By mid-July Rick finally saw major progress in his work. Two of the contracted cabins were almost complete and a third had its adobe walls in place and was waiting for clay shingles. Foundations for numbers four through six were poured and his confidence about meeting his September first completion date was growing.
It had become commonplace for him and Penny to chat about the cabins when he dropped off or picked up the twins or when they shared a coffee break or lunch together. Her ideas intrigued him. Yesterday she’d asked him about colors. When he’d explained that all the cabins would have the same muted values, Penny had suggested slight variations in color that would make each building easier for young campers to identify. She seemed interested in the construction, too, and had offered several ideas, some of which Rick had used.
The window seat, for instance.
In memory of Gillian and her love of grand vistas Rick had installed a big picture window that overlooked the desert in the second cabin.
“It’s a gorgeous window. You’re going to put in a window seat, right?” she’d asked him.
“Hadn’t thought of it.”
“Oh, you have to. A window seat would offer the perfect place for a counselor to sit and talk to campers about God.” Penny had been so enthused about that.
Her idea reminded Rick of the one visit he’d made to see his sister and her husband in Africa. He’d watched in amazement as Gillian tenderly ministered to suffering women. This window reminded him of that time so he’d incorporated Penny’s window seat into the cabin’s design.
But despite her assurances that the cabins were fantastic, Rick worked with a constant tension, determined that nothing would go wrong in these cabins as something had gone wrong in Gillian’s home, something that authorities now believed had caused the fire. Something they seemed intent on blaming on him.
He shrugged off the worry and remembered that yesterday Penny had suggested installing a skylight in the fourth cabin.
“Too hot in the summer,” he’d argued but she’d already considered that.
“It wouldn’t face the sun if you slanted the roof north a bit more,” she’d countered. “Don’t manufacturers make skylights that open? An opening in the ceiling would let out the heat at night.”
Today as they met for their coffee break, she spotted the frame on the roof that said he’d taken her advice. Her face beamed in that irrepressible Penny grin.
“It’s going to be sweet to stay in that one, Rick. Campers will love it.”
“That’s the goal.” Her words sent a rush of satisfaction through him. He picked up a cup, ready to serve her. “Coffee this morning?”
“Iced tea. I need to cool down. The kids are really antsy today.” Penny accepted the brimming glass he handed her, took a sip then added extra ice from a big thermos. After selecting a shiny red apple, she walked to a table in the shade. “How are you and your crews faring in this heat?”
“Okay. We take turns at finishing work on the inside every so often. It’s cooler there.” He poured two more glasses of iced tea and drank one immediately before following her to the table with his second glass and a selection of fruit. “We’ve got the patio to ourselves today.”
“For once.” Penny studied him with that curious expression that always preceded her questions. “I’m usually here by six in the morning but lately I notice that you always seem to have arrived before me.”
Rick smiled. Penny always had questions for him. There were a thousand things she wanted to know. That was all part of the wonderful eagerness with which this woman dove into life.
“I’ve seen the twins dozing in the truck while you wander over the site, Rick. What are you looking for?” She bit into her apple while she waited for his answer, apparently unaware of the tension that suddenly gripped him.
“Oh, I’m just checking that there aren’t any mistakes or problems someone’s missed.” He strove for nonchalance, shrugging as if his intense inspections barely mattered—which was far from the truth. They mattered so much. “I can’t leave anything to chance, Penny. These buildings are important to Wranglers Ranch. Also, it’s my company’s reputation that’s on the line so I want everything perfect.”
“Is any building job ever perfect?” She sipped her tea while keeping a steady bead on him.
“This one is going to be as perfect as I can make it,” Rick promised her, aware that she’d noticed the sudden tightness of his voice. He savored a spear of chilled pineapple, half wishing he hadn’t joined her today. There was nothing better than sharing coffee time with Penny, except when she asked questions he didn’t want to answer. The woman was relentless at learning the truth.
“Do you often have problems on a work site?” She frowned at the bruise on her apple.
“There’s always something.” Rick strove to sound vague.
“But you have inspectors who have to approve each stage, right? They’d catch a big issue.” Penny raised an eyebrow as she waited for him to respond.
“I hope so.” Change the subject, man.
