by Annie Rains
Jake walked Petey into the cottage, down the hall, and to his room. Trisha stepped ahead of them and fluffed a pillow before Petey lay down. Then she pulled a thin sheet over him, grabbed the iPad, and set it up on his nightstand.
“What do you watch on that thing?” Jake asked Petey.
Petey was so worn out that he could barely muster a smile. “Videos about how to do stuff.”
“There’s a parental control on it,” Trisha offered in case Jake judged her. Single men weren’t typically the mom-shamers though. It was women of a similar age with kids and a husband to help out. Women who seemingly had everything, including time to spend shopping for hours, multiple times per week.
Had she been one of those women? Once upon a time, she’d left Petey with her mother-in-law and went to get her nails painted on a weekly basis. There was nothing wrong with that, but she’d also often spent a mortgage payment at her best friend’s boutique in Sweetwater Springs, buying clothes she might or might not even wear. She’d worked at the women’s shelter, not out of necessity for a paycheck but because she had so many resources, including time, that she felt like it was the right thing to do to give back.
Trisha’s mind-set and lifestyle were so different two years ago. Then suddenly she was a single mom with very little income and time, and with all eyes cast on her with pity, judgment, or both.
“What kind of how-to videos?” Jake asked. He slipped his fingers into his jean pockets.
“Everything,” Petey said. “Since you took me in the sky yesterday, I’ve watched a couple videos on flying planes.”
Jake looked pleased. “Cool. Maybe you can teach me what you know.”
“You already know that stuff.” Petey rolled onto his side under the thin sheet.
“At least I hope you do,” Trisha added. “Seeing that you took my son flying yesterday.”
Jake looked at her and winked. “There’s always more to know.” His phone dinged in his back pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen. “It’s Vi,” he told Trisha before placing it to his ear. “Hello?”
Trisha watched him walk out of Petey’s bedroom. She turned back to Petey. “Let me know if you need anything, sweetie. I’ll be in the living room or the kitchen.”
Petey pressed his lips together the way he did when a question was bubbling up.
Trisha waited for it.
“Why can’t you call Dad and let him know what happened?”
Trisha glanced back at Petey’s bedroom door, making sure that Jake wasn’t standing there. She looked at Petey again. “I guess I could. But there’s no need to worry your dad since you’re okay. Tomorrow morning, you’ll be as good as new.”
Petey looked disappointed.
Trisha knew he was missing his father. She’d have to plan a trip down to the prison sometime soon. “Right now, you need to rest, okay? We can talk more about your dad later.” When Jake wasn’t in the next room.
Petey sighed quietly and tapped the iPad’s screen.
“Just call out if you need me.” Trisha walked out of his room and headed down the hall. Jake was nowhere to be found as she stepped into the living room. He wasn’t in the kitchen or the bathroom. Trisha stepped out onto the porch for a moment. She didn’t want to go too far in case Petey called out so she headed back inside.
It appeared that Jake had left. That was just as well. Trisha had inconvenienced him enough today. She walked into the kitchen to figure out what to cook. They’d missed lunch, and now it was past dinnertime. Petey would likely be hungry. Or maybe not. Maybe he’d just fall asleep until tomorrow morning.
Trisha’s stomach clenched at the thought of food. She pulled open the fridge and dipped inside, peering at condiments and containers of leftovers. Nothing looked appetizing. Then she straightened and turned at the sound of a knock behind her. Jake was standing at the door. Her heart unwittingly lifted.
He held up two bags as he opened the door and stepped inside. “Dinner is served!”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“This is how my grandmother cares for people. It’s enough food for a small party instead of just you and Petey.” Jake carried the bags toward the kitchen island and laid them down. “It’s barbeque chicken, string beans, mashed potatoes, and biscuits.”
Trisha’s mouth watered. “Wow.”
“I know.” Jake chuckled. “Enjoy.”
Trisha looked up at him. “You’re not staying?”
