"How did you sleep?" he asked without looking at her.
She didn't feel a need to lie. "Okay, you never really sleep great away from home."
He grunted his agreement but that was the extent of the conversation. For the next ten minutes they both ate in silence.
"After breakfast I'm going to try to get some work done. I don't have cable, but I have a couple of streaming services you can watch on the television and there are plug-ins by both the couches in the living room and the island in the kitchen. I recommend the living room because you can keep your leg propped up."
She looked down at his plate to see that there was only a bite or two left when she was only halfway through. The man had inhaled his food. A second later he stood up. She noticed he had not even looked at her. He was already rinsing off his dishes and putting them in the dishwasher before refilling his coffee and giving her a nod before he headed to, what she presumed, the computer station on the other side of the living room.
The whole thing was so abrupt it caught Claire off guard. Not only was he a fast eater but he didn't sit with her while she ate, make eye contact, or conversation. She got the distinct impression that other than his dog, who was currently at her feet watching her eat with hope in his eyes, he probably didn't get out much. Jared’s social skills had likely become a little rough around the edges. Either way was fine with her. She had work to do and she didn't expect someone to babysit her, especially a stranger in their own home. Taking her time, Claire finished her food and grabbed her laptop from the room she was staying in before planting herself on the couch, putting her legs up on the one ottoman that came with the set then opened her laptop.
No sooner had she sat down than Jared turned in his chair and made eye contact with her.
"I'm so sorry, I completely forgot. We promised Max we would check in with him this morning about your injuries." Without another word he got up from his seat, grabbing his cell phone as he walked toward her.
A split-second later Max's familiar voice came over the phone, "It's about time. How are you doing, Claire?"
The lack of transition threw her. "I am okay. I have an absolute killer headache, but I had painkillers in my purse, so I took two of those. I'm waiting for them to kick in. My knee is swollen and a rainbow of color and it's hard to walk on. But it's not as swollen as it would be if I had not elevated it all night. Other than that, just minor aches and bruises."
"Good, that's good news. As for the roadway." He sighed heavily; Claire knew whatever Max was going to say next was not going to be good news. "The plows are hard at work in both Bunny Ridge and Lantern Lake but it's going slow because this is more snow than we've gotten this season, and thanks to the fact that Lakeside left their roads open a little bit later so people could theoretically get to the hospital, there was a crash on the main roadway between Bunny Ridge and Lakeside. There were three vehicles involved and it's been there for a couple hours now. Since sometime late last night, the plows have been circling the cars, trying to get it cleared enough that the tow truck can come up and tow them. My understanding is it's a little ridiculous to watch. But they should in theory have those cars cleared out of the way within the hour and be able to get back to their usual duties. I'm sorry, Claire, that I don’t have better news for you. Looks like you might be stuck there until late afternoon at the absolute earliest. My guess is they will not be cleaning side roads until tomorrow morning. And that's only if we don't get more snow."
Claire pressed her lips together in a thin line. It was an old habit she had. None of this, minus the accident, was news from what Roland had told her, but neither Max nor Jared knew that. It sucked and she didn't feel comfortable even though Jared was trying his best to be hospitable.
"Thanks for keeping us updated." It was the only thing she could think to say.
There was another pause before the voice came through the phone again, "Sorry I don't have better news. I'll check in with you tomorrow morning and we’ll see how things are going with both you and the plowing. You two have a good day. Don't kill each other." He hung up.
Claire knew the ‘don't kill each other’ line was meant to be a joke, probably an inside knowledge and understanding said by habit, but considering Jared was a stranger and she was at his house in the middle of the woods, she felt it poor taste to make that joke. She eyed him warily as he turned his phone back off.
"Looks like we might end up working through the day," Jared declared as an afterthought when he stood up, turned, and looked at her.
Claire simply shook her head. She’d brought her laptop and notes with her figuring she would be doing work in the mornings anyway. Jared nodded once before returning to his computer command center and began clacking away at the keys. It was interesting for Claire to see someone who seemed to be as much of a workaholic as she was. She could see a slight smile on his face as he worked on his dual screens. The silence as they worked was more companionable than any of the others had been. Two people in a room, not ignoring each other, but just being as they worked. Newt snored away on the floor next to the far side of the couch. It was loud enough that it took some getting used to. It was nice though, that companionable silence and eventually she could pretend Jared wasn’t there and get absorbed in her work.
Chapter 4
Removing his glasses, Jared rubbed at his face. He probably should've stopped about an hour ago according to the slight strain on his eyes. When he stretched all the way back, his spine cracked letting him know he had definitely been sitting too long. When Jared looked at the small clock on the bottom of one of his monitors, he couldn't help but be embarrassed. It was already five-thirty. That meant he'd worked right through lunch which meant his guest, the person he was supposed to be keeping an eye on, had also not gotten lunch. At least he was fairly certain she hadn't. He probably would've heard her if she'd moseyed around in the kitchen. Both of his parents would be embarrassed to hear he was neglecting his host duties like that. Blushing, Jared turned as he stood.