“And yet you keep checking everything yourself, every single day.” She kept looking at him until he began to wonder if she could see right inside his brain.
Rick shifted uncomfortably. Much as he enjoyed these times with Penny, he didn’t want to talk about Gillian’s death yet once more.
“You’ve got that look again,” Penny murmured.
“What look?” He pretended that he was both surprised and indifferent, hoping she wouldn’t keep pressing him. As if! This was Penny, after all.
“I’m not sure how to describe it.” She rested her elbow on the table and cupped her chin in her palm the same way Katie did when she was mentally puzzling over something. “It’s the sort of look that says I’ll do my best at this or die trying. Sort of like that.” She pondered his face with a curiosity that wasn’t going away soon. “Are you having problems with this job, Rick?”
“No.” Which actually meant not yet.
“But you expect some.” Penny was so intuitive.
“I anticipate problems with every job,” he temporized. Maybe he could still head her off. “Throughout construction I keep checking everything, sometimes twice, to make sure nothing goes wrong. I don’t want children hurt in any of my structures. Or anyone.” Anyone else besides Gillian, his brain added.
“No, of course you don’t.” She seemed to be mulling that over, which allowed him to change the subject.
“How are things going with Molly now?”
“Good, I guess. It’s odd.” Penny frowned. “She’s going to be a mother in a few months but she seems totally uninterested in her baby. All she talks about is getting a permanent place to stay, finishing her education, stuff like that.”
“Maybe motherhood doesn’t seem real to her yet or she doesn’t want to dwell on how she became pregnant.” Rick shrugged when Penny grimaced. “Or maybe being homeless really bothers her. Staying in the shelter can’t be easy.” He sipped his tea.
“I know it can’t. That’s why I invited her to stay with me.” She chuckled when he jerked around to stare at her in astonishment. “I have three bedrooms, Rick. Truth to tell, I wouldn’t mind the company. But Molly refused.”
“Why?” He couldn’t fathom why anyone who was homeless would refuse to stay with someone as nice as Penny.
“It has to do with her boyfriend, I think. From what she’s said, it sounds to me as if he wants them to find a place to live together. He’s telling her they need to be more independent or something like that.” Penny’s face perfectly expressed her thoughts about that. “As if being seventeen, alone and living in a shelter isn’t independent enough.”
“What does this boyfriend do?” Rick finished off his last bite of orange.
“His name is Jeff and I haven’t yet discovered that. But I doubt he has full-time employment.” Penny twisted her head to look at him in that way she had that made him catch his breath and worry. That look that said she was mentally assessing him for something.
“What?” Now why did he ask that? It would only encourage her.
“You don’t have an opening on your crew, do you?” Her inspection intensified. “Maybe if Jeff got a job…” Her voice drifted off. Her brows were raised as if in a question, only he didn’t understand what that question was.
“You’re not matchmaking again, are you, Penny?” Rick backed away when she pretend-punched his upper arm. “Well, you did it before.”
“I’m simply trying to come up with a way to help Jeff,” she clarified in an injured tone.
“Uh-huh. The same way you tried to help me?” Rick nodded and grinned, knowing he was right. Helping was what Penny did. She helped everyone, all the time, all she could. She was truly amazing.
“Tanner doesn’t have any openings at Wranglers. He said to ask you.” Her stare caught and held him, demanding a response.
“Okay.” Rick heaved a silent huff of unease at the thought of a neophyte among his practiced crew. “You can tell Molly to send Jeff to see me, but he should know up front that he’ll be a gofer and that it’s hard work, harder in the heat.”
“Thank you.” She grinned as she jumped to her feet, arms outstretched. “You’re one of the good guys, Rick. Bless your heart.”
He thought she was going to hug him, even anticipated it with a great deal of pleasure. But as if suddenly aware, Penny apparently rethought the gesture, grabbed their glasses and rushed toward the bus pan, leaving Rick wishing she’d followed through on that impulse.
Being hugged by Penny was an experience he’d often envied the kids because Penny threw her heart and soul into affection. Which reminded him of Kyle’s insistence that she wouldn’t have kids because they made her sad. Rick figured he knew Penny pretty well, enough to know that a little sadness wouldn’t stop this woman from embracing a child, any child.
