by Lisa Jackson
Jenna was wiping the water from the floor with a dishrag. “I’d forgotten about him,” she said, disbelieving. Ron Falletti was Jenna’s personal trainer. Recently he’d been working with Cassie as well. She tossed the rag through the open door to the laundry room.
“You?” Cassie asked in mock horror, her hand flying over her heart. “Forget a workout? I didn’t think that was possible!”
“I’ve had a lot on my mind the last couple of days.” Jenna ground her favorite Italian blend of coffee beans, then tossed the pulverized coffee into the basket of the coffeemaker and added bottled water she’d picked up at the store. But Cassie’s remark had hit home. Jenna had rarely missed a workout session since moving up here after the divorce. Keeping in shape had become her obsession, had gotten her through the emotional pain, had kept a thirty-eight-year-old body as taut as it had been in her twenties.
As the coffee brewed and Jenna unpacked her grocery bags, Cassie walked to a window and stared at the pump house. “You know, Mom, you’re always giving me advice about boys and dating.” She drew on the condensation on a window with her fingernail.
“That’s my job. I’m your mother.”
“Maybe it’s my turn to give you some.”
“Oh. Okay.” Jenna followed her daughter’s gaze. Harrison had emerged from the small outbuilding and was staring at the main house, as if sizing up the place.
“I don’t like him,” Cassie said, pointing at Harrison.
Jenna wrapped her hand around Cassie’s outstretched finger. She didn’t want Harrison Brennan to see them gesturing toward him. “He’s just trying to help out.”
“I know that’s what it appears, but…” Cassie worried her lower lip and turned to face her mother. “He tries to help out too much and tell you what to do. He’s not really bossy, just seems to think that his way is the best way.”
“Or that there is no other way.”
“Exactly.” Cassie nodded. “Like a really old guy.”
“I know,” Jenna admitted as she wiped off the counter. “He’s not that old. Fifty-two or-three, I think.”
“Oh God, Mom, that’s ancient!” Cassie was appalled.
“To you.”
“And to you, too.”
“No, honey, not really.” She opened the refrigerator and pulled out mustard, mayonnaise, and a jar of pickles. “It’s just that he seems to be from another generation.”
“He is! And Josh’s dad says that he was in the CIA, not the Air Force like he told you. He was a spy or operative or whatever you call them.”
“That’s not a crime,” Jenna pointed out, irritated that Josh and Cassie had obviously been discussing her relationship with Harrison.
“I know, but it’s just kind of…weird. I mean, how many spies do you know?” Cassie opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of yogurt.
“Maybe more than I’d guess, if they’re spies and sworn to secrecy,” she teased.
“I’m serious, Mom.”
“Okay, okay. I understand. Mr. Brennan’s never mentioned being with the CIA to me.”
“Even weirder.” Cassie found a spoon and pulled off the seal to her yogurt.
“Maybe it’s not true, Cassie,” Jenna said, but realized how little she really knew about her overprotective neighbor. She looked out the back window to the pump house, but Harrison had either gone back inside or was somewhere else on the grounds. That thought should make her feel safer, she thought, but it had the opposite effect, made her a little edgy.
Oh, for God’s sake! Now she was getting paranoid—make that more paranoid. What did she know of him she wondered as she slapped mustard on the bread she’d picked up at the bakery two days earlier. He’d told her he’d been married and had been divorced for quite a while, though she couldn’t remember how long or why. At the time he’d mentioned it, over dinner and drinks in Portland, he’d been evasive, as if it was a subject too painful to confide. Or had it been a matter of pride?
Cassie, too, was staring thoughtfully at the pump house as she stirred the fruit into her yogurt.
Maybe it was his upbringing, or the military, or whatever, but Harrison seemed too polite, almost as if he wanted to hold a woman high on a pedestal, but all the while keeping her directly under his thumb.
“Okay, I understand your point. But don’t worry. I’ve had dinner with him a couple of times, yes, and I’ve let him fix things around here and hang out, but I’m not really interested in him.”
