Happily Ever Alaska, page 12
“No,” Rick whispered. A flash of worry crossed his face. “She’s home, working on wedding stuff, apparently.” He glanced back at his daughter again. “I couldn’t stop by because Ava was sleeping.”
“Oh. I see.” Maybe Shaun had been wrong. There might be trouble in paradise. Rick’s demeanor had changed. He used to smile all the time—one carefree dude. Now he was serious, with worry lines etched between his eyebrows—a man whose life had been altered completely. “Right,” Shaun said, “I’ll run in and see Hope.” Yes, Rick had problems, but so did Shaun. Five minutes ago, he’d been certain he wouldn’t see any more of Lolly today, and now he was walking into the lion’s den.
He trudged up the porch steps and went inside. As he got close to the sewing studio, he could hear Piney talking.
“Besides the wedding cake, Lolly, you’ll cater the reception, too. Get that look off your face. You won’t have to do it alone. I’ve assigned a group to help you with cooking and baking and serving.”
Shaun stopped in the studio’s doorway and Lolly swung around as if she had some kind of radar when it came to him. He wasn’t going to take the blame for her shocked expression, though. Surely that look was due to the amount of work that Piney had just assigned her.
The whole room was staring at him, too.
“Yeah, um, Hope? Rick’s outside and needs the key to whichever cabin you want him and his daughter in.”
The room rushed him, physically and verbally. “Where is she?” “What does she look like?” “Does Rick seem to be adjusting to fatherhood?” “Why doesn’t he come in?”
Shaun decided to only answer the last question. “Rick can’t come in because the kid’s asleep. He just wants to take her to the cabin to put her to bed.”
Hope stepped forward, waving off the Sisterhood of the Quilt. “Keep talking about the wedding. I’ll get the key to Wandering Moose Cabin and be right back.” She might as well have said Down to the Sisterhood as if they were a pack of dogs. Surprisingly, the ladies backed off.
Shaun felt sorry for Rick. With the upcoming wedding and his house not nearly ready for occupancy, and now single parenthood to a daughter he’d never known, the town was sure to drive Rick crazy. Idly Shaun wondered why Rick hadn’t made a run for it while he had the chance, but it was clear to anyone who had eyes: Rick and Sparkle really loved each other.
Alas, Shaun knew the unfortunate truth. Sometimes love just wasn’t enough.
In that moment, he made the decision to put his brother’s new cabin on the back burner and focus solely on getting Rick’s house done first. Shaun couldn’t have a happy ending, but he could do this for Rick and Sparkle . . . and Ava. Another idea struck Shaun. He should move into Jesse’s cabin until he and Tori returned home. That way Shaun could finish up work on their cabin in the evenings or odd hours.
Hope patted him on the arm as she left the room. “Do you mind moving Rick and his daughter in? Donovan’s taking inventory at the hardware store or else I’d send him out to help, too.”
“Yeah. Sure. I’m happy to.” Shaun turned to leave.
When he did, Rick appeared with the girl in his arms. “Ava woke up and needs the bathroom.” He held a miniature toilet seat in one of his hands, which seemed so weird for the carefree bachelor Shaun had come to know.
He stepped aside to make room for Rick to pass by. The tearstained face said the girl had been crying before, but now she only looked sorrowful. Poor thing. Her mother dead. Her aunt dying. Now adjusting to a father she’d never known.
But as Rick moved past the doorway of the sewing studio, the quilters came pouring out into the hall.
Rick held up the toilet seat. “Bathroom emergency. And Ava’s shy. She’s had a lot of changes.”
Shaun put his arms out as if herding the cattle back into the corral. “Let’s give them some breathing room, ladies.” That’s when he noticed that Piney hadn’t rushed out into the hallway to greet the new arrival, which answered Shaun’s question about Piney’s thoughts on Rick having a daughter.
But then Piney surprised him by barreling toward the door. His arms were no match for a determined Piney. “Out of my way,” she said.
Shaun stepped aside and Piney put her hand on Rick’s arm. “I’ll take the girl, Rick; you look like what the cat dragged in. Go get a refreshment from the kitchen and bring back a juice box for the little lady.” She handed a clipboard to Miss Lisa. “Take over for me. We don’t have time to waste.”