Apparently it was only him she couldn’t embrace. He didn’t like that. Not at all.
Well aware that Penny took her time returning to their table, Rick noticed that when she did, her cheeks were pinker than they had been when she left and she avoided his gaze. He could have spent the afternoon looking at her but his phone chirped, interrupting that pleasure. When he read the message, Rick’s world immediately lost its shine.
He felt weighted down by the text message as they walked back to work. By contrast it seemed to Rick that Penny almost floated. She always moved gracefully yet very energetically no matter how hard she’d been working. Did nothing ever get this woman down? he wondered as he wiped his forehead.
“I have some ideas for the next cabin.” She gave him a cheeky grin when they reached the gate to the daycare. “Want to hear them over supper tonight? I’ve got some ribs in my slow cooker at home that I’d be happy to share.”
Rick decided to get his favor asked first.
“That sounds good. Thank you. We’d love to. But we’ll have to leave early. I have to make uh—er, a run to Phoenix tomorrow.” He hurried on, hoping she wouldn’t ask why and that made him feel guilty. “I don’t expect to be late, but I could be. Is it a problem if the kids stay here a little longer?”
“Of course not. That’s the whole point of Wranglers Ranch Day Care—to be here when we’re needed. But I thought you worked with a Tucson supplier. Won’t they bring in the building supplies you need?” This very smart lady would soon know all his secrets.
“Mostly they do. But this is something else. So it’s not a problem?” he repeated.
“Not at all. But if you don’t know your schedule, why don’t the twins come home with me tomorrow?” she offered with a smile. “That way you can be as late as you like and I’d have some company.”
“Like a sleepover?” Rick frowned at that idea. Since Gillian’s death he hadn’t even left the twins at his parents’ overnight because Katie and Kyle often woke with bad dreams and he didn’t want to disturb his dad’s already short nights in the busy summer.
“Exactly like a sleepover.” Excitement filled Penny’s face at the prospect. “They can stay overnight and I’ll bring them back to Wranglers Ranch in the morning. You’ll see them when you come to work.”
Penny looked so enthusiastic, Rick hated to refuse. And why should he? She’d know exactly what to do for a nightmare and it would help him mightily. Also, his absence would probably be like a holiday for the twins. In fact, he had a hunch they wouldn’t even notice he wasn’t there with Penny in charge. God had certainly done him a favor when He’d placed Penny in their path. Now if He’d only do something about the situation with Gillian’s fire.
“Rick? Would it be okay?” she asked anxiously.
“It would be wonderful and really nice of you.” Why didn’t this woman get married and have six kids of her own to love? And why did that thought make his gut clench? “I know Katie and Kyle will be ecstatic.”
“I’m just like them,” she said, gleefully rubbing her hands together. “This is going to be so much fun.” She stopped at the door and waved. “See you later.”
Rick lost his smile as he waited for Penny to enter the daycare before moving on. If only his world could be rectified so easily. But judging by the message from his lawyer, it was time to face up to his mistake, the one that had cost Gillian her life.
Too bad Penny couldn’t help him with that.
* * *
That evening after Rick and the twins had shared her supper and then left, Penny spent hours making plans for the twins’ sleepover. Rick had warned her that the two might waken in the night so she made sure there was a night-light in place and that there were plenty of treats in her cookie jar.
But at work the next day she was still trying to ensure everything would be perfect for this, her first attempt at motherhood. Penny desperately needed this sleepover to be successful because she’d decided that if she could handle this she just might be able to handle adopting a child.
“You’ve been singing all day,” Molly noted when all the children had been picked up, except for the twins. “Like a kid who’s about to get inside a candy store.”
Penny blushed and explained. “I’ve never done this before. I hope we manage okay.”
“You’ll be great. Kids are your life,” Molly said.
If only that was true.
She took the twins home, fed them and played games until bedtime. When Rick called her cell Penny felt a burst of pleasure.
“Are they sleeping yet?” he asked.
“We just finished reading a story about Jonah and the whale. Would you like to say good-night?” she asked, heart racing at the sound of his voice.
“Please.”
She pressed the speaker button then held out the phone so the twins who cuddled ear to ear could listen.
“Hi, guys,” he said in a cheery tone. “What’s up?”