“So you’re just stringing him along?” Cassie spooned a bite of yogurt into her mouth.
“No…I was just waiting to sort out all my feelings.” Again rummaging in the refrigerator, she found a package of sliced roast beef.
“And?”
“I really don’t have any feelings for him. At least not of the romantic nature.”
Cassie appeared relieved. “Are you going to tell him?” Another bite.
“Not today,” Jenna said. “But, yeah, I will. Soon.” She found a container of fat-free half-and-half in the refrigerator, sniffed it to make certain it was fresh, then poured it into a little pitcher. “So, Cassie, now that we’ve discussed the pros and cons of my love life, why don’t we talk about yours?”
Cassie groaned. “I should never have said anything.”
“No…I’m glad you did.” At least her daughter was reaching out to her, communicating.
“Not now, okay?” Again Cassie glanced out the icy windowpane.
“Then later.”
“How about never?” She scooped out the rest of her yogurt.
“No way. You’re not getting off so easy.”
“Give me a break,” Cassie said as Allie, feet clomping wildly, barreled down the stairs. Behind her, taking the steps one at a time, Critter followed.
“We’re not having school tomorrow!” Allie announced gleefully. The kid who so recently had sworn her sore throat was killing her was now nearly doing cartwheels across the kitchen floor.
“How do you know?” Cassie demanded.
“It was on the television!” Allie acted like a condemned man who’d just heard he’d gotten a stay of execution.
“High school, too?”
“All schools! Can Dani come spend the night?” she asked, just as the lights flickered.
“Oh, great,” Cassie muttered under her breath and flipped on the small television in the built-in bookcase near the pantry, the set they watched at dinner.
Jenna walked to the pantry, pulled out a drawer, and started searching for a flashlight just in case they lost power. Oh God, what would that mean?
“I don’t think having Dani over tonight would be such a good idea,” Jenna said. She hated to burst Allie’s bubble, as her younger daughter had made only a handful of friends since moving to Oregon. She’d become shyer and more withdrawn than she had been in L.A. “I’d love to have Dani over another time, but today’s not that great. The reason school’s been cancelled is because of the weather.”
“But we could sled and build a snow fort.”
“Are you out of your mind? It’s going to be below freezing tonight,” Cassie said, staring at the small screen where a newswoman dressed in a red parka was standing near the Interstate in what appeared to be a blizzard. Snow was blowing everywhere, and a long line of huge trucks had pulled over to chain up.
“…and temperatures are predicted to keep plummeting, much to the dismay of some of these long-haul drivers…” she was saying, before attempting an interview with an unhappy trucker only slightly shielded from the elements by his eighteen-wheeler.
“It’s really not safe to be driving,” Jenna said.
“But Mr. Settler said he’d bring her over,” Allie wheedled.
“And how do you know this?” Jenna was testing the first flashlight she located. Its beam was weak but steady.
“I already called.”
The lights, television, and everything else electrical blinked off for several seconds before coming on again.
“T
his is getting creepy,” Cassie said.
“I think it’s cool.” Allie was undeterred. “Can Dani come over Mom, pleeeease?”
The phone jangled and Allie snagged it from the receiver before the second ring. “Hello?” she said and waited. “Yeah…just a minute.” She straight-armed the cordless to her mother. “It’s Mr. Settler,” she stage-whispered as Jenna took the phone. “Please, please, please.” Now she was begging, her hands clasped desperately under her chin as if she were praying.
Cassie rolled her eyes and Jenna ignored her youngest’s supplications. “Hello?”
“Hi.” As expected, Travis Settler was on the other end of the call. “I imagine Allie told you the plan.”
“For Dani to come over.”
“Yeah. She’s twisting my arm, but I said I’d have to check with you first.”
