by Lee McKenzie
Jon wanted to pull her in for a hug, but if he tried to make this physical, he risked severing the emotional connection that was drawing them together.
“How old was Casey?”
“Six. She had just started first grade and I was trying to figure out what to do with the next phase of my life.”
“Sometimes life has a way of propelling us headfirst into making decisions.”
“It sure does. Especially when I discovered that his investments had tanked, our credit cards were maxed out, the mortgage was in arrears and we were just barely getting by, paycheck to paycheck.”
Jon suddenly had a newfound respect for a woman who had already impressed him beyond words. “How did you manage? Did your family help you?”
“They did, in their own way, at least. But I had a business degree and a good head for finances. My only real mistake was assuming that Jim did, too. Anyway, I sold the house and the boat, moved Casey and myself into a little apartment, and landed a job with the original owner of To the Nines, doing her books, taxes, that sort of thing. She was happy with my work and word spread and pretty soon I was turning down jobs. I worked from home a lot, which gave me lots of time to spend with my daughter.”
“How does an accountant make the transition to owning a clothing store?”
She laughed lightly. “It’s not as big a leap as you might think. Fashion had always been part of that big-city dream of mine. Living in a city didn’t happen, except while I was at college, but I’ve always followed fashion trends.”
“Off the grid?”
“Yes, even then. My mom was busy with her garden and cooking, my dad was always building something, and my older sister seldom had her nose out of a book. I was the odd one out, dreaming of owning my own business someday, maybe even a chain of fashion boutiques.”
“You’re amazing,” he said, and he meant it. In spite of some major hardships, she was well on her way. “Doesn’t living off grid mean no electricity?”
“It sure does.”
“Did you have solar power? Or does it rain too much on the west coast of the island?”
“Oh, it rains all right. Believe it or not, though, solar panels work even when it’s cloudy or foggy. We also had woodstoves for heating and cooking, and a diesel generator for backup.”
“Wow. I’m impressed.”
“Me, too. My dad’s an engineer but he mostly works as an environmental consultant. And these days my family’s home is no longer off the grid, it’s tied to it.”
“So when your dad produces excess electricity, he’s feeding it into the grid?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ve heard of people doing that but I’ve never known anyone who’s actually done it. Do you visit your family very often?”
“We spend a week or so with them every summer. Casey loves it there, the beaches, tide pools, doing science-y stuff with my dad and my older sister. She’s a professor of environmental studies in Montreal.
“Science-y.” He smiled at that. “I can see the appeal.”
Sarah unexpectedly pulled her hand away and covered her face. “What if she’s not okay?”
He was trying to think of something to say when her phone rang. They both jumped.
“It’s not Casey. Not the police, either.”
For a second or two, it seemed as though she might not answer it. Then she did, and her hesitation turned to jubilation the instant she said, “Hello?”
* * *
“CASEY! OH MY HEAVENS, girl! I’ve been worried sick! Are you okay? Where are you? Who’s phone—?” Her hands shook so bad, she could hardly hold the phone.
“Mom! I’m fine. Let me talk.”
“Where—?”
“Mom!”
“Okay, okay. I’m listening.” Over the thunder of her pulse pounding in her ears.
Jonathan leaned in, wanting to hear, too. Poor guy. She switched to speaker.
“I’m using Kate’s phone. We’re at the Langdale ferry terminal—”
“What? How did you get there?”
“On the bus. We—”
“I’ve been calling and calling and you didn’t pick up. Where—?”
“Mom! Kate went to the washroom and she forgot to take her phone with her. Let me finish before she gets back.”
“Sorry, sweetie. I’m listening.” This time she would.
“Kate’s mad at her dad...”
He and Sarah hadn’t broken eye contact since she’d answered the call. Now there was no missing the hurt, the sad set of his mouth. She touched his hand, and her heart lightened a little when he linked his fingers with hers.
“I was getting ready for soccer practice and Kate texted me. She said she was going to take the ferry to Vancouver and stay with a friend. How dumb is that? I’d put all my stuff in my gym locker when I went to talk to her. I couldn’t talk her out of leaving so I thought if I went with her, I’d have plenty of time to change her mind before she actually got on the ferry.”
“So your phone’s in your gym locker?”
“Yup, and Kate turned hers off in case her dad tried to call.”
Jonathan let out a sigh and shook his head. She could see that his relief was already morphing back into annoyance.
“What time does the next ferry leave?”
“In about twenty minutes. Can you get here?”
“Not a chance, but don’t worry. I’ve already talked to Gayle Merriweather. I’ll call her and she’ll get them to hold the ferry till we get there.”
“Oh, geez, Mom. You called the police?”
“Of course we did. We were—”
“Gotta go. Kate’s coming.”
“We’re on our way.”
“Bring Petey?”
