by Laney Webber
“There is something a bit mysterious about you. Something beyond anyone’s grasp. But it doesn’t make you seem unreachable. It makes me curious, intrigued. It makes you incredibly desirable.” Lee stepped forward, put her hands on Jannika’s waist, and kissed her. Jannika felt the warmth of Lee’s body radiating on hers as Lee’s hands drew her closer.
“Did you just kiss me?” Jannika asked moving her hands up Lee’s arms to rest around the back of her neck.
“Yes, I do believe I did,” Lee said.
“Do it again,” Jannika whispered, her lips inches from Lee’s.
Lee’s hands, hips, and mouth moved in one motion, drawing Jannika even closer. She kissed her long and deep, the pressure of her lips and gentleness of her tongue telling Jannika what the rest of her body wanted. Jannika’s body sang, and her hands moved over Lee’s shoulders and arms, then around to the small of her back, and inched down to the roundness below. Lee stepped back and took Jannika’s hands in hers.
“Not here, Jannika,” she said, her voice rumbling low with desire. “This way.” Lee took Jannika’s hand and led her back to the house. They stopped and kissed again when they got outside the barn. Then they kissed again when they reached the old well site. As they approached the ell of the farmhouse, Jannika grabbed Lee’s hand and gave it a tug. Lee turned around and Jannika pushed up against her, kissing her and running her hands down the curve of Lee’s hips. Lee’s back was against the door.
“Yes.” Lee’s breath was jagged. She reached behind to open the door. They stepped into the ell, threw off their jackets, kicked off their shoes, and walked, kissed, and stumbled through the ell and the kitchen, giggling and laughing.
“Come get me.” Lee bounded up the stairs.
“Right behind you and loving the view.”
Jannika’s phone rang in her back pocket. She pulled her phone out and looked at it.
“Damn, I have to take this.” She answered the call. “Yes. How did it happen?”
Lee listened to the one-way conversation and watched Jannika pace back and forth in the small hallway outside her bedroom.
“Lee, I’m so sorry. That was one of my Aunt Gunnie’s friends. She said my aunt is okay but she’s at the emergency room. She collapsed when they were playing cribbage and they’re doing some tests.” She shook her head. “I have to leave. I’m so sorry.”
“Absolutely, do you want me to go with you?”
Jannika was already halfway down the stairs.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll text you after I get there and let you know how she is.”
Jannika ran to the ell. Lee found her there lacing up her boots. Jannika looked up, and Lee saw a question there, but she didn’t know what to say.
“She has to be okay.” Jannika grabbed her jacket. “I’ve got to go.”
Lee thought she saw tears brimming in Jannika’s eyes when she opened the door. “Let me know,” Lee said.
“I will.” Jannika jogged to her car.
Lee watched Jannika start her car and fly down the driveway. Stones and road dust flew out behind the spinning tires as the car disappeared.
Chapter Twelve
“Oh no,” Lee said with her jaw set. Anytime she witnessed someone driving dangerously, it brought back Shannon’s accident. She’d feel it in her gut first, then her heart, before her mind could even respond. She took a few deep breaths and let them out slowly. Her days were mostly okay now. But sometimes at night the hollow ache of loss would keep her awake. Anytime she saw reckless driving, the shock and panic she’d felt when she heard about Shannon’s accident was front and center.
The pine boards creaked as she paced in her kitchen. She picked up her phone. She put it down again. She wanted to call Jannika and make sure she got to the hospital okay. She sat at the big pine trestle table in the farmhouse kitchen with the phone in her hand. Her stomach hurt with worry.
She put the phone in her pocket and went out to the ell. She came back with an armload of wood. On her fourth trip her phone chimed. She needed to be physically active when she was upset. She wasn’t someone who let life happen to her—she constructed her life, as much as she could. She’d learned as the oldest of six kids to make do with some things, and her artistic gift gave her the creativity to problem solve in unexpected ways. Her family joked and called her MacGyver. She saw life and its challenges as an opportunity to grow, not a burden to be tolerated.