“I think they’re working us both, but if you can get her here, it’s fine with me,” Jenna said and heard Allie whoop behind her. “However, I was out about an hour ago. The roads are nearly impassable and my electricity’s been flickering. Also, we don’t have running water, at least not yet, but I’ve got a couple of men working on my pump and I did pick up some bottled water in town. It might be like camping over here.”
“Which Dani will love,” he said, a little bit of pride in his voice as he spoke of his athletic daughter. “But this is definitely your call,” Travis said.
Jenna felt Allie’s eyes boring into her back. “She’s always welcome.”
“Fair enough. Anything I can pick up for you on the way?”
“Thanks, but we’re okay. I was at the store stocking up earlier. We’re set for the next couple of days.”
“Then if you’re sure it’s okay, I’ll be over within the hour.”
“Great. I’ll tell Allie.”
She hung up and found that her daughter was already bounding up the stairs. “Hey, wait, Allie, don’t you want a sandwich?”
“Later!” Allie sang down the stairs.
Cassie announced, “I’m not hungry.”
“Fine. They’ll keep,” Jenna decided and was glad that her youngest daughter was happy. For the moment. Which was more than Jenna could say for Cassie, who had finished her yogurt and dumped the container into the garbage can under the sink, then stood, arms folded under her chest, as she watched the news. “This is sooo lame,” she muttered when the weatherman predicted subfreezing temperatures for the rest of the week.
“We’ll survive.”
“If this is surviving.”
“Just wait until I have you splitting wood and stoking the fire and cooking in the cast iron skillet over the coals if we lose power. We’ll all get to sleep down here in sleeping bags in front of the fireplace.”
“Oh, save me,” Cassie said.
“Think of it. No MTV, or hot showers or hair dryers or electricity for anything. Maybe, if we’re lucky, the cell phones will work.”
“You enjoy making me miserable, don’t you?” her daughter accused.
“Just pointing out that things aren’t so bad.”
“Yeah, right.” Cassie rolled her eyes and headed up the stairs. Jenna poured coffee into a thermos and was about to carry it out to the pump house, when she heard a rap on the back door. Half a second later, Harrison let himself inside. “You must’ve read my mind,” he said as he spied the steaming canister. He called over his shoulder, “Seth! I told you she’d have coffee for us!”
Through the glass of the door, Jenna saw Whitaker wave as he carried tools to his truck.
“So tell me, do I have water?” she asked.
“Not yet. But soon. We started thawing out the pump and Seth fixed a couple of the loose wires. It’ll take a little time. We’ve got a heater running in the pump house and have a drip pan and a hose that’ll siphon the water out of the house, so it doesn’t refreeze in there. While he was working on the pump, I put up some more insulation. It’ll take a few hours, but before the night’s over, everything should work and yes, you will have water again.”
“Hallelujah!”
“You might consider building a more substantial pump house next summer.” He settled into a chair at the table as Jenna poured him a cup of steaming coffee. “Until then, I’ll help you get through the winter.”
“Thanks,” she said, though there was a part of her that objected to his proprietary tone. She ignored it. Right now she needed his help. A few minutes later, Seth appeared at the back door. She offered coffee, but the handyman declined as he stepped into the house and wiped his boots. “Too much caffeine,” was his quick excuse. A quiet man, he glanced at his watch.
“You in a hurry?” Harrison asked.
“Another job.”
“In that case, we’d better shove off.”
“What do I owe you?” Jenna asked the handyman.
“I already paid him.” Harrison was zipping up his coat.
“What? For me? No way.” She was reaching for her purse.
“He did,” Seth said.
“Wait a minute. I can’t accept that. Harrison, really. Thanks for your help today, but I pay my own bills.” She looked him steadily in the eye. “It’s the way I want it.”
Harrison’s face turned red. “Then think of it as a favor. One neighbor to another.”
“That’s the problem. I don’t like to be in debt. To anyone. Favors tend to mount up.” She turned her attention to the handyman. “Business is business. I’ll pay you for your time and any equipment you had to buy.”
Seth shifted from one foot to the other, obviously embarrassed by the awkward scene. “Don’t worry about it.”
