Summer at Lake Haven

by RaeAnne Thayne

  “Thank you, Letty.”

  He really didn’t know what he would have done without her and considered himself the most fortunate of men that she had agreed to come out of retirement to help him and Susan after Amelia was born and later when Thomas came along. She had been about to retire for the second time when Susan had left him. Letty had stayed to help pick up the pieces, and though she had threatened to quit when he agreed to take Susan back after her diagnosis, she hadn’t followed through.

  She was a lifesaver, though he supposed he would have to figure out how to go on without her eventually. She was a few years away from seventy, after all. He wasn’t sure she would be able to stay with them much longer.

  On that less than cheerful note, he walked back through the house and found the children with their heads together, Amelia whispering something to her brother. She clamped her lips together tightly the moment she saw him.

  What was that about? Ian wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

  “We should go. Ms. Fremont likely needs to be leaving soon to open her store.”

  The children didn’t need to be told twice. They hurried for the door, obviously thrilled that they unexpectedly would be spending at least some portion of their family vacation playing with three cute puppies.

  The morning was gorgeous, the mountain air cool enough for the children to need their jumpers. He loved these refreshing mornings. They reminded him of fishing trips he used to take with his father and David in Scotland, when they would rise before dawn and traipse through heather to the fishing spot his family had been coming to for generations.

  Grief for his brother hit him out of nowhere, as it did at random moments. It had been three years and he still missed him with a fierce ache. He had so many vivid memories of their childhood, leading each other into trouble. Okay, usually it had been David doing the troublemaking and begging Ian to put away his book and join him.

  Two years older, David had been smart, funny, brave, good-hearted. He would have made the perfect Earl of Amherst—unlike Ian, who had been perfectly content being the spare. David had been engaged when he died, two months away from marrying his longtime girlfriend. They had no children, alas. He mourned that, too, not only because it would have meant the child, if it were male, would become viscount instead of Ian and subsequently earl but, more, because he would have loved having any piece of his brother beyond his memories.

  He pushed away the sadness, as he had become used to doing over the years, and followed after his children. The lake glistened in the sun, already more active than he had found it that morning when he left before daybreak. He could see a few fish jumping and several fishing boats slowly trolling.

  The mountaintops across the way were still coated in snow with high clouds obscuring the highest peaks. He had only seen them out of the clouds a few times since their arrival.

  Thomas reached the door first and pressed hard, a long, low sound that echoed through the morning.

  Samantha Fremont opened her door before the boy could ring it a second time. She looked cool, professional, wearing a lacy white blouse and a pale blue skirt.

  She smiled a greeting for the children and Ian was uncomfortably aware of a curious twitch in his chest.

  “Good morning, Amelia. Thomas. I’m so happy to see you. This must mean you’ve agreed to help me out with my puppies.”

  “We are. Dad just told us about it this morning.” Amelia’s voice seemed to vibrate with excitement, as if she couldn’t contain it all inside.

  “Oh, I’m so glad. I can’t tell you what a big help this will be to me. Come in. You’re just in time. I was about to prepare breakfast for the puppies. I’ll do this before I leave every day so you won’t have to worry about it, but it’s fun to watch them eat.”

  She scooped food from a large storage container into a rectangular bowl, filled another one with water and then carried them into a small room where the puppies were contained by a gate.

  The three little puppies, no more than a few pounds each, attacked the food like they were wild coyotes on a fresh carcass.

  “They’re so cute,” Thomas said, enthralled.

  Samantha stood next to Ian, the children in front of them, and he found himself painfully aware of her. She smelled delicious. He couldn’t place the scent exactly. Berries and lemons with a sweeter note he couldn’t quite identify. Whatever it was, he wanted to bury his face in her hair and simply inhale.

  He held himself stiffly, doing his best to ignore the urge as they watched the puppies for a few moments. He was relieved when she finally headed toward her kitchen.

  “Here’s a key to my house.” She held out a key on a sparkly pink lanyard. Amelia reached for it, but before her hand could connect, Samantha held it out of her reach.

  “Wait a minute. Before I give you my house key, I forgot to ask. Are you secretly a mysterious band of traveling house burglars who want to steal all my tiaras?”

  Thomas and Amelia giggled.

  “No, silly,” Thomas said. “We’re just two children.”

  “Your father’s not a child.”

  She sent him a look under her lashes and Ian could feel his face heat. Hunger flared again and he wanted to wrap his arms around her and press her against the kitchen cabinets, kissing her until neither of them could think straight.

  Where in the hell was this coming from? This wasn’t him at all.

  “He’s not a burglar, either,” Amelia assured her. “He’s our dad and he’s usually very nice.”

  “Unless you leave your toys on the floor for him to trip over,” Thomas said thoughtfully.

  “Or stay up late reading when you’ve promised to turn off the light,” Amelia added.

  “Good to know,” Samantha said with a slanted smile in his direction that left him slightly dizzy.

  “You can trust Amelia and Thomas,” he said gruffly. “You won’t find two nicer, kinder, more responsible children anywhere.”