Piney pulled Ava into her arms easily, which was surprising since Piney had just barked at Rick and the quilters. She snatched the toilet ring from his hand, too. Shaun was pretty sure she wasn’t taking over for Rick’s sake, or even for Ava’s sake, as she wasn’t smiling. But Ava seemed to understand authority and she didn’t fuss as Piney started to march away. Suddenly she stopped and looked back into the studio. “Lolly, you go help Shaun unload the car into their cabin.”
Now Rick wasn’t the only one standing there looking stunned; Lolly’s mouth was gaping, too. Piney had pretty much knocked the wind out of the three of them in sixty seconds flat . . . possibly a new record for her. Lolly’s mouth transformed into a straight line. She looked ready to argue with Piney. But Piney shot her such a lethal look that Lolly put her head down and obediently walked toward the door. The rest of the room appeared spellbound, as if they couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. At the last second, Lolly grabbed Jilly’s hand and pulled her out into the hall. “You’re coming along, too,” Lolly said to her sister. Shaun was grateful for the buffer.
As he began to lead them out, he caught his mom’s warning glare. Great! Another stay-away-from-Lolly lecture would certainly be on the agenda when his mom got home. Yeah, temporarily moving to Jesse and Tori’s cabin was looking more and more like a good idea. His spirits lifted at the thought, and he left, patting Rick’s shoulder to move him along, too. “We best do what Piney says, don’t you think?” He didn’t wait for Lolly and Jilly but stalked down the hall with Rick and the Crocker sisters trailing behind.
Hope caught up to them, holding a key attached to a wooden quilt block by a piece of twine. “Where’s your daughter?” she asked.
Rick didn’t seem to have energy enough to answer, so Shaun made a thumbing gesture over his shoulder. “Bathroom. Piney took her. We’re going to unload the car while Rick gets Ava a juice box.” He’d only mentioned the juice box to help Rick remember what he was supposed to be doing. The man was clearly shell-shocked.
“Oh, right. Food. I bet they’re starving.” Hope handed Shaun the key. “Shaun, you go on. Rick needs a break.” She glanced over at Rick with a worried expression. “Let me fix you a sandwich. Is there anything special I can get for Ava?”
Jilly pulled away from Lolly. “I’ll stay here and help Rick find something for them to eat.”
Lolly acted as if she wanted to retort that she was the one who fed people, not her sister. Instead, she rolled her eyes and hurried for the front door to start carrying a load of bags. On purpose, Shaun dawdled by the entrance. He knew he was being ridiculous. It wasn’t like Lolly was going to force him to go steady the moment they were alone together. The truth was he wasn’t sure he could trust himself. Yes, it was pretty cowardly of him to make Lolly carry Rick’s things from the car to the cabin, but Shaun had to protect himself from her womanly wiles, right? A half second later, honor had Shaun pushing away from the doorframe and heading outside to help.
Lolly was hurriedly loading her arms. When she saw him coming, she grabbed a stuffed giraffe, placed it precariously on top of her load, and headed toward Wandering Moose Cabin at breakneck speed, as if she were being chased.
Shaun grabbed the two biggest suitcases from the back and hurried after her. “Hold up!” She seemed to go faster, but a moment later, he caught up to her, and just in time, too. He caught the toppling giraffe before it hit the dirt. Since he had a relatively free hand, now that he’d dropped a suitcase to catch Mr. Giraffe, he took the largest bag from her and tucked it under his arm.
She snatched the giraffe back. “What are you doing? I had it under control.”
“I’m keeping you from getting a hernia is what I’m doing.” Because she’d taken the giraffe, he relieved her of a second bag, though he wasn’t certain he’d be able to get it all to the cabin in one shot. Regardless, he scooped up the large suitcase he’d dropped and started walking. “Take the key from my back pocket, will you, and open the door.”
He stopped and turned around to see her with her hands on her hips.
