Lakeside Cottage (28 page)

She sighed with contentment. “You’re a bit slow on the uptake.”

He kissed her again, this time his mouth pressing deep with suggestion. He could feel her reluctance to pull away.

“I really need to get back before the kids wake up,” she said. Then a smile lit her face. “We can all go to Seattle together.”

“Kate—”

“Really, it’s no trouble. I have things to do in the city, too.” She looked as though she might burst. “I have news. Ask me.” Her smile was infectious, curling around his heart.

“I’m asking.”

“I’m submitting the final paperwork to Child Protective Services. Aaron and I are going to be Callie’s foster family. I’m so excited, JD. It’s going to be wonderful for us all.”

She made it sound so simple. For Kate, it was simple. Callie needed a home, and Kate had one to offer. JD finally got it, finally figured out why she’d taken it so hard when he’d criticized her work. When you loved someone, their approval meant everything. He cupped her cheek in his hand. “You’re amazing.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” she said. “Amazing.”

T
he last time Kate told a man she loved him, he had left her pregnant and alone. No wonder it had taken her ten years to get up the nerve to do it again. She was a different person now—a grown woman, a single mother—yet she felt as giddy as a teenager after her first date. She floated through the morning with an idiotic grin on her face. JD had promised to come to breakfast, and later, they were all going to Seattle together. She showered, then rinsed the blackberries they had picked the day before. She even sang along with the radio—“Dancing in the Street” by Martha and the Vandellas—loud enough to wake Callie, whom Kate immediately drafted into an impromptu dance.

By the end of the song, they were both flushed and laughing.

Callie’s smile lingered as she got out her glucose kit, now an unchangeable part of her routine each morning. Thus far, every reading had been in the acceptable range, staving off the need for medication. Kate tried not to be too inquisitive. Soon enough, Callie would be an adult,
living on her own, and she would have to manage the disease on her own.

“Dock of the Bay” came on the radio and they hummed it together while fixing breakfast. As she whisked the eggs in a bowl, Kate yelled for Aaron to come to breakfast.

Callie flashed her a smile. “He can’t hear you. He’s out on the lake.”

Kate dropped her whisk in the sink and dashed outside. Sure enough, Bandit was running up and down the dock, keeping a worried eye on a boat out on the lake.

“I’ll kill them both,” she said, though just the sight of JD raised a ripple of happiness inside her. “They both know they’re supposed to ask permission.”

“He showed up while you were in the shower,” Callie explained. “I said it would be all right.”

Kate took a deep breath. The whole world looked brand new. The storm had washed everything clean, leaving the sky a deep, clear blue, the green of the forest renewed, the lake as pristine and transparent as a mirror. The air smelled sweet, almost dizzyingly so, and was bright with birdsong.

“So you and JD made up, right?” asked Callie.

Kate felt a rush of color in her cheeks. “What makes you say that?”

“You went over to his place last night.” She shook her head. “Sneaking out after hours. That’s supposed to be my specialty.”

“I wasn’t sneaking.”

“No, just leaving really quietly without telling anyone.”

“But—”

“God, Kate, chill.” Callie laughed. “I think it’s totally fly that you’re with him.” She waved at the boat in the
distance, gesturing for them to return. “He came looking for you, but then Aaron spotted him and wouldn’t leave him alone until JD offered him a ride.”

As the sleek wooden rowboat glided toward them, Kate felt Callie watching her. “So it’s all good between you, right?” the girl asked.

Last night was perfect, Kate thought. She had never felt so cherished, so consumed with passion, so certain she was in the right place. With Callie, she was more noncommittal. “We’ll see.” She surprised herself with her own uncertainty. Everything had seemed perfectly clear this morning in his arms. This was too new. She wasn’t used to it.

“So did he tell you—” Callie broke off, pushed her hands into her pockets.

“Tell me what?”
That he loves me?
Kate couldn’t keep the grin from her face. He said it. He said it. He said it.

Callie kept her eyes down. Kate studied her, sensing that she had something on her mind. “Callie?” she prompted.

“I just wondered if he told you how he feels.”

“I think maybe we fell in love.” Kate couldn’t help herself. It was way too early to be spreading this around, but she had to say it aloud.

“Maybe?” Callie snorted. “I’d say definitely.”

“How can you be more sure than I am?” Kate asked.

“I have twenty-twenty vision. And I know what I see.”

The boat approached the end of the dock. Bandit whined and pranced.

“Mom!” Aaron yelled, scrambling out and unbuck
ling his life vest. “Check out JD’s boat, Mom. It’s cool, huh?”