  His words must have been the right ones. She gave him a startled look first, as if he had said something completely unexpected, which quickly turned into a blinding smile that made him feel as if his head was spinning.

  “That’s good enough for me, then.” She handed over an index card covered in a neat, flowing script. “Here is everything I need you to do. As I said, I will feed them breakfast before I go so you won’t have to worry about that. I thought perhaps you could check on them once around noon and once more a little later, if you’re around. If you’re not, don’t worry about it. Just text or call me so I can come home or send someone from the boutique.”

  “Should we take them outside?” Amelia asked.

  “They would enjoy that very much. Perhaps on sunny days you can take them out to their pen in the afternoon so they can play in the grass.”

  “Would you like us to take them on walks?” Amelia asked eagerly.

  “For now, they get enough exercise in here, playing with each other. If you’d like to walk them around the yard that would be fine but it isn’t necessary. I should warn you that they’re not very good on leashes yet. If you decide to do that, you can find leashes for them hanging inside the room where I keep the puppies.”

  “All right.”

  “Let’s see. What else? They love to play with toys. Balls and sticks are their favorite.”

  “Got it,” Amelia said.

  “The gate on the door to their room opens by pushing the button on the top, then swinging it inside the room. If you have any questions at all, I’ve put my cell phone number on the card there. You can reach me throughout the day. Please don’t hesitate to call me. It’s no problem at all and I can be back here in ten minutes.”

  “I can’t imagine they’ll have any problems we can’t handle but it’s good to know how to contact you,” Ian said.

  She held out the card. “I’ll give the instructions to
you, Amelia. Though you may want to have your father take a picture with his phone, in case it gets lost somewhere.”

  “Good idea,” Ian said. “I’ll do that now.”

  He pulled out his mobile, snapped a picture, then handed the note back to his daughter, aware of Samantha watching the entire process.

  “Thank you so much for your help,” she said when he was done. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”

  “You’re very welcome,” Amelia said in a solemn voice. For all her seriousness, Ian could see how excited she was at the task ahead.

  Samantha had to know what a treat this was for the children. It wasn’t a burden at all but an experience they would treasure. He suspected their time playing with the three cute puppies might even become their most memorable part of the entire trip.

  “Is there anything else we need to know?” Amelia asked with that same air of solemnity.

  “I can’t think of anything right now but if I do I’ll let you know.” She glanced at her watch. “I’m afraid I need to leave so that I can open my store on time. Again, if you have any questions at all, please call me.”

  Her smile encompassed all of them but Ian still wanted to burn it into his memory.

  Letty’s words seemed to ring in his head as he and the children walked back to their house, Amelia carrying the key as carefully as if she’d been asked to transport the crown jewels.

  You know, maybe while you’re here, you should go on a date or two. It might take your mind off things.

  He couldn’t deny he was tempted. Samantha was a hard woman to resist. He couldn’t ask her out. He would only be here a few weeks and he would be busy with his research, the children and the wedding the entire time. What would be the point in dating someone he wouldn’t see again after this summer?

  Even as tempting as he was beginning to find the lovely, sweet, delicious-smelling Samantha Fremont.

  * * *

  “WHERE ARE YOU? I thought you were coming to the Helping Hands meeting today.”

  Sam frowned at her phone, glad McKenzie Kilpatrick couldn’t see her frazzled expression right now. “I planned to be there but I got slammed with two new brides at the same time who drove over together from Boise. Apparently one of their friends wore one of my older designs so now they want me to customize their own dresses.”

  “That’s fantastic! Your reputation is climbing, girl. Next thing you know, you’ll be in all the bridal magazines and we can all say we knew you when.”

  Samantha’s breath caught at the idea. Her designs in a bridal magazine. She couldn’t even imagine it. “That’s not going to happen any time soon.”

  “You don’t know. Your designs are innovative and beautiful. I love the one you did for Dani’s wedding to Ruben. It fit her personality so perfectly. Feminine and tough at the same time. That’s your genius, Sam. You have the uncanny ability to see through what a woman thinks she wants in a dress to the style she really needs.”

  Sam appreciated the kind words but wasn’t sure she agreed. That was her end goal but she acted more on instinct than any intentional effort.

  That was also one of the reasons why she doubted she could ever take her wedding gown designing to another level. She created bespoke wedding dresses based on the wearer’s personality, body type and design likes. She couldn’t mass produce that with any degree of success.

  “Are you sure you can’t come?” McKenzie cajoled. “You’re only a half hour late. If you can swing a break, even for a few moments, we’d still love you to drop by. Everyone missed you last week.”

  That had been another case where her best intentions had given way to expediency. She had been looking forward to the meeting after the fitting with Gemma the week before. Just as she had been about to walk across the street with Katrina, a bus full of tourists had pulled up and about a dozen of those tourists had headed into the store. She hadn’t felt good about leaving her staff alone to handle the onslaught so had missed the meeting.

