“I heard that!” Lucy called from the hall.
Jake didn’t mind the interruption at all. He’d given Mia something to think about, and unless he had misjudged the longing in her eyes, they weren’t going to be just friends too much longer.
Mia jumped off the couch and walked with deliberate calm into the kitchen. Frank and Claire were preparing a salad, and Sam was putting on oven mitts in order to carry the lasagna into the dining room. Desperate for something to erase the kiss lingering on her palm, Mia searched the counter for bread to slice or napkins to put out. But Lucy, for once, had everything under control.
Mia didn’t. If Jake had made the first move, she would have kissed him. What kind of stupidity was that? And now she was battling tears and didn’t know why. Stuffing back the rush of emotion, she turned to her sister. “What can I do to help?”
“How about lighting the candles?”
The last thing Mia needed right now was to sit next to Jake with candlelight flickering on his handsome face.
He came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll do it.” After fetching the matches from a high shelf, he walked back through the doorway.
Sam followed with the lasagna, and they all migrated to the dining room, which was lit by two circles of votive candles. The flowers Mia had brought sat on the hutch, loosely arranged in a crystal vase.
Lucy swept her arm to indicate the table. “Isn’t this fabulous? Claire and I made the lasagna from her mother’s recipe. We even made our own garlic butter for the bread.”
“Two loaves,” Jake remarked. “I take it that’s one for Sam and one for the rest of us?”
Grinning, Sam gave a thumbs-up. “You guessed it, bro. But cut me some slack, okay? I’m working my tail off these days.”
Mia laughed with everyone else, but her entire body tensed as Jake pulled out her chair, just like Frank and Sam were doing for their wives. “Thank you,” she murmured without looking at him.
When everyone was settled with Frank at the head of the table, Claire opposite him, and Sam and Lucy across from Jake and Mia, Frank held out his hands. “Let’s say grace.”
They all joined hands in a circle that put Mia between Jake and his father.
Frank cleared his throat. “Father God, we thank you for the food we’re about to eat and the loving hands that prepared it. Thank you for Lucy, Lord. You know what a blessing she is to Claire and me. We thank you for Sam, serving his country. And we thank you for Mia, her nursing skills, and the courage to take on new challenges. Thank you for Jake and his vision for Camp Connie. And finally, Lord, thank you for my wife, a woman we all love, respect, and admire. Amen.”
Frank’s prayer soaked into Mia’s soul, reminding her of God’s love and her new call to join Mission Medical. So what if Jake had kissed her palm? It was just a moment, one of those times when a person reacted without thinking. Nothing between them needed to change.
Lucy served the lasagna, which Frank and Jake both declared perfect. An hour after Claire nearly burned down the house, the six of them were stuffed with good food and trading stories about their days.
“So you like it here,” Frank said to Mia.
“I do. Very much. Primary care is a nice change from women’s health.”
“We’re sure glad to have you.” His eyes drifted to Claire. “Going all the way to the Springs for a routine doctor visit isn’t easy for some of us.”
“Definitely not,” Sam said through a yawn. “I make that drive five days a week.”
Lucy gave him a soulful look, then rested her hand on her tummy. “The baby and I sure appreciate it.”
Mia gave silent thanks that Lucy was past the twelve-week mark. She’d had the second ultrasound, and while the baby’s heartbeat remained strong, the spotting was intermittent. Her doctor, playing it safe, had kept her on pelvic rest.
When the newlyweds started to make eyes at each other, Jake turned to Mia. “So you’ve officially met Kelsey.”
Mia was glad Jake brought her up. “Yes. I like her a lot.”
Lucy caught Mia’s gaze and winked. Not good. Lucy got a thrill out of tossing verbal firecrackers and watching people gawk when they went off.
“So, Jake,” Lucy said, “you know Kelsey, right?”
“Yes, I do.”
“She’s cute, isn’t she?”
Jake said nothing, but Mia caught Lucy’s drift and played along. “She’s also smart and has a terrific sense of humor. She’s great with people too.”
