Rest Thy Head (10 page)

She indicated her own towel. “Going swimming too?”

“Yes, I can’t settle down tonight.”

Peyton stuck her arm through his. “Then I would be delighted to join you.”

They had the pool to themselves with the exception of Mrs. Shaw and her small grandson. Patrick immediately jumped into the water, but Peyton lingered to speak to their guest. They chatted for a moment before Mrs. Shaw took her grandson by the hand and left the pool area. Peyton dived into the water and came up in Patrick’s arms. Startled, she swallowed water and coughed.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to choke you.”

“It’s okay,” Peyton struggled to say as a spasm of coughing seized her.

The minute she got rid of the water in her lungs, Patrick kissed her. Dating Drew for so long must have dulled her instincts; she hadn’t expected Patrick to kiss her. The gentle, soft touch of his lips gave Peyton the warm fuzzies. The earth didn’t move, and she didn’t see any stars, but this kiss was balm to her wounded ego after she’d spent time thinking about Drew. “What a nice surprise,” she muttered.

“Want to do it again?”

“We could.”

“That was nice,” Peyton muttered at the conclusion of another long, slow kiss. She put her arms around Patrick and rested her face against his. She hadn’t kissed anyone but Drew in a long time. Abruptly, Jake’s face popped into her mind. A thrill shot through her. She’d bet dollars to doughnuts that kissing Jake would not even remotely be like this kiss.

This kiss had told her something else too. She and Patrick were friends, but that was all they’d ever be. And she didn’t think it had anything to do with getting over Drew. Kisses between lovers should do more than give a person the warm fuzzies.

She pulled out of his arms. “Mr. Douglas, your reputation will be ruined if you keep this up. What if one of your guests decides to take a swim?”

Patrick backed away. Peyton splashed him and retreated across the pool with Patrick right behind her. He caught her near the steps where they had an epic water battle.

“You’ve almost drowned me,” Peyton exclaimed. “I’m going in to dry off.”

“Wait for me, and I’ll walk back with you.”

Companionably they dried off, laughing and talking about their day. Patrick wasn’t the man to take Drew’s place, but he was a great guy anyway. She took a deep breath just because the air was so clean and fresh. Somehow, even though she’d only been here a short time, Rest Thy Head was beginning to feel like home.

***

Jake punched his pillow, but that didn’t satisfy his need. He hurled the thing against the wall and took satisfaction from the thump it made when it hit the floor. Why’d he have to go to the pool tonight of all nights? If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have seen Patrick kiss her.

***

Ashley and Griffin settled into Rest Thy Head as if they had always belonged there. Everyone liked them and vied for the privilege of watching Griffin. It amazed Peyton to see how cheerful and carefree Ashley now seemed. Until she came to Rest Thy Head she must have lived under enormous stress.

Although Ashley and Griffin had lived at Rest Thy Head for three days now, Peyton still hadn’t had the chance to introduce Ashley and Annie. She thought they’d like each other, but as Patrick pointed out, it was vacation time, so everyone on the staff got a vacation too.

The thing that surprised her the most, though, was Jake and Griffin. Griffin attached himself to Jake and didn’t seem to see Jake’s scars at all. Peyton saw that this pleased Jake. On Friday morning, she found him feeding peanut butter cookies to Griffin while Ashley cleaned rooms.

“You’re stuffing him full of sugar,” she warned.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Peyton stood there with her hands on her hips. “Well? Why don’t you give him an apple instead?”

Jake sniffed. “Who’d want an apple if you can have a peanut butter cookie?”

Peyton made no reply because she’d rather have the cookie too. “Why haven’t you come back to play volleyball? I waited for you to show up three nights in a row.”

Jake shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Oh, please! What kind of answer is that?”

“Sorry.”

Peyton wanted to smack him, but she doubted it would do any good. “I told you the other night, Jake; don’t push people away. Everyone needs friends.”

Jake made no answer. He grabbed a couple of cookies and took Griffin’s hand. “Let’s go see the horses, Griffin.”

She felt like giving up. Jake Douglas could take a flying leap for all she cared in that moment. Let him be a hermit forever if that’s what he wanted. She had tolerated his rudeness long enough. As she turned around to run back upstairs she heard Jake exclaim, “What in the world happened here?”