He narrowed his blue eyes. The color of them seemed to change depending on the lighting. Right now, they were more of a blue-gray shade. She liked the little squint he had with one eye when he smiled. She also liked the subtle wave his hair made right at his left temple. “It’s not for me,” he said. “She made it for you.”
“But your day was just as long and hard as mine. And like you said, there’s more than enough.” Plus, she couldn’t send Jake away hungry after all he’d done for her today. Even if that’s exactly what she needed to do.
“Do you want me to stay?” Jake asked.
That was a loaded question. “I mean, you don’t have to,” she said instead of answering. “We have certainly taken up enough of your day. I’d understand if you just want to go home.”
Jake looked between her and the food. “Home is a tricky word. It’s not in the DC area anymore. It’s not in Peony Cottage, which I’ve stayed in for less than forty-eight hours. Home is more about a feeling, in my opinion. For me, it’s all about feeling loved. And safe,” he added.
Trisha tilted her head. “Safe?”
Jake leaned against her counter. “Not just keeping the bogeymen out. Feeling safe is also about being free to just be you, no veils or pretenses. And knowing that the people around you won’t judge you or make you feel crazy. That’s what home feels like.” His gaze was still locked on hers, holding her hostage in this moment. “At least to me.”
Trisha swallowed. If that was what home felt like, she hadn’t been there in a very long time.
* * *
Petey wasn’t interested in eating, so Trisha and Jake sat at the kitchen island, side by side. The only word Jake could use to describe their meal was awkward. But it was a good kind of discomfort. The kind that crackled with sexual tension between two attracted single people.
“So, uh”—Jake reached for his glass of water—“tell me more about yourself.”
Trisha stopped eating and gave him an odd expression. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. I know you came from Sweetwater Springs. What kind of work did you do there?”
She reached for a napkin and wiped at the corner of her mouth. “I worked at the women’s shelter.”
Jake found this interesting. “That sounds like a rewarding job, helping women get back on their feet.”
Trisha returned her attention to her food. “It was. I really enjoyed it.”
“I bet you saw a lot of tough situations in that line of work.”
“Maybe too much. I burned out on it. It was time to let someone else take on that job.”
“I understand.” Jake lifted his fork and stabbed at a few string beans. “What kinds of things did you do for fun in your last town?”
Trisha gave him another odd look. “Why are you asking me so many questions about myself?”
Jake’s hand and fork froze midway to his mouth. “Because that’s how people get to know each other.”
“Why do you want to know me?” He could see her defenses rising as he asked questions. It wasn’t like the first day he’d met her though, when he’d been asking because he was suspicious of her intentions toward Vi. These questions stemmed from a sincere desire to know her.
“You’re going to be my neighbor for the next few weeks.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I really appreciate your help today. I appreciate your grandmother giving me a job working on your family’s property. But you should know that I’m not up for more than being friendly neighbors.”
Jake set his fork down. He was prett
y sure she was talking about romance, which surprised him. He hadn’t so much as flirted with her. At least not much. “I’m always up for making new friends, but nothing more than that right now. I think I told you, I’m just getting out of a relationship.”
Her eyes were wide as she looked at him.
“I don’t know your story,” he continued, “but I’m guessing you’ve been in a bad relationship too.” He took her lack of response as a yes. “So I’m just asking you questions to be friendly. To be friends. Nothing wrong with that, is there?”
She hesitated. “No, I guess not.”
He picked his fork back up. “I just want to be your friendly neighbor. Like Mr. Rogers.”
Trisha laughed quietly. “Well, to answer your question, I didn’t really do anything specific for fun in my last town.” She returned to eating her food. “My best friend came over a lot. I went to her place too. I worked two jobs in Sweetwater Springs so there wasn’t a lot of time for hobbies or going out.”
“Two jobs?”
“Being a single mom has its difficulties. I cleaned houses on the weekend.”
“I see. You don’t have to do that here?” he asked.
