Harbor of the Heart

by Katherine Spencer

  Claire didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he was talking right near her and not trying to keep his conversation private in any way.

  “The dog? You mean Edison? Yes, he’s still with me. He’s a loyal old fellow. You should see him now, a little gray around the muzzle but still very spry . . . Oh, they don’t? That’s too bad.”

  Nolan’s voice went from chipper and bright as he described Edison to suddenly downcast.

  “. . . Oh no. I’d never do that . . . No, there’s no one who could mind him for all that time. I wouldn’t even think of it. I couldn’t leave him, Jack. He’s just . . . Well, Edison and I are a package deal,” he added with a forced laugh. “Thanks for the offer. I’ll keep in touch. You enjoy your sabbatical . . .”

  Nolan hung up and let out a long, sad sigh. Claire couldn’t help but turn to him. “Bad news?” she asked.

  “A friend offered to let me house-sit his apartment while he’s traveling for a few months. Perfect, right? But I can’t bring Edison. So it’s out of the question.”

  “I see . . . Too bad it didn’t work out.” Claire wondered if she should offer to watch Edison. The dog seemed happy at the inn and seemed to like her. She would have to ask Liza first. But it seemed that even if Liza agreed, Nolan would not want to leave the dog. She’d discerned that much from his side of the conversation.

  Before she could say another word, Liza came up from the basement and burst into the kitchen. “The hot water heater has gone berserk! It’s spewing out steam and water all over the place. It looks like it might explode!”

  “Oh dear . . . That’s awful. Did you call Daniel?”

  “He’s in Boston. I tried a plumber in Cape Light, but he’s not picking up.” Liza held her cell phone in one hand and began scanning the tiny screen. “I guess I could try another . . .”

  Daniel was in the city for the day without Liza? That was unusual. But Claire didn’t have time to ask any questions.

  Nolan jumped up from his seat. “Let me take a look. I might be able to help.”

  Liza did not look entirely comforted by the offer. “Do you know anything about hot water heaters, Nolan?”

  “Oh, I can tame most mechanical things. It’s just a knack I have. They call me the . . . the Hot Water Heater Whisperer,” he joked.

  “Okay, then. Give it a try. What do we have to lose?” Liza led the way downstairs to the furnace room. Claire went into the mudroom and grabbed the toolbox. She brought it down to them, along with a flashlight. The hot water heater was indeed on a rampage. Claire blinked at the spraying water, then left the tools and flashlight with Nolan and returned to her cooking. She did have a feeling Nolan could fix this little glitch in the machinery—just by the way he stared at it with such an intrigued expression.

  It would be good for him if he was successful. He had been so eager to help the last few days, to do any job that he saw needed doing, from folding linens to watering the garden or taking out the trash. Claire had joked with him, saying she wondered if he was trying to steal her job away. But Nolan insisted that he wanted to make himself useful; he was so grateful to Liza for putting him up the last few days. Fixing a hot water heater would be proving himself very useful. And it would be a big savings for Liza.

  Claire was simmering the strawberry mixture that would be cooled and blended with cream in the ice maker when Liza ran back up the stairs.

  “Did he fix it?” Claire peered at her over her reading glasses.

  “He’s getting there. He knew what was wrong with it right away, and the darn thing doesn’t sound like it’s going to explode anymore.” Liza smiled with surprise. “He sent me up for some wire, duct tape, and rags for a temporary fix. He thinks he can get the part that needs replacing at most any plumbing supply house, and knows how to install it, too. There’s a plumbing place right in Cape Light, I think.”

  “That’s a relief. It’s fortunate Nolan was around today.”

  “Yes, very lucky.” Liza glanced at her watch. “By the time our guests want to shower before dinner—all at once, of course—we should have plenty of hot water again.”

  “A weekend at the shore without hot showers would not be very enjoyable—or encourage good reviews.” Claire turned off the burner under the melted strawberries and set the pot to the side to cool.

  “I would hate fielding that complaint.” Liza had gathered the items Nolan needed from the mudroom, and now she ran back downstairs.

  A few minutes later, Nolan emerged, with Liza following close behind. Claire could see he’d been working hard. A sheen of sweat covered his face, and his T-shirt and even his cheek were smeared with grease. But a victorious expression lit his face.

  “Just a bad valve. I had a feeling.” He held up the offending part.

  “The plumbing supply place is just outside the village. You can take my car. I’ll write down the directions.” Liza started scribbling on a pad. “We have an account there, so you can just charge it.”

  “I’d better call first, see if they have the part. They might need to order it, or we can try somewhere else.”

  “Good point. Here’s their phone number. You’d better call. I have no idea what to ask for. And if you need to look for another place, you can use my computer. It’s right on the kitchen table.”

  Nolan took the slip of paper with the phone number. “Will do.”

  “Will the heater keep working if you can’t find the part today?” Liza asked. Claire noticed a hint of apprehension in her tone.

  “The patch will hold, no worries,” Nolan promised. “You could put off a new valve for a few weeks, though I wouldn’t recommend it.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of that,” Liza said, sounding relieved. She smiled again at Nolan. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you jumping in to fix this. You really saved the day.”

