Come to the Lake

by Macarthur, Autumn

  Maddie’s hand wave exuded reassuring confidence. “I have your contact details. Trust me, I’ll be in touch if I have any questions. You need to let the store go now.”

  Pat nodded, his face clearing. “Right. It’s in God’s hands, like everything else. Don’t feel you need to keep regular opening hours. Even a few hours a day will let folk get the essentials. And you could cancel the carol singing if you have to.”

  Maddie laughed. “You’re kidding. Gran and Jacob would never forgive me. They’ve been looking forward to it for weeks. Go to Ruth. We’ll manage.” Maddie hugged them both, and then gave Pat a gentle shove toward the door.

  He needed no more encouragement. Within minutes, Brad and Maddie stood on the store’s wide porch, under the overhanging balcony, waving the older couple goodbye.

  Maddie kept her smile pinned in place until their pickup rumbled out of sight. Then she slumped against the wall, shaking her head. “Hoo boy. I hope I can do this. We’re probably talking weeks, not days here. Maybe even months, especially if the baby has to go out-of-state. Ruth’s a new widow, her husband died in the fall, so there’s no one else to care for their other kids.”

  Months.

  Brad gulped. His hopes of Maddie giving their marriage another chance plummeted to the worn timber floorboards beneath his feet.

  Then he manned up. Those concerns had no place here. Maddie was worth waiting for, no matter how long it took. His job now was to support her. “We’ll pray for them. And like you said, once everyone knows what’s happened, you’ll get help.”

  Clasping Maddie’s arm, he led her into the store, out of the cold. A native Californian, “Let It Snow” wasn’t in his vocabulary. Even at Christmas. The Chicago promotion he hoped for had just two drawbacks. Distance from Maddie and Jacob, and winter.

  Maddie shucked her coat and hung it beside his on the hook inside the door. “True. This is Huckleberry Lake, not L.A. People do help.” She smiled. “And this time of year, it shouldn’t be too busy once we get through Christmas. No tourists or summer people to deal with.”

  She probably hadn’t intended the slur on his hometown, but it stung.

  “Were you really so unhappy there?”

  “Where?” She glanced up from logging onto the computerized till, her surprised question showing no awareness of what she’d said.

  “L.A.”

  Crinkling her nose, she nodded reluctantly. “I’m just not a city person. It’s too rushed and busy for me. All people seemed to care about were looks and possessions and money. Even in church, I never had a sense of community, like I do here.”

  “There’s community.” His protest emerged automatically. Then he stopped to think, rubbing the back of his neck. Was there?

  The church she’d attended near their condo, the one he’d gone to occasionally when he wasn’t too busy, didn’t do any outreach to the needy. People were quick to say they’d pray, but few did anything real and practical to help. “Okay. You’re right. Our neighborhood and that church weren’t the best examples. But not everywhere in the city is like that. The church I go to now is different.”

  Maddie looked up, and her lips twisted. “Maybe. But I’m not sure I’m willing to take the chance and go back. Jacob is happier here, and so am I.”

  He searched for an argument to convince her, but before he found one, his cell phone rang. He hadn’t known if his network had signal here. The number on caller display made him almost wish it hadn’t.

  His boss.

  Reminding Maddie that his life and his career were in the city might not be the best thing right now. But he couldn’t afford not to answer. Taking time off already risked the promotion he’d worked hard for.

  It was about providing for his family, giving them a better future. Surely Maddie could see that.

  He picked up the call.

  Chapter 7

  Maddie’s jaw clenched, and her hand tightened on the computer mouse. Brad’s phone conversation clearly involved his job.

  Forcing her tense shoulders to loosen, she tried to concentrate on matching the items on Pat’s scribbled list with the online grocery order form he said must go in by tomorrow. Get this wrong, and the store could run out of essentials before New Year’s Day.

  It didn’t help. The screen blurred, and her fingers slipped on the keys. All she could hear was Brad’s voice. This was it. Once work called, he’d be gone.