She threw a couple of pieces of wood on the woodstove, put on the pot of pumpkin soup she had made for their lunch, and turned down the draft. She liked that the house came with a Jøtul woodstove that had a cookplate built into the top. It reminded her of home, and it was efficient to use the heat already produced by the woodstove. While the soup was getting hot, she went out to the woodshed to replace wood in the ell. The sun was wine red and low in the sky at the edge of the field, and the temperature was dropping fast.
“Four trips with the wheelbarrow should do it.” Her breath made small clouds when she spoke. Talking to herself was a habit she’d picked up as a park manager while often working alone in the woods. When she was younger, it had helped her feel less alone. Talking out loud also helped her work out problems. Over the years the habit had become second nature, though she often startled the new part-time park staff when they came upon her in the woods. She laughed at that memory as she steered the wheelbarrow on its last trip to the ell, unloaded the wood, and checked on the soup again. It was hot and she could smell the maple syrup she’d added.
As she ate the soup, she texted her sister Bonnie. Hey Bon-Bon, I finished loading wood and thought of you. What’s up in your world?
Bonnie replied, The kids have some friends over for an overnight. Yes, I’m crazy. They’re playing a popcorn game in the playroom downstairs. They say it’s a game, but I think it’s just an excuse to throw popcorn around. The kids’ antics were always a good distraction when Lee was stressed.
Met a woman. Like her. A lot.
WHOA…this wasn’t just another one-time date?
One lunch, one pizza dinner, and we went apple picking today.
And…?
She had to leave, family emergency.
Let me get Mike to take over kid duty and call you.
K
A few minutes later, she filled Bonnie in on the past week and the way Jannika left that afternoon. When she got to the part about Jannika peeling out of the driveway, she felt her back stiffen.
“You’re pissed at her for ripping out of your driveway,” Bonnie said.
She couldn’t deny it. “You know I can’t deal with that. If that’s the way she handles a car when she’s upset…”
“I know, I know. Have you talked to her about Shannon?” Bonnie asked.
“Yes.”
“About how she died?”
“I told her it was a car accident, but not the details.”
“You said, you think she cares about you too, right? That you can feel that, right? Then you need to sit down and talk with her. Tell her the whole story. It’s not like you to put up a wall and walk away from someone you think you care about. I’ve got that right, right? You think this could be serious with her?”
“I think it might already be, and that’s causing a bit of flutter around my heart, you know? I trust it. I trust my heart, but when she flew off in the car like that, it caught me for a minute,” Lee said.
“And then you stacked five cords of wood, right?”
“Not quite.” Lee laughed. “And then I missed all of you. I’m at my new park and we’re off from November till March, so I’ll be able to come up for the holidays and have some nice long visits.”
“Why don’t you come up next weekend? The kids would love to see you, and I’ll get Mom and Dad to come over too. We’ll have a big meal, and we’ll cure you of your homesickness for a while, right?” Bonnie said.
“I’m sure it will.”
“Come up. We miss you.”
“Okay, I’ll come on Saturday. Thanks f
or being there, Bon.”
“Here’s a phone hug.”
“And one for you. Love you.” She put her phone in her back pocket and went upstairs to change into some more comfortable clothes. She still felt a little edgy from this afternoon and figured she would work on the sign designs for her park.
Most times the division hired out to have the signs routed and ready for the spring, but she’d offered to make up the new signs needed this year. Sign making was different from carving. She had experimented a couple of weeks ago and needed to tweak the designs a bit. She headed to her shop, the perfect distraction. She needed something to focus on besides Jannika’s laugh, after she bit that apple, and her crazy-long legs that, in Lee’s mind, kept wrapping themselves around Lee’s waist. And she was angry at Jannika for racing her car down the driveway. Jannika obviously didn’t know how quickly things could change your life forever.
Lee looked over at the place where Jannika stood when they’d kissed, just a few hours ago. The jig slipped. “Oh, damn!” She turned off the equipment and leaned against the workbench. The barn was not the right place for her now.