“We had pie for supper, Uncle Rick.” Kyle licked his lips in remembrance. “Strawberry,” he added. “With ice cream.”
“Did you save any for me?” Rick’s voice asked over the speakerphone.
Kyle looked at her in question. “There’s some left over,” he said in an excited tone when Penny nodded.
She smiled when Rick loudly smacked his lips. The twins giggled wildly at the noise before telling him every detail about their day. When at last Katie and Kyle finished their good-nights Penny told Rick she’d call him back after she’d tucked them in.
Once that was done, she carried a cup of peppermint tea to her favorite chair in the living room and snuggled into it, a quiver inside betraying her eagerness to hear his voice again.
“Everything okay?” he asked her.
“Fine. I think they’re already asleep.” She liked that the twins were uppermost in his mind. “Did you have a successful day?”
After a very long silence he said, “I don’t know that I’d call it that. It was a long meeting. That’s why I’m driving home so late.”
“You shouldn’t be talking if you’re driving,” she worried.
“It’s hands-free. How was your day?” he asked and suddenly Penny found herself sharing her day just as the twins had, something she’d longed to do ever since her broken engagement.
“It seems so odd to me that Molly’s so uninterested in her baby. I’ve asked her questions, suggested I hold a baby shower, done everything I can do to get her to discuss the future but she doesn’t respond.” She sighed. “I don’t get it. If that was me and I was going to have a baby, I’d be talking about it nonstop.”
“Yes, but we all know you’re a little over-the-top when it comes to kids,” he teased. He was silent a moment then asked, “Do you think she might be trying to stay disinterested on purpose?”
“Why would she do that?” Trust Rick to look at it from a different perspective.
“You said before that Molly doesn’t seem interested in the baby. Maybe that’s because she doesn’t intend to keep it.”
The words pinged against Penny’s conscience like rocks hitting a wall.
“Of course,” she murmured. “That’s it. She’s been saying she doesn’t want to be a mother. She’s going to give up the baby for adoption. She doesn’t want to let herself get too close because she’s afraid she won’t be able to let go when the time comes. You’re a very smart man, Rick Granger.”
“You can say that as many times as you like,” he teased.
“So how do I help her with that?” Penny wondered aloud.
“I love that about you, Penny. You immediately jump into caregiver mode. You’ve got such a great heart.”
He loved that about her? What did that mean?
Stunned into silence, she sat there, cradling the phone, trying to make sense out of her whirling thoughts.
“Penny?”
“Yes?” She cleared her throat. “Sorry. I’m here, Rick. Just thinking.”
“About?”
Was it just her or did the conversation suddenly seem to feel very intimate?
“My life. Or lack thereof.” As she sat in her dimmed living room, the possibilities for the future expanded as Penny began to imagine her dreams coming true. She was jolted from her thoughts by Rick’s irritated voice.
“Lack? What does that mean? Come on, woman. I’m driving on this uber-busy highway from Phoenix,” Rick complained. “Don’t make me pull off so I can concentrate on squeezing an answer out of you.”
“I’m thinking that if Molly wants to give her baby up for adoption, then maybe—” Penny hesitated, suddenly uncomfortable and unsure about telling Rick.
“Maybe? Go on,” he urged.
Something inside prompted her to continue. Surely Rick would understand?
“Maybe I could adopt that baby.” There, she’d said it, and with the words came a huge rush of hope. Surely this was part of God’s plan. Maybe that was why He’d sent Molly to Wranglers Ranch.
The lengthening silence on the phone worried her. “Rick?”
“Yeah. I’m here.” There was a pregnant pause before he asked, “Is that really what you want to do, Penny?”
“Yes. I want to be a mother more than anything.” The words slid out without thought, so deeply ingrained was her desire.
“Then why don’t you have your own kids?”
Penny held her breath for a moment, hesitating, unsure of baring her heart to him. But Rick was her friend. You didn’t lie or pretend to real friends. Friends laid out the truth because a real friend was on your side. A real friend would support you no matter what.
“Is the connection bad? I can’t hear you, Penny,” Rick said a little louder. “Did you hear me? I asked why you don’t have your own kids.”
“Because I can’t,” Penny told him.
And heard only silence in response.