Trusting Love, page 8
“And I should be right behind you working off the half a carrot cake my grandmother dropped off yesterday because she knows it’s my favorite.” Her voice was lighter.
“I can stay and give you a hand here. Then you could join me in my run.”
Autumn burst into laughter. Tears streamed down her face, and she bent over and hugged herself.
“What’s so funny?”
“I—” She choked to get control of her laughter. “Sorry. A little excess energy on my part, there. I’ve seen you take off for your lake run. And return. I’m afraid you’d lose me before the end of the driveway. I’m more of a hiker or a leisurely stroll around the lake type of person.”
Autumn had noticed him taking his runs? He stood straight, his shoulders back. “Yeah?” He grinned and reached over to wipe a tear off her cheek.
She leaned into his touch, tilting her face up to him.
He locked his gaze with hers as he lowered his lips. The kiss was soft, sweet, and short.
Greg peered around the doorway from the birth room. “Autumn, we have a question.”
She spun away from him so fast, her braid flew out and hit him. “I’ll be right there.” Greg disappeared into the other room, and Autumn turned back to Jon.
“I…I,” he stuttered like a teenage boy caught by a father stealing a kiss from his daughter.
“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s the adrenalin overload. I’m sure it’s not the first time you’ve been caught up in the wonder of birth and reacted instinctively to share your exuberance.”
Was that some kind of dig? The pounding in his chest slowed. He knew he’d gained a reputation at Samaritan that wasn’t entirely undeserved. He liked women and had dated a lot of them. But he wasn’t in the habit of kissing his delivery staff no matter how exhilarating the birth.
“Have a good run.” She waved him off.
That was it? She hadn’t felt any attraction at all from adrenalin or otherwise? He’d been attracted to Autumn at Samaritan and still was, even though the timing was as wrong now as it had been then.
Forty minutes later, Jon was in his jogging shorts and muscle shirt racing up Hazard Cove Road making what might be his best time yet around the lake. As he hit the beach path, he looked out across the placid blue waters and speculated whether his speed was triggered by the lingering adrenalin rush or because he wanted to get back home to check in with Autumn to see how she and Lisa and Ingrid were doing. Before he’d given into the impulse to kiss Autumn, he’d meant to tell her that he wanted to go with her to Lisa’s follow-up home visit.
His feet pounded the path, throwing small pebbles behind him. Sharing the birth today with Autumn had made him more curious to know what had caused her to give up catching babies. It had to be major, and he probably wouldn’t find out until she was ready to tell him. If they ever got that close. But he wasn’t here to get close to Autumn, or anyone else. He breathed deeply and exhaled, thinking of their kiss. As inviting as that might be.
CHAPTER 7
Autumn juggled her bag and the box of trivia paraphernalia. Somehow, she’d ended up taking it home again after their last meet. She wiped her hand on her jeans and pushed open the door to the Old Ireland Pub. Attendance at the trivia nights had dropped off steadily lately, following the spiraling trajectory of her social life in general.
The sound of a vehicle entering the church parking lot made her turn. She knit her brows in concern when she recognized Kari’s SUV. Kari had said she wasn’t coming because she was the on-call delivery nurse tonight. Autumn checked her cellphone to see if Kelly had tried to contact her. If they had a birth and she hadn’t been able to get through, Kelly might have sent Kari to track her down here. No bars. Autumn’s heart dropped. Three of their mothers-to-be were overdue. If they’d all gone into labor, Kelly would have only Jon—Autumn swallowed the lump that clogged her throat—and her to help cover. The other center midwife was on vacation this week.
Kari pulled the van parallel to the sidewalk and the passenger side door opened. “Hey, Autumn. I’m early,” Lexi called. “My car died on the way home from work today, so I had to hitch a ride with Kari. She’s on her way to a birth.”
Autumn let the door close and walked to the van. “Hi. I’m glad you came.” She looked past Lexi to Kari. “Who’s having the baby? Tanya, Sara or Allie?”
