Love Inspired May 2015 #2 (23 page)

Chapter Four

J
ared flung the
Times of Ti
on the couch. So that's why Becca hadn't called. She'd had no intention of hearing more about the motocross school from him before launching her campaign against it. The news article didn't mention names, but it said a group of Conifer Road residents had organized against the project. That had to include her. Only three families lived on Conifer Road. Jared didn't know the other two. He'd hoped that after he and Becca had talked, she'd be his in with the other families to calm any objections they might have.

“Hey, big bro, what's with the face?” Connor crossed the living room, picked up the weekly newspaper and skimmed the lead article. “I see.”

“No, I don't think you do.”

“Come on. You grew up here. You had to expect some opposition. Some people don't want any changes, even those for the better.”

Jared grabbed the paper from him. “But no one has given me a chance to tell them it's for the better, to explain how it'll benefit the community. I figured I'd get that at the public hearing next week. The project could be dead by then.” He jabbed a finger at the front page. “Look at the headline, ‘Conifer Road Residents Rise Up Against Motocross Track.'”

Connor shrugged. “Okay, the headline is a little sensationalized. From what I saw, all the article says is that the residents have questions to raise at the public hearing.”

Jared ignored his brother's placating. “And the photo of the
No Racetrack
bumper sticker with the X through a silhouette of a bike racer is a nice touch. She must have rushed right out the day after the Zoning Board meeting and had them printed.”

“By she, I take it you mean Becca. Can you blame her or her neighbors? You're planning to build something big in their neighborhood.”

“Whose side are you on, anyway?”

“Yours. You need to back off if you want to win support for your racetrack.”

“It's a school, not a racetrack.” Jared glared at Connor.

“Hey, I have a good idea what this project means to you, but, like I said, lighten up. And, if you want to see your dream succeed, you should socialize with the locals instead of spending your time holed up here.”

Jared breathed in and out to release some of his tension. “I know. But I'll admit it's hard. I have a lot of bad memories, and I suspect a fair number of the locals do, too.”

Connor broke into a smile. “You'd be surprised how much your professional success has done to fade those memories.”

“But not mine.” Jared tapped his fingers against his thigh.

“You're too hard on yourself. And not to criticize, but calling Becca back would have been a good start on cultivating local support.”

“Say what?”

“If you'd called Becca back, you might have had a chance to tell her more about your plans before she talked to the paper.
If
she talked to the paper. I didn't see her name anywhere.”

Jared took a step toward Connor. “Are you saying Becca called?”

“Sure, the morning after the Zoning Board meeting. You'd gone into Ticonderoga to meet with the environmental engineer at GreenSpaces. It was just before I got the call that Sid Blasnik was having emergency surgery and drove up to Saranac Lake to sit with his wife at the medical center. I left you a note on the counter.”

“I didn't see any note.”

“I'm sure I told you when I got back.”

“You didn't.” Jared reined in the urge to shake his little brother. Connor didn't know how important her calling was to him. More important than it had any reason to be.

“Sorry. Call her and tell her I didn't give you the message.”

“I could do that.” But he wasn't sure he would. It might be better to wait it out and hear all of the opposition's concerns and address them, rather than make it something personal between him and Becca.

“Do you have plans for tonight?” Connor asked.

“Huh?” His brother's abrupt change of topic disoriented him.

“The Singles Group and the Couples Group at church are playing their second round of Bible trivia. The Couples Group creamed us last time. We could use some new blood.”

Jared still wasn't sure how they'd gotten from Becca's phone call to “Bible Jeopardy,” and it must have shown in his expression.

“To socialize, cultivate support,” Connor said in a patient tone Jared was certain he must have learned in the seminary. The kid Jared had left behind when he'd exited Paradox Lake had been anything but patient.

He gave in. “Why not?”

Connor hadn't said anything, but Jared knew his brother was hurt that he hadn't attended Hazardtown Community Church since he'd returned to Paradox Lake. He hadn't been able to shake the old feelings that the people at church—people his parents' age and older who'd known his father—would be silently judging him, and he'd come up lacking, just like his father. Those feelings were one of the reasons he'd made his past visits home short and infrequent. But he wasn't here for a visit. He was here for good. It was more than time to banish the shadows of the past.

“Great.” Connor slapped him on the back. “Josh should be there along with Emily Stacey and some others you may know from school. Of course, most of them are our competition in the Couples Group.”

Jared caught a wistful note in the emphasis his brother put on “the Couples Group.” More power to Connor if he thought marriage could be in his future. And who was he to think it couldn't be just because he couldn't see it in his? Connor was seven years younger than he was, maybe young enough that he wasn't as scarred by memories of their father as Jared was. Or maybe he had a greater trust in God than Jared had managed to forge despite all his efforts, and could forgive and move on.

* * *

“I'm glad you talked me into this,” Becca said, as she got out of Emily's car in the Hazardtown Community Church parking lot.

“I didn't have to do much talking.”

“You're right. Teaching day care is a lot different than teaching high school history. I need some adult time so badly that it was worth putting up with the Sheriff's accolades about my interview in the
Times of Ti
when I dropped off the kids there after work. An interview that, incidentally, I didn't give. Nor did I have anything to do with the bumper stickers. You've seen them?”

“Yeah. What's with Ken and Jared?” Emily asked. “I can see your opposition to the racetrack, it being so close to your house. You'd have to put up with all the added traffic and all of the other stuff that comes with a tourist attraction nearby. I can't see why Ken is all up in arms about it. Aren't he and Debbie planning to move to Florida anyway?”

Becca swung the car door shut with more force than necessary. “I'm not against Jared's racetrack. I do have concerns because it would be so close to my house, and I want to get more information about it before I decide whether I'm for or against it.” At least, that's what she kept telling herself, that she was keeping an open mind until she knew more details. More details she already could have if Jared had returned her phone call.