Kate was busy checking out JD. “Yeah, buddy. It’s cool.”

Later that day, they went to pick up JD for the trip to Seattle. He had locked up the cabin and was waiting for them. Wearing lovingly faded jeans, a golf shirt and aviator shades, he looked more like a professional athlete than like Paul Bunyan.

For a moment, Kate was taken aback. Out here at the lake, it was easy to forget they had other lives, filled with other people. It was something to talk about, she decided. She wanted to know who was important to him, who was missing him this summer. She wanted to meet his parents, wanted to introduce him to her mother.

“You’re looking at me funny,” he remarked, closing the back of the Jeep.

He wouldn’t think she was so funny if he knew what was on her mind. “It’s going to get awkward tonight, in Seattle,” she said. “Since before Aaron was born, I haven’t… No one’s ever stayed the night.”

He bent down and kissed her forehead, easing the frown away. “Aaron can handle it.”

Can I? she wondered. That was the thing about being a single mom. She was used to being in charge of every aspect of their lives. Now, seemingly overnight, there were two more people in her life. And though she adored both Callie and JD, she knew her world was about to change.

“That’s all you’re taking?” she asked. “The duffel bag?”

“I travel light.”

She took it as a good sign; he would definitely come
back for the rest of his things. Then it occurred to her that she was already having doubts about them. Stop it, Kate, she thought. She got back in the Jeep and snapped on the radio.

Although it was just over a hundred miles to Seattle, it felt as though they were crossing continents and time zones. The towering, dense forests of the Olympic Peninsula gave way to the weekend cottages of the Hood Canal and then Bainbridge Island, where they drove onto the massive white-and-green car ferry for the final leg of the trip. Callie and Aaron went to the passenger deck to play video games. Kate and JD climbed the stairs to the top deck outside to look at the scenery. The deck was crowded with vacationers soaking up the last of the August sun, tourists snapping pictures of Mount Rainier or the Space Needle, restless kids chasing each other, and smokers gathered at the aft railing, the only place on the boat that permitted smoking. Kate studied a cluster of kids about Callie’s age, pierced and tattooed and clad in leather, sucking on menthol cigarettes. Just the sight of them made her nervous about raising Callie. But nervous or not, it was what she’d signed up for.

She watched a portly man in a business suit talking on a cell phone as he paced in agitation. His face was beet red, nearly purple, and a contrail of cigarette smoke followed him. Welcome back to the city, reflected Kate. Even here on the ferryboat, she could feel the pace speed up.

They strolled toward the bow, passing a clown in full regalia making balloon animals. A couple of rowdy boys played with a set of military action figures. Stopping to watch for a moment, she leaned against a green enamel–painted railing and looked at the familiar scenery. Having lived here all her life, Kate always had
to remind herself of how magical the place was for tourists and newcomers. It was like no other place on earth, especially in summer, when the rain was a distant memory. With JD at her side, she saw the sights with new eyes—the white-crested mountains rising out of the Sound, ferries and barges steaming back and forth, pleasure crafts and fishing boats exploring the forested islands and inlets. The same water that reflected the glass and steel spires of Seattle was home to whales, seals, eagles and salmon.

“Some of my earliest memories are of racing for the ferry on the way to the lake,” she said. “One time, I made us miss the boat because I had to hunt down my pet hamster. My brother shunned me the whole first week of summer to punish me for making us late. Back then, there were only a few ferry crossings each day, so missing the boat could be really tragic.”

He took her hand and kissed it. “There’s always another boat, Kate.”

“So I’m told.” She loved it that he’d kissed her hand and then kept hold of it. She felt like a high-school girl going public to show off her new boyfriend. The thought made her laugh and fling her arms around his neck.

People passing by glanced at them and some smiled indulgently. Kate realized she and JD looked exactly like the young lovers she used to regard with a pang of empty yearning.

A harried young couple, watching over a pack of small children, including a little girl and rowdy boys playing with action figures, gathered nearby. The father was trying to take their picture while the mother pushed a fussy toddler in a wobbly stroller.

Somehow, the father managed to corral the boys at
the railing for a group shot. His wife handed the toddler a cookie to get her to stop whining.

“We should offer to take their picture,” Kate said, waving at the man to get his attention.

JD balked. “Somebody else can do that.”

Lord, she thought, was he really that shy? She went over to the man with the camera. “Let me take that shot so you can be in it, too.”

“Hey, thanks. It’s a digital, point-and-shoot. The shutter’s right here.”

“Got it. I’ll take a couple.”

The man hurried to join his family. They stood together with Mount Rainier floating like a pale confection in the background. He picked up the baby and turned her toward the camera.

