Eleven
Ethan had never arrived at the fishing hole before Lindy, but today, he stood waiting on the front porch when she pulled up. He watched as she parked, turned off the ignition...and looked directly at him. This time, she didn’t ignore him or give him a half wave. Quite the opposite—she held her hand up and gave him that full smile that caused his heart to lurch in his chest.
Yep, he had it bad.
He placed the bag of breakfast on one of the small tables near the front door, jumped past the porch steps and headed toward the car. “Quilts in the backseat?” he asked, opening the back door on the passenger’s side to scoop up the freshly laundered stack that she carried in each morning.
She climbed out of the car and opened the opposite back door to reach in and grab the rest of the quilts.
They ended up leaning into the car at the same time, locking eyes over the stack of quilts. He grinned, surprised by how happy he could feel simply seeing her. “Hey,” he said.
If possible, her smile got a little brighter. “Hey.”
A loud rumble sounded in the distance, and they both scooped up some quilts as James Bowers approached in his pickup truck, with a long flatbed trailer attached and loaded down with colorful pedal boats. Jolaine sat in the passenger seat waving excitedly and pointing toward the back of the truck, as if they couldn’t see the cargo.
Lindy waved at the pair while Ethan gave them a thumbs-up.
“Jerry is going to be so stoked,” he said as they walked toward the porch with the quilts.
She glanced toward the truck as it neared. “I hope so.”
“Don’t you remember how he said he wanted to try it?”
“I do, but I also remember that he changed his mind.” She waited while he opened one of the cedar chests for her to put her quilts in.
Ethan was glad she’d stopped objecting to him helping her. He’d resolved to pursue a relationship of some sort with her over the past few days, and he didn’t want to leave Claremont without letting her know that was something he wanted. Very much. Maybe they’d get a chance to talk more today, and he could tell her.
Jolaine and Annette would be proud of themselves, since he had no doubt they’d take total credit for yet another successful match in their books.
He laughed as he placed his stack of colorful quilts beside Lindy’s in the chest.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Just thinking about something Mrs. Tingle said this morning.” He pointed toward the bag on the table. “I brought another breakfast plate for you today. I’m the only one at the B and B right now, and she said she fixed way too much for her and Mr. Tingle. According to Mrs. Tingle, bananas Foster French toast doesn’t taste as good as leftovers, so she had to send some.” He grinned. “But I’m thinking she just made that up to make sure I brought you breakfast.”
Lindy peeked inside the bag. “It looks amazing, but I still need to get everything ready for the kids, and I only have a half hour before they’ll be here.”
“No worries at all, dear,” Mrs. Bowers said, walking toward the porch. “I’m ready to get to work. You enjoy some real breakfast.” She gave Lindy her trademark wink.
“But I haven’t even set up yet. I haven’t got the life jackets ready, made coffee, iced the water bottles.”
“I’m pretty sure I can do all of that,” Ethan said to Mrs. Bowers. “You can stay with your husband and the pedal boats. I don’t mind helping Lindy out here.”
“Wonderful,” Mrs. Bowers said. “Then I’ll go help James get the pedal boats ready for the kids.” She also took a peek in the bag from the B and B. “I have got to get that banana Foster French toast recipe from Annette.” She glanced at Lindy. “Now, that’s a real breakfast.” Then she left and headed toward the small dock and loading ramp at one end of the pond, where James had already started putting the pedal boats in the water.
Lindy lifted the lid off the box, and the scent of bananas, brown sugar and cinnamon filled the air. “You keep feeding me like this, and I’m going to be huge.”
He grinned. “You’d still be beautiful.”
As expected, her cheeks turned pink with the compliment.
“Now enjoy your breakfast,” he said, “while I go ice down that water and get the coffee brewing. Oh, and where are the life jackets? I’ll start getting them ready.”
“In the big red bins near the back of the store.”
“Good deal. I’m on it.” He turned to head inside and get started.
“Ethan?”
He stopped, one hand on the door. “Yeah?”
She swallowed. “Are you really as nice as you seem?”
That made him laugh...until he realized she was dead serious. He cleared his throat. “I do my best,” he said, and this time he waited before going in, sensing that she was about to say more.
She waited a beat, then continued, “Mrs. Bowers said something to me this morning. She didn’t look at him as she unwrapped the fork from the napkin. “And I was wondering what you’d think about it.”
“What did she say?” he asked, assuming it was probably similar to what Mrs. Tingle had said to him, and wondering how he’d respond if she announced that Jolaine and Annette were already planning their wedding.