***
Jannika had a heavy foot on the gas the entire way to the hospital on the other side of Grangeton. She flew through a yellow light that blinked to red on River Road a half mile before the Grangeton Hospital. She has to be all right. She repeated that mantra until she entered the emergency room.
“Gunilla Anderson. My aunt. She was brought here by ambulance?”
“Come with me.” A woman in scrubs led her down a short hallway and pulled open the curtains surrounding the bed, closing them again after her.
“Auntie, what happened?” Jannika held out her hand to a woman standing by her aunt’s bed. “Hi, I’m Jannika. Thank you for everything.”
The woman returned the handshake. “I’m Carol, Gunnie’s friend. She’s okay.”
“I’m in the room. I can speak for myself.” Gunnie’s voice often surprised people. No one expected such a robust voice to come from such a diminutive woman. “I’m fine. It was my sugar. This is a whole lot of fuss about nothing.”
“They’re doing some tests,” Carol said quietly.
“I can still hear, ladies.” Gunnie pulled the sheet up to her chest and tucked it under her arms.
“What happened?” Jannika pulled up a plastic chair and took her aunt’s hand in hers.
“I felt a little peaked, then the next thing I knew I was riding in the back of an ambulance. Whole lot of bother for nothing. I just needed my snack. Carol wouldn’t let me go until you got here.” She sat up. “I’m ready.”
“Auntie, I just got here. Let’s wait until your tests come back, okay? Carol, what happened?”
“We were playing cribbage when her hands started to shake, and then she got all pale. I asked her if she needed some food, because I know all about her sugar, but she sort of folded up and slid off her chair on the floor. I think she fainted. I called 9-1-1 and put a cold cloth on her head. She was starting to wake up, but I told her not to move until the EMTs came. She got all perky after they put an IV in her.”
“I’m so glad you were with her.” She squeezed her aunt’s hand and smiled up at Carol.
“Carol,” Gunnie said, “you can go on home. I know you have to start fixing dinner for Harlow.”
“Are you sure? I can go outside and call him.” Carol fiddled with her wedding ring.
“No, no, no. Nick is here, and I’m fine. I’ll call you later.”
“Okay then, if you’re sure.”
“Carol…”
Carol gave Gunnie’s other hand a squeeze and had a little trouble finding the opening in the cloth curtains surrounding the bed but, after a few wild gropes, made her way out.
Gunnie Anderson did not look seventy, even today, sitting in a hospital bed in a faded johnny, her makeup all but worn off, and her hair mussed. Her one extravagance was to visit her friend Carol’s Cut Hut to keep her favorite haircut and color. The severe cut of her hair and her sharp nose and jawline gave her a formidable look. Gunnie cultivated that impression out of habit. She was the outlier in her family. Everyone else was over five eight, but she stood at five three. Gunnie always told it like it was, while the rest of the family was deafeningly silent when it came to honest emotions. Jannika loved her more than anyone.
“Nick, take me home. I don’t like hospitals.”
Jannika’s phone rang. “Sorry, Auntie.” She looked at the phone and silenced it. “Shit.” Great, just who she wanted to hear from today. What was next, locusts?
“Jannika Elana Peterson.” Gunnie shook her head.
“Sorry.”
“Who is it? Something wrong at the store?”
“It was Joanne’s number.”
“Joanne from up north? That tramp, what does she want, calling you after all this time. Don’t call her back. You’re down here now, you have your store. And you’re dating, I heard?”
“I’ll check my messages later. Who told you I went out on a date?” Jannika wanted to check to see if Joanne left a message. But her aunt needed her and she tried to focus on her.
“Carol told me. Leonard from the hardware store was over at Portsmouth and told Laura he saw you with a woman in a parking lot. He was going to go over to see if you were okay. But as he got closer he could see you were in good hands. So to speak.” Gunnie chuckled. “Laura babysits for Carol’s grandkids sometimes.”
“Of course, so if Carol your hairdresser knows, all of Grangeton knows.”