“Stop telling me what to do,” she said. “Or at the very least say please.” She looked so dang cute that he wanted to kiss that frown right off her face. He knew he could do it, too. Back in high school, he’d been able to settle her ruffled feathers with a charming smile and a scoop-her-up-in-his-arms-and-lay-one-on-her kiss. He wondered if that would work now.
She seemed to be waiting for something because she just stood there with a firm, expectant look on her face.
Oh, he remembered. “Don’t you know that please was implied?” He sighed for dramatic effect. “But if you must hear it, then . . . please.”
“Fine.” She marched over and yanked the key out of his back pocket. He could’ve sworn he felt the fire of her mood rolling off her. If nothing else, he got a good whiff of her flowery shampoo.
“Take your time,” he teased. “I’m just about to drop everything.”
She rolled her eyes and strutted off to the cabin. For a moment, he stood there, watching, until he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He walked to the cabin, watching her as she inserted the key, jiggled the door handle, and stepped inside.
She flipped the light switch on, and he followed her in. She closed the door. Sure, it was important to keep the bugs out, but it made the cabin feel a tad too close, too cozy.
He felt he should say something about the cookies that Lolly had left for his mom. He doubted his mom would say thank you, so he simply said, “Mom got the snickerdoodles.” He glanced at the window and wondered if they should open it. It might help him to breathe better. Instead, he went on, “Did you know snickerdoodles are one of her favorites?” Of course Lolly knew. She’d always had a sixth sense about which cookies, pastries, and cakes people loved, even if they didn’t quite know themselves.
In a strangely compelling motion, Lolly ran her hands through her hair. “I’m glad she liked them.”
He didn’t have the heart to tell her that his mom hadn’t tasted the cookies yet, and that she’d left them on the counter in the kitchen without a backward glance.
“Yeah,” he said noncommittally. And with that he was done talking. He’d initiated the minimum amount of small talk to avoid being rude; sociable but not too friendly.
But apparently his mouth was on autopilot. “How’s the job hunt going?”
Lolly had gone about setting the smaller suitcase near the dresser, but she whirled around when he asked the question. Shock and something like indignation were plastered all over her face, as though he’d invaded her privacy.
“I know it’s none of my business . . .” But he still wanted to know. For his sanity’s sake, if nothing else. For about the hundredth time, he wondered if he should tell her about the call he’d made to his old boss. But why say something when it was so doubtful anything would come of it? “I’ve heard others discussing it. You know how Sweet Home is.” His mother, Miss Lisa, Mr. Brewster, Dewey Winkle . . . basically the whole town had been talking about Lolly’s prospects. Shaun wished he could take the question back, because honestly, he didn’t care how the job hunt was going as long as Lolly was out of the picture soon. He’d been spending far too much time thinking about her . . . thinking all kinds of things. And one area he concentrated on was trying to solve her basic problem of not having a job. He’d decided he wasn’t going to beat himself up over it either; solving problems was his forte. Ask anyone. Ask his former boss. The upside of thinking about Lolly all the time was that Tanya felt like a distant memory now. A pop psychologist would probably say he’d transferred his feelings from Tanya to Lolly. But Tanya hadn’t broken his heart like Lolly had; she’d merely bruised his pride. He knew now Tanya hadn’t been right for him, and he hadn’t been right for her either. Her only sin was she’d led him on too long. And his sin was that he should’ve woken up sooner and seen who she really was. Since coming home to Sweet Home, he’d been tallying up some kind of comparison between Tanya and Lolly. But in truth, it was like trying to compare a roach to a gazelle.
Lolly ran a nervous hand over her cheek before she answered him. “Sorry for looking so shocked. I’ve been home for a year but I keep forgetting that nothing in Sweet Home stays private.”
“Yeah, they keep digging and digging until they know everything, or at least they think they know everything. Sorry for asking. Really. I didn’t mean to pry. I was just making polite conversation.”
She frowned like she wasn’t completely buying what he was selling. But she had the good grace not to say so. “It’s okay. Between you and me, the job hunt isn’t going well. All the schools on the West Coast already have their teaching staff for the year.”
“Have you thought about doing something besides teaching?” he said, kicking himself for continuing the conversation.
