by Deb Kastner
“What about your own family? Don’t they need to get home?”
“Hold on a sec,” he said when he noticed Frost packing up his sound system into the back of his truck.
“Hey, Frost,” he called.
Frost met his gaze and raised his eyebrows expectantly. His smile was slightly suspicious, and Jake knew his next words were only going to make it worse, but it wasn’t as if he could blame Frost for wanting to protect his sister. Jake would feel the same if he had a sister. He just needed to prove to Frost that they were on the same page where Avery was concerned.
Jake likewise wanted to protect Avery—from everything about to go down with Marston Enterprises, for one thing.
She had a tender heart. It was part of what drew him to her.
He was well aware he could hurt her—in more ways than one.
“I’m going to have my mom drive Lottie back to our rental cabin in my car and then walk Avery home. Otherwise she’ll be walking home alone, and I don’t want her to do that. Would it be possible for you to meet us back at your house and give me a ride back to my place?”
Frost stared at him for a moment without speaking. Jake couldn’t read his expression.
“Did you run this by Avery?” Frost asked doubtfully. “She’s been hiking around in these woods for her whole life. It’s not as if she needs an escort or anything.”
“No, I know,” Jake said. “I don’t intend to wrestle any bears or anything. I just wanted to talk more to Avery about the service-dog Sissy. She really helped Lottie during a seizure, and Avery thinks she might be a good service animal for her.”
Frost didn’t look convinced. “So, you intend to have a serious conversation at the end of a romantic evening?”
Jake took a step back. “Romantic? Who said anything about romance?”
Frost scoffed and shook his head. “Keep saying that, bro. Maybe eventually you’ll even believe it.”
“So—the ride?”
“Yeah. No problem. I have to go put my sound system away, and then I’ll meet you out in front of the house in a few.”
“Thanks, Frost. I’ll owe you one.”
“No worries. Just...treat my sister right, okay?”
“Of course.”
“Good. I’d hate to have to mess up that pretty smile of yours.”
Jake knew Frost was just joking around, and the two of them bumped fists.
Frost went back to loading his equipment, and Jake found his mother and explained his plan to her, giving Lottie a kiss on the cheek and telling her good-night.
Finally, he returned to Avery, who was waiting on the bench they’d used all evening.
“Ready to go?” he said, offering his hand to her as she stood up.
She flipped on her flashlight and teasingly aimed it at his face, causing him to have to shade his eyes.
“See? I told you I had plenty of light to help me find my way home.”
“Just humor a Texan gentleman, will you?” He flashed her his best smile.
“Sure. You want me to play damsel in distress?” She threaded her fingers through his and gave his hand a squeeze.
Laughter escaped from his throat. “Somehow, I just can’t picture that. You’re a lot of things, Avery, but a damsel in distress isn’t one of them.”
“No, I suppose not. I guess you’re stuck with me the way I am, then.”
“I like the way you are.”
She glanced up at him, and he was glad for the shadows that hid his face, which was burning with heat. Way to go and blab what was really on his mind.
“So—about Sissy,” he said attempting to divert her from the topic. “You were telling me you were working with her on becoming an epilepsy service dog. Do you mean specifically for Lottie?”
“Yes, actually.” She gracefully followed his change of conversation. “I really think she’ll help Lottie manage her condition. Sissy is already trained to stay with her person no matter where she is—class, playground, church. If you agree with me, we can get you and Lottie scheduled to come by for training for an hour every day for two weeks.”
“That’s what your bed-and-breakfast is for, isn’t it?” Jake asked as the light bulb went off in his mind. No wonder she was so adamant about needing such a facility.
“Exactly. It usually takes two weeks of training with the dog’s new owners for them to get used to each other and learn all the commands they’ll need to know. Having somewhere nearby to stay where they don’t have to worry about a room and meals will be very helpful.”
“I see,” he said.
She stopped and turned toward him. “Do you?”
“Believe it or not, Avery, I’m not a monster. When I started working for Marston, I believed I was doing a good thing, building resorts for families to take vacations at, not to mention making a good living for me and my family. I’m investing my savings so Lottie can go to college if she wants to.”
“Of course, and that’s a good thing. The problem is your resorts themselves. Guests have to be as rich as Midas. They aren’t your everyday families, Jake.” She sounded appalled by the thought. “And it works out just fine for you if you don’t mind plowing through small towns and changing every nuance of what makes them special.”
She didn’t have to spell it out for him. He already knew what he and his company were doing to Whispering Pines and numerous other small towns. It had taken a woman like Avery to open his eyes.
But it was too late to redeem himself now. He was here now, and the changes were already in motion.
“My wife, Amber, used to say the same thing,” he said, watching his step as Avery swept the path with the beam of her flashlight. “She’s been gone for a while now, but she was stubborn when she wanted to be. She didn’t like that I worked for Marston and was always encouraging me to quit. Who knows? I may just have, except I was just as stubborn, and then...”
He choked up and couldn’t finish the sentence.