“She said that fear says your past is your prison, but God says your past is your classroom.” She finally looked up, those blue eyes searching his and looking for a response to a statement he hadn’t expected. What had happened to her in her past? And how could he convince her that it didn’t matter to him now? “What do you think of that?”
Ethan had no doubt that his answer could affect any future relationship with this woman he’d started craving so deeply. And he wanted to give her complete honesty. “I think she’s right,” he said, “and I don’t think anyone should judge you based on your past, Lindy.”
“What if...” She put her fork into a banana slice but then he
sitated. “What if your past affected someone else’s future?”
He could see the torment on her face. Whatever had brought her running to the tiny town of Claremont on her own, without any job, family or home still haunted her. “Lindy, you don’t ever have to tell me what happened before. That doesn’t matter to me.”
“It might,” she said, as the Willow’s Haven bus came into view in the distance.
“Listen, you eat your breakfast while I go get everything ready inside. We’ll talk some more about this later, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, finally taking a bite of her food.
Ethan headed inside, got everything ready for the kids...and prayed.
God, please, whatever is hurting her from her past, let her move beyond it somehow. You know how much I care for her. Help me be what she needs to move beyond her pain.
* * *
Lindy could only eat half of the breakfast, in spite of the fact that it was at least as good as, maybe better than, the apple puff pastry Ethan had brought her last week. She wasn’t sure whether that was because she was actually full, or because she was simply too nervous to eat.
He’d called her beautiful.
Her skin still tingled from the way that one word from Ethan made her feel, and the thought of telling him about her past weighed heavy on heart. But based on what he’d just said, he didn’t care about what happened before she came to Claremont. He didn’t even need her to tell him.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. She could either tell him—or wait for him to find out when they were in court. And she’d decided it would be better to get the truth out there and give him time to process it before they ended up in a judge’s chambers. Maybe that would give him time to forgive her.
Or maybe that would give him time to come up with all the reasons she shouldn’t have custody of her son, and convince the judge of the same thing.
God, please help me.
“Hey, Miss Lindy!” Jerry’s precious voice carried as he ran toward the porch. “Miss Savvy said we’re going to do something extrafun here today. Do you know what it is?”
The Willow’s Haven bus had parked on the opposite side of the store from the pond, so the kids hadn’t yet seen all of the pedal boats in the water.
“I believe I do,” she said.
“What is it?” he asked, as another little boy ran around the store and then darted back.
“Jerry! They got pedal boats!” he yelled.
Jerry’s smile wavered. “Pedal boats?”
“Yep,” the other boy said. “Come on and pick the one you want!”
“Okay.” His tone held no enthusiasm.
Lindy scooped up her bag and tossed it in a trash can nearby. “Jerry, would you rather not try the pedal boats today? Because I don’t have to work in the store, and I could sit with you and Mr. Ethan while you fish, if you’d rather do that.”
His sandy eyebrows dipped, eyes narrowed and lips grew tight as he considered this. Then he said, “I want to try it, but...will you do it with me?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Of course I will.” He had a fear, she could see that, but he wanted to face it, and he wanted her help in doing it.
“Hey, Jerry,” Ethan said, exiting the store with three life jackets hanging from his right arm. “I got us some life jackets, so we’ll be ready to go.”
“All of us?” he asked.
“Sure,” Ethan said.
“And you’re coming, too, Miss Lindy, right?” he asked.
“Of course I am,” she said.
“Let’s go get our spot at the pond then,” Ethan said.
“I want to check inside and make sure Mrs. Bowers doesn’t need any help,” Lindy said, “and then I’ll be right there. You two can go ahead and pick a boat.”
“How does that sound, Jerry?” Ethan asked. “Want to go pick which boat you want?”
“I want a red one,” Jerry said, taking Ethan’s hand and letting him lead him around the house.
“Well, then, let’s go see if they have any red ones left.” Ethan grinned at Lindy before they rounded the corner, and she thought how perfect they looked, like father and son, heading to the lake.
Would he be Jerry’s father soon?
And if he was, where would that leave her?
* * *
Ethan led Jerry to the pier, where mentors and kids donned life jackets and climbed into the pedal boats. Some were already out and about on the water, the colorful boats adding another splash of beauty to the picturesque scene.