“None of the above,” Kari said. “It’s one of Maureen’s mothers.”
Autumn shoved her hand in her front pocket. She hadn’t considered that Maureen, the other midwife they covered births for, might have any of her mothers giving birth this week.
“She’s two weeks early. I’m meeting Kelly at the center.”
Autumn nodded. "I'll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Unless we need to call you in. Tanya, Sara and Allie.” Kari laughed as she repeated the names of their three overdue mothers. “We know where to find you.”
Autumn swallowed. She hoped they wouldn’t have to.
“And Jon if you need him,” Lexi added. “He told me he was coming tonight.” She closed the SUV door behind her, and Kari drove away.
Lexi reopened the pub door for Autumn.
“It looks like there won’t be many of us tonight,” Autumn said.
Lexi smiled. “I don’t mind a small group.”
No, Autumn didn’t suppose Lexi would, as long as Jon showed. She’d been full of questions about Jon today after she’d learned that Autumn had worked with him before. Autumn chided herself for being petty. She was transferring her stress about the possibility of being called to a birth to Lexi. What did it matter to her if Lexi was interested in Jon? She was his type. A tall, willowy brunette, like her former roommate, Kate.
“Let’s grab a few tables,” Autumn said.
“Sure.”
As the two women formed a square of four small tables, another voice greeted them.
“Hi. By the looks of things, I guess I’m not as late as I thought I was.”
Autumn turned to see Becca Norton, a friend of her aunt Jinx’s who taught history at the high school.
“Not late at all. Come on in. I wasn’t sure if you were coming. Did anyone else mention coming?” Autumn asked. “I didn’t get much of a response from my reminder text.”
Becca shook her head. “Not that I remember, except Jon. He told me Sunday afternoon at the lake when he was teaching Brendon how to fish.”
Jon and Becca? How did Becca know Jon well enough that he was teaching her son to fish? Unwarranted jealousy squeezed her heart and bolstered her resolve not to give into Jon’s appeal.
“But that doesn’t mean more people aren’t coming,” Becca quickly added.
The slight sense of defeat that had pressed Autumn when she’d arrived intensified. It looked like the group tonight would be her and Jon, if he came, and his latest fan following.
“Excuse me.” A tall blond man who looked familiar to Autumn poked his head in the lounge. “I’m looking for the trivia match.”
“Yes, I’m Autumn Hazard.”
“Josh Donnelly.”
“Mrs. Donnelly’s—I mean Stowe’s—grandson?” The elderly retired teacher had remarried a couple of years ago, but Autumn still thought of her as Mrs. Donnelly. “You were a couple of years ahead of me at school. I thought you looked familiar.” Autumn realized she hadn’t introduced Lexi to Becca. “This is Lexi Zarinski. She’s new to the area. And Becca Norton.”
“Hi.” Josh’s eyes lingered on Lexi. “In a way, I’m new, too. I recently moved back to Paradox Lake to take a job with GreenSpaces.”
Autumn’s spirits lightened. As she’d told Kari, the group could use some new men. She checked the clock. It wasn’t seven o’clock yet. Others, besides Jon, might still show up.
“And I know Mrs. Norton,” Josh said.
“Becca, please. You’re making me feel old. I had Josh in my class the first year I taught at Schroon Lake Central.”
Autumn heard another muffled male voice in the hall and her pulse ticked up. Jon?
“Hi, everyone.” Tessa Hamilton walked in, followed by Jon. “I’ve brought a new member.”
He’d come with Tessa? Another conquest she didn’t know about? But he always had been a fast worker. What was with her? Since Lexi had said Jon planned to come to Singles Group, her every second thought had been about him and critical of him. So they’d kissed. She had to put it out of her mind as he’d obviously done.
Jon smiled, and all of the women smiled back.
“I ran into Jon at General Store on my way over here,” Tessa said. “We discovered the clerk had mixed up our orders when we got in our cars, and after we exchanged them, introduced ourselves, and found we were both headed here, we decided to eat together at the outdoor picnic table. Her gaze softened.