“She’s also single.” Lucy gave Mia another wink. “Seriously, Jake, you should ask her out.”
“Ask who?” Frowning, he tapped his hearing aid.
Lucy and Mia answered in unison, their voices loud and clear. “Kelsey!”
Jake tapped his ear again. “Did you say Mia? That’s a great idea.”
With the candles burning in two bright circles, he turned his head to the side, revealing both the mischievous quirk of his lips and the sincerity in his eyes. The scoundrel had heard every word.
Trying to play it cool, Mia raised her hands palm out. “Forget it. I’m leaving town, remember?”
Lucy patted her tummy. “You could change your mind. Beanie Baby and I would love that.”
“So would we,” Frank said for himself and Claire, who was overwhelmed and quiet tonight. “But let’s leave that for another day. What do you say, guys? Shall we do the dishes?”
Sam nodded, but when he yawned, Frank waved him off. “Sam, you’re dismissed. Get some sleep.”
“I’ll help,” Claire said.
“Me too,” Mia offered.
Lucy and Sam voiced their thanks and excused themselves. To Mia’s consternation, Frank turned to Jake. “This is Mia’s time to celebrate. Your mom and I can handle the dishes. It’s a nice night. Why don’t you two take a walk?”
Thanks a lot, Frank. No way did Mia want to be alone with Jake in the moonlight. Standing, she pasted on a smile. “Would it be terrible of me if I bailed out now?”
Jake gave her a look that said he knew exactly what she was doing. “Not at all. I’ll walk you to your car.”
So she wasn’t getting away as easily as she’d hoped. She hugged Frank and Claire good-bye, hurried through the living room to snag her purse, and walked to her car with Jake striding to catch up with her.
“Mia, wait.”
She stopped at the car door, keys in hand. “I really am tired, and I have another long day tomorrow. I need to go home. You know how it is. I just—”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Liar.
He looked into her eyes, searching for answers and raising questions at the same time, until she took a step back.
“All right. If you really want to know, I feel like an idiot for what happened on the couch. I shouldn’t have touched you at all. And then—” The memory of her palm on his jaw zinged through her. All she could do was mumble under her breath. “I am so sorry.”
A grin split his face. “I’m not.”
“Jake, no. I can’t—we can’t—”
“How do you know?”
“I just do—It’s—I—” Sighing, she sealed her lips. Why couldn’t she think on her feet?
He stayed at her side, the moon gleaming down on them. “I want to thank you, Mia.”
“For what?”
“I haven’t felt what I’m feeling now in a long time, and God knows I tried to feel it.”
“With Kelsey?”
“Yes, but there’s nothing there. No chemistry. No sparks. None of this.” He trailed his thumb down her cheek.
Desire shimmered down to her toes, then up to the nape of her neck, swirling until goose bumps made her sway.
He lowered his hand but kept her pinned in place with his eyes. “I mean it, Mia. I feel like I’m waking up from a deep sleep, even a coma.”
“That’s good.” She meant it. “If I’ve helped you at all, I’m glad.”
He waited, giving her time to say more, the
n he bent and kissed her cheek. Mia’s eyes drifted shut, but she still saw a sky full of stars and Jake’s handsome face. Trembling with questions she was afraid to ask, and even more afraid to answer, she slipped into her car and drove away.
Sparks, even small ones, were dangerous things. Before she trusted any man with her heart, she needed to believe he wouldn’t rip it out of her chest. With Jake, she could almost believe it, and that thought scared her most of all.
Chapter
11
Over the next ten days, Jake prepared carefully for the Stop the Camp debate. If he won over the town’s support, obtaining the zoning change would be a breeze. On the other hand, if Hatcher bulldozed him, Jake would be forced to make a choice: Spend money and time on politicking, or trust God to open the door for the zoning change. Or give up the camp, which wasn’t an option.
He wasn’t going to give up on Mia either. She was avoiding him, but he didn’t mind the lull. Like apples on a tree, their feelings needed time to ripen. Just as important, he didn’t want Mia anywhere near the Camp Connie controversy.