  Right now, in contrast, the store was empty. Completely empty. Clarissa Wu, the salesclerk who had been scheduled to work that day, had called in sick that morning with a stomach bug she feared was food poisoning from a weekend picnic.

  She didn’t have any customers. The day had been a slow one so far. Could Sam afford to close the shop for an hour so she could spend time with her friends?

  Her mother would have had plenty to say if she knew Sam was even considering closing the store. Though they both tried to attend the Helping Hands meetings when they could, Linda always refused to close the store for something she considered frivolous, even when business was painfully slow. If one of their employees couldn’t cover the lunch break, Linda would stay herself.

  Samantha rolled her eyes a little now, remembering the very well-honed martyr act her mother could pull. “You go on and have fun,” Linda would say with a long-suffering look. “I’ll be fine here by myself.”

  Those had been other instances where Sam had felt like a terrible daughter. While she may have felt a pang of guilt, quickly squelched, she would invariably attend anyway instead of offering to stay behind so her mother could go in her place.

  She justified it at the time by reminding herself that she needed those breaks away from Linda. Anyway, every woman needed time with her friends to recharge her soul.

  Now, when she didn’t have anyone else to consider but herself and any potential customers who might be inconvenienced, she wavered for a few more moments, then hurriedly grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a note saying she would be back in an hour.

  She owned the store alone now. If she wanted to go see her friends, who was stopping her? She might miss a sale or two, but if someone wanted an item badly enough, they could come back after lunch.

  She flipped the sign on the door to Closed, stuck the note below it with tape, then locked the door behind her and hurried down the street to McKenzie’s store, Point Made Flowers and Gifts.

  The moment she opened the door, the familiar sounds of women laughing and the warm, welcoming scent of cinnamon and cloves filled her with comforting peace.

  Right decision, she assured herself as she made her way to the workroom in the back. She needed this, especially after missing the last one.

  Kenzie opened this room for craft classes and for regular meetings of the Haven Point Helping Hands, a loosely organized group whose goal was to help and lift others in the community. Usually that involved working on craft projects together and selling them at local events, then using the proceeds from those sales to benefit various causes.

  When she walked in, conversation around the table stopped as everyone greeted her enthusiastically. She saw a few faces were missing. Devin Barrett, McKenzie’s sister, wasn’t there and neither was Dani Morales. The two of them had demanding careers, one as a physician and the other as a veterinarian, which meant they often couldn’t come to the midday meetings of the group.

  “You made it!” McKenzie beamed at her. “I’m so glad.”

  “I don’t have long but it feels like it’s been forever since I’ve been able to come to a meeting, and I needed lunch, anyway, so I decided to close the store.”

  “Good for you.” Julia Caine, who ran the town library, smiled.

  “Grab some salad,” Kenzie ordered. “There’s plenty left.”

  She knew better than to argue with the woman so she filled a plate with a large green salad and some of Barbara Serrano’s famous Italian pasta salad, then added a bowl of fresh strawberries.

  She sat down at a long rectangular table surrounded by her friends.

  “How’s the wedding planning?” Charlene Bailey was asking Gemma Summerhill.

  Gemma lit up at the question. “Everything is coming together perfectly.”

  “Three weeks now, isn’t that right?” Eppie Becker asked kindly.

  “That’s right.”

>   “It will be here before you know it,” Eppie’s sister, Hazel, said. The two sisters were in their eighties and had spent their entire lives living no farther than a few houses away from each other. They had even married brothers. Though Hazel’s husband had died several years ago, Eppie’s husband squired them both around town to various functions.

  “I know,” Gemma said. “I can’t believe the wedding is less than a month away. I’m utterly thrilled that Eliza and Aidan are allowing us to marry at Snow Angel Cove.”

  “Oh, it’s our pleasure,” Eliza assured her. “Aidan is hoping that you’ll stick around at Caine Tech for a long time, now that you’re marrying someone local.”

  Eliza’s husband, Aidan, was CEO of the largest employer in town, which had mainly been responsible for the rejuvenation of Haven Point. Samantha didn’t want to think about where the town might be if Aidan and Ben Kilpatrick hadn’t decided to open their research and development campus onto the site of the old boatworks that used to be owned by Ben’s family.

  The town had been dying before that, sustained only by fleeting tourism during the summer months.

  Those tourism dollars had been appreciated but weren’t enough to spur growth and keep the younger population from fleeing for other job opportunities elsewhere after high school.

  Even Linda had agreed Caine Tech had been good for Haven Point, though she still complained about the new housing developments and increased traffic in town.

  Fremont Fashions had benefited tremendously from the new growth. Samantha only had good feelings toward the tech company, especially because of the friends like Gemma it had brought into her life.

  Right now, her friend seemed to glow with happiness and Sam sighed inside. All this talk of weddings made her feel like the only single person left in town. Except Hazel, anyway.

  “How nice that your family is able to come,” Eppie went on. “By the way, we met your brother and niece and nephew the other day at the supermarket.”

  “How did you know he was my brother?” Gemma looked surprised.