"All right, time to quit for the evening. We've had far too much screen time. How about dinner and maybe a board game?" The words were out of his mouth before he even registered what he said. He felt his own eyes widen at the implications.
Jared and his brothers had always played a lot of board games. He and Kevin especially were partial to finding out about new ones that came out. It was the only socialization he did. But he didn't play with strangers, he left that up to Kevin. And here he was asking this attractive stranger in his living room if she wanted to play. She was probably going to think he was crazy.
When he looked up, she was blinking then shook her head. "Are you gonna let me help with dinner this time?"
Relieved by her response, Jared shook his head and headed toward the kitchen. "Nope, I'm thinking I’ll fry up some BLTs with slices of chicken and avocado. But you're more than welcome to keep me company at the island if you want." He didn’t know where that came from. Nobody kept him company. He didn't like talking to people.
Being around Claire was easier than he thought it would be; he’d expected having someone here to be an imposition on his hermitage, but she seemed easy-going enough that everything was fine. Something about her reached out to him and he couldn't quite put his finger on what.
Before he could embarrass himself further, he headed into the kitchen. By the time he had everything out and was ready to slice things and place bacon on a plate in the microwave he looked up and was surprised to see Claire sitting across from him, a pleasant smile on her face.
"Would you like something to drink?" he asked, kicking himself for not asking that hours ago.
She held up a glass she had in front of her full of clear liquid. "No, thank you. I poured water a couple hours ago."
Nodding, he went about prepping the food. It was a couple minutes of blessed silence, of him not embarrassing himself before anybody spoke. He had never missed socialization, never worried about being gruff or socially inept until just this mom
ent. Now he couldn't help but chastise himself for only talking to his family and only when strictly necessary.
"What kind of board game did you have in mind?"
He gulped when he looked at her; she had a smirk on her face. Not like she was mocking him―like she was genuinely curious on what his answer would be.
He tried to channel Kevin, who was much better at talking to people than he was as he sliced up the tomato. "I don't have a lot that two people can play. Maybe a card game would be easier. Do you know how to play cribbage?" It was the game he knew best, their grandmother and grandfather on their father's side had taught all the boys how to play. But once they started beating their grandfather, he suddenly found other things to do with his time than play with them.
"No, I know it has a board but that's about it."
Her voice was hesitant, and it made Jared look up at her again. She didn't look disgusted or uninterested; her frown indicated she was searching for information.
"I can show you. We played it all the time as kids, so I've got everything memorized. It's pretty easy to pick up and we will not be playing as cutthroat as my grandfather would, so the learning curve won’t be as steep." He had no idea where that came from. Now he was offering to show her how to play. He was supposed to be the gruff hermit of the family, but here he was talking away like any of his brothers. Jared didn't know what was wrong with him, and yet at the same time Claire put him at ease. He didn't feel like being standoffish.
"What do you do for a living?" He patted himself on the back for his question. Now he could get her talking then he be less likely to embarrass himself.
She shuffled in her seat a bit, tucking one of her legs around the back of the stool. "I work for an accounting firm. We do contract work mostly. Businesses small enough for division, who can't really afford their own accounting staff hire us. It's almost like being a contractor but I get a steady paycheck and benefits. It means a lot of my coworkers work remotely. I like it because I have a variety of tasks. On occasion I do office visits of the particular company I’m doing the books for but mostly I stay in the office."
It wasn't often he ran across somebody who could work one hundred percent remotely like he did. Although to be fair he did drive into Seattle once a month for a meeting that he and the rest of his team had to attend. Other than that, he could go a week without seeing another soul, other than Newt.
"Does he always beg so much? Don't get me wrong, he's a very polite beggar, but he is tall enough that he could grab food off the counter.”
Her words jostled his train of thought and he looked down to his right to see Newt lying on the floor looking up at him with the most pathetic expression he could. Newt was almost four, so he knew better than to get up on the counters. It took the dog until adulthood to realize that if he laid quietly near the food, he was more likely to get something and less likely to get scolded.
Smiling, he threw a thin slice of chicken at his furry companion. The food was gone in a second along with happy chomping sounds.
"Yeah, he used to do the hop on the counter thing but it did not last long. But yes, he always begs for food, because can't you tell he is clearly starving and needs all of the food he can get his mouth on." She laughed at that comment and her laugh was like this bubble up from inside her, it was happy and light and that caught them off guard. It was a beautiful laugh but it reminded Jared of Lilianna and he felt a pain in his chest. She had also been a lighthearted soul with a musical laugh.
He could feel himself climbing back into his shell when Claire interrupted his thought process again.
