Small-Town Dad

by Jean C. Gordon

  What was it with women that they were always interpreting everything into feelings? His mind flashed back to Anne. At least, to the Annie he used to know. She thought more like a guy.

  “You’re not the typical North Country student. I’m sure it wouldn’t be any problem if you are interested.”

  He glared at his baby sister.

  “What? Assuming she’s single, you’re her peer.”

  Age-wise, yes. Career-wise, not by a long shot. And it bothered him. But the fact he was bothered bothered him more. He’d been perfectly happy with his electrician business until Autumn had put the idea of going back to college in his head.

  “No, I don’t think Dr. Howard and I will be traveling in the same social circles.”

  “Come on, big brother. You can’t tell me you’re not a little interested.”

  Emily was right. He couldn’t tell her that.

  * * *

  Anne dabbed on a little mascara and lip gloss and inspected her face in the mirror. What had possessed her to let her next-door neighbor Jamie talk her into going to the Singles Plus group Bible study at Jamie’s church? Since relocating to the Adirondacks, Anne had been looking for a church to attend, but she wasn’t ready for any kind of singles’ scene. Michael’s betrayal and death were still too fresh for her, even though it had been over a year.

  She ran a comb through her hair and tucked it in her bag. Jamie had insisted the group was all about fellowship, not people looking for spouses. In fact, Jamie wasn’t even single. Her husband was in the army and had recently deployed back to the Middle East.

  Anne heard a knock at her back door, followed by Jamie’s friendly, “Hello.”

  “Be right there,” Anne called back. She stopped and checked her reflection in the full-length mirror one more time before heading downstairs to join Jamie. She pushed the bridge of her nose, an old habit left over from when she’d worn glasses. Michael had insisted she wear contacts. Her tailored slacks and short military-style jacket were all wrong. Maybe a quick change into her blue linen dress.

  “Anne?” Jamie called.

  “Coming.” The suit would have to do.

  Her fears of being overdressed were confirmed when she saw Jamie in her jeans and a hooded sweatshirt over a bright pink T-shirt.

  “Sorry to rush you,” Jamie said. “It’s just that Bible study is my one chance to escape from children for a couple of hours. Between the kids at school and their various ailments and my three, I don’t get much adult me-time.”

  “I understand,” Anne said with a twinge of guilt because she didn’t. Not really. Jamie’s three kids were adorable and so well behaved. And she made handling them by herself, plus her job as the school nurse, seem a breeze. Wanting to escape her kids struck Anne as more in line with her own parents’ disinterested parenting style than Jamie’s loving one.

  She followed her neighbor out to her slightly battered SUV. With Jamie’s husband away and no relatives nearby, Anne could see how Jamie would want some adult time, someone to share her day with. For all that Michael’s death and the aftermath had put her through, she still missed having someone to come home to after work.

  Jamie moved a couple of marbles, a Dora the Explorer pencil and a pink sequined purse off the passenger seat so Anne could sit.

  “Opal’s,” Jamie explained.

  Anne didn’t think she’d ever seen Jamie’s four-year-old without her pink purse. “Can she survive the evening without it, or do you want to stop and I’ll run it into the house to her?”

  “She has her favorite babysitter, Autumn, tonight, so I think she’ll be able to soldier through.”

  The drive to Hazardtown Community Church took about ten minutes.

  “I think you’re going to fit right in,” Jamie said as they walked across the parking lot to the church lounge. “A lot of us are transplants, but a couple of members are natives. Maybe you’ll know them from when you went to school here.”

  “That was a while ago, and I kind of kept to myself, since I didn’t know how long we were going to be here. We moved around a lot.” No need to give her all the gory details about why.

  About ten people were in the lounge sitting around a coffee table when they entered.

  “Hey, I brought a visitor. Everyone be on your best behavior. We don’t want to scare her away. This is Anne Howard, my new next-door neighbor. She works at the community college.”

  “Hi,” Anne said.