Peyton ran to find out. Her little car, her pride and joy, sat on four, droopy, flat tires. Even from the porch she saw that someone had slashed those tires. Jake passed Griffin to Sandra who had also come running. “Let’s check out the damage,” he muttered.

Tears filled Peyton’s eyes when she saw the interior of her little car. The vandals had taken a knife and slashed the seats as well. Of course they’d had to break the window to get in.

Jake looked both upset and embarrassed as he concluded his inspection. “I’m sorry, Peyton. Since this is a rural area, we usually don’t get vandalism on this scale. Will your insurance cover the repairs? If not, Rest Thy Head will compensate you for the damages. It happened on our property.”

Peyton’s throat tightened. It wasn’t his responsibility to pick up the tab, and she knew it. He pushed her away for all he was worth, but then he turned around and did something he didn’t have to do, something that made her think she might be getting through to him after all. “I don’t know about the insurance. I’ll have to check.”

“Better do it now.”

Peyton followed him to the office and made her call. “They’ll send someone out on Monday.”

Jake’s shoulders relaxed. He’d looked wound as tight as a spring until she found that her policy covered vandalism. “Good. Peyton, if you need to borrow a car…”

“No, thanks. I can use Ashley’s car if I need one.” A sudden thought made her pause. On the other hand… “Actually, I did have plans to run into Waterbury this afternoon. Ashley’s car isn’t very dependable, but I don’t want to drive your truck. Why don’t you take me?”

Jake backtracked so fast it amused Peyton. “Uh, I have…”

“You said you felt bad about my car,” she pointed out, “and you offered to help. Didn’t you mean it?”

Jake got up and sighed. “I’ll get my keys.”

In spite of her poor little car, Peyton enjoyed the ride to town. “It’s so beautiful here. You and Patrick are so lucky to live in Waterbury. Milford can’t hold a candle to it. Do you mind if I put the window down? I want to enjoy good mountain air.”

Jake treated her to a big smile that sent warmth cascading through her veins. As she knew, Jake’s smiles were on the rare side. “No, go ahead. I love it here too. Knowing I had this place to come home to helped me when I was in the hospital. It gave me something to hang on to when the pain…when I had a hard day.”

In the distance a big bird dropped from the sky. “Look, Peyton. That’s a hawk. Bet he’s after dinner.”

As Peyton watched the bird extended his claws and grabbed something from the ground. “What did he get?”

“Oh, maybe a mouse.”

Peyton hesitated to bring it up, but hadn’t she decided Jake needed confrontation instead of coddling? “Did you have a lot of hard days when you were in the hospital?”

He almost squirmed in his seat. “I had some, but like I said, I had this place to look forward to. That helped more than I can tell you.”

“You had a brother waiting for you too. You guys get along as well as Ashley and I do.”

Jake relaxed as soon as the focus was off him. “What does Ashley think about Rest Thy Head?”

“I haven’t seen her so happy and content in a long time.” She shook her head. “You have no idea what my mother put her through.”

As they approached the outskirts of town, Jake stopped for a red light. “Tell me.”

Peyton bit her lip. It wasn’t her story to tell, but what harm could it do? “Okay, after Ashley got pregnant, Mother threw her out of the house. As far as I know she’s never done one thing to help Ashley. Oh, wait, she did give her five hundred dollars when she asked her to leave. I forgot about that.”

Jake’s face had tightened. “My mother wasn’t like that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Melancholy filled his eyes. “She and my dad were killed in a car accident five years ago.”

Peyton reached for his hand. “I am so sorry.” Luckily, it turned out to be his good hand, so he didn’t jerk away from her.

She didn’t think Jake would talk about his mother and father either, but he did. “They were the best parents Patrick and I could ever have had. They were always there for us, no matter what.” He chuckled. “I’ll never forget the trouble Mom went to one Christmas when I wanted a Laser Tag. She stood in line all night long so she could get one the next morning.”

“Laser Tag?”

“Kind of like paintball but without paint.”

Peyton gave an exaggerated sigh. “You men. Who’s older? You or Patrick?”

“I am. I’m two years older than he is. When Mom and Dad died, we decided to run Rest Thy Head together.”