  “No, I’m out of town all next week…. I’m aware of that…. Yes, I do have my laptop with me…. How urgent is it?... Okay, send me the paperwork, and I’ll see what I can do.”

  She’d heard this so often. What came next would be him disappearing behind his laptop screen to spend hours working when he was supposed to be on vacation. Ignoring her, and worse, ignoring Jacob.

  Just like he had when they were married. And whenever they’d visited him since.

  No matter how many times she told herself she was being selfish and childish and any other -ish she could find to call herself, she hated how his career meant so much more to him than his family. When he had to decide, he’d always chosen work.

  Despite his talk about having changed, he’d probably still choose work.

  “I’m busy right now. But I’ll download the files you send me when I can, and once I’ve reviewed them, I’ll get back to you.” He ended the call.

  Maddie looked up from the screen and tried to smile. Tried to keep her resentment from cooling her voice. “The office?”

  He nodded as he slid the phone back in his pocket. “Hospitals don’t close for the holidays, unfortunately. An issue has come up on something I’ve been dealing with. I’m sorry. I know you’d rather I put work aside while I’m here. But my job isn’t like that.”

  His clear gaze and downturned lips seemed truly regretful. She needed to give him a chance. He’d told them he was busy, hadn’t run straight back to his computer. That was a first. Could be, he was trying to do things differently. But still…

  “I know you need to work. I appreciate how you’re a good provider. Thank you for that.” She chose her words carefully. “But isn’t there some way to find a balance, instead of your job being the most important thing in your life?”

  He raised his head and met her gaze with clear steady eyes. “It’s not. You and Jacob were always more important. And now God is, too.”

  Anguish surged through her like a river flooded with spring runoff. “It didn’t feel like we were more important when we were married. When you didn’t come to visit us here, I felt like you didn’t care. And when you cut short your paternity leave after Jacob was born…”

  “I had to. The big project at work….” Brad trailed off, as if he realized that excuse wouldn’t cut it.

  Her hand rose to cover her mouth as she gulped back painful tears. “I know. But you had no idea how I felt. In a city where I knew no one, alone with a new baby, C-section wound hurting, hormones going crazy, and you — gone up to sixteen hours a day. Then when I said I needed help, you hired a cleaner. I think I cried as much as Jacob did the first few weeks home from the hospital.”

  “I’m sorry. I should have been there for you.” He left the stacked boxes and moved to her side, cupping a gentle hand over hers. His strong arm slipped around her, offering solace and support.

  Somehow, she forced words through her constricted throat. “I felt so selfish wanting you home more. You were working hard, I know.”

  “Yes. But I should have heard what you were trying to tell me.” The arm holding her tensed. “I wanted to look after you and Jacob, and it felt like the best way to do it was to concentrate on earning more. So that’s what I did.”

  She shook her head. “I thought you didn’t want to be with us. I even worried you’d found someone else, you were away from home so much.”

  “It wasn’t that at all.”

  Brad’s sincerity melted her. She relaxed against him, resting her cheek against his shoulder, allowing herself to draw comfort from his embrace. The pain s
eeped away little-by-little, and her tense muscles softened. As the air escaped her burning lungs, she breathed in Brad’s clean fresh smell.

  “Maybe if I’d said more, tried harder to get you to understand what I needed from you, we could have worked things out.” She released a shaky chuckle. “All this — the drama and tears — is so not like me. It’s as if the lid has come off everything I bottled up. I don’t know why. You being back here in Huckleberry Lake again, where it all started?”

  Brad laughed, low and soft. “Could be. Everywhere here is full of first-time memories. Reminding me how it felt to fall in love with you.” His chin bumped the top of her head, his words ruffling her hair.

  “Me too,” she confessed.

  His arm tightened around her. “Or maybe it’s God, working in our lives. Even if we can’t be together again, what went wrong between us needs to be healed. Seems I made a mess of being a husband, but I can at least be a good ex-husband.”