“As for the Sheriff, who knows why he thinks the way he does about anything?” she said. “He seems to have a personal dislike of Jared, though.”

Becca paused while she waited for Emily to walk around the front of the car and join her on the sidewalk that led to the church hall. For a split second, she toyed with the thought of telling Emily about the implied accusation the Sheriff had made about her and Jared. She needed some way to release the outrage pent up inside her. Emily was a close and trusted friend. But Becca had never been one to share her inner self, not even, she had to admit, with her ex-husband. When she was younger, it was prompted by a fear that people might not like the real Becca beneath the perfect facade. Now, maybe it was more of a habit not to share.

“Jared did do a pretty good job of demolishing the Nortons' mailbox and front fence with his car after a night of partying in high school,” Emily said. “My brother emailed me about it when I was away at college because he knew Jared and I were sort of friends.”

Remarks the Sheriff had made about Jared's offtrack life when he'd bought Brendon his magazine ran through Becca's mind.
Parties, women, drinking
. She went cold. Just like Matt. While her ex-in-laws had turned a blind eye to their son's behavior, she'd lived with it the last year and a half of her marriage.

“Lose that look. It was years ago, and I know other kids around here who have done a lot worse.”

“I'm sure.” Becca pulled the handle of the door to the hall and swung it open for Emily.
Things I wouldn't want my kids doing.
She realized that since she and Jared had met in the meadow, she'd been lionizing him in her mind, just like Brendon. What did she really know about Jared or what he planned to do? At the General Store after the Zoning Board meeting, he'd made it sound as though he was as eager to tell her about his project as she was to hear about. And she'd believed him until he hadn't bothered to return her call.

“We usually meet in the lounge,” Emily said. “I wonder what kind of turnout we'll have tonight. Since Drew's too busy with the camp during the summer to make the meetings, I had to play on the Singles Group team last match to help even things out. But they were still outnumbered, and the Couples Group creamed us.”

“If I remember correctly, you hate losing.”

“I like to think of it more as I love winning. Connor said he was going to drum up more singles for tonight. His brothers, at least.”

Becca hadn't considered Jared might be here. Her stomach sank. She'd come for some relaxing socialization. She picked up her pace. And she wasn't going to let Jared Donnelly unsettle her and spoil that.

“With Connor playing for the singles and you and your steel-trap mind of Biblical knowledge, we might see some real competition tonight.”

“What can I say?” Becca tried for a light carefree tone she didn't feel. “The Bible is a living history and history is my passion.” Somehow, her words saddened her.

“Emily, Becca.” Connor met them in the hall in front of the lounge. “Go on in. I thought I'd put some coffee on in the hall kitchen for those of us who may need a boost after the competition. You're the first to arrive, except for Jared and me.”

Becca hung back behind Emily. So Jared had come.

“I'll help you,” Emily said.

Confusion spread across Connor's face until Emily nodded at Becca and toward the lounge.

A smile replaced the confusion. “Right. Help me. In the kitchen.”

Becca grit her teeth. Emily probably thought she was doing her a favor leaving her alone with Jared. She pasted a smile on her face and walked into the lounge. But it was a favor she could do without.

* * *

“Becca.” Jared rose as she entered the room. “Hi. Connor didn't say you'd be here tonight.”

“He didn't know. I decided at the last minute. I haven't been to the Singles Group in a while.”

Jared wiped his hands on his jeans and watched her take a seat on the couch next to the chair where he'd been sitting. She folded her hands in her lap and looked up at him, her face expressionless. He sat back down.

“Uh, Connor said you called the other day.”

She met his gaze with the same bland visage. “You got my message, then.”

“Yes, but not until today. Connor said he'd left me a note, but I didn't see it.”

Her eyes brightened. Or at least he thought they had.

“I would have called back if I'd known sooner.”

“That's okay.”

He caught a hint of skepticism in her words and, remembering his anger when he'd thought she'd blown him off, couldn't blame her for feeling the same about his not calling back. But the news article was something else, something that justified anger. She'd spoken publicly without having all of the facts. “I saw the article in the
Times
.”

Her mouth twisted as if she'd tasted something sour. “I didn't talk to anyone at the newspaper.”

The speed of her denial raised a red flag in his mind. He calculated what her words might be hiding. His best guess was that she and her neighbors had gotten together and someone else, acting as spokesperson, had talked to the reporter. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. If he'd gotten the message about Becca's call, he might have been able to neutralize the news report and be on a more even footing for the public hearing.

“But it expresses your opinion.”

She unclasped and clasped her hands. “I didn't say that.”

No, she hadn't.
He didn't know what was making him feel so adversarial, except he wanted to know what she thought so he could counter her opposition.

“Hey.” His brother Josh poked his head in the lounge. “Is this a private conversation or can anyone join in?”

“Anyone's welcome,” Becca said.

Jared worked a muscle in his jaw. For all he'd missed his family—most of them, at least—when he'd been on the circuit, he'd forgotten how having family around meant them being
around.
And Becca's being so quick to welcome his brother made Jared think she'd changed her mind about hearing him out about his plans, if she'd even wanted to in the first place.

“Connor and Emily are in the hall kitchen making coffee,” she said.

“Nope. Emily's right here.” She entered the lounge with her brother, Neal; his wife, Anne; and another couple.

“Jared, I don't think you know Jamie and Eli Peyton,” she said. “They're members of the Couples Group.”

“Ah, the great Jared Donnelly,” Jamie said with a wide grin, as she and the others sat down. “My son is one of your biggest fans.”

Her husband nodded. “Myles has been scheming to meet you since he found out you were in town. Him and every boy in the church Youth Group and my summer school math class.”