Love Inspired May 2015 #2

by Missy Tippens

  “Thank you,” Lori said. “I appreciated your card.”

  Becca knitted her brows in question.

  When Jared had heard about Lori’s husband Stan’s death in a NASCAR accident shortly after he’d lost a close friend on the motocross circuit, he’d felt a connection to Lori and had shot her off a sympathy card. “My grandmother told me about Stan’s accident,” he said in explanation.

  Becca’s expression turned thoughtful. He’d have to be careful or he’d lose his tough-guy image.

  “I’d love to catch up,” Lori said. “But my shift is done and I need to pick the girls up from Stan’s mother’s house. She babysits for me when I have to work during the evening.” She turned to Jared. “I have ten-year-old twins. I usually work days, so I have to get them up early for day care tomorrow.”

  Jared scuffed his toe against the table leg. Lori was being a little too friendly for him. They hadn’t been friends in school and, as callous as it sounded, he’d sent her the sympathy card as much as a way to work through his own grief as a true condolence.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, Becca,” Lori said. “And why don’t you—” she pointed at Jared “—stop by after the lunch rush some afternoon this week. I’d love to hear about your time on the circuit.” She shot a dazzling smile his way and gave him a flirty wave before walking back behind the counter and into the kitchen.

  Yep, way too friendly, which he couldn’t say about Becca, given her dark frown. Unless she was jealous of Lori. They had been rivals in school. He yanked out the chair across the table from Becca. Only in his mind. The source of Becca’s frown more likely could be chalked up to his plans for the racing school and Lori getting in the way of Becca speaking her mind about it.

  He slid into the chair and wrapped his hands around the coffee mug. “I take it you want to talk about the track.”

  “I do.” The sip of coffee she took sweetened her frown into what could almost be called a smile. “I hope you don’t mind that I ordered your coffee. It’s a regular.” She glanced at the specialty coffee he’d bought. “But maybe you’d like something different.”

  He lifted the bag of coffee. “This is for Connor. I’m good with anything black that doesn’t taste like motor oil.”

  She took another sip of her coffee and gazed at him over the rim of the cup, her brown eyes colored with apprehension. “The Zoning Board’s decision surprised you.”

  He bit his tongue before he said something he’d regret. “Right. The town attorney had told my attorney everything looked like a go. That there wouldn’t be a need for a public hearing.”

  “That’s my fault.”

  He took a healthy draw of his coffee and waited.

  “I didn’t get the agenda for the meeting until yesterday afternoon, and what I got didn’t have a lot of details. With work and the kids, I didn’t have time to do any research. Evidently, the other board members and the town attorney already had discussed it. Tonight was my first board meeting.”

  “Yeah. Dan, my attorney, and I had felt out the town building inspector about the project a while ago, before I’d decided on a spot to build it.”

  “That spot being my backyard.”

  “Not exactly your backyard.” He’d made a tactical error not sounding out the property owners on Conifer Road about his idea when Bert had first written him about his intention to leave him the acreage. But it had seemed like everything was coming together for him. He looked across the table. Until now.

  “Close enough for me and some of my neighbors to have some questions.”

  “Ask away.” He leaned back in his seat.

  “Why? Why come back here when you could go anywhere?”

  He worked to maintain his casual pose, while a small blaze lit inside him. From her words, it sounded to him as if she was as opposed to him being in Paradox Lake as she was to him building his racing school here. He’d thought better of her. Correction. He’d thought better of the image of Becca he held in his head from high school. An image that could be all wrong.

  “Yes, I could go anywhere. I could build the school and motocross track here and run it from somewhere else. Let me ask you a question. Is it the racing school or me you have a problem with?”

  Becca blanched and he slunk down in his chair. What had gotten into him, jumping to a dumb conclusion like that? He knew. He wanted this project to succeed with the same competitive hunger that had made him a champion racer. And the stakes here were greater than any race’s.

  “I’m sorry if that’s how I sounded.”

  The contrition in her voice tore at him worse than her misinterpreted question.

  “I’ll start over. My neighbors and I have some valid concerns about a motocross track near our homes, some of the same concerns we had when Bert Miller was considering selling his property to a syndicate bidding on a state gambling license.”

  Becca was equating his racing school for needy kids to a gambling casino? The banked flame in his belly reignited.

  “Other people in the community may have issues, too. I thought it would help me if I knew why you wanted to build it here.”

  “Understandable. I...”

  The ring of her cell phone interrupted him.

  She pulled the phone from her pocket and glanced at it. “I have to take it. It could be about the kids.”

  Jared finished his coffee while Becca listened to the person at the other end of the call.

  “That was Debbie. My daughter’s running a temperature. I have to go.”

  “I hope Ari’s okay.”

  Becca stood and scooped up her purse. “It’s probably just a summer cold.”

  He pushed his chair back. “Let me know if you want to get together to talk about your concerns before the public forum. I can show you the plans and tell you more about them.”

  “Okay. I’ll call you at Connor’s. You do understand that it’s not personal.”

