Idle Hours (2 page)

“Now I know you’re off your rocker.” He shook his head. “Close that thing and stop your jawin’ so we can get back to fishin’.”

“No, I’m serious. Pick a lure. Which one do you like? How about this one?” He held up a Silver Thorn Dressed, the prize lure of the box.
 

“Well now, that’s a fine lure but-”

“But nothing. I’m willing to stake this lure that once you ask Him, the Lord will make Himself known to you.”

“Oh, come on. Put your lure back and get to fishin’.” Mitch’s line tightened and the bobber disappeared for a moment. “See there, you got somethin’. Now get to fishin’.”

“I’m fishing, all right,” he said without giving the rod a second look. “Right now I’m fishing for men. Why don’t you just go on and admit you’ve never tried to see if God will show you how much He wants to be a real part of your life?”

The line went slack and the bobber popped into sight. Whatever was on Mitch’s hook was gone.

Ben threw down his rod in disgust and reached for the oars. “That’s it. If you’re not going to fish, I’m headin’ back to shore.”

Mitch picked up his rod and studied the reel for a minute before making eye contact. “I’m willing to lose my best lure to prove that the Lord thinks you’re a keeper. Just ask Him to make Himself real to you and He will. If I’m wrong, the lure’s yours.”

“That’s it? Just say, ‘Lord, show Yourself’ and if He ignores me the lure is mine?” Ben shook his head and took another swig from the water bottle. “Come on.”

“No, that’s not it. Our Heavenly Father’s not some genie in a bottle. What He is, Ben, is a God who desperately wants His children to know and love Him. I’ve been praying you would seek Him for a long time now and I believe it’s going to happen soon. You got to promise me that once He does make Himself plain to you, you’ll come and tell me.”

“That’s all you want for that Silver Thorn Dressed? What if I don’t but say I do? Then what?”

“Oh, I’m not worried about that.” Mitch grinned. “You’re a terrible liar. Of all the fish stories I’ve heard, yours are the worst. Besides, once you’ve met the Lord you’re never the same. It’s not something a man can hide.”

“So you’re saying all I have to do is call and the Lord’ll hear me?” He paused to take it in. “You’re serious.”

“That’s right. God’s waiting. Just call.” He lifted the Silver Thorn Dressed to let it catch the light. “Now let me tell you one thing. Our Lord isn’t some pie in the sky being that’ll jump when we tell Him to. He does what He will because He is God. I don’t fully get that, but if we humans completely understood Him, He wouldn’t be much of a God.”

“I’ll grant you that much,” Ben said. “And I’ll give the rest some serious thought. I’ve always wanted that lure of yours.”

Mitch smiled. “I do believe the Lord’s gonna get Himself another keeper real soon.”

CHAPTER THREE

The glass-paned front door complained loudly, and Lia paused to open her portfolio and add a note to oil the hinges. Clutching her portfolio to her chest, she stepped over the threshold and dropped her overnight bag and purse on the blue rag rug.
 

The rocker beckoned, and Lia moved to stand beside it. The thought of sitting in this rocker made her smile. The deep windowsill looked to be a perfect spot to place a steaming cup of tea on a winter morning when it was too chilly to sit on the porch. The side table she’d once placed next to her bed would fit nicely here. A new lamp for reading and a little footstool for her tired toes, and she’d be set.
 

Maybe I did make the right choice in coming here.

She took a deep breath and, to her surprise, the first thing she smelled was the pine scented cleaner quickly followed by a tangy-sweet apple fragrance. Her eyes flew open. The reason for the cleanser smell was evident once her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the interior. Someone had scrubbed the large combination living area and kitchen from top to bottom.

Gone was the grime from the white cabinets and countertops, and the walls gleamed beneath last year’s calendar from Ben’s Bait Shop. As she stepped forward, she noted that the picture above the store’s logo was of a view that could have been taken from her front porch.
 

She touched the glossy page and smiled. Thick green foliage dipped down the hillside to reach a lake that glistened with the last rays of the evening sun. Orange sparkles danced across a surface dotted with dozens of boats. The caption beneath the picture read:
First day of the fishing tournament
. An August date from two summers ago appeared next to the caption.
   

