by Kat Brookes
Stepping away from the table, she carried the stack of plates she’d collected over to the sink. After placing them in the empty basin, she placed the stopper firmly into the sink drain, squirted some dish soap over them and turned on the faucet.
Mama Tully moved to stand beside her, easing the dirty silverware into the rising sudsy water. “It’s so good having you home again,” she said with a bright smile. “Maybe you can give me some pointers on making the perfect pecan pie while you’re here.”
“I’d be happy to.”
“Gramma Landers cooks really good food, too,” Finn said as he carried the half-empty pitcher of iced tea from the table to the refrigerator. “She makes the best peach cobbler.”
“I remember,” Addy replied as she turned to face him, her smile brought on by the memory of the time she’d spent with the Landerses, mainly Mrs. Landers, when she was a teenager, learning how to bake. “Your Gramma Landers taught me how to make all sorts of desserts when I was just a girl. I love peaches.”
A tiny meow drifted out from under the kitchen table, eliciting laughter from everyone in the room.
“Especially you, my little Peaches,” Addy cooed. The cat sat peering up at her from beneath the fringed overhang of the tablecloth.
Grits and Honey, who had quickly accepted Addy’s cat as one of their own, poked their heads out from either side of Peaches and barked almost simultaneously.
Mama Tully paused to look down at the two pairs of adoring eyes gazing up at her from beneath the table’s edge. “My babies. Always so needy. Yes, you are loved bunches, too.” She glanced up at the clock on the wall. “I should probably let you two out before the news comes on.”
“Addy and I can finish up in here,” Lila told her.
“I don’t recall you ever making it a point to watch the news when I lived here,” Addy said. Her foster mother had always preferred to spend her time after dinner sitting out on the porch or fussing with her vegetable garden rather than inside watching television.
“I realize this is a new side to me,” Mama Tully explained. “But the days can be unbelievably long when you’re lying in a hospital bed, unable to move about as you please. You read the Bible, make a few calls, do a crossword puzzle or two, study the subtle details of the pictures on the wall. But by the day’s end, one becomes quite stir-crazy. So rather than count the peas on my plate when dinner was brought to my room, I chose to eat them while watching the news. It made me feel less out of touch with the world I live in.”
Lila nodded in understanding. Addy thought about Jake, wondering if he had felt the same way when he was in the hospital after the attack. Especially being so far away from home. Or had he been in too much pain? She couldn’t even begin to imagine what he’d gone through. To be shot in the shoulder was horrible enough, but then to suffer a broken leg on top of that was just unimaginable.
“The news,” Mama Tully went on, a sheen of pooling tears filling her eyes, “serves to remind me of those days I spent in the hospital, and that, by the grace of God, I am alive today.”
“Something we’re so very grateful for,” Lila said, stepping over to wrap her arms around their foster mother.
“So very grateful,” Addy said. Joining them, she wrapped her arms around Mama Tully from the other side. No matter how hard it had been to return to Sweet Springs, she didn’t regret being there. Not when it meant spending time with Mama Tully and Lila and Finn. The family of her heart.
Finn, not wanting to be left out, squeezed between his momma and Addy. “I love you, Gramma Tully.”
“I love you, too, sweetie,” she said with a sniffle. “All of you.” Then she gasped. “Addy, the water!”
Addy followed her foster mother’s gaze to see the dishwater close to overflowing, a thick layer of bubbles on the verge of spilling out over the front lip of the sink. Moving away from the embrace, she raced over to it. She turned off the tap and then attempted to scoop the escaping suds into the adjoining basin.
“Bubbles!” Finn exclaimed as he ran over to join her at the sink. Grinning excitedly, he dipped his hand in and cupped a handful of bubbles. Lila grabbed for several paper towels to wipe up the droplets falling from her son’s hand onto the floor below.
“I’m so sorry,” Addy said to Mama Tully. “I completely forgot I’d left the water running.”
Her foster mother grinned, waving away Addy’s worry. “I’m not worried about a little soapy water. We were having a moment.”
Having a moment. Now that brought back some memories. Both she and Lila had experienced a few emotional roadblocks after coming to live with Mama Tully. That’s how their foster mother had referred to those rough patches. The three usually got through them together, sometimes by coming together in a group hug. It was their way of reminding each other that they weren’t alone; no matter what they were going through, they always had each other.
“No sense wasting all those suds,” Lila said as she stepped over to swipe some of the shimmery bubbles from her son’s upturned hand. Then she looked down at him with a grin as she smooshed the iridescent white blob onto the top of his head.
Finn ducked with a squeal. “Momma!”
Their playful antics brought a smile to Addy’s face, a welcome reprieve from her troubled thoughts.
“Maybe you can just wash up in the sink tonight,” Lila told him with a grin. “There certainly are enough soapy bubbles.”
Mama Tully laughed. “We could give Honey and Grits their baths in there, too.”
Honey, a corgi–Australian shepherd mix, barked as if in protest and then ran from the room.
Addy looked to Mama Tully. “I take it she doesn’t like baths.”
Her foster mother shook her head. “Not in the least.”