"I'm guessing you work in computer science or something like that?" He knew better than to be impolite, especially when there was nowhere to go, and it was just the two of them. So he launched into an almost robotic explanation of what he did. Luckily by the time he was finished, dinner was ready and the two of them headed to the table. Newt made a grab for one of the plates by jumping up, making Jared look bad for saying he was better trained than he was. Newt's antics pushed him out of the darkness he had been swirling around in. Newt was good at that, zapping away the dark emotions that consumed him when he thought of Lilianna. Placing the plates on the table, he patted the dog's head and then filled his bowl full of kibble.
They spent dinner in a cheery conversation about dogs and family. It was one of the more pleasant dinners he's had in a while but considering how much his brothers ribbed each other, that was a low bar. Claire also picked up on cribbage really quickly which meant the easy few rounds he thought he was going to get weren’t so easy and he had to pay more attention when it looked as if she may skunk him.
It was a fun night; Jared enjoyed himself more than he had in months. They ended up playing three full games before it became clear that Claire was tired, and Jared called it a night for both of them.
~~
Jared awoke to Newt fiercely barking at the back of the house. Slinging his legs over the bed, he swung the door wide open just in time to see Claire opening her own door and blinking sleepily. He only gave her a momentary glance before heading around the other side of the house so he could get to the back door where Newt's dog door was.
The sliding glass door was on the side of the house and sat in the far corner of the kitchen. He was there in a matter of seconds and flicked on the outdoor light and didn't like what he saw. Newt was standing on the small deck facing off against two wild wolves. The smaller of which was snarling at Newt. The last thing Jared wanted was to lose his dog in a fight with wolves. They managed to jump the fence of his property every once in a while, and several of his neighbors’ yards as well. Several neighbors had lost cats and small dogs, never one as big as Newt, but Jared didn't want to chance it. He moved quickly to the pantry where he had a shotgun for just this kind of occasion. When he made it back to the door, Claire was standing there as well, her eyes awake and wide.
He didn't give her any more than a passing glance as he opened up the door drawing the wolves’ attentions and leveled the gun at them. Much to his surprise a second later he felt Claire step up next to them.
The wolves must've recognized the gun or not wanted to mess with a human predator because the snarling stopped, and they all stared at each other a moment before the larger one turned and headed the opposite direction. A second later, the smaller one followed. Jared didn’t lower the gun, the last thing he wanted was to be caught off guard if they came back. It was a full two minutes before Newt stopped growling and set his butt down, so he was half on the snow half out of it, still watching the backyard.
Knowing the lack of growling meant the wolves were far enough away that Newt didn't feel they were a threat anymore, Jared lowered the gun but stayed where he was. He would stick around another minute or so in case they circled back around the yard.
"Do you get wolves out here a lot?" Her surprise and disbelief made him laugh.
"We are out in the forest. This was probably their home first. But not that often, once or twice a year. They don't usually make it this close to the house but I'm guessing the search for food is making them break outside their pattern."
Finally, he was fairly certain they were far enough away that he could turn his back. "Come on, Newt, inside.” He called his dog as he headed through the sliding glass door. Once Newt and Claire were inside as well, Jared shut the door and put the cover in place over the dog door. Newt wouldn’t be able to do his business until morning, but it would also mean no other critters came into the house. He knew Newt would be enough of a guard dog to do something close to the house but better safe than sorry.
"Sorry that woke you up. We should be fine, they can't get into the house." He finally turned to Claire after putting the shotgun back.
She looked wide awake now and was blinking at him. "Not entirely sure I could get back to sleep after that. I’d only been out maybe five minutes tops, but that woke me up enough to probably not be able to get back to sleep. I'll probably watch something. Want to join me?" She g
ave a soft smile as she asked and it was an inviting question, clearly not just her being polite.
Jared shook his head, not wanting to embarrass himself. Seeing wild animals happened often enough that it wasn't something that kept him up at night. He knew he probably wouldn't have as much difficulty sleeping as she did. "No, I'm okay, thanks though."
"Suit yourself. Have a good night." She nodded and waved at him as she made her way to the couch, her left leg clearly still stiff.
Jared waited a moment making sure she got comfortable on the couch before he headed back, Newt on his heels trotting happily as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Those were the things he loved about his dog, one minute he could be staring down a threat and the next he was the happiest dog in the world. He gave Newt's head a scratch and left the door open enough so Newt could slither through if he wanted and crawled into bed and went back to sleep.
~~
When Jared stepped out into the living room, he smiled to see Claire asleep, stretched out on the couch with the wool blanket he kept in the living room laying across her. The TV had clearly turned itself off, as it did when it had been idle for an hour. She'd clearly fallen asleep watching television and never made it back to bed.
He was as quiet as possible, which is decidedly difficult when you're pouring kibble into a metal bowl. Luckily, she didn’t stir, and he made breakfast sandwiches for the both of them.
He was almost finished when his phone rang, and he cursed himself for not putting it on silent. Looking to the couch he saw her stirring awake and stretching. Luck wasn't with him anymore and Jared couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt knowing how little sleep she had gotten. It'd been about 2:00 a.m. when the wolves came in. It was only eight now.
Lantern Lake Winter Collection: Books 1-3 Page 11