Tessa, too? What about Becca? That was last weekend, though, and the Jon she’d known at Samaritan hadn’t been known for long-term relationships. But unlike Lexi, who’d pressed her lips into a tight line, Becca didn’t look at all put out that he’d had supper with Tessa. Autumn pushed a nonexistent stray hair behind her ear. What did any of it matter if there was anything to matter? It wasn’t as if she were interested in Jon.
Jon turned to Josh. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Jon Hanlon.”
Josh shook Jon’s extended hand and introduced himself.
“Should we sit down and get started? I think this may be all of us for tonight.” Autumn unpacked the game stuff on the table in front of her and smiled when she saw Josh quickly slip in next to Lexi at another table. Jon sat in the chair at Autumn’s right.
Jon watched Autumn as she distributed the game cards. He hadn’t known that she was the group leader. Not that it would have made any difference in his coming. He rather liked the idea. It would let him see another facet of her, a personal side, that could help in their professional relationship. Now that he’d had time to analyze the Kent birth, he realized what a mistake it had been to give into the urge to kiss Autumn. He wasn’t ready to give the long-term commitment to her or the Paradox Lake area he was sure she would want. Keeping their relationship strictly professional was the only way to go. To fuel his determination, he’d told himself a midwife was almost an obstetrician, and he didn’t date other doctors.
She looked around when she finished. “As some of you know, this is kind of a reorganization meeting. We took a month off. So, along with what may be a quick match since there are so few of us, I thought we might talk about the group, getting it going again. While the matches aren’t limited to single people, we are the closest thing to a singles group Paradox Lake has.”
The group looked around at each other.
“I have an idea,” Jon said. “The trivia matches are bi-weekly, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “We could do Sunday afternoon movies or see some of the local attractions together on alternate weeks. I’d like to get to know the area better, although you guys may have seen everything already.”
“I haven’t,” Lexi said with a broad smile.
Jon tapped his foot. He wished he could put his finger on what it was about the woman that grated on him so. Lexi twirled a strand of her dark hair. That was it. Lexi looked a lot like Autumn’s former roommate.
“How would we work the movies?” Becca asked. “Private screening at the XX, maybe after the usual Sunday matinee?” She looked at Tessa.
Tessa had told him how she’d recently inherited the theater in Schroon Lake from her grandfather.
“No can do,” Tessa said. “Even though I technically could show DVDs people may have, I can’t. Copyright infringement. I’d have to rent the episodes from my distributor, and that could cost us a couple of hundred dollars each.”
“Oh, well,” Becca said. “I thought it would be great for me if I could bring my kids, so I wouldn’t have to ask my ex-mother-in-law to babysit. I’m not sure I’d want to inflict them on someone’s home.”
“We could start with a movie at my place, first.” Jon said. “It’s okay with me if you bring Brendon and Ari. They’re good kids.” Or at least they had been the afternoon he’d spent at the lake with them, teaching Brendon how to fish. He’d run into the family when he’d walked down to the Camp Sunrise dock to check out the lake fishing. The boy had chatted him up about fishing, saying he wanted to go to a fishing derby with Autumn’s brother, Ian. The gist he’d gotten was that Brendon’s father had said he come and take the boy fishing, then cancelled. Becca had mentioned she didn’t know any more about fishing than Brendon did. So he’d agreed to give the boy some tips.
Jon waited for Autumn’s mouth to drop open in surprise at his statement about Becca’s kids. As he’d told her, it wasn’t that he didn’t like kids. He just wasn’t used to them. The hours with Brendon had been easy. Jon liked to fish, and the boy was an avid student, although it had made Jon somewhat uncomfortable that Brendon’s main purpose in learning to fish had been to beat his friend at the derby. A goal that it sounded like Ian shared.
He didn’t know why people had to turn everything into a competition. It certainly hadn’t benefitted his family life.
“That’s nice of you,” Becca said.