  Jamie went around the circle, starting with a blonde woman who looked about Anne’s age. “This is Erin Ryder. She’s the high school guidance counselor.”

  She moved on to an attractive dark-haired man sitting on the couch next to a very pregnant woman. “Emily and Drew Stacey. They’re another exception to the single rule. They joined before they married, and it seemed dumb to make them leave afterward. Emily is a graphic artist, and Drew runs the new Sonrise Camp and Convention Center at Paradox Lake.”

  Emily gave Anne a thorough once-over that ended with a quirky smile.

  Jamie finished the introductions and offered Anne a seat on the couch next to the couple before taking a seat in a folding chair across from her. “Looks like we’re all here except our leader.”

  “Does the pastor teach the class?” Anne liked the idea of meeting the pastor informally before hearing him preach.

  “Not quite,” Emily said, prompting chuckles from the other members of the group.

  Anne resettled herself on the couch and clutched her Bible in her lap. Apparently, this was some kind of private joke.

  “We take turns,” Emily said. A smile played with the corners of her mouth. “Our leader for the study we’re starting tonight is my brother, Neal.”

  * * *

  Neal burst into the room, kicking himself for being late for his first night as leader. “Sorry. Mrs. Donnelly blew a fuse at her house and couldn’t get ahold of her son to come and replace it for her. I stayed an extra few minutes to explain to her that the fuse box should be replaced with circuit breakers.”

  “Mrs. Donnelly was our high school English teacher,” Emily said to the woman sitting next to her. “And maybe our Dad’s, too.” She laughed.

  His sister’s explanation drew Neal’s attention to the woman. Anne. He placed his lesson manual and Bible on the table with a thud.

  “Anne, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “So, you know each other?” Jamie asked.

  “Yes. We went to high school together,” Neal said.

  Anne nodded. “We hadn’t seen each other in years, until this afternoon. Neal is in my environmental studies program at North Country.”

  Neal glanced around the room, expecting everyone to be looking at him. No one was.

  “Let’s get started,” he said. “Pass this around to Anne.” He handed a study guide to the person next to him rather than directly to Anne across the table from him. It was probably petty, but the less personal contact with her, the better for his state of mind. His attraction to her wasn’t anything more than a lingering remnant of happy times before he met Autumn’s mother and he’d had to grow up fast.

  “We’re studying Job,” he said for Anne’s benefit. “And we open with prayer.” Neal started to sweat. Anne—Dr. Howard—was making him nervous. He’d better make the prayer particularly heartfelt.

  Neal bowed his head. “Dear Lord, help us to learn from Job’s trials and tribulations, to hold steadfast to You, and not question what we see as obstacles in our life path but recognize them as part of Your plan to help us grow in our faith and love. Amen.”

  Neal glanced at Anne as he lifted his head. She still had her eyes closed and hands folded in her lap. Had his prayer hit home with her? She opened her eyes and he looked away.

  “Who wants to read?” he asked.

  “I will
,” Emily said.

  While his sister read, he stole another glance at Anne.

  “Should I keep reading?”

  “Huh?”

  Neal met his sister’s gaze. She smirked.

  “No. Thanks.” He’d get her later, as only a big brother could. “We’ll pick up on the next book after we consider the questions on page nineteen.”

  Neal continued the study, ruthlessly redirecting the focus whenever comments got off point and uncharacteristically dominating the discussion. At a little after eight-thirty, he wrapped it up with a closing prayer.

  With her husband’s help, Emily pushed herself to a standing position and turned to Anne. “You and Jamie are staying for refreshments, aren’t you?”

  “I don’t know.” Anne gave Jamie a questioning look.

  While he hated to lose a potential new member, it might be better if Anne didn’t join the group permanently. They all got along so comfortably.

  “We sure are,” Jamie said. “I have Autumn until ten.”

  “Great. There’s coffee and hot water for tea in the church hall kitchen,” Emily said. “And Erin brought her double-chocolate brownies. I’m starved.”