  “Of course.” He walked her out and they parted at her car. The problem was that it was personal for him—both his reasons for wanting to build the school and track in Paradox Lake and the urge he’d had earlier to pull Becca into his arms and comfort her when she’d blanched at his sharp question.

  Chapter Four

  Jared flung the Times of Ti on the couch. So that’s why Becca hadn’t called. She’d had no intention of hearing more about the motocross school from him before launching her campaign against it. The news article didn’t mention names, but it said a group of Conifer Road residents had organized against the project. That had to include her. Only three families lived on Conifer Road. Jared didn’t know the other two. He’d hoped that after he and Becca had talked, she’d be his in with the other families to calm any objections they might have.

  “Hey, big bro, what’s with the face?” Connor crossed the living room, picked up the weekly newspaper and skimmed the lead article. “I see.”

  “No, I don’t think you do.”

  “Come on. You grew up here. You had to expect some opposition. Some people don’t want any changes, even those for the better.”

  Jared grabbed the paper from him. “But no one has given me a chance to tell them it’s for the better, to explain how it’ll benefit the community. I figured I’d get that at the public hearing next week. The project could be dead by then.” He jabbed a finger at the front page. “Look at the headline, ‘Conifer Road Residents Rise Up Against Motocross Track.’”

  Connor shrugged. “Okay, the headline is a little sensationalized. From what I saw, all the article says is that the residents have questions to raise at the public hearing.”

  Jared ignored his brother’s placating. “And the photo of the No Racetrack bumper sticker with the X through a silhouette of a bike racer is a nice touch. She must have rushed right out the day after the Zoning Board meetin
g and had them printed.”

  “By she, I take it you mean Becca. Can you blame her or her neighbors? You’re planning to build something big in their neighborhood.”

  “Whose side are you on, anyway?”

  “Yours. You need to back off if you want to win support for your racetrack.”

  “It’s a school, not a racetrack.” Jared glared at Connor.

  “Hey, I have a good idea what this project means to you, but, like I said, lighten up. And, if you want to see your dream succeed, you should socialize with the locals instead of spending your time holed up here.”

  Jared breathed in and out to release some of his tension. “I know. But I’ll admit it’s hard. I have a lot of bad memories, and I suspect a fair number of the locals do, too.”

  Connor broke into a smile. “You’d be surprised how much your professional success has done to fade those memories.”

  “But not mine.” Jared tapped his fingers against his thigh.

  “You’re too hard on yourself. And not to criticize, but calling Becca back would have been a good start on cultivating local support.”

  “Say what?”

  “If you’d called Becca back, you might have had a chance to tell her more about your plans before she talked to the paper. If she talked to the paper. I didn’t see her name anywhere.”

  Jared took a step toward Connor. “Are you saying Becca called?”

  “Sure, the morning after the Zoning Board meeting. You’d gone into Ticonderoga to meet with the environmental engineer at GreenSpaces. It was just before I got the call that Sid Blasnik was having emergency surgery and drove up to Saranac Lake to sit with his wife at the medical center. I left you a note on the counter.”

  “I didn’t see any note.”

  “I’m sure I told you when I got back.”

  “You didn’t.” Jared reined in the urge to shake his little brother. Connor didn’t know how important her calling was to him. More important than it had any reason to be.

  “Sorry. Call her and tell her I didn’t give you the message.”

  “I could do that.” But he wasn’t sure he would. It might be better to wait it out and hear all of the opposition’s concerns and address them, rather than make it something personal between him and Becca.

  “Do you have plans for tonight?” Connor asked.

  “Huh?” His brother’s abrupt change of topic disoriented him.

  “The Singles Group and the Couples Group at church are playing their second round of Bible trivia. The Couples Group creamed us last time. We could use some new blood.”

  Jared still wasn’t sure how they’d gotten from Becca’s phone call to “Bible Jeopardy,” and it must have shown in his expression.

  “To socialize, cultivate support,” Connor said in a patient tone Jared was certain he must have learned in the seminary. The kid Jared had left behind when he’d exited Paradox Lake had been anything but patient.

  He gave in. “Why not?”

  Connor hadn’t said anything, but Jared knew his brother was hurt that he hadn’t attended Hazardtown Community Church since he’d returned to Paradox Lake. He hadn’t been able to shake the old feelings that the people at church—people his parents’ age and older who’d known his father—would be silently judging him, and he’d come up lacking, just like his father. Those feelings were one of the reasons he’d made his past visits home short and infrequent. But he wasn’t here for a visit. He was here for good. It was more than time to banish the shadows of the past.

  “Great.” Connor slapped him on the back. “Josh should be there along with Emily Stacey and some others you may know from school. Of course, most of them are our competition in the Couples Group.”

  Jared caught a wistful note in the emphasis his brother put on “the Couples Group.” More power to Connor if he thought marriage could be in his future. And who was he to think it couldn’t be just because he couldn’t see it in his? Connor was seven years younger than he was, maybe young enough that he wasn’t as scarred by memories of their father as Jared was. Or maybe he had a greater trust in God than Jared had managed to forge despite all his efforts, and could forgive and move on.