Grits, however, wagged his nub of a tail excitedly.
“And he loves them,” Lila said as she bent to scratch the full-blooded Australian shepherd behind his ear.
The pup barked excitedly, his mismatched eyes focused intently on Mama Tully.
“Uh-oh,” Mama Tully said. “Looks like I’m going to be giving this eager little fellow a bath.” She looked to Finn. “Would you mind giving me a hand?”
“Sure,” he replied.
“This doesn’t get you out of getting one yourself,” Lila told him, humor lighting her eyes.
It was so good to see her friend so happy. She had always put on a smile for Finn over the years, but Addy knew Lila always carried the weight of her guilt around in her heart. Just as Addy had been forced to do with Jake as their friendship formed and grew.
“I know, Momma.”
“Well,” Mama Tully said, “let’s go get Grits scrubbed before the news comes on.” She looked to Addy and Lila. “Are you two okay seeing to the rest of the dishes?”
“Absolutely,” Addy told her.
“Do you need any help?” Lila asked their foster mother.
“I think Finn and I can handle things. Come on, Grits. Let’s go get you that bath.”
Lila walked over to grab the remaining glasses from the kitchen table. “Are you okay?”
Addy stuffed the basket strainer back into the sink’s drain to hold the remaining water in and then turned to face Lila. “Yes, why?”
“I know how hard seeing Jake was for you.” Carrying the glasses over to where Addy stood at the sink, Lila set them down atop the counter. “But his wounds will heal.”
Addy turned back around to start washing the dishes. “Not the wounds I caused him.”
Lila glanced her way with a worried frown. “Addy, he forgave me. He’ll forgive you, too.”
“I’m not so sure he will,” she told Lila. “Jake’s so angry with me, and I can’t say that I blame him for the way he feels. I broke his trust. Broke his entire family’s trust, for that matter.”
“Which you did for me,” Lila said with a sigh
as she reached for the nearby dish towel.
“But Jake found it in himself to forgive you,” she said, hating the whine she heard in her voice as she voiced her thoughts aloud.
“I’m so sorry I brought you into the mess I made of my life when I made the decision to run away from Sweet Springs.”
“You were my best friend,” Addy told her. “I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else but right there with you, supporting you in your ‘messy life.’”
Lila sniffled softly.
Addy looked her way. “Please tell me you’re not going to cry. It’s all I can do as it is not to cry myself right now with my life the way it is.” It was an admission she’d only make to someone she trusted. “And you know me—I’m not one to give in easily to the tears.”
“Addy, I promise I’ll talk to Jake for you. Mason will, too. We’ll do whatever we can to turn his thoughts around where you’re concerned. I know how close the two of you had gotten.”
“It’s not only my relationship with Jake that’s pulling at me right now,” she admitted.
“But Mama Tully’s doing well,” Lila assured her. “Truly she is. You don’t need to worry about her.”
Addy managed a small smile. “I know that. And for that I am so thankful. It’s work that’s adding to my worries.”
“Why? What’s going on?” Lila asked.
Since she’d been back to Sweet Springs, she and Lila had spent hours talking, about Mama Tully, about her and Mason’s wedding, and about Jake and how hard it had been for Addy to see him in that wheelchair. What she hadn’t brought during any of her conversations with Mama Tully was her job situation. She felt bad enough that it had taken her so long to get there, thanks to all the upheaval she’d been dealing with at work.
Addy handed Lila the plate she’d just washed so she could dry it. “The Cozy Stay Inn was bought out. My job’s been terminated.”
“What?” Lila gasped. “But you’ve worked there forever. You’re their head pastry chef and one of the most dedicated, hardworking people I know!”
Her friend’s defense of her touched Addy’s heart. “Mr. Mellott is having some serious health issues. The Van Helton Hotel chain has been trying to buy The Cozy Stay Inn for several years, so the time was finally right for him to sell it.”
“Van Helton?” Lila said, eyes wide. “They’re huge.”
“They also like things done their way,” Addy explained. “Which is why they are bringing in their own employees. Therefore, I will be looking for job openings online while I’m here.” She couldn’t bring herself to apply for work with the new chain. It just wouldn’t be the same.
“Addy,” Lila said with a sympathetic groan, “I’m so sorry.”
She shrugged. “The good news is we all received a generous severance package. Enough to hold me over while I consider all my future career options.”
“Mama Tully used to tell us that things happen in life for a reason,” Lila said reflectively, offering Addy an empathetic smile. “And that new paths we find ourselves traveling on aren’t really new paths at all. They’re all still leading us in the same direction—to that of our future.”
“I’m just trying to figure out where my path is taking me. At least where my job is concerned.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Lila said determinedly. “And now that you’re between jobs, you’ll have more time to spend here with us.”
“I’m probably going to be run out of this town the moment people find out I’m back.”
“If Mason’s family and the town can forgive me, they can certainly forgive you. Jake will, too. He just needs a little more time to get there because the two of you were so close.”
“We were,” she said sadly. “I miss what we had so much. You and Jake are my closest friends. Were,” she said with a heavy sigh, “now that he’s cut me out of his life. At least I still have you.”
