“If you’re trying to lie low, where were you just before?”
“Working in the yard. The tree company cleared away all the debris but what’s left back there is still a mess. I wanted to clean the flower beds and see what could be salvaged and what needed to be replaced. We were able to get some fresh mulch out of it all though.” Another shrug. “I know that’s what Pops would have done.”
As much as Mallory wanted to be mad at her brother for being such a moron, he went and somewhat redeemed himself by doing something selfless. Unable to help herself, she walked around the desk and hugged him.
“You’re an idiot. You know that, right?”
He hugged her back. “I know. But I swear I’ve learned my lesson.”
“I hope so. The last thing anyone needs right now is you on the front page of the local newspaper because you peed on a church.”
“It wasn’t on the church, just…on church property.”
With a playful punch, she stepped back. “Don’t split hairs with me on this. You were still wrong.” She gave him a sad smile. “Seriously, we are both a mess.”
And in a very un-Sam-like move, he pulled her back in for another hug. “Yeah, but my money’s on you, kiddo. You’re going to be just fine. I know it.”
She only wished she had his confidence.
On Monday morning, Jake was over at Zeke’s place as the crew was getting started on the re-framing of the addition and building a new deck. It was early and he’d slept alone the night before, so he was anxious to see Mallory.
“Hey, there you are,” he said with a smile as he walked into the kitchen carrying a box from her favorite bakery.
She smiled at him and then caught a glimpse of the pink box. “Hey,” she said as she sauntered over. “What’s in the box?”
With a careless shrug, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “Maybe some chocolate croissants.” He paused. “Maybe a couple of jelly donuts. You know, no big deal.”
“Jake Summerford do not tease me about baked goods,” she exclaimed, but Jake was having too much fun.
“And I think…I think there might be either a chocolate chip muffin or some sort of crumb cake.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just told Mrs. Henderson – whose hair is currently the shade of cotton candy - to throw any old thing in the box that nobody else would want.”
Laughing, she playfully punched him in the arm and took the box from his hands. Once she placed it on the table, she turned and kissed him–her arms wrapping around him slowly enough to make him want to haul her in close. It wasn’t a quick kiss either. No, his girl put a lot of effort into thanking him and now he wished he knew for certain that they were alone because he could think of a few ways he’d love to start the day.
“Oh, good morning, Jake! You’re here early!” Susannah said cheerily. “Oh, you went to Henderson’s this morning?”
The sound Mallory made in his ear was part chuckle part whine and he knew her mind was drifting in the same direction as his. He placed a light kiss on her cheek before turning her toward the table and urging her to sit. “Ladies,” he said with a big smile, “enjoy.”
When he went to leave the kitchen, Mallory stood and walked back over to him. “You’re leaving already?”
Reaching out, he caressed her cheek and smiled warmly at her. “Just wanted to bring you breakfast since you weren’t at my place this morning for me to make it for you.”
She blushed and she was beautiful.
Combing her dark hair behind her ear, Jake leaned in close and kissed her again. She was wearing a pair of yoga pants, an oversized t-shirt, and didn’t have on a stitch of makeup and she was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
Not a girl, a woman, he reminded himself. Mallory Westbrook was no longer a girl and the woman she was now was the woman he wanted forever.
He just had to prove that to her.
“I need to go out and make sure the crew is getting started both in the front and back.” He looked over at Susannah. “It’s going to be pretty noisy here for the next week or so, so if you have things to do during the day to avoid it, I’d suggest you do that. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, Jake,” Susannah replied, pouring herself a cup of coffee. “I’d rather get this stuff banged out at the same time rather than drag it out for weeks. Thanks for getting everyone here so fast. I know there are a lot of places in greater need of repairs than here, but…”
He held up a hand to stop her. “I’m just doing what Zeke would have wanted, that’s all.” He gave Mallory a gentle nudge toward the kitchen table again. “Go eat,” he said before looking at Susannah again. “Have you given any more thought about what you might want to work on here in the house next?”
She looked nervously at Mallory before looking back at him. “Um…” then she nodded toward the doorway and he took that as his hint that she wanted to talk to him alone.
Weird…
One last glance at Mallory showed she was equally perplexed by her mother’s response, but she stayed at the table and waved goodbye to him. Susannah didn’t stop walking until they were in Zeke’s office where she shut the door behind them.
Okay, super weird…
“Jake,” she began, her voice little more than a whisper, “I need to ask you something.” She sat down behind the massive desk and Jake took a seat in front of it.
“What’s going on, Susannah?”
She let out a long breath before looking at him again. “Okay, here’s the thing–you spent a lot of time with my grandfather and…you seem like you know a lot more about what he wanted done with this house than any of us.”
“I wouldn’t say that…”
“Please,” she interrupted with a small smile. “We both know you do and it’s really okay. I…I was curious if he mentioned to you what it was that I had mentioned wanting to do with the house…in the future.”
It took a minute for Jake to realize what she was getting at and nodded. “You mean how you want to turn the place into a bed and breakfast.”
Sagging with relief, Susannah nodded. “Yes. It was something he and I started talking about in the last several months and I wasn’t sure if he was paying attention or if it was something he was okay with.” She paused. “You know how he was–he was a great listener but there were times when he wasn’t very clear with his feelings.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I seem to remember Zeke being very vocal when he was opposed to something. If he didn’t shut you down while you were talking to him about it, I would guess he wasn’t completely against the idea.”
“Did he ever mention it to you?”
“Just in passing and I thought it was just him rambling on about what he thought would happen once he was gone. Every once in a while he’d do that sort of thing. He’d talk about what he thought would happen once he wasn’t around to make sure everyone was okay.”
“So…what do you think? Is this something I should be considering if we move forward with renovations on the house?”