Trisha’s shoulders were slowly coming down. “Vi has been so generous. I get paid on top of having a free place to live. That’s one of the reasons I took this job. It’s better for me and Petey.”
Jake nodded as he listened. That was just like Vi to give more than she needed to. But in this case, he understood why, and he couldn’t seem to find the flaw in helping a single mom spend more time with her child. “Sounds like you have time to have a little fun here in Somerset Lake. And after today, I’d say it’s deserved. How about you let me help you with that?”
Trisha’s forehead wrinkled as her brows lifted in question. “What are you talking about?”
“Sunset Over Somerset. It happens during the summers on Friday nights. Petey will love it.”
“Lucy told me about that. She invited me earlier this week, but I didn’t say yes.”
“You turned her down?” Jake asked.
Trisha nibbled on her lower lip as her fingers reached absently for the bracelet that always dangled at her wrist. She located the silver turtle charm and ran her fingertips over the smooth metal. “I guess it’s taken me a while to warm up to the social life here.”
Jake hoped she wouldn’t turn him down. “Let me take you and Petey there tomorrow. There are children there. Petey seems interested in meeting other kids his age.”
“Yes!”
Both Jake and Trisha lifted their heads to see Petey standing in front of them. Jake hadn’t even heard Petey walk up. Bailey hadn’t either because she stood on all fours now and jogged over to the boy.
“I want to meet other kids, Mom. Please!” he said, showing more energy than he’d had earlier. “I really think that would make me feel a lot better.”
Using the whole sick card was a smart move. Jake glanced at Trisha, who still seemed to be looking for a way to remain in this reclusive world that she’d created in Somerset Lake so far. But why? What was she so afraid of? It wasn’t good for her or her son if she planned to make this town their home.
And the bigger question for Jake to answer for himself was why did he care?
* * *
A half hour later, Jake left Juniper Cottage with plans to pick Trisha and Petey up tomorrow afternoon for Sunset Over Somerset. First thing in the morning, however, he was planning on going to the hardware store for supplies and getting started on repairing the roofs of Magnolia and Jasmine Cottages.
Jake headed up his steps now and stood for a solid second, trying to figure out what to do with himself this evening. He wasn’t ready for bed just yet so he grabbed the latest book he’d purchased from Lakeside Books and walked back out onto the deck to read. It was another how-to book. He didn’t really want to know how to start up and run his own fish farm. He just liked the technical language of a nonfiction, instructional book. It was somehow soothing. His form of a lullaby.
He flipped the book open to the beginning of chapter one and tried to read, but the words blurred together as his frayed focus wandered to Juniper Cottage next door and the woman inside.
Trisha was beautiful. And mysterious. Something about that element of mystery drew him in like the title of a how-to manual. There were facts and information that he didn’t know, which made him yearn to open the book and read.
His phone rang, pulling him out of his relaxed state. He held his breath, checked the caller ID, and sighed. It’d been a long day, and he really didn’t want to argue right now. He tapped the screen anyway and connected the call. “Hey, Uncle Tim.”
“Hey, Jake,” his uncle drawled in an exaggerated Southern accent. “How’s it going in Somerset Lake?”
Jake leaned back in his Adirondack chair and gazed out on the water. The lake water captured the moonlight, making it look like there were tiny diamonds scattered across its surface. Once, when he was about little Petey’s age, Jake dove into that water after sunset to see if there were, in fact, diamonds out there.
“Vi isn’t even thinking about selling the property,” Jake informed his uncle. “She wants me to help renovate the vacant cottages and bring in new blood to rent them out.”
“New blood?” Tim asked.
Jake draped his hand over the chair’s armrest and petted Bailey’s head. “She wants me to help her new property manager revive the place.”
“She’s hired a property manager?” Tim asked, his voice rising. “I just spoke to her a few days ago. She didn’t tell me about any property manager. What is my mother thinking?”
Jake glanced over at the porch of Juniper Cottage to make sure Trisha couldn’t overhear. He was just starting to gain her trust, and he didn’t want to lose it. “The woman’s name is Trisha Langly.”