“Not really. Piney and the others are being nice, keeping me busy with making cakes and other treats for their special occasions. You know, I’ve been baking cookies for the Hungry Bear for some time now, even before I . . .” She trailed off. Apparently it was still hard for her to say that she’d lost her job.
He nodded to let her know that he understood her predicament. But answered something different to keep her from feeling embarrassed. “I’m a big fan of those oversized everything cookies—delicious. Everything in them except the kitchen sink, that’s how Piney describes them.”
“With all the baking I’ve been doing for the town, I’m running out of space at home to store all the ingredients. And cool all the baked goods. I even thought about building something in the backyard as a staging area.”
He opened his mouth to offer to build it for her. Thank goodness he clamped his lips shut in time. He shouldn’t be doing her any favors.
She continued, not knowing that he was warring with himself. “Can you imagine how tickled the wildlife would be if I set up a nice outdoor buffet for them?” Lolly gave one of her adorable chuckles and it hit him in the chest like getting whacked with a mallet. Or perhaps a defibrillator, from the jolt of hearing it. After all this time, he still loved her laugh, and it really bothered him. He wished he were stronger. He really should be over her by now.
She pulled a piece of paper from her back pocket. “You should see what Piney wants me to do for the wedding. I don’t know where I’m going to house all the food while I prep.”
He took the list and scanned it. “This’ll keep you busy.”
She shook her head and smiled to herself. “I need a second oven, maybe a third, but God knows there’s no place to put an extra, let alone two more ovens in our cabin. Even more troubling is that my poor oven probably won’t even make it to the wedding . . . especially with the workout it’s been getting. She—my oven, that is—definitely won’t be able to handle what’s coming down the pike.” Lolly gave a sad little smile. “Out of desperation, I Googled the cost of professional ovens today, only the price tag nearly made me faint.” She gave a derisive laugh. “Where’s the smelling salts when you need them, right? Well, a professional oven is definitely out of the question because my meager savings wouldn’t come close to covering it. Besides, I really need to watch what I’m spending these days; you know, my predicament and all.”
It was a catch-22. Shaun’s mind immediately went rogue and came up with two or three companies where he could take on contract programming jobs—shoot, Brian probably had work for him to do, too—and then Shaun could allocate what he earned to help out Lolly. Then he had another crazy thought. “Maybe you should look into using one of the boarded-up buildings on Main Street. Better yet, you should open the bakery that you’ve always wanted. What were you going to call it? ‘Happily Ever Baking’ or something like that?” Internally, he cringed; his motormouth was certainly running full steam. Full of something anyway. Why couldn’t he locate the off button to his lips?
Once again, she looked at him as if he’d gone wacky.
He went on the defensive. “Why are you giving me that look? You always said you wanted a bakery.”
She guffawed. “Seriously, Shaun, weren’t you listening to what I just said? I don’t have the spare cash to buy oven mitts, let alone the funds to open a bakery. Besides, my dream of owning a bakery was a lifetime ago. I’m shocked you have any memory of it at all.”
“Yeah.” But to him, the memories felt fresh . . . sitting at her kitchen table while she went over every detail in that bakery binder of hers. He clamped his mouth shut so he wouldn’t admit that he recalled all her hopes and dreams, her every expression, and how just being with her made him feel . . . invincible. Somehow she’d built him up. He was sure that they’d be together . . . always. Not some vague dream either. He’d seen it clearly back then. She would make baked goods and he’d be an engineer or a computer-coding rock star. It didn’t matter where they lived. They’d be together in their own happy ending. Yes, he remembered everything whether he wanted to or not. Everything down to the last detail, as if it had all been tattooed on his soul. He glanced at the pi symbol on his wrist, then looked longingly at the door, wondering if he could outrun his feelings.
“We better get the rest from the car,” she said.
Yeah, and he should start spending more time with the grizzly men of Alaska because he was feeling pretty mushy right now.
Lolly walked out of the cabin saying, “You coming?” without looking over her shoulder. She kept walking as if she knew that he’d follow her anywhere. “Speaking of my bakery pipe dream, Jilly pulled out my old bakery notebook. Do you remember that, too?”