  “You’re always starved,” her husband, Drew, teased.

  “And whose fault is that?”

  Everyone laughed.

  “You go ahead,” Drew said. “I’ll be there in a minute.” He hung back with Neal while the others headed to the kitchen to get drinks.

  “Nice work,” Drew said.

  Neal glared at him.

  “What? I mean it. She hung on your every word.”

  “I was not trying to impress Anne.”

  “Of course you weren’t. You just had a lot to contribute tonight. More than you have in the past six months combined.”

  “I really prepared for the lesson.” Neal ground out the words. He and Drew had been friends even before he and Emily had fallen in love. But the guy was getting on his nerves big-time tonight.

  “Don’t fight it. You’ll be way ahead of the game. I know.”

  “I’m not fighting it, because I have nothing to fight.”

  “Sure. Whatever you say.” He smirked just like Emily had earlier.

  Neal grabbed his books. This conversation wasn’t worth wasting his breath on. He turned to leave, but the returning group congregating by the doorway blocked his escape. He’d hoped to slip out with some excuse to Drew while the others were getting coffee.

  “I’m going to go get some coffee,” he announced to no one in particular and wove his way out of the room, staying clear of his sister and Anne.

  The kitchen was empty and blessedly quiet. Neal poured the last of the coffee in a cup and heaped in two teaspoons of sugar. He took a swig. The sugar didn’t help. The beverage tasted like what it was. Cheap swill that had sat too long on a burner.

  He took another sip and grimaced. Drew hadn’t been completely off base. Neal did have an interest in Anne that he couldn’t seem to shake. But it wasn’t what Drew thought. And it wasn’t anything he was going to pursue. They were simply old friends. Anne had gone to Schroon Lake Central only one year.

  Laughter drifted out of the lounge as he approached. Then he heard Anne’s voice.

  “So, if you don’t think I’m too nosy, when are you due?”

  “Feels like it should have been a month ago,” Emily answered, “but I still have another couple of weeks to go.”

  “If you’re on time,” Jamie chimed in. “I was almost two weeks late with Opal.”

  Neal’s heart warmed. Not his Autumn. She was a week and a half early. He remembered like it was yesterday. Being called out of Mrs. Donnelly’s English class to report to the office. His father waiting there, tapping his fingers on the counter, not wanting to tell Mrs. Wood, the office manager and local busybody, what the family emergency was. Mom and Vanessa had gone ahead to the hospital. Neal had been scared out of his mind, but seeing his daughter enter the world had been indescribably awesome.

  “No, don’t even say that.” Emily’s voice resounded up the hall and brought him back to the present. “I couldn’t take it.”

  Neal heard the low rumble of his brother-in-law’s voice, but the women’s laughter drowned out his words.

  “How about you, Anne?” Emily asked. “Do you have kids?”

  Neal halted at the doorway and fixed his sights on Anne. He hadn’t thought about her having kids. Only about her husband. Neal had decided he was some high-powered exec. Made his latent adolescent crush on her even more ridiculous.

  Her mouth curved with a sadness echoed in her eyes. “No. I’ve always wanted children. But my late husband and I didn’t have any.”

  She was a widow? He ignored the elation that rushed through him and grabbed on to her next words as protection against his attraction to her. Of course she wanted children. Almost all women wanted children. One more shield in his arsenal against pursuing something that couldn’t be.

  Chapter Two

  “Neal was sure in a rush to leave this evening,” Jamie said as she and Anne were driving home.

  Because of me, no doubt. Anne rubbed the bridge of her nose. She wasn’t sure what she’d done besides mentioning her meeting Neal at the college earlier in the day. After that, he acted really odd given the old Neal she’d known. But people changed. She certainly had.

  “He usually stays for the social hour?”

  “Yeah. And he was acting strange during class, too. Talkative. He usually throws out an idea or comment and lets everyone else dissect it. I think he was nervous.”