“Becca, if you don’t want to ask your ex-mother-in-law, you probably could leave the kids with Dad and Anne,” Autumn said. “Brendon could hang out with Ian and the twins could entertain Ari. Or I’m sure Gram wouldn’t mind watching them.”
Send the kids somewhere else. There was the contradiction Jon had expected earlier. While, truth be told, he was all for keeping the group get togethers adult, Autumn was presumptuous to offer her family’s services without asking them first. He’d learned his lesson young not to ask for or expect anything from his family unless he was prepared to give twice as much back in return.
“I’d hate to impose on them,” Becca said. “I’m sure I can work out some arrangement.”
Everyone looked at Autumn. She bit her bottom lip and released it. She couldn’t possibly disagree when the rest of the group was all on board. And she did want to get the group active again.
“Sounds like a go to me,” she said. “Next Sunday afternoon at Jon’s. He can give me the details and I’ll text everyone a reminder. Now. Let’s drinks some drinks and get this game going.”
After they finished with Tessa and Becca the winners, Lexi checked her phone and announced, “I need to catch a ride back to Kari’s with someone, if I can.” She looked directly at Jon and smiled. “Eli was going to pick me up, but his American Legion meeting in Ticonderoga is running late. My car’s in the garage.”
A clap of thunder rattled the pub windows before anyone could offer, and the ping of raindrops sounded on the slate roof.
“That leaves me out,” Jon said, ignoring the relief he felt at having a good reason for not offering. “I rode my bike tonight.”
“I’ll give you a lift, Lexi,” Josh said.
“Thanks,” she said, her smile for Josh a little less bright. Or so it seemed to Jon.
“You, too, Jon, if you need one.”
“I’m good. I’m just up Hazard Cove Road.”
“He’s renting the other half of Dad’s duplex,” Autumn added, placing her hand on her hip with a satisfied smile he couldn’t decipher. It was almost as if she were staking a claim on him. Right, Hanlon, only in your dreams. He stilled. All of the women were appealing, but Autumn was the only one he was attracted to.
“All right,” Josh said, smiling at Lexi and bringing Jon out of his thought. “Then it’s just you and me, Lexi.”
Jon caught the definite gleam of interest in the other man’s eyes and silently wished him well.
Everyone else but Autumn left. She gathered the trivia stuff. “Do you want a ride home? Your bike will be fine here for the night.”
“No, thanks. It’s not that far. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re sure?”
He silently preened at her casual concern. “I’m sure.”
“I’ll follow you home.” She crossed the room to the door.
He didn’t need anyone to follow him but liked the idea of Autumn wanting to.
Hand on the doorknob, she asked “You coming?”
“Yeah.” He’d probably like the idea even more if he could figure out how they’d gotten from her taking issue with everything he said to her being concerned about him riding his bike home in the storm.
The rain pelted Autumn as she raced for her car. “Still sure you don’t want to leave your bike here and ride with me?” she called over her shoulder.
“I’ll be fine. The house is five minutes away.” A crack of thunder drowned out anything else Jon might have said.
“Suit yourself,” she said to herself as she climbed into her dry car.
His bike roared to life, and he drove across the parking lot to the exit onto Hazard Cove Road. She pulled behind him. His light cotton shirt was already plastered to his broad back. A spray of water splashed up at her car as he took off fishtailing onto the road. Her breath caught. He brought the vehicle under control and headed toward the house with Autumn following at a reasonable distance.
She probably shouldn’t have shot down his suggestions so quickly. They were good. There was just something about the way everyone else got in behind him that made her feel like she was losing control of the meeting, like she seemed to be losing control of her career as a midwife.
Despite her car’s all-wheel drive, it hydroplaned on the slick pavement. Her heart slowed as the traction control righted the vehicle. Maybe that was her problem. Maybe she was holding on too tightly to self-control when it came to her fear of delivering babies and to other uncertainties in her life. Her fears and feeling life was veering out of control might also explain her unreasonable pettiness toward Lexi and the way her stomach had dropped when Tessa had mentioned having supper with Jon. It was a cliché, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to “chill.” That is, if she could.