On Friday evening, when Jake strode into the crowded community center, he was prepared, confident, and determined to deliver a knockout punch. Pirate, his vest on display, walked at his side as they approached the front of the room, where Hatcher and Marc Scott were waiting.
The men greeted each other in curt tones, then Marc pulled a quarter out of his pocket. “You two know the format. Ten-minute opening statements, questions from the floor, then you’ll each have five minutes to close. We’ll flip a coin to see who goes first. Any questions?”
“Not from me,” Bill replied
Jake shook his head. “No. I’m set.”
Marc tossed the quarter into the air. Jake called heads and lost. Hatcher chose to go second and close, the same choice Jake would have made.
The men shook hands, and Jake stepped with Pirate to one of the three wooden podiums positioned six feet apart. He signaled Pirate to lie down, then surveyed the room. Judging by the sea of orange T-shirts and signs, Jake and his supporters were outnumbered two to one.
Frank, Sam, and Lucy sat directly in front of Jake, two rows back from the front. Kelsey and her mother were present, along with some people from church and a few old friends. Claire was home with her friend Barb, no doubt watching old episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, her latest obsession. Jake didn’t see Mia and was relieved.
Marc, standing at the center podium, tapped the microphone, then called for order.
Instead of quieting down, someone on Hatcher’s side started a rhythmic clap, and the crowd erupted in a chant.
“Stop. The. Camp.”
“Stop. The. Camp.”
Jake’s hearing aids amplified the noise and dulled it at the same time, almost like listening underwater.
Marc banged a gavel. “Ladies and gentlemen!”
The chant continued for two more rounds before Hatcher raised his arm to call for silence and the crowd obeyed.
Bending slightly, Marc spoke into the microphone. “Thank you for coming tonight. If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that Echo Falls is our home. We’re here to listen to both sides of the debate about a proposed youth camp. As many of you know, Jake Tanner has requested a zoning change. An organization called Stop the Camp has formally protested that request.”
Applause broke out. Not a surprise, though Jake had hoped for less of it.
Marc waited for quiet. “Bill Hatcher, chairman of Stop the Camp, won the coin toss and opted to go second. As agreed upon, Jake and Bill will each make a short opening statement, then we’ll take questions from the floor.” Marc turned to Jake. “Mr. Tanner, are you ready?”
“Very much so.” Jake opened his mouth to tell a joke, something light to capture the crowd’s attention. But before the first word left his tongue, the door to the auditorium swung open, and Mia walked in.
He forgot the joke. He forgot everything except Bill Hatcher cornering her in front of the Brownie Emporium. He didn’t want her here, but in some place deep and low, he took pride in her respect for him.
Gripping the podium, he stood tall, squared his shoulders, and skipped the joke.
“Why a camp for kids who have lost a parent in the line of duty?” he said in a booming voice. “Why a camp for teenage boys, named after Connie Marie Waters? The story behind this effort isn’t easy for me to tell. Some of you know I was an officer with the Denver PD for seven years. Connie was my training officer and an extraordinary woman. She died three years ago in the bomb blast in Denver that made national news.”
Connie, forgive me. We should have waited to go inside, but I was too eager. I thought— It didn’t matter what he’d thought. She was gone.
He focused hard on the faces peering up at him. “Sergeant Waters met me at a call to check out suspicious activity in an abandoned building. I went in first. She followed, watching my back. The call turned out to be a setup by a man with a grudge against the police.”
No one twitched a muscle. Even the men and women in orange T-shirts listened respectfully.
“Connie left behind a teenage son. His name is Sam, and he’s here with us tonight. You’ll hear from him later, but first let me tell you how the idea for the camp was born.”
Jake told the rest of the story: his hearing loss and other injuries, Connie’s request that he help Sam grow into a good man, and finally, how they’d been doing routine maintenance on Sam’s car when the idea hit.
“Hey, Jake?”
“Yeah?”
Oil dripped over Sam’s thumb as he held the filter. “Can I bring a friend up here next week? His car’s falling apart. Maybe you could show him a few things.”