  Regret twisted through her. If only he’d been there for her like this then. When Jacob was born. When Gran had her stroke. All the other times she’d needed him. Everything would have been so different. They might still be married.

  But he hadn’t, and it was too late now. Her life was here with Gran and Jacob, and Brad was Chicago-bound.

  They could never be husband and wife again, but as Jacob’s parents, they’d always need to see each other. Brad had changed. Become more solid, more compassionate, more committed, more willing to be honest. More the man she’d thought she was marrying. Maybe with God’s help, they could heal their hurts, find a way to be friends.

  “And I’ll try to be a better ex-wife.” She drew away from him and smiled truce. “Less bitter and twisted and angry.”

  “Deal.” Releasing his clasp, he held out a hand.

  She gave his hand a firm, decisive shake, as if they were sealing a business arrangement. “Deal.” Good. They’d simply be colleagues in the job of parenting their son, not competitors.

  So why did it feel like she was agreeing to so much more?

  Quickly letting his hand go, she stepped away. “We need to get to work. There’s a lot to do. All those turkeys to get in the cooler, and then matched up with the folk who ordered them, for starters.” Her attempt at a businesslike tone didn’t quite succeed. Certainly not enough to fool Brad.

  Lips twisting, he cast a tiny eye roll heavenward. “I’m not going to pretend this conversation didn’t happen, Maddie. But okay, now probably isn’t the time or place.” He nudged the big stack of boxes. “I’m guessing these are the turkeys. Where do they need to go?”

  Relief swept her. If they didn’t lighten the intensity, they’d never get through the next nine days. “In the back storeroom, the big cooler there.” She gripped a box ready to carry it through.

  He took it from her. “I’ll move them. You just show me where.” She showed him, and he easily hefted the box into place.

  “Are you sure you don’t need to go sort out that work problem?” Not that she wanted him to leave, but Brad had always jumped whenever his boss called.

  He smiled his easy smile. “It’s not urgent. It can wait till tonight.”

  So if it had been urgent, would he have left her here? She pushed away the unwanted thought that work still came first. He was here now. That was what counted.

  While she went back to completing the stock order, he moved the turkeys in half the time it would have taken her.

  “So this carol singing Pat mentioned. Is it a community thing?” he called through from the cooler.

  “Yes. Everyone comes. It’s a big holiday event here. I’m a bit worried about —”

  Heavy feet stomped on the porch, and the front door jangled. Ryan Connor’s broad frame filled the doorway.

  “Maddie! I heard you’d taken over here, for Pat and Susanna. Now, what can I do to help?” He strolled toward her, stopping just a fraction too close. His wide smile gleamed, just a little too happy to see her.

  Clearly, he hadn’t noticed Brad yet.

  “News got around fast. Thanks for coming over, Ryan.” Her return smile cramped her cheeks, more forced than she liked. Ryan’s growing attraction had become impossible to ignore. The carpenter was everyone’s go-to person. Solid, reliable, always there when help was needed.

  And a complication she didn’t need or want. She had no intention of getting back with Brad. Her divorce papers said she was legally single. But a whisper in her heart reminded her — she was not free.

  Life would be so much simpler if she’d fallen in love with a good, kind, straightforward local man like Ryan, back at eighteen.

  He grinned. “I brought a load of firewood for the stove. I noticed Pat’s woodpile was getting low. Especially with the carols this evening, I figured you’d be busy, and I didn’t want you out gathering wood in this cold.”

  Before she could thank him, Brad stepped out of the storeroom. He smiled his most charming smile, but if he was a dog, his hackles would be raised. Ryan backed away from her, but eyed Brad as if sizing up the competition before a fight.

  Lord, please don’t let things get difficult here!

  Pretending the air wasn’t stiff with tension, she made her best introductions. “Ryan Connor, Brad Hughes. Ryan is Sunset Point’s Mr. Fix-It. Brad is Jacob’s father.” She hesitated a moment, then raised her chin and added, “My husband.” A gentle way to discourage Ryan.

  “Your ex-husband,” Ryan corrected her.