While they waited their turn in line, Ethan admired the incredible view. The water seemed closer to a lake than a pond, at least three acres amid vivid green moss-covered banks and soft emerald grass. Sunlight sparkled off the surface, as still as glass, except for where the pedal boats trudged through and a few ripples were created by jumping fish or slow-swimming turtles. The branches of the weeping willow trees cascaded like large mushrooms along the bank’s edge, casting lacy shadows across the water. And now that he knew what the fish liked, he suspected all of those shady spots held an abundance of the silver-scaled bream that Jerry loved to catch. Ethan, too, truth be told, now that he knew what he was doing.
Purple irises and lemon-yellow daffodils provided bursts of color around the banks, and thick lily pads with pale pink blooms brought equally mesmerizing hues to the water’s surface.
It’d be an incredible setting for a wedding.
He shook his head at where his mind had wandered. All he had to do was see Lindy, or talk to Mrs. Tingle, and he started having thoughts of forever.
Shockingly, those thoughts no longer terrified him.
However, Lindy’s question this morning bothered him immensely.
Are you really as nice as you seem?
Who had hurt her so badly that she couldn’t trust a simple gesture of kindness? And why did her past continue to haunt her? Her comment about it being a prison or a classroom told him plenty. One, whatever she’d been running from when she came to Claremont was probably even worse than he’d feared. And two, she’d rather not share it, with him or anyone else.
Which was okay. He didn’t have to know her past to have her in his future.
But that didn’t keep him from wanting to mend those old wounds and see her truly living without fear.
God, help me do that for her.
“So, can we get a red one?” Lindy asked, walking down the bank toward the pier. She wore a pale pink sundress today, the soft, loose fabric nearly reaching her ankles. Always so feminine. And always so beautiful, as he’d told her earlier. It was obvious she wasn’t used to hearing that kind of compliment, but she might as well get used to it. Because he intended to tell her often.
He grinned at her and pointed ahead, where Mr. Bowers had the next pedal boat, bright cherry-colored with white seats, waiting. “We got a red one,” Ethan said.
“That’s what you wanted, right, Jerry?” she asked.
He nodded, but his mouth was drawn tight, and his feet stayed planted firmly on the pier.
“Here you go, Jerry.” Mr. Bowers extended a hand. “I’ll help you get in.”
Jerry shook his head, looked at Ethan then at Lindy. “I’m—I don’t know if I want to.”
Lindy crouched down, her dress swirling around her as she looked into his future son’s eyes and said softly, “Jerry, if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. But if you do want to go, and just need a little help, I can hold your hand while you get on the boat.”
He looked up at Ethan. “Will you hold my hand, too?”
Ethan reached for his small hand, placed it within his own. “I won’t let go,” he promised.
Jerry put his other hand in Lindy’s and then looked up at Mr. Bowers. “Okay.”
“Looks like th
ey’ve got you covered there, don’t they?” the man said with a wink.
“Yes, sir,” Jerry answered, but his voice quivered on the last word.
Lindy stood, and she and Ethan guided him to the boat, both of them encouraging him every step of the way.
“Great job,” she said, and then, “See, it wobbles a little, but then it settles right down. We’re going to have so much fun.”
Ethan watched the play of emotions on the little boy’s face. There was anxiety, but also courage. In spite of a fear that Ethan couldn’t understand, Jerry was determined to accomplish what he wanted to do.
Ethan’s admiration for the child swelled. He wasn’t going to be afraid to face things in life, and he’d have Ethan there to help him. He looked at the other person guiding him. Lindy’s hand was wrapped around Jerry’s, and her eyes were filled with tears.
She cared so much.
They made their way into the water, with Ethan and Lindy working the foot pedals, Jerry clutching one hand to the handle while waving to his friends in other boats with the other.
“Are you okay, Jerry?” Lindy asked, for about the sixth time. Ethan was touched by how much she wanted to make sure he was having a good time.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The ride went fairly smoothly, until all of the mentors and mentees were in the water. Then the surface grew choppy, and at one point, when two pedal boats going opposite directions neared them, they began to sway in the water.
“Whoa,” Jerry said, grabbing Ethan’s forearm in a death grip. “Daddy, help.”
Ethan’s words lodged in his throat, emotion blocking his effort to speak. But his little boy needed him. And he’d called him daddy. “It’s okay, Jerry. I’m right here.” He heard Lindy sniff, saw her wipe tears away, obviously as touched as Ethan by the tender term of endearment. “We’re right here.”
The boat eventually calmed, and Jerry’s grip on his arm loosened. “We’re...okay,” he said.
“Yes,” Ethan agreed. “We are.” Then he wrapped an arm around Jerry’s shoulders and squeezed. “I’ll take care of you, Jerry, always. You know that, right?”
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