Lia turned from the calendar to find the source of the apple pie smell. A fat red candle in a Blue Willow teacup sat waiting to be lit. Beside it, she found a folded slip of yellow notepaper. And a foil-wrapped pie pan containing a freshly baked pie, no doubt apple in flavor.

Note in hand, she made short order of raising the blue toile shades and opening the windows. A fresh breeze danced past, carrying with it the scent of more pine.

 
“Welcome home to Green’s Point, Lia,” she read in her friend Cara’s familiar handwriting. “The pie is sugar free and there’s a chicken casserole in the fridge. It’s heart healthy.”
 

Dropping the note onto the countertop, she lifted the edge of the foil and sampled a taste of the perfectly browned crust. “Cara, sweetheart, you’ve outdone yourself.”

“Thank you.”

Whirling around, she found the object of her thoughts smiling back at her from the door. “Cara, I didn’t hear you drive up.”

Her friend met her halfway and embraced her. “I’m sure your mind was on other things.” She shrugged. “Be glad the kids are napping in their car seats. Otherwise you might have heard me all the way from town.”

She linked arms with her friend and stepped outside. “Lead me to those babies,” she said. “I can’t wait to see how much little Tyler’s grown.”

“Auntie Wia!”

Two-year-old Samantha grinned back at her through the open door of Cara’s dark green minivan. Dubbed the “mommy van” during Lia’s last visit, a collection of stuffed animals as well as a pink backpack and matching sweater decorated the space around the curly-headed girl’s seat.
 

“She looks more like you every day,” Lia said as she lifted the dark-haired darling from her car seat and kissed her sticky cheek. Something cool trickled down Lia’s back and she heard Cara gasp.

“Samantha Bryan, where did you get that drink box?”
 

“I dunno.” Samantha leaned away from Lia’s shoulder to look her in the eyes. “I wub you, Auntie Wia.”

She touched the little girl’s freckled nose with the tip of her forefinger. “Oh, I wub you too, Sam-sam.”
 

“Don’t let her daddy hear you call her Sam. He’s determined she will be a girly girl, you know.” Cara reached past them to pull a towel from the van and dab the back of Lia’s shirt. “Sorry about that.”

Lia gave the precious child a hug then set her wriggling feet on the grass. “No apology necessary. Now let me at that darling son of yours.” She shrugged off the towel and went around to the other side of the van to slide the door open and stand over the carseat of the most precious baby she’d seen since Samantha. “Come here to your Auntie Lia,” she said as she lifted three-month-old Tyler from the cushy blue-plaid comfort of his travel seat and settled him against her shoulder. “Where’s Bryce?”

Cara snagged a navy diaper bag then clicked a button on her key to close the van door. “School then basketball practice until five, Auntie Lia,” she said with a chuckle.
 

“School?”

“Yes, dear. Have you forgotten it’s a Tuesday?”

Lia snuggled the blanket around the sleeping baby. “My days have run together lately. I couldn’t tell you with any certainly what month it is, actually.”

“It’s May already. Has been for the past two days,” she said as she cast a glance over her shoulder to check on Samantha. “Don’t go outside the fence, you hear?” she called.

Rather than answer, the toddler reached for the gate then turned back to see if her mother was watching. When Cara shook her head, Samantha turned to amuse herself by rolling in clover, curls bouncing.

“Wonderful. It took me half an hour to get her into that outfit and two seconds for her to get it covered in grass stains.” Cara held the screen door open for Lia. “Guess we’re heading back to have a bath and a change of clothes before we pick up Bryce instead of running errands.” She ran her hand through short-cropped hair and offered a weak smile. “Of course, I could take her messy. It wouldn’t be the first time. Or, better yet, I wait until Thursday when Samantha is in Mother’s Day Out at the church.”
 

“I vote for the latter. I’ll even offer to go with you. Maybe I can knock a few items off my to-do list.” She paused to plant a kiss atop Tyler’s soft brown fuzz. “That is, if we can fit a lunch in there somewhere.”

“Sure, but don’t count on gourmet food. There’s a reason I always cook when you come to visit. Green’s Point’s a great place to live but their choices in dining are a bit, shall we say, limited.” She glanced past Lia to stare out the door. “Samantha, get away from the van. The doors are locked.”
“Mrs. Bunny,” she demanded.

