CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER
2
SUNDAY, MAY 7
I
saac MacAllister made his way carefully out from under the sink and looked at the anxious face of his only employee.
“It’s okay, Terri. It’s all fixed now.”
She was wringing her hands and staring at the floor. “I’m so sorry, Isaac. It won’t happen again.”
Isaac laughed. “I don’t think either of us can promise that, Terry.” She tensed up and looked even more stricken, and he lost his smile. He gentled his voice. “These are old taps, and things just wear out. I’m just glad it happened when you were cleaning the place and not when a guest was here.”
She finally raised her eyes to meet his. “Truly?”
Isaac made an
x
on his chest with a finger. “Cross my heart. Now let’s get the water cleaned up, so both of us can get home for dinner.”
“I’ll take care of it. I know they’ll all be waiting for you up at the house. Hopefully my son isn’t driving them crazy.” Terri bustled around, mopping up the counters and the floor.
“No worries there. Sara lives for Max’s visits, and Jenna seems to love spending time with the kids.”
“The feeling is definitely mutual. Max is crazy about the both of them. You got lucky there, Isaac.”
She wasn’t wrong. Next to Sara, Jenna was the best thing to ever happen to him.
Isaac put the wrench back in his tool kit and tidied up a bit, watching Terri out of the corner of his eye. She’d gotten a haircut since he’d last seen her, and her blonde hair now barely came to her chin. He’d gotten used to seeing her with her hair back. “Your hair looks nice.”
“Thanks.” Her face closed up, and he could have sworn she flinched. She was moving a bit stiffly today, and he had his suspicions that it wasn’t due to whatever had happened with the tap.
He felt so helpless. He knew things weren’t easy for her and Max at home, but he could only make sure she had a safe place here, and steady work. And hope that her husband stayed away more often than he was home.
He’d hired Terri three years ago because she lived just down the road in the trailer park. She’d shown up on his porch one day, said she was sorry to hear his dad had passed away, and asked if he needed any help around the place.
He had.
The next day she’d shown up with her son on her hip, and he’d watched her juggle the cleaning and three-year-old Max. But she always got the job done, and she was a hard worker. They’d fallen into a routine, with Max and Sara “helping” whichever one of the adults was doing something more fun that day. Now the two were inseparable at school and at home.
“Are you sure we can’t convince you two to stay for dinner?”
“Don’t be silly, now. It’s a family dinner. You don’t need us around. Besides, Rick is home. We’ll be having our own family dinner tonight.”
Yep.
That explained it. Isaac looked at her for a second as she rinsed the cloth in the sink and avoided his eyes. “Thanks, Terri. Just as long as you know that you and Max
are
family as far as I’m concerned. You’re welcome here anytime.”
He waited until she looked up and met his gaze, then wished he hadn’t. Her eyes had welled up, something he’d never seen before. Terri was tough.
“Thank you. I’ll remember that.”
Isaac nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat. “Just come on up to the house when you’re done here, and we’ll make sure Max is ready for you.”
He closed the door to the cabin gently behind him and headed back up the path towards the house. He admired the new signs he’d had a local woodworker make for the cabins. He was glad he’d taken Jenna’s suggestion and used varieties of local trees to name each cabin. It helped give each one a distinctive personality and was easier for people to remember. He stopped at the shed to put away his tools and made his way inside the main house.
The second he walked through the front door, the gray clouds lifted from his mind. Isaac closed his eyes and inhaled the rich scent of meat and herbs that greeted him. He could hear childish giggles coming from the kitchen, broken occasionally by Jenna’s laughter and the sound of a knife hitting the wooden cutting board. His heart felt lighter with each step he took towards them.
The scene in the kitchen was one of chaos—the good kind. The kids were at the kitchen table, colouring up a storm, while Hope stood guard at Jenna’s feet in case she dropped something. Jenna was chopping veggies to go into the big wooden salad bowl beside her. Cookies in odd shapes were cooling on a rack, and he was hit with just how lucky he was to be coming home to this.
Isaac crossed the kitchen and waited until Jenna put down the chopping knife and turned to him. “Everything okay?”
No, everything wasn’t okay. But
this
was. She was. Jenna was perfect, and he was very thankful she’d picked Big River Lodge as her Christmas escape last December so they could meet. He leaned in, careful not to press up against her with his dirty, wet shirt. He took her lips gently, then went back for more.
“It is now.” He glanced at the kids and wished just for once that he and Jenna didn’t have an audience. He pulled back when Jenna tried to yank him close. “I don’t want to get you all dirty.”
Jenna raised an eyebrow at him and winked. “I don’t mind getting a little dirty sometimes.”
Isaac laughed. “I’ll remember that. But right now I’m going to shower, and then I’ll help clean up the rest of this mess before everyone gets here for dinner.”
His sister Shannon and her boyfriend Lucas were coming over, and he was looking forward to some family time. It made his heart happy to have everyone together and living in Rivers End again.
And after dinner, Jenna would leave. The idea filled him with sadness. He didn’t want her to go home at the end of the night. He wanted her to
be
home. Right here.
He’d been thinking a lot about that lately. He’d been trying to talk himself out of it for weeks now, writing off his feelings as crazy. Telling himself it was too soon to ask Jenna to move in with them. When Lauren had walked out on him and Sara, she had done some serious damage to his faith that people would stick around when things got real. But looking at Jenna, here and now, it was easy to forget how awful it felt when everything went wrong.
Sara giggled at the kitchen table, and Isaac turned to look at her. She was precisely why it was extra important to take it slow. It wasn’t just
his
heart he was risking.
And there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for his little girl. With one last look at his daughter, and a reminder to himself to be realistic about the whole situation, he headed upstairs to get changed.