They were approaching the Winslow house, and the lights from inside lit up well beyond the front porch. Avery stopped abruptly and pulled him back, so they were still in the shadow.
“Do you mind me asking what happened to Amber? Or is that too painful for you to talk about?”
In truth it was like a dagger in the heart for him to talk about Amber, but Avery deserved to hear the truth. “That was actually what we were fighting about the day I left town for one of my extended stays in a small town in Utah. Nowadays I bring Lottie and my mom with me wherever I travel, but back then a very pregnant Amber stayed at home when I went out for Marston.”
“That’s a lot of time apart.”
“Which was exactly what Amber kept saying. She gave me an ultimatum, really. She told me I could keep ignoring my family during my climb to the top of my career or I could rethink my priorities. She kept reminding me that we were going to have a daughter, as if I didn’t already know that. I was so angry when I left that day. I didn’t think she appreciated all I was doing for her.”
He paused again. “As it turned out, I was the one who didn’t appreciate her.”
“Was she ill?”
He shook his head. “No. She was going down the front-porch stairs at our house with her arms laden with new annuals to plant in the flower beds. My best guess is she twisted her ankle and fell onto the cement and hit her head.”
Avery gasped.
“I don’t know how long she’d been lying there, but I was the one to find her. She was unconscious. I called 9-1-1, and they brought her to the hospital, but she never regained consciousness.
“Since it was about time for Lottie to be born, anyway, she was successfully delivered by C-section. At the time, everything about her seemed normal. Lottie checked out well. But then when she was about six months old, she started having seizures. I’ll never know if it was because of Amber’s fall
or because of her being unconscious.
“If only I had gotten there a few hours earlier, everything might have been different. But I missed my flight and had to take a later one. I wasn’t worried about it. I didn’t even call Amber and let her know I’d be late. If I had and she hadn’t answered, I might have suspected something was wrong. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.”
He dropped her hand and scrubbed both hands down his face, dashing away the tears that had rolled down his cheeks as his heart squeezed tight in his chest.
“It was an accident,” Avery whispered, her voice rough with emotion. She had tears in her eyes, as well.
“You know how the Bible says not to let the sun go down on your anger? There’s a reason that’s so important. You may never have another opportunity to tell the ones you care for that you love them. I’ll carry that guilt around as long as I live. And every time Lottie has a seizure—it’s almost more than I can bear.”
“I know this is hard for you to hear right now, but God wouldn’t give us more than we can handle,” she gently reminded him. “I don’t know why He took Amber away, but I do know I’ve watched you with Lottie, and you’re a wonderful father. You might not have had that kind of relationship with her if the Lord hadn’t forced your hand.”
“I never thought of it that way. My mom and Lottie—they’re not a burden to me.” He was starting to realize the true burden was his career, not his family. Before Amber had passed away, he’d been an absentee husband and would no doubt have gone on to be an absentee father. He would have missed all the precious moments in his daughter’s life.
Now he was dragging Lottie and his mother around everywhere without a bit of stability. Without a real home.
He didn’t know how all this was going to end in Whispering Pines or with Avery, but change was in the wind and he couldn’t ignore God’s quiet pull on his heart.
They walked into the light shining from the porch, and Avery turned to him. “Well, this is me.” She pressed a palm to his well-trimmed beard. “Go easy on yourself.”
“Avery, I—” He covered her hand with his own and stepped closer to her, close enough that their breaths mingled. “I don’t—I don’t know what I’m doing.”
He was going to step back again, but she tipped her chin up and met his gaze. “Don’t you?” she whispered.
He leaned down until their lips were barely touching, a kiss so soft and gentle it made the whole world still around them.
He half expected her to stop him, to push him away.
“Please,” she whispered. Her voice was frayed with emotion.
Please what?
But then she lifted her other hand and framed his face, drawing him closer. For a moment, they simply stood forehead to forehead as their gazes met and held.
Their lips met again. His last thought was of how much his eyes had been opened by this amazing woman.
And then there were no more thoughts.
He melted into her embrace.
Chapter Ten
Jake’s mouth was warm against hers as he kissed her.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought she ought to be pulling away, stopping this before it went any further.
But part of her was reveling in this meeting of hearts. Despite their disagreements, she’d seen so much good in Jake, and she could no longer deny her attraction to him.
He broke off the kiss and pulled her closer, tucking her under his chin. She could hear his heartbeat racing as he tightened his hold on her.
For this one moment, she felt as if she’d been made for him. She fit perfectly in his arms, and their hearts beat in tandem.
“Avery,” he whispered. There was a different tone to his voice than earlier. He sounded concerned.
Anxious, even.
He gently took her by the shoulders and leaned back, putting a measure of distance between them. It was only inches, but as far as Avery was concerned, it may as well have been miles.
“Avery. We can’t—This isn’t—”
Thoughts suddenly raced through her mind. What were they doing here?
Making life more difficult for the both of them, that’s what they were doing. No doubt about that.