  “It was nothing at all. It’s the least I can do for you after all you’ve done for me these past few days.”

  “Really, Nolan,” Liza said. “A plumber would have charged me a small fortune for what you just did. I want to pay you something for the work. Please?”

  Nolan shook his head, his long gray hair flopping out of place. “Thank you, Liza, but I won’t hear of it. You’ve been too kind. As I said before, it’s the least I can do.” He seemed suddenly self-conscious, and ducked his head again. “If you ladies will excuse me, I’m going to wash up before I make these calls.”

  After they heard Nolan go upstairs, Liza turned to Claire. “I wish he would take some payment. He saved me a fortune, and he can certainly use the money.”

  “Nolan has a lot of pride. And you’ve done a lot for him, letting him stay here,” Claire reminded her.

  Liza shrugged. “That’s no big deal. I’ll think of some way to repay the favor, sooner or later.”

  “I’m sure you will,” Claire said sincerely. Liza had such a good heart. If someone did her a good turn, she never forgot, and always repaid it a hundredfold.

  “How is lunch coming? The Millers should be here soon.” Liza checked her watch. The little emergency hadn’t taken that long, but enough to fall behind a bit in their schedule.

  Liza had prepared for guests hundreds of times by now, maybe even thousands, Claire reflected. But there was still a certain edge of excitement before their arrival—and a certain tension, too.

  “All the food is ready, and the table is set out back. I was just going to give the rooms a final check,” Claire added as she took her apron off. “I cut some nice hydrangeas this morning. I’ll arrange them and bring them up in a minute.”

  “Great. Room number three needs more towels. I’ll grab a few from the laundry room.”

  Liza hurried off in one direction and Claire in another, each of them looking forward to having the inn once more filled with guests.

  * * *

  LIZA was busy taking care of her guests for the rest of the
day—two older couples and a young family with a five-year-old girl. But her thoughts did drift toward Daniel, even in the midst of her duties. She wondered how he was doing on his quest to research reentry into medicine. She wondered what answers he had found and if this entire idea was even possible.

  She certainly hoped he had not been discouraged, and felt almost breathless with anticipation when she finally saw his truck pull in the drive later that evening. It was almost nine. Dinner had been served and cleared hours ago, and most of the guests had dispersed, taking walks on the beach or a drive into Cape Light.

  Liza stood on the porch, watching as he jumped out of the truck. She squinted in the dim light. The sun was just going down behind the ocean, painting the horizon with brilliant hues of purple and rose and gold.

  But Liza was totally focused on Daniel. She would know the entire story of his day in one instant—the moment she saw his face and his gaze met hers. She would know if this was going to work out—or not.

  Daniel walked toward her slowly and raised one hand in greeting.

  Was he smiling? It was hard to say. He wasn’t frowning; that was a good sign. She met his gaze and held it. And she could tell, just from the way he held her gaze and didn’t look away.

  She let out a long breath that she didn’t even realize she’d been holding.

  He had worn a dark blue suit today, with a white dress shirt and a red silk tie. Liza could count on one hand the number of times she had seen Daniel in a suit. His tie was already unknotted, hanging loose, and his jacket was off, but he still looked incredibly handsome.

  He walked up the steps and kissed her. Liza kissed him back and then tilted her head back. “Excuse me . . . have we met? You really remind me of somebody . . .”

  Daniel laughed. “Cute. Did the suit and tie throw you off? Is that what you’re saying?”

  She looked at him a moment and snapped her fingers. “That’s it. Not bad. I could get used to this,” she added with a nod of approval. “Though I love you in jeans and sweatshirts just as well.”

  “Good to know.” Daniel still had his arms around her waist, and he leaned back and gazed at her. “Do you really want to talk about my wardrobe?”

  “Not really,” she said honestly. “How did it go? Did you find out what you wanted to know?”

  “I have good news and bad.” Daniel put his arm around her shoulder, and they walked over to the porch swing and sat down together. “I didn’t let my license expire, which is very important. Working at the clinic all these years, and as an EMT, helps, too. It shows direct contact with patients, and that makes it easier to return.”

  “That sounds great. What else do you need to do?”

  “Well . . . a lot. I haven’t kept up with board certification. I couldn’t just go back into ER work. But I don’t necessarily want to. I could practice as a GP after taking some courses and exams. I would have to be interviewed by a board . . . and I’d need to be totally transparent about the reason I left in the first place,” he said finally. Now his expression and tone did darken, just as the sun dropped below the horizon.

  Liza didn’t answer right away. “Of course you’d be honest about that. There’s nothing to hide. The hospital reviewed the case and never sanctioned you.”

  “Yes, I know. And there are certainly physicians who have messed up far worse and kept practicing. Not that I’m saying that’s ideal.”

  She knew what he was saying. Maybe he was finally coming around to see that he’d been too hard on himself.

  “It’s a lot to think about. At least you have all the information now, and you can just take your time to figure it out.”

  He glanced at her. “I have been thinking about it, the whole time I was driving home. And the adviser I spoke to was very encouraging,” he added. “The thing is, all the tests I need to take are offered this summer—and they won’t be offered again for almost a year. So he advised that if I wanted to recertify, I should get on the ball and go for it. I might not pass the exams the first time.”