“Sure.”
The line went dead.
Jonathan stood and pulled her to her feet. Sliding into his arms was maybe not the smartest move, but she went anyway. She tipped her head to look up at him and sucked in a quick breath just as his lips met hers. There was nothing tentative about this kiss. His mouth was firm, as comforting as it was demanding, and his arms created a warm shelter. She wished they could linger, and on another level was glad they couldn’t. This had been an emotionally charged day, it had been a very long time since she’d experienced this kind of intimacy, and it all felt like uncharted territory.
After a few seconds, he eased away. “We need to go.”
“I’ll get the dog.”
“We can take my car.”
“And I’ll call the police.”
He was standing next to his SUV talking on his phone when she stepped out her front door. With her purse slung over her shoulder and Petey’s travel crate clutched in one hand, she locked up and joined Jonathan in the driveway. She stowed the dog in the back and climbed in, buckling her seat belt while making the call to Constable Merriweather.
Jonathan slid in behind the wheel and tossed his phone on the dash, started the engine, and backed onto the street as he buckled himself in. She didn’t have to ask who he’d been talking to. The tight set of his jaw said it all.
As they drove out of town, she updated the police with the girls’ whereabouts and was assured that an officer would pick them up at the ferry terminal before the next sailing.
“I’ll call as soon as we find them,” Gayle said.
“Thank you.”
In the backseat, Petey yipped from his carrier, excited about going for a car ride. Sarah periodically gave Jonathan a sideways glance. He kept both hands on the wheel and never took his eyes off the road, his features so rigid, they might have been set in stone.
“Kate’s mom must be relieved.”
He nodded.
Okay. Maybe something else was bothering him. Maybe he w
as thinking about how to react when they reunited with the girls. Or maybe he wished they hadn’t just shared a kiss. She hoped that wasn’t it. That kind of kiss shouldn’t be ruined by regret. Finally, she couldn’t take another second of the silence.
“Are you okay?”
“Not really.”
“You’re worried about Kate.”
“Of course.”
“But there’s something else.”
He nodded.
Great. Was he intentionally giving her the silent treatment? She looked away, staring out the passenger window as they whizzed their way down the coast, catching glimpses of the deep blue water of the strait. She was still trying to process the few details Casey had given her, how she had gone with Kate in an effort to talk the girl out of doing something rash. She still had a lot of questions, but those could wait till they were home, alone. For now the relief of knowing they were okay was all she needed to set her mind at ease.
Her phone rang, snapping her back to the present.
“It’s the police,” she said before answering. Jonathan didn’t respond.
“Gayle? Hi, what’s happening?”
“We got lucky, Sarah. We had a cruiser near the terminal and the officer was able get there within minutes. He has apprehended the girls and they’re on their way to the station in Gibsons.”
Apprehended? “Oh, I...I’m not sure what that means. Have they been arrested?”
That snapped Jonathan out of his ironman pose, and he gave her a quick glance before turning his attention back to the road.
Gayle laughed. “No, it does not. They haven’t done anything wrong.”
Sarah wasn’t sure she agreed with that. Kate had decided to run away, and Casey had decided to go with her. Both girls had made bad decisions, but at least they hadn’t made it onto the ferry. She was beyond grateful for that.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done, Gayle. We’re so relieved to know they’re safe,” Sarah said. “We should be there in ten minutes, fifteen tops.”
She tucked her phone into her handbag, folded her hands in her lap, and waited for Jonathan to say something, anything, but he didn’t speak. A few moments ago she’d been in his arms and he’d kissed her, thoroughly and with enthusiasm. Now, as though a switch had been flipped, he wasn’t speaking to her. She looked at him again and realized there was so much about him that she didn’t know. Beneath his outdoorsy, laid-back exterior, there was an underlying sadness that had been there right from the start. She hadn’t noticed it until now, and her heart broke just a little bit.
Of course he was sad; why wouldn’t he be? His wife had left him, his rebellious daughter had tried to run away.
You shouldn’t be making this about you, she told herself. Let it go and cut the poor man some slack.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JON LOOSENED HIS grip on the steering wheel when he noticed his knuckles were white. His thoughts darted from what he should say to Kate when he saw her, to the things Georgette said when he called to tell her their daughter was safe, to this beautiful woman next to him who had, moments ago, kissed him senseless. There had been more to that kiss than relief. He’d felt the heat, and he knew she’d felt it, too, and then his brief conversation with Georgette had hit him like an icy blast from a fire hose.
“Would it help to talk about your conversation with Kate’s mom?” Sarah’s eerily pertinent question caught him off guard and had him wondering if he had inadvertently blurted one of his scattered thoughts out loud.
“Not really.”
“I’m a good listener,” she said, apparently unfazed by his abrupt response.