“But I do.”
“This is how we do things up here,” Harrison explained. “We take care of each other.”
“Hey, no!” She held up both hands. “Wait a minute. This is not the way I run my life! I can’t let you ‘take care of me.’ No way. Believe it or not, Harrison, I can take care of myself, and that’s the way I like it.”
He was having none of it. “Like it or not, I’m concerned about you and your kids alone up here. I already talked to Seth, here, about helping install a new security system here at the house. And I don’t like the way the main gate is froze open.”
“What?” Jenna nearly came unglued. “I think this is my decision.”
“Your old system is shot.”
That much was true. “Then I’ll get a new one. I planned on it. But right now, with the storm, it’ll probably take time.”
“Seth, can you set her up? Didn’t you say you have connections with the local company.”
Whitaker lifted his palms and backed up. “Hey, I don’t want to get into this.”
Jenna appreciated the man’s response. She turned on Brennan. “Look, Harrison, the house has an alarm system already. It’s sketchy—doesn’t work all the time, even though I’ve tried to have it fixed. Even so, I try to remember to turn it on, and, if it makes you feel better, I’ll try even harder.”
He smiled disarmingly. Because he’d gotten his way. “It does.”
“Fine!” she snapped, angry. Jesus, who did this guy think he was? “Now that we’ve settled that, you won’t have to worry about me and the girls any longer. Really.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “To tell you the truth, all your concern makes me extremely uncomfortable. I can take care of myself.”
“All right, all right.” He held his hands palms outward as if in surrender. “I’m sorry…I made a mistake.”
Jenna was still seething, but nodded. “Okay. Just so we understand each other.”
“I guess I’m too used to taking command of a situation and giving orders. Military training.”
“I guess.” She tried to rein in her temper. To his credit, the guy was giving his all to help her out. He was just a little heavy-handed.
He winked. “I’ll try not to let it happen again.”
“Good.”
“It’s just that I care, so I tend to worry about you and the girls.”
“I alrea
dy told you not to,” she said firmly. “We’re not your problem.”
Seth, as if he couldn’t stand the argument another second, ran a hand around his neck. “Look, I’d like to finish up in the pump house, double-check that it’s all working.” Before anyone could object, he walked out the back door, letting a blast of wintry air into the house. The door slammed shut behind him.
Jenna was left staring at Harrison Brennan. “Listen, I’m sorry if I flipped out. I know you’re just trying to help, but I’m really trying to make it on my own. You’re right—sometimes I do have to call in the reserves, and I appreciate everything you did for me.”
“But,” he said, a vein starting to throb in his forehead. “I sense a ‘but’ coming along.”
She shoved an errant hair out of her eyes. “But I can’t have you running my life or paying my bills, or—”
“The guy owed me,” Harrison cut in. The remnants of his smile disappeared completely. He was suddenly stern. All business. Contained fury evident in his rigid stance. The muscles of his jaw worked involuntarily, and she sensed that she’d insulted his manhood. Which was ridiculous.
Men!
“If you want to pay Whitaker yourself, hire him another time,” Harrison said. “But for today, we’re even. All of us. That was the deal I had with him. Let’s keep it neat and tidy. In the future, you can work out anything you want with him or me, but I’ll never take any money from you for helping out.”
“Fair enough,” she said, surrendering. For the moment. She glanced at the counter and the half-made sandwiches her kids had rejected. She motioned to the cutting board. “Soooo…how about a roast beef on sourdough for all your trouble?”
“Deal,” he said, and brightened as she finished placing slices of beef, dill pickles, and onion on the bread. An image of June Cleaver in pearls and a full skirt flitted through her mind, but she pushed it aside. For the moment there was peace in the house, and the promise of running water. Who could ask for anything more?
CHAPTER 11
Half an hour later, Harrison was setting his plate in the sink when he looked out the window. His silvery eyebrows slammed together, his face muscles tightened even more. “Looks like you’ve got company,” he said.