“I don’t know any Langlys in Somerset Lake,” Tim said.
“She’s not from around here,” Jake told him.
“Well then, she needs to go back to wherever she came from. And Vi needs to sell the family’s rental cottages. It’s the only thing holding her to that sleepy nowhere town. My mother would be so much happier here with the rest of the family. You will be too.”
That was Jake’s plan. “I have to admit, Grandma Vi seems pretty content.”
Tim grunted. “You didn’t see her right after her stroke. She was scared and alone. She had too much on her plate and no one to help her long-term.” Right after Vi’s stroke, the family took turns checking up on Vi. “We have the law practice to maintain,” Tim said.
“I guess that’s why Grandma hired a property manager,” Jake said. “If she’s not going to sell, I think hiring Mrs. Langly was a good move.”
“You’re missing my point, Jake. Vi is selling the Somerset Rental Cottages. And you’re there to convince her. Then she can move down here where she belongs.”
Jake already heard this spiel from both his uncle and his parents before, of course. He just needed the reminder because, so far, Vi didn’t seem ready to give up the family’s property. On the contrary, she seemed determined to save it.
Jake talked with his uncle for a few more minutes and then they disconnected their call. Instead of returning to his book, Jake pulled up a browser on his phone and tapped in SWEETWATER SPRINGS, NORTH CAROLINA.
That was the town where Trisha said she was from. He didn’t know much about it, and he wasn’t sure if his motivation was because he wanted to know Trisha, the beautiful woman, better. Or because he was still collecting information on Trisha, the inconvenient property manager.
Chapter Seven
The next morning, after waking Mr. S and sending him home, Trisha sipped her first cup of morning coffee as she looked out the window at the lake, her mind lingering on thoughts of Jake. He was a handsome man, and despite her first impression of him, he was a nice guy. That didn’t mean she needed to give in to any romantic notions, of course. That period of her life was over. She’d done the whole happily-
ever-after thing, and it wasn’t what everyone made it out to be.
So why did she agree to go downtown with him? She knew the reasons. There were more than one, but the main one was that Jake was right. If she and Petey were going to call this place home, they needed to know people. Petey needed friends. He was homesick, and that wasn’t going to change if they kept to themselves on the little strip of shore along Somerset Lake.
Petey set his spoon down as he finished his breakfast and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. “Are we going to see Dad at the prison today?”
Trisha sucked in a sharp breath. There was no one else listening right now, but next time there might be. “Let’s get the word prison out of our vocabulary, okay? Let’s just say ‘visit Dad.’”
Petey visibly deflated, making Trisha feel like an awful parent. Maybe she was a little homesick too. Maybe she’d made a mistake by moving to Somerset Lake. Yeah, there were people in Sweetwater Springs who’d judged her and Petey based on Peter’s actions, but there were also people who didn’t.
“Are we going to visit Dad?” Petey asked again.
“Not today. I’m sorry, sweetheart. But we’ll go soon, I promise.”
His body folded even more. “Are we going to see Jake this morning?”
Trisha shook her head. “No, but we will this afternoon,” she added, hoping this would cheer her son up. “We’re going downtown with him, remember?”
“Yes!” Petey practically squealed.
Trisha looked at him long and hard. He missed his father. She was sure he missed his uncle Chase in Sweetwater Springs too. A little boy needed a male figure to look up to. Petey hadn’t had much of that since they’d moved here. Jake was the first man in Somerset Lake that Petey met and spent any amount of time with. “You like Jake, huh?”
“He flies planes and has a really nice dog. Can we get a dog too, Mom?”
If Trisha thought adopting a pet would fix everything that was missing in her son’s life, she’d take him to the local animal shelter right now and let him pick out ten dogs. Okay, maybe not ten, but definitely one. Doing so would only be a Band-Aid though. Time and love were the only true salves for his kind of heartache. Hers too, she guessed.