They stopped for a second red light which meant the people in the inside lane were facing Jake’s bad side. Peyton watched as one of the kids in the car pointed to Jake. A second face appeared in the window. They stared at him until the light changed. He had seen it too. The good side of his face was rock hard. She kept talking, hoping to distract him. “What did Patrick think of you joining the marines?”

Jake’s expression thawed a bit. “He didn’t want me to, but I’d wanted to be a soldier from the time I was a little boy. After Mom and Dad died, I helped him get things squared away, and then I joined up.”

Peyton wondered if he regretted it, but she hesitated to ask. It didn’t matter, though, because he told her anyway. “People have asked me if I regret joining the marines, but I don’t. I’m sorry about what happened to me, but some things are more important than just one man. The United States is one of them. We stand for something good, and I’m proud to have had a part in protecting it.”

Peyton squeezed his hand again. She would like to say something about his bravery and his sacrifice, but she didn’t know how, not considering how his life had changed. And not having seen how those snotty kids acted. They were just kids so they didn’t know any better, but that didn’t make her any happier about what they’d done to Jake.

Jake changed the subject as they drove down Waterbury’s main street. “Where are we going?”

“To the pottery. I saw a nice little coffee mug I want to buy for Ashley, kind of like a welcome to the inn present. It’s done in a turquoise glaze, and turquoise is one of Ashley’s favorite colors.”

Jake made no comment. He parked his truck in front of Andy’s shop and pulled his hat down. “I’ll wait here for you.”

Peyton intended to argue, but the door of the pottery burst open, and Andy strode toward Jake’s truck. She would have given anything if Jake’s good side had faced Andy, but Andy didn’t even seem to see the scars. He jerked the truck’s door open and enveloped Jake in a bear hug. “Man, you are a sight for sore eyes! Where have you been keeping yourself? Get out of this truck and come inside while I find us something to drink.”

A look of panic spread across Jake’s face. “Uh, I’m … kind…of..”

Peyton shoved his shoulder. “Oh, go on.”

With a weak grin, he got out of the truck. Andy threw his arm around Jake’s shoulders and walked him into the store, talking a mile a minute. “Guys, I just remembered something,” Peyton called. “Jake, can you amuse yourself while I run across the street to the pharmacy?”

Andy answered for him. “We’re fine. Take as long as you like.”

Peyton did. She finally bought a novel she really didn’t need, but she had to have some excuse for going to the pharmacy. She crossed her fingers for luck as she made her way back down the street to the pottery.

She didn’t think Jake even heard her come in. He and Andy sat together, laughing fit to kill, and the animated, happy look on his face brought a lump to Peyton’s throat.
This may be the start of something good.
She couldn’t wait for Annie to get back from her vacation so she could tell her about Jake’s visit to the pottery.

***

When Peyton and Jake returned to Rest Thy Head, they met Jason struggling with a glass-laden tray on the front porch. He told them Patrick had persuaded Ashley and Griffin to take a ride with him, and they had just gotten back. Peyton tossed her book into a chair and helped Jason balance the tray. He really had overloaded the thing.

She turned around and caught Jake looking at her so strangely. “What’s up with you?” she demanded. “You have a weird expression on your face.”

“Oh, nothing. I just wondered if you minded about Patrick taking Ashley and Griffin riding.”

Peyton rolled her eyes. “Why would I mind? We have time for a swim if you’d like. I still intend to trounce you.”

Jake looked as if he intended to say yes, but instead he changed his mind. “I’d better not. I need to get to the kitchen to make sure everything’s on track.”

“Rain check?”

“Sure.”

He went into his office, and Peyton headed for the kitchen to grab a snack. Before she got there, the front door opened with a bang. Griffin tore across the room hollering, “Peyton, Peyton!”

She grabbed him and swung him around in a big hug. “Hey, champ, did you go horseback riding?”

Griffin nodded and proceeded to tell her all about it. Peyton didn’t get everything he said, but she got that he’d had a wonderful time. She turned to Ashley and Patrick who had followed Griffin inside. “What about you, Ash? Did you have a good time?”

Ashley nodded, her eyes shining way more than Peyton thought they would have over a mere horseback ride. She…why, she had stars in her eyes.

“Hey, why don’t we all have a swim after dinner?” Patrick suggested, definitely including Ashley and Griffin in his invitation.

The stars in Ashley’s eyes vanished. “No, not tonight. Griffin probably needs to go to bed early. You two go ahead.”