  Brad rested a light but possessive hand on her arm. “My goal is to change that.”

  Managing to chuckle as if Brad had joked, Maddie closed her eyes, hoping maybe they’d both go away and she’d be left in peace to get the work done. When she opened her eyes, they were still there.

  “All I have time to think about now is praying for Ruth, looking after the store, and making sure tonight goes well.” She edged sideways, away from both of them.

  At this rate, they’d probably end up chasing each other around the counter like some silly sitcom. She didn’t want any man in her life. So why did she now have two?

  The pair stood facing each other. Neither appeared willing to be first to concede.

  “I’ll unload the firewood for you. Maybe your ‘husband’ can help.” Looking Brad up and down and no doubt assessing him as soft, unused to any physical labor, Ryan laid down the words like a challenge he knew he’d win.

  “Sure,” Brad responded, grinning with a confidence she prayed wasn’t misplaced. “I’ll grab some gloves.” He picked up a pair of heavy-duty work gloves from the display and waved them at her. “I’ll pay for these when I get back in.”

  Watching him shrug into his cold-weather gear, she hoped he knew what he was letting himself in for. His gym-gained fitness wouldn’t necessarily help here. And she should have let him wear Pop’s jacket. That expensive down coat might be perfect for a city stroll, but even a quarter cord of firewood would shred it.

  Once the two men slammed out the door and their boots pounded on the porch floorboards, she resumed the order forms. The rhythmic thunk of wood hitting wood offered a powerful distraction, especially as the syncopated tempo accelerated. Were they actually competing to see who could outpace the other?

  Please keep them from injury, Lord!

  Though really, as long as no one pulled a muscle or otherwise hurt themselves because of their one-upmanship, the sooner the job was done, the better. Then maybe they’d call truce and stop bristling at each other like dogs fighting over a bone.

  She’d just finished and hit Send on next week’s order when soft footsteps padded on the porch. Too quiet to be either of the men. Claire Robinson entered the store, pulling off her hat to uncover her mane of red hair.

  “Hi, Claire.” Maddie grinned. There weren’t many twenty- or thirty-something women in the small community, so she’d been overjoyed to find a kindred spirit when Claire moved to the lake as the new elementary school teacher.

  “Maddie!” Her friend’s face lit up, and s
he threw her arms around Maddie in a warm hug. “I came to collect a recipe from Susanna. I’m trying my hand at huckleberry muffins for tonight, and she told me she had a good recipe. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “They had to rush to Coeur d’Alene to be with Ruth. So I’m filling in.” She brought up a search box on the computer and typed in one of her favorite baking websites. “I know the recipe she uses. I’ll print it off.”

  “Thanks!” Claire frowned. “I thought you’d be busy today. If you’re here, does that mean your rotten so-and-so of an ex didn’t turn up after all?”

  Laughing, Maddie shook her head. “He’s here.” She bit her lip. “And I’ve only been with him a few hours, but I’m starting to wonder if he’s way less rotten than I thought. We’ve cleared a few things up already.”

  Claire’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me that mystery hunk out there stacking wood with Ryan is your ex?”

  She nodded.

  “Phooey! I hoped he was single.” Claire sighed. “He’s off-limits now, of course. No matter how much people say it’s over, it never really is.”

  Instinctive knowledge jerked through Maddie, smacking her so hard she almost expected to hear the thwack. It was far from over. And not just because of Jacob.

  She still loved Brad. She always would.

  But she couldn’t go back to being his wife.

  Chapter 8

  Brad raced to stack as much wood as he could carry into the store’s woodshed. Logs, ready split for the stove, had solidly packed the back of the carpenter’s big pickup.

  A lot of logs.

  But the local guy wasn’t going to beat him. Not if he could help it.

  He’d seen how the man’s gaze lingered on Maddie. Heard the challenge in his voice. No backing down. This was a best-man-win situation. Not to win Maddie, of course, he wasn’t that stupid. As they’d marched out the door, her almost-scowl suggested she wouldn’t have either of them.