The boys behaved horribly, teasing and cuffing each other, fighting over their Green Beret action figures.

“Everybody smile,” Kate called out, snapping one, two, three pictures. She reviewed them on the small screen and gave a thumbs-up. Years from now, she thought as she handed back the camera, the mother wouldn’t remember how ill behaved the kids were or how tired she felt. She would only remember how young they all were, and what a beautiful day it was, out on the Sound.

“You have a lovely family,” she told the woman.

“Thanks. It’s our first summer vacation together. We just got married.” She gestured at the boys. “Blended family—his, mine and ours.”

Love was hard work, Kate thought. And it was so worth it, as Aaron would say.

“How about a picture of the two of you?” the woman asked. “You’re such a cute couple.”

A couple, thought Kate. We’re a couple. A cute couple. “I don’t have a camera with me,” she said.

“I’ll e-mail you.” The woman held out the camera. “Come on, smile!”

Kate could feel JD stiffen and pull back. She felt suddenly awkward, like a fraud. She didn’t belong with this man, had no claim on him. Still, the woman seemed so eager that Kate went along with it. She tucked her arm around his and then impulsively rose on tiptoe, took off his dark glasses and placed a shy kiss on his cheek.

She was struck by his tense and frowning face. “Pretend you like me,” she whispered in his ear.

He cracked a smile then, chuckled a little. Kate hoped the camera caught that.

Afterward, she gave the woman her e-mail address. As the young mother put away the camera, she looked at JD, did a double take. “Have we met? You look familiar.”

“No, ma’am,” he said. “Thanks again.” With a politely dismissive smile, he turned away to look at the scenery. The toddler started whining again, and the woman wheeled the stroller away. Kate wondered how JD felt about kids, if he wanted a family of his own. And that led her to wonder about the family he’d come from. Who were they and what were they like? Did he miss them? Had he told them about her?

“What are you looking at?” he asked, and she realized he’d caught her staring, with all her dreams in her eyes.

Slipping her arm around his waist, she smiled up at him. “You. I can’t believe I found you,” she said, her heart spilling over with happiness.

“I didn’t know you were looking.”

“Very funny. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” he said, “I do.”

Ask him, she urged herself. It’s time. She took a deep breath, felt the summer breeze lift her hair. “What’s
going to happen?” she asked him. “I mean, once summer’s over,” she added, cringing inside at how pathetic she sounded. She wasn’t needy, she reminded herself. She had been without JD for twenty-nine years and she had a wonderful life. She could do without him again.

“What’s funny?” he asked her, and she realized she had laughed aloud.

“In the time it’s taking you to think up an answer to that question, I’ve already had an entire love affair and breakup with you.”

“Yeah? How’d we do?”

“We were fabulous together. The breakup was horrible, but we survived, a little worse for wear.”

“Good to know.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that.”

“Why don’t you want to talk about this?”

He took a deep breath, linked his arms loosely about her waist. His gaze darted around the deck, taking in the seagulls flying alongside the boat like a military escort, the dozens of cameras snapping away. “I do want to talk about it, Kate. There are things I need to explain—”

“What things?” A host of possibilities rafted through her mind—he was married, he had a disease, he’d changed his mind about her…

“It’s kind of a long story,” he said. “Let me take you to dinner tonight. Pick your favorite restaurant in all of Seattle, and I’ll take you there.”

Now possibilities blossomed in her head—an evening of romance, a confession of undying love, a proposal on bended knee…

“Mom!” Aaron burst from the stairwell. “Hey, Mom, guess what?”

They separated quickly and Kate offered a rueful
smile. “Hazards of the dating parent,” she said, slipping into her mom persona as she turned to Aaron. “What is it, buddy?”

“You won’t believe who’s on the boat,” he said. “You totally won’t believe it.”

Callie joined them, a little breathless. “It’s no big deal, kid.”

“Is too.” Aaron grabbed Kate’s hand, pulled her along the deck. “You come, too, JD. Come and see.” He led them past the boat’s huge painted steam vents and offered a grand gesture.
“Eyewitness News!”
he declared.

A small knot of people gathered at a safe distance from the reporter, cameramen and crew. It was not unusual to encounter a local or even a national news crew on the ferry. It was one of those settings that defined Seattle. The ferries had been in the news lately, too. Considered potential targets of terror attacks, they were now patrolled by Homeland Security agents and bomb-sniffing dogs. She recognized Melinda Procter of the local news, microphone in hand, taping some broadcast while an assistant kept trying to lacquer her hair in place with a coating of heavy-duty spray.