No matter how good this felt, how right it felt to be in each other’s arms, it was leading exactly nowhere.
She took a deep breath and jerked her head once in agreement.
“I know,” she said, her voice raw with emotion.
He dropped his hands and stepped back, then lifted his hat and combed his fingers back through his hair.
“I’m sorry. I really am. I shouldn’t have—” He shrugged and let his sentence drop without finishing it.
“There’s nothing for you to be sorry for,” she assured him. “We just got caught up in the moment, that’s all. Ice-skating. Fairy lights. Eighties power ballads. Couples’ skating. It happens.”
Except it didn’t happen.
Not for Avery.
Not for a really long time.
But she didn’t want to put any more pressure on Jake than he was already feeling. She could see in his eyes he was blaming himself.
Anyway, he was right. They shouldn’t have gotten caught up in a romantic moment. Falling for him would be the absolute worst thing she could do. Because it wasn’t just Jake her heart had to contend with.
It was Lottie, too. And when Jake wrapped things up for Marston and left to move onto the next small town, she would be brokenhearted times two.
It might even already be too late for her. It certainly felt like it right now.
“Frost?” Jake called, and Avery turned to find her brother approaching, his hands jammed in the pockets of his fleece-lined jean jacket and his expression serious.
Her face heated as Frost raised an eyebrow at her. How long had he been there? What had he heard? Seen? Sometimes it was hard to have so many siblings. It felt like she was practically tripping over them at the most frustrating of times. It was none of Frost’s business what she did or didn’t do, or with whom.
“You ready to go?” Frost asked Jake.
“Go?” Avery echoed.
“Yeah. Leave. He wanted to walk you home, so now I’m going to take him back to his place.”
“Hmmph,” Avery said, stepping farther away from Jake. “And you just thought you’d stand there and watch us without making your presence known? Nothing to see here.”
“Really? That’s not what it looked like to me,” Frost said.
Avery wanted to wallop him.
“Frost,” said Jake, a warning in his tone. “Can we please just drop it?”
Frost shrugged. “If you say so. Come on. Let’s get going.”
Jake sent Avery an apologetic look and turned to follow Frost to his truck.
Avery sighed and headed toward the house. It was bad enough that she’d never been so confused in her life, but then Frost had to go and see her kissing Jake. She knew she hadn’t heard the last from him. He would tease her incessantly. And of course the news would spread throughout the Winslow house like wildfire.
This was going to be a very long week.
She finally let herself inside the house and was immediately approached by Ruby and Felicity, both of whom had mischievous sparkles in their eyes.
“What?” she asked suspiciously.
“I think that’s the answer you should be giving us,” Ruby said with a chuckle. “What is going on between you and Jake Cutter?”
“Please don’t tell me you two were watching us out the window.”
“What? No. Why would we do that? Or should we have been peeking? What did we miss? We were actually talking about the couples’ skate at the lake. You two looked pretty cozy there for a while, and it was so cute when Lottie skated out to join you,” Felicity said.
“What happened that we should have
seen out the window? What’d we miss?” Ruby’s excitement was rising with every word she spoke as she repeated the question Felicity had just asked.
Lovely. Avery just had to go and open her big mouth.
They’d know soon enough, once Frost got home and talked about what he’d seen. But still.
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing to see out there.”
“He kissed you, didn’t he?” Felicity guessed. “Oooohhh. I had no idea your relationship had progressed to that point, but I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s been interested in you since the moment he came to town.”
“That is so not true.” Avery shook her head, her shoulders tensing tighter with every word. “Can we just not talk about it?”
Immediately, her sisters became serious. “Are you okay? You wanted to kiss him, didn’t you? We both thought—”
“Yes,” Avery answered. “And no.”
Felicity groaned softly. “Relationships can be so complicated, can’t they?”
“Tell me about it. Why can’t anything be easy for a change? Just once I’d like things to be easy.”
“But you like him,” Ruby said.
“I do,” she admitted. “And Lottie, too. Which is exactly the point. That’s why it’s so complicated. Do you see the problem here?”
Felicity shook her head and shrugged. “Not really. It’s only a problem if you make it a problem.”
“I don’t have to make it a problem, Felicity. It’s already there, right in front of me on several counts. For one thing, I’ve been in a relationship with a single father and a kid once, and I don’t need to remind you how well that turned out for me.”
“Jake isn’t T.J.,” Ruby said. “He’s a much better man.”
“Well, I’ll agree with you on that. But there’s still the fact of him working for Marston Enterprises. He’s going to win over the town council, and his stupid company is going to raze my perfect bed-and-breakfast cabin. If I spend any time with him and his family, I’m going to grow close to them—all of them. And then he’ll take Lottie and leave town in that fancy red Mustang of his, stirring up dust on his wheels on his way out.”
“I think you may be overstating things just a bit,” Ruby said. “I mean, if he cares for you enough to kiss you, maybe he’ll want to stick around.”