  “About leading the study?” That didn’t seem like the Neal Anne had known.

  “No, about an old flame...”

  “We aren’t old flames.”

  “You did go out in high school, though.”

  “We were on the Science Olympiad team and went to the junior prom.”

  Jamie slapped the steering wheel. “I knew it. I’ve never seen a woman have that effect on Neal before. Not that every eligible woman in Essex County hasn’t tried.”

  Anne didn’t need Jamie pointing out how attractive Neal was. “That was a long time ago.” A lifetime ago.

  “So you are interested.”

  “He’s one of my students. It wouldn’t be ethical.”

  “Come on. He’s not an eighteen-year-old kid.”

  “No, I’m certain there’s a clause in my contract.” Even if there wasn’t, Anne could use her position to keep her distance. If that’s what God wanted her to do. This time, before she entered any kind of relationship, she’d ask for His guidance. When she’d met Michael, she’d been too new in her faith, and he’d been so overpowering.

  She was just getting back on track with her beliefs and her life. A life not dominated by Michael, but still shaded by his lies and deceptions. Lies not only to her but also to the people who worked with and for him. People who still worked for her. She needed to keep her actions perfect because that was the right way to live, and she didn’t want any of Michael’s filth to taint her program. Her work here might help undo some of the damage Michael had done.

  Jamie shifted the SUV into a lower gear and turned the corner to their road. “Oh, I’m sure there are perfectly acceptable ways to get around that if you want.”

  But she didn’t want to get around things. And she didn’t want to be part of a couple again. At least, not yet. She needed time to be herself again.

  “Neal said he has a daughter,” Anne said, hoping to change the direction of the conversation.

  “Yes, Autumn. She’s my babysitter tonight.”

  “He’s divorced?” Anne tried to keep her tone casual. Michael had been divorced, too. Not that it mattered. While she thought that a lot of people didn’t work hard enough at their marriages, some peop
le, like her parents, simply weren’t meant to be married in the first place.

  “No.” Jamie drew the word out.

  He couldn’t be married. Jamie wouldn’t be pushing him at her if he were.

  “Stop looking at me like that,” Jamie said. “He’s not married. What kind of person do you think I am?”

  Her friend laughed, but Anne cringed inside.

  “Autumn’s mother took off when Autumn was a couple of months old. The week she and Neal were supposed to be married. No one heard from her for years, not even her parents.”

  “That’s terrible. Was she from around here?” Anne tried to picture the girls she’d met the year she went to Schroon Lake Central. She couldn’t help thinking that he hadn’t wasted any time taking up with someone new, after her mother had taken her back to Boston that June.

  “No, Emily said she was from somewhere near Chicago. She and some friends had rented a cabin for the summer. Obviously, she came from money. You know what the camps on the lake cost for a week.” Jamie stopped until Anne acknowledged that she did with a quick nod.

  “Vanessa—that’s her name—was a year or so older than Neal. A college student on summer break. She went back home at the end of the summer. I don’t know all of the details. Only what Emily’s told me. But Vanessa came back that winter after she’d found out she was pregnant. She and her parents had fought and she showed up in town unannounced. The Hazards let her stay with them.”

  “I remember Neal’s parents.”

  “Good people.”

  “So Neal’s parents raised Autumn?”

  Jamie pulled into the driveway of Anne’s rental house. “Neal raised Autumn. I guess you don’t know the Hazards well.”

  Jamie’s words slapped her. It was a reasonable assumption, wasn’t it? Neal must have been about seventeen. She knew too many men a lot older who wouldn’t have stepped up like that. Her husband, Michael, hadn’t been very involved with his children from his first marriage. Work had been more important.

  “I mean, his mom watched her while Neal was at school and, then, when he was at work. He did some kind of electrical apprenticeship with his uncle’s friend. Neal wouldn’t have had it any other way. He gave up a scholarship to some college near Albany.”