He exhaled a sigh. “I know you are.”
“But I’m also annoying.”
He gave her a quick sideways glance. “Why would you say that?”
“Because you’re annoyed with me.”
“No, I’m not.” If he’d given her that impression, he owed her an apology. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I’m upset with Kate and I’m furious with Georgette, but I am not annoyed with you.”
“That’s good to know, but...”
“But...?”
He could feel her steady gaze on him. “At the risk of annoying you now, would you mind my being honest with you?”
“I don’t mind.” He hoped.
“I think you need to lighten up with Kate.”
He hadn’t known what to expect, but he sure hadn’t expected that. Where to even begin? “She’s only two weeks into the school term and she’s already falling behind.”
“I know, but that means it shouldn’t be too hard for her to catch up. Maybe, instead of grounding her, you should sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk with her. Ask her how she’s feeling about the situation with her mother, about her new home, about her new school.”
“Has she said something to you about those things?”
“It’s not what she says, it’s more what she doesn’t say. She seems a little lost.”
It killed him to think his daughter was hurting and he hadn’t been there for her, but Sarah was right. That’s exactly what happened. He’d been focused on her negative attitude and rebellious spirit instead of trying to find out what was behind them.
“She’s been through a lot.” They both had. “Her mother calls her every day, but it’s not enough. Kate wants to spend time with her and Georgette promises she will, but then she always has a reason for putting it off. She has a busy life, I understand that. And I get that she’s happy to finally have the life she always wanted, gadding about Europe, rubbing shoulders with royals and millionaires and Hollywood film stars, but she’s still a mother. Yes, she calls Kate almost every day, but she isn’t really there for her.”
“And Kate knows that,” Sarah said. “She’s a smart kid.”
“She is.” But when was the last time he’d acknowledged that, even to himself, let alone told her? “She deserves more credit than I’ve been giving her.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. I’m a single parent, too. I know how hard it is.”
“You make it look easy.”
Sarah’s light laugh eased some of the tension that had his gut tied in knots. “I’ve had a lot more practice than you have, and Casey was a lot younger than Kate when she lost her other parent.”
“Thank you for that. Kate didn’t lose a parent, though. She just has a mother who doesn’t make time to be with her.”
“It’s still a loss, and she’s grieving.”
Grief. Until now, he hadn’t thought of it in those terms. Maybe because his own ego had taken a major hit when Georgette told him she was leaving, and she wasn’t leaving alone.
“You’re right. How did I not see that?”
“Because you were grieving, too.”
He pondered that for a few moments. “It’d be nice if it was that simple. Our marriage was over long before Georgette left.”
“And now it’s up to you to be the parent Kate can count on, the one she can turn to when life gets overwhelming, and the parent who helps her forge a better relationship with her mother.” The matter-of-factness of her statement hit its intended target, but her gentle tone of voice softened the blow.
“I want to be that parent. Any advice on how I go about it?”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “If you’re sure you want to hear it.”
“I am.”
He could hear her draw a breath, as though she was gathering steam.
“Kate’s a smart, capable kid. I know you know that, but did you know she has a genuine passion for the fashion industry and a real flair for design?”
You need to hear her out, he told himself, trying to ignore the tension that bunched between his shoulders.
“I know you think it’s frivolous—”
“
I’ve never said that.”
“Yes, you did.”
She was right. So much for hearing her out.
“And I can tell that you think Kate’s love of clothes and fashion trends is frivolous.”
He was sure her repetition of the word was meant to hammer her point home.
“I happen to share that love, and I’m here to tell you that I’ve worked hard to build a successful business. I’m proud of everything I’ve accomplished. And on this subject, I don’t think Kate’s the one who needs an attitude adjustment.”
“But I do?”
“Yes.”
Ouch. He didn’t know if he could explain where he was coming from without sounding mean-spirited, but he had to say it anyway. “Kate is a lot like her mother. Georgette was...is all about appearances. Clothes, hair, makeup, she even has a personal stylist.”
“Earlier, you told me about your father, how he left and shut you out, how he started a new family that you were never part of. Was there ever any danger of you becoming just like him?”
He didn’t know how to answer that question, but apparently it was rhetorical because she didn’t miss a beat.
“Of course you didn’t. You’re not your father’s clone. You and I have only just met, but I think I know you well enough to say you would never turn your back on your daughter. And I don’t have to meet your ex-wife to know that Kate isn’t a clone of her mother, either.”
“What about her schoolwork? I’m not being a responsible parent if I let her do the things she likes and ignore the things she doesn’t.”
Sarah sighed. “That’s not what I’m saying. Sit down and talk to her. With her, not at her. Ask her about her hopes and dreams, listen to what she has to say. Set aside your judgments and listen hard enough so you actually hear her. And then find a way to compromise.”