“Probably all of Fairfield too.” Gunnie put her hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter.
Jannika laughed too. She had a love/hate relationship with small town life. She loved that there were people like Leonard looking out for her, but she hated the gossip. She was surprised that by the time the story got to her aunt it was still reasonably accurate.
The curtains parted, and a young woman in scrubs held a clipboard out to Aunt Gunnie.
“Everything came back fine, Mrs. Anderson. Someone will be in to remove your IV, and then you’re a free woman. Just sign this. There are instructions for you to see your regular doctor as soon as possible to try to regulate your blood sugar a bit better. You aren’t diabetic, but you might be a bit hypoglycemic. You need to follow up with your doctor. Okay?”
“I will.” Gunnie waved her hand at her and took the pen.
A young man came in and removed the IV from Gunnie’s arm. Jannika wanted to help her get dressed, but Gunnie would have none of that.
“I’m not an invalid. Close these curtains and I’ll be ready in a jiff.”
“I’ll take your pocketbook and wait right here for you.” Jannika looped Gunnie’s pocketbook over her shoulder and closed the curtains behind her.
“She’s a feisty one,” the clipboard woman said as she fast-walked past Jannika.
You don’t know the half of it. Jannika thanked the universe for that every day.
While she waited, she couldn’t resist the compulsion to check her phone. Joanne had left voicemail. She used her voice-to-text app and read it. Joanne was selling the house and had found some of her stuff.
“I’m ready. How do I get out of here?” Gunnie’s hands beat at the curtains.
Jannika found the opening and pulled the curtain to the side. “Here I am, Auntie. I’ll carry your pocketbook, and why don’t you hold on to my arm.”
“I’ll do no such thing.” She took Jannika’s hand as they left the ER. “I know you were worried, but I’m fine, just fine. The experts said so. Now please give that bag over to me and take me home. You can tell me all about your date.”
Jannika drove her aunt home and filled her in on her dates with Lee. She got her settled at the kitchen table and put some leftover pot roast and carrots to warm up in the oven. Aunt Gunnie didn’t trust microwaves and refused to own one.
“She sounds like a great girl. But you don’t sound convinced of that.”
“I like her. I’m just being cautious.”
/>
“Don’t be too cautious. You need to live your life, not just think about living it. Now tell me about the other one. What did she want after all this time?”
“Joanne is selling the house. That’s why she sent me a message. She found some of my stuff and wants me to come up and get it.” Jannika opened the cabinet and took down a plate and water glass for her aunt.
“What stuff? If it was anything you needed, you would have missed it by now. You don’t need to see her again.” Jannika put cutlery around the plate. “I can do that, you know.”
“I know, but let me fuss over you tonight. You’ve had an unusual day. Believe me, part of me just wants to ignore the whole thing, but I never got to tell Joanne that it’s over. My gut is telling me I need to do that. I’ll be okay, Auntie.”
“She’s a tramp and when you caught her…you know what…she threw you out of your house.”
“Technically it was her house.” She kissed Gunnie’s cheek. “Let’s not talk about it today. You need to have some food and rest.”
“Nick, don’t go up there. You like it here. You have the store, and you love your cottage.” Gunnie looked up at her from her seat at the table. “Oh, by the way, about the store. Now this is probably nothing, but Carol told me she heard that Joe was talking about the bother of the store. You know Carol, I’m sure she’s heard it on the fifth or sixth pass around.”
Jannika looked at her aunt and saw the love and longing in her face. She realized that it wasn’t just that her aunt didn’t want her to get hurt again, but how much she loved having Jannika close by. She sat at the table next to Gunnie and took one of her hands.
“Joe Bosworth said something to that effect to me the last time I talked to him, and it does make me worry, now that I know his history with businesses. I do love the store and my cottage, but what I love most of all is being close to you. I love that you drop by the store and invite me over for dinner. I love that I can drive over to talk to you in person instead of on the phone. I don’t want to lose that.” She wasn’t sure who she was trying to reassure, herself or her aunt.