  * * *

  “I’m glad you talked me into this,” Becca said, as she got out of Emily’s car in the Hazardtown Community Church parking lot.

  “I didn’t have to do much talking.”

  “You’re right. Teaching day care is a lot different than teaching high school history. I need some adult time so badly that it was worth putting up with the Sheriff’s accolades about my interview in the Times of Ti when I dropped off the kids there after work. An interview that, incidentally, I didn’t give. Nor did I have anything to do with the bumper stickers. You’ve seen them?”

  “Yeah. What’s with Ken and Jared?” Emily asked. “I can see your opposition to the racetrack, it being so close to your house. You’d have to put up with all the added traffic and all of the other stuff that comes with a tourist attraction nearby. I can’t see why Ken is all up in arms about it. Aren’t he and Debbie planning to move to Florida anyway?”

  Becca swung the car door shut with more force than necessary. “I’m not against Jared’s racetrack. I do have concerns because it would be so close to my house, and I want to get more information about it before I decide whether I’m for or against it.” At least, that’s what she kept telling herself, that she was keeping an open mind until she knew more details. More details she already could have if Jared had returned her phone call.

  “As for the Sheriff, who knows why he thinks the way he does about anything?” she said. “He seems to have a personal dislike of Jared, though.”

  Becca paused while she waited for Emily to walk around the front of the car and join her on the sidewalk that led to the church hall. For a split second, she toyed with the thought of telling Emily about the implied accusation the Sheriff had made about her and Jared. She needed some way to release the outrage pent up inside her. Emily was a close and trusted friend. But Becca had never been one to share her inner self, not even, she had to admit, with her ex-husband. When she was younger, it was prompted by a fear that people might not like the real Becca beneath the perfect facade. Now, maybe it was more of a habit not to share.

  “Jared did do a pretty good job of demolishing the Nortons’ mailbox and front fence with his car after a night of partying in high school,” Emily said. “My brother emailed me about it when I was away at college because he knew Jared and I were sort of friends.”

  Remarks the Sheriff had made about Jared’s offtrack life when he’d bought Brendon his magazine ran through Becca’s mind. Parties, women, drinking. She went cold. Just like Matt. While her ex-in-laws had turned a blind eye to their son’s behavior, she’d lived with it the last year and a half of her marriage.

  “Lose that look. It was years ago, and I know other kids around here who have done a lot worse.”

  “I’m sure.” Becca pulled the handle of the door to the hall and swung it open for Emily. Things I wouldn’t want my kids doing. She realized that since she and Jared had met in the meadow, she’d been lionizing him in her mind, just like Brendon. What did she really know about Jared or what he planned to do? At the General Store after the Zoning Board meeting, he’d made it sound as though he was as eager to tell her about his project as she was to hear about. And she’d believed him until he hadn’t bothered to return her call.

  “We usually meet in the lounge,” Emily said. “I wonder what kind of turnout we’ll have tonight. Since Drew’s too busy with the camp during the summer to make the meetings, I had to play on the Singles Group team last match to help even things out. But they were still outnumbered, and the Couples Group creamed us.”

  “If I remember correctly, you hate losing.”

  “I like to think of it more as I love winning. Conno
r said he was going to drum up more singles for tonight. His brothers, at least.”

  Becca hadn’t considered Jared might be here. Her stomach sank. She’d come for some relaxing socialization. She picked up her pace. And she wasn’t going to let Jared Donnelly unsettle her and spoil that.

  “With Connor playing for the singles and you and your steel-trap mind of Biblical knowledge, we might see some real competition tonight.”

  “What can I say?” Becca tried for a light carefree tone she didn’t feel. “The Bible is a living history and history is my passion.” Somehow, her words saddened her.

  “Emily, Becca.” Connor met them in the hall in front of the lounge. “Go on in. I thought I’d put some coffee on in the hall kitchen for those of us who may need a boost after the competition. You’re the first to arrive, except for Jared and me.”

  Becca hung back behind Emily. So Jared had come.

  “I’ll help you,” Emily said.

  Confusion spread across Connor’s face until Emily nodded at Becca and toward the lounge.

  A smile replaced the confusion. “Right. Help me. In the kitchen.”

  Becca grit her teeth. Emily probably thought she was doing her a favor leaving her alone with Jared. She pasted a smile on her face and walked into the lounge. But it was a favor she could do without.

  * * *

  “Becca.” Jared rose as she entered the room. “Hi. Connor didn’t say you’d be here tonight.”

  “He didn’t know. I decided at the last minute. I haven’t been to the Singles Group in a while.”

  Jared wiped his hands on his jeans and watched her take a seat on the couch next to the chair where he’d been sitting. She folded her hands in her lap and looked up at him, her face expressionless. He sat back down.

  “Uh, Connor said you called the other day.”

  She met his gaze with the same bland visage. “You got my message, then.”

  “Yes, but not until today. Connor said he’d left me a note, but I didn’t see it.”

  Her eyes brightened. Or at least he thought they had.