“That’s how it started,” Jake told the crowd. “That friend of Sam’s didn’t have anyone to teach him basic car care, how to use power tools, or how to change out a bad light switch. At this camp, I plan to teach those skills in an environment that encourages community service and personal responsibility. Add in hiking, fishing, and kayaking down the Echo River, and you have my vision.”
Hoping for applause, he waited. When it didn’t come, he knew he needed to play tough. Shoving aside his notes containing facts and figures about delinquency, he took aim at the heart of Hatcher’s reasoning.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve known Bill Hatcher my entire life. He’s a good man. I respect him. But he’s wrong about a youth camp bringing crime to Echo Falls. He’ll tell you the boys who visit will bring in drugs and commit acts of vandalism, but that isn’t true. And it’s not true for one reason.”
Jake stared hard at a man in an orange T-shirt, a science teacher at the high school. “As much as we don’t want to admit it, drugs and crime are already here.”
Murmuring rumbled in the back of the room, and someone rammed an orange sign into the air.
Jake ignored it.
“Youth everywhere are at risk, even in Echo Falls. Teenage boys crave excitement and thrive on adventure. Those traits need to be shaped in healthy ways so that kids grow into responsible adults. Adults who pay taxes, raise families, hold jobs, and make this world a better place.
“The boys I hope to bring to this camp have lost a parent to violence. They aren’t violent kids. They’re the victims of it.” He held up his stack of notes. “I have a bunch of facts and figures about delinquency, but you won’t be impressed by them. Frankly, I’m not either. We can’t fix this entire broken world, but we can help one boy at a time.”
He scanned the crowd with a confident gaze. “Thank you for coming tonight, and I hope you’ll support our effort.”
A smattering of applause broke out, mostly from his side of the room.
Marc Scott cleared his throat. “And now we’ll hear from Mr. Hatcher.”
Hatcher, leaning on the podium instead of his cane, studied the crowd for ten seconds, then huffed into the microphone. “Let’s skip the formalities. You all know me.”
“You bet we do!” a man shouted.
“And you know what happened five years ago. A teenage boy set my house on fire. I will not allow that kind of violence back into our community. Not even a man as heroic as Jake Tanner can change my mind.”
Hatcher lowered his voice, causing people to lean forward in their seats. “Sometimes good intentions are misguided, even foolish. I’m no fool”—his voice boomed now—“but I’m afraid Jake Tanner is!”
Thunderous applause echoed off the brick walls. Chanting erupted again. Jake’s ears started to buzz, but Pirate didn’t budge. Inwardly Jake remained confident and calm, until Mia stood up from her seat in the back row and made her way to an empty chair behind Lucy.
Jake stifled a groan. Tonight he had wanted to protect Mia, not persuade her to step forward. Would folks hassle her at the clinic? She couldn’t possibly know how poisonous local politics could be, but with the declaration she’d just made, she was going to find out.
It was up to Jake to protect her. He just hoped he could do a better job for Mia than he’d done for Connie.
Mia didn’t care who saw her walk forward to join the Tanner family. Determined to support Jake, she slid into the seat behind Lucy and tapped her shoulder.
“Hey there,” Lucy whispered. “I’m glad you came.”
“Me too.”
“Jake needs all the help he can get.” Lucy turned back around, leaving Mia to watch Jake standing tall while Hatcher hurled insults. She had come tonight because she knew from the gossip bouncing around town and in her own waiting room that Jake was in for a rough time.
For the next thirty minutes, she listened to questions that revealed everything from legitimate concern to ignorance to irrational fears. When a woman declared that kids with ADHD or autism all caused trouble, Mia nearly leapt out of her seat.
The questions Jake received generally came from the business community. How many kids did he plan to host each summer? Would some of the families rent cabins while the camp was in session? How much construction did he plan at the Tanner ranch?
Every time Jake answered a question, Mia wanted to cheer. At the same time, she cringed at the bitterness coming from others. By the time Marc Scott signaled the last question, Mia knew only one thing with certainty. She was far too invested in this decision for a woman leaving town in six months.
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