“Be patient with him, Addy. Jake’s been through a lot.”
“I know he has,” Addy said, remembering all too well what it had felt like to see him in that wheelchair, his arm in a sling, leg in a cast. She sent up a silent prayer that her patience and determination would help her to save her unraveling friendship with Jake and bring with it his forgiveness of her. She just hoped God would be willing to take any prayers she cast up to Him under consideration. After all, she hadn’t been to church since leaving Sweet Springs to go back to live with her biological momma all those years ago.
Addy’s momma had never been strong in her faith, blaming God for all the years she’d spent struggling to survive on the streets with her young daughter. So they hadn’t gone to church. Hadn’t turned to the Lord for guidance. Therefore, she figured there was a good possibility that God and Jake were of like mind, not wanting to hear anything Addy had to say. But how could she change their opinions?
* * *
Jake sat in his wheelchair, staring out his bedroom window. His thoughts, for a change, were on something other than the tragedy that had befallen his group of missionaries. They were fixed on Adeline Mitchell. He’d hated Addy seeing him this way. Hated that she still had the ability to stir his heart when it had been dead for weeks. He didn’t want to feel.
Thankfully, Addy seemed to have changed her mind about not giving up on him. She’d been back in Sweet Springs for nearly a week and he hadn’t heard another peep from her. Not that he should have expected to. Addy had proven herself to be someone whose words lacked truth. As had Lila’s before she’d come clean with his brother, he supposed. But he hadn’t been in a relationship with her. Not that his and Addy’s connection had been a romantic one. It had, however, meant something to him. The hurt her actions had caused him made forgiving her so much harder.
“Afternoon.”
Jake cast a glance back over his shoulder to see his brother standing in the doorway.
Without waiting for a response, Mason stepped in through the open door. “I thought you might like to go for a—”
“Walk?” Jake finished for him with a grumble.
Mason’s gaze lowered to the wheelchair and the casted leg Jake had elevated out in front of him. “I’ll walk,” he said with a shrug. “You’ll roll.”
“I’ll pass,” he muttered, returning his attention to the family’s market across the way and the rows of trees behind it.
Sighing, Mason moved to stand beside Jake at the window, careful not to bump the extended leg rest. “Then we’ll stay in your room and talk. It’s been a while since we’ve spent any real time together.”
He didn’t want to exchange brotherly banter. It was too hard. He and Mason had always worked hard and laughed hard. At the present he wasn’t capable of either.
“I was away,” Jake stated. “And you’ve been busy building a house for you and Lila and Finn to live in after the wedding.” Their father had left them all large parcels of land on the outskirts of the family orchards to build on once they were ready to start families of their own. Mason was more than ready at that point. Although he and Lila had postponed their wedding to give Jake time to heal. One more thing to add to the guilt he was already harboring. Guilt over his friend’s death. Guilt over the worry he’d been causing his momma since his return home. Guilt over not being able to contribute to the family’s workload.
“Well, you’re home now,” Mason replied. “And I’ll never be too busy to spend time with my little brother.”
“You need to focus on getting that house built.” He frowned. “It’s bad enough you and Lila felt the need to push your wedding back because of me.”
“Of course we changed the date,” Mason replied. “You’re my brother. My other best man, besides Finn. We want you to enjoy being a part of our wedding day. Besides, Lila was relieved to have a little extra time to pull things together. It gives me more time to make the house I’m building for my family one they can truly think of as home. S
o it works out well for everyone in the end.”
Jake nodded. “As long as you’re not doing it solely for me.” He motioned to his broken leg and the wheelchair he was seated in. “Because of this.”
“We’re not,” his brother assured him. “Wedding aside, I’m worried about you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Jake, you’re not fine,” Mason argued, worry lines forming tiny creases above his dark brows. “You rarely leave this room. This conversation we’re having is the most you’ve talked to any of us since you came home.”
Jake turned his head to look up at him. “Why would I want to leave my room? To do what, exactly? I can’t work the orchards with you like I always have. I can’t help Momma and Violet at the market. I can’t even get around without someone pushing me because of this stupid bullet wound in my shoulder.”
Mason sighed. “Your shoulder is mending. Your broken leg is going to heal, too. I know it’s not easy living your life with physical limitations, but it’s only temporary. Thank the Lord for that blessing. This could have been so much worse.”
Like if he had died as well as Corey? “I realize that.” He had thought of little else since returning home from his mission trip. No amount of his momma’s suggestions that he should ask the Lord to help him through this made him reach for his Bible to read the passages he knew so well. Selections that had once given him comfort now had him questioning everything he’d been taught about his faith. About the Lord Who had not been there to guard His flock that day. Then Addy had shown up in Sweet Springs and pulled his troubled thoughts in her direction.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am that this happened to you,” Mason said regretfully, his focus pinned on the cast. “If only I’d refused your offer to go on that mission trip in my place...” Emotion tightened his voice.
“Then you might have died that day,” Jake said, knowing that only by the grace of God he himself hadn’t. What he didn’t understand was why the Lord had spared him yet had taken Corey. A devout Christian who was there to do work in the name of the Lord.