  Liza was surprised by his answer. Things were suddenly moving quickly, but that was good, wasn’t it? She wanted to see Daniel happy, using all the amazing talents and gifts he had been blessed with.

  “I think that’s good advice,” she said. “You seem excited by the idea. Waiting and putting it off might dampen your enthusiasm.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” he agreed. “Why put it off? I’ve already lost over six years. I’m not getting any younger.”

  “So what do you do next?”

  “Besides fill out a pile of forms? I have to sign up for some courses, and take some tough exams when they’re done. They’re given this summer, starting July eighth. The exams are in the middle of August.”

  “July eighth? That’s not very long from now—a little over a week.”

  “Yes, I know. If I want to do this, I have to register online by Monday.”

  “Can you take the classes online, too?”

  Daniel shook his head. “No, I have to be in Boston for those, and honestly, I’m wondering how I’ll have enough time to take the courses and study and work, too. From what the adviser told me, they’re going to be intense.”

  “You’ll just have to put your work on hold for a few weeks. Do you have a lot of jobs lined up between now and the middle of August?”

  “Only two so far. I could pass those off to Sam Morgan,” he added, mentioning a well-known carpenter in Cape Light. “He’s got a big crew working for him now, and my clients probably wouldn’t mind.”

  “That’s a good idea. So you’ve cleared the decks. That wasn’t so hard,” she pointed out.

  “No, but . . . it did feel strange to be back in the city. I went over to Mass General to ask for copies of some records of my time there. It felt so . . . odd to be in a hospital again; thinking of myself as a doctor again, I mean.”

  Liza smiled. “That’s not surprising. You’ve been out of that environment a long time. But you don’t have to practice in a big hospital again, Daniel. Or even in Boston.”

  Though he actually could, since the city wasn’t that far. But that might mean he would be away from the island a few days a week, Liza realized with a pang. For a brief, selfish moment, she couldn’t help hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

  As if reading her thoughts, Daniel said, “No, I wouldn’t want to practice in the city again. I’m sure of that. I’ve had enough of Boston, even if I can get my certification back.”

  “Of course you’ll get it back,” Liza said, feeling a surge of relief. “One step at a time. You made the most important one today. You got all the information, and now you know it’s possible and what you have to do.”

  “I think I want to try,” Daniel said quietly. “It’s just all coming up so fast. And money—I have some savings, but this is my prime season for work. It will be hard not to work at all.”

  “Oh, if that’s all you’re worried about, you can eat here—or rent your cottage for the summer and stay here, too.”

  Daniel laughed. “You keep giving the rooms away to strays, Liza. You have to save a few for paying guests.”

  “Don’t worry; there are more than enough.”

  “I might take you up on that. Though you might have me taking care of that repair list during my study breaks.”

  “No way. I’m not going to give you any excuses to skip your homework. I’ll just have to find ten handymen to take your place, that’s all.” Liza knew how spoiled she was by Daniel’s ability to fix just about anything that went wrong at the inn. And in the grand old Victorian building, there was always something in need of repair.

  “Oh, guess what?” she said. “The hot water heater broke down today, and Nolan fixed it. Isn’t that great? He picked up a new part in Cape Light and has already installed it.”

  Daniel didn’t seem surprised. “He’s a very smart gu
y. I expect he understands how most mechanical things work—and knows how to fix them when they don’t.”

  “I really wanted to pay him something, but he wouldn’t take it. He says he feels better earning his way at least a little bit. Isn’t that sweet of him?”

  “It’s more than sweet . . . I think you’ve found my replacement around here already.”

  Liza felt a spark of encouragement at his reply. “Do I really need a replacement? I thought you were going to think it over for the weekend.”

  Daniel let out a long sigh, but he was smiling. “What does Claire always say? ‘A task begun is half done’? I started this today, and I admit, I’m afraid to go back to classes and studying and tests. But I’m more afraid that if I put it off, I won’t do it at all. So might as well just jump in the deep end.”

  “You need to go for it,” Liza agreed, “even if it has come upon you in a rush. But sometimes things just happen that way.” She felt a genuine happiness for Daniel. “I’ll tell you something else Claire always says: ‘If you take the first step in faith, God will be there to help you the rest of the way.’”

  “I thought about that, too,” Daniel admitted. “I do have a gut feeling this is the right thing for me to do, to at least give it try. So I don’t look back and have any regrets. So why wait until Sunday to decide? I’m going to register for classes tonight.”

  “Excellent decision,” Liza said approvingly. “Because waiting the whole weekend to see what you’d say was going to kill me. I could hardly wait the few hours for you to get back from Boston.”

  Daniel laughed at her and hugged her close. “It’s easy to jump into the ring when I have you in my corner.”

  Liza smiled softly at him. “No worries; I’ll always be there.”

  Daniel kissed her quickly, and Liza sighed. She rested her head on his shoulder. He’d made a big decision tonight. Her own head was spinning. But it felt good. She knew something good would come of this.

  “Now that you’ve officially given up your post of resident handyman,” she said finally, “do you think I should offer Nolan the job?”