“Go play. I’ll get Mrs. Bunny in a minute.” Cara leaned against the counter and shook her head. “Honestly I don’t remember Bryce being anywhere near as active as that one. Not that I’m complaining, you understand, but I’ve had to cut way back in my writing time. I’m sure your replacement isn’t happy with me.”

Lia knew she must have grimaced, for Cara’s expression turned to horror. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to talk business today of all days.”

She shifted Tyler to the crook of her arm and blinked back the tears that threatened. Eventually the idea of her forced unemployment wouldn’t sting so much. In the meantime, she refused to allow her silly feelings to ruin a perfectly lovely day, especially since Cara went to so much trouble to welcome her.

“Hey,” Lia said, “have I told you how very much I appreciate all you’ve done here?”

“Done?” she shrugged. “I just spruced up a bit. Didn’t take but a couple of hours.”

“Spruced up? Are you kidding me? You managed to accomplish what I couldn’t have done in a week.”
 

“Still . . .”

Cara grinned. “Believe me, when you are the mother of one preteen, one toddler, and a baby, an afternoon appointment with cleanser and a dust rag is pure heaven. Besides, Will needed the time with the kids.”

She thought of the rugged rancher-turned-building contractor the author had married almost five years ago in a ceremony worthy of one of her novels. “Will babysits?”

“Of course he does, although I prefer to call it parenting rather than baby sitting. Besides, all jokes against males multi-tasking aside, he does a good job of watching them,” Cara said. “Well, for a few hours anyway. Anything beyond that, we’re still working on. For all his many good qualities, the man does not do multi-tasking well for long periods of time.”

Tyler opened his eyes and began to rub his cheek against Lia’s arm. When she shifted him back to her shoulder, he began to squirm. “Looks like someone’s hungry,” she said.
 

She checked her watch then nodded. “Yep, it’s about that time.” Looking around the empty room, she nodded toward the front porch. “The porch swing?”

“Sure,” Lia said as she handed the blue-clad bundle back to her friend.
 

Once settled on the swing with the baby happily nursing beneath his blanket, Cara turned to regard Lia with a solemn look. “Tell me the truth. What does the doctor say about, well, you know…your health?”

How much to tell? The lab results told what her doctor did not. Still, she had to go with Mama on this one. Unless the Lord said otherwise, she had a long life ahead of her.

“Very little, actually.” Lia leaned against the back of the swing and closed her eyes. “I think the man’s a bit overprotective.”

“How so?”

Lia opened her eyes and focused on Samantha, who seemed to be having an animated conversation with a squirrel perched safely out of her reach on the roof. “Well, he insisted I have three months of meds on hand, and he made me promise I would call him if I needed him.” She paused. “I won’t, you know.”

Cara’s brows furrowed. “Won’t need him, or won’t call?”

“Mommy, come quick. Look what I found.” Samantha squatted in the tall grass then lifted a slithering ribbon of golden brown twice the length of her arm. “See, look how pretty.”
 

“What do you have, honey?” Cara called as she adjusted her clothing and lifted Tyler to her shoulder to burp him.

Lia rose. A second later, she froze. “Oh no,” she whispered. “It’s a …”

“Copperhead,” a male voice said firmly.

CHAPTER FOUR

Ben eased toward Samantha Bryan with a forced grin on his face. “That’s a real pretty plaything you got there, honey,” he said gently. “How about I put it in a safe place for you?”

“No, it
my
pretty wibbon.”

Great. The kid thinks a poisonous snake is a hair ribbon.

The little one stared at him, oblivious to the fact her chubby fist held a copperhead just behind its jaws. Unless he came up with a plan, the little darling who generally rode her daddy’s shoulders into the bait shop on Saturday mornings, bunny in one hand and a hank of Will Bryan’s hair in the other, would end up snakebit.

 
Think, Corbin. What was the name of that rabbit she always drug around with her? Ah!

“Hey, Samantha, where’s Mrs. Bunny?”
 

The girl looked past him toward her mama’s van then pointed with the hand that held the snake. “She in the van,” she said as the length of the copperhead wove side to side, fangs bared.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Samantha’s mama and another lady standing on the corner of the porch. So far neither had panicked. At least he didn’t have
that
to deal with.

“All right now,” he said as he took a step toward Samantha. “Why don’t you just let that little ole snake go now and we’ll fetch Mrs. Bunny from the van.”
Samantha shook her head. “You not got keys.”