Lauren wasn’t sure how Gramps had talked her into having breakfast at the Point Diner. It probably had to do with her own guilt.
Yesterday, she’d felt such righteous indignation about Fisk’s history of bad behavior around kids at last year’s Santa event. She’d come home from their stop at the vendors’ market and let Gramps know that the job wasn’t panning out and that she was going to have to leave.
The thought of working with someone who could hurt kids was simply repugnant. True, he’d said he hadn’t done that, but could she believe him? It was a risk—too huge a risk.
She hugged Bonita tight against her side as they walked into the diner. Immediately, the fragrance of bacon and coffee assailed her, along with the cheerful din of morning coffee drinkers.
A moment of wistfulness overcame her. She’d hoped to stay, hoped to have the kind of small-town friend groups that might meet for breakfast at a little diner.
But if it put Bonita at risk, then no way.
Fisk was an alcoholic. She needed to find out the truth about whether he’d mistreated kids. Until she did, even living next door to him was dangerous; working for him was out of the question.
“I should be home packing,” she told Gramps as they waited to be seated. She bounced Bonita. For now, that was working to keep her content.
“This is my normal day for meeting my buddies here.” He scanned the diner. “If you’re going to be leaving, at least meet my friends.”
He sounded gloomy and depressed, and she looked over at him, concerned.
He was still perusing the place, and suddenly, his face broke out in a big smile. What was going on?
“Come on, over here,” he said, and led the way to a booth where three women sat. “Lauren, I’d like for you to meet Olivia and Kelly. They’re both teachers here in town. And this is Jodi, who’s married to Fisk’s brother Cam.”
Gramps’s buddies were three young women?
“Come sit down.” Kelly, whose baby bump made the booth a tight squeeze, patted the seat beside her. “I’m married to a Wilkins, too. Fisk’s oldest brother, Alec.”
“And I’m Olivia. Not a family member, but almost.”
Lauren forced a smile. “It’s nice to meet you all, but Bonita and I had better sit with Gramps. There’s not room for all of us here.”
Gramps held out his arms for Bonita. “You sit down,” he said to Lauren. “I’m going to show off this little lady to my friends.” He gestured toward a table of older gentlemen on the other side of the restaurant.
“But—”
He scooped Bonita into his arms. “Want to come with Gramps, sweetie?”
“Gah,” Bonita said agreeably, cuddling against his broad chest.
Lauren’s heart twisted with longing. She wanted Bonita to have a male influence and a close relationship with her great-grandfather. That part of things was working so well.
“I fooled you,” Gramps admitted to Lauren, now all smiles as he cuddled the baby. “I wanted you to meet these ladies. They can tell you everything you need to know about your new boss.” With that, he turned and made his way across the restaurant with Bonita in his arms.
Lauren stared after him, amazed. What a schemer! She’d sit with these ladies for a few minutes because it would be rude not to, but come on—of course, Fisk’s sisters-in-law would try to paint him in a positive light.
Realizing they were all looking at her, Lauren slid into the booth beside Kelly.
“And they say women are manipulative,” Jodi said, chuckling. “Your grandpa is a sweetheart, but he just pulled a number on you.”
“He definitely did.”
The waitress, whose name turned out to be Zoey, came over and took their orders. She seemed to be a good friend of these ladies, too. Was she also married to some other brother of Fisk?
After Zoey left, the other three got down to the business that Gramps had apparently prearranged with them. They raved over her cute baby, told her about their own kids and sang the praises of Holiday Point as a great place for a family.
“The elementary school is terrific,” Olivia said, then looked over at Kelly and giggled. “Of course, we’re biased. We both teach there.”
“Don’t you have to work today?” Lauren asked.
“Late start because the roads up in the mountains are icy. The rural kids’ buses need extra time in this weather.” Kelly fist-bumped Olivia. “We are not complaining. We love having the chance to hang out a little before class.”
“And I love the chance to get out of the house,” Jodi said. She turned to Lauren. “I have three little ones and I normally work at home, but my husband, Cam, agreed to stay with the boys this morning so I could come in and visit.”
“He wanted you to defend his brother to me,” Lauren said flatly. “That’s why you’re all here, I get that. But it’s not going to work.”
Their friendly faces fell.
“For sure, that’s what your grandpa was shooting for,” Olivia admitted. “But we would have wanted to welcome you to town, anyway.”
The others nodded agreement. “Holiday Point is friendly, not cliquish,” Kelly said.
Zoey came over with the coffeepot and filled everyone’s cups, assuring them that their breakfasts would be right out.
“So,” Kelly said when they were all sipping coffee, “Fisk. What do you want to know about him?”
“I don’t want to know anything,” Lauren said. She knew she was being unfriendly, and she didn’t like herself for it. But she wasn’t going to get sucked into female pressure. She had to do the right thing for Bonita.
She looked across the restaurant to check on her. Gramps had the baby on his lap and was holding court while a couple of locals stood by the table, smiling and admiring her.
“Your kiddo’s fine,” Olivia said. “And look, maybe you don’t want to know anything about Fisk, but your grandfather said that you’re going to quit working for him after one day and that you’re planning to move away. You need to know the truth before you take those steps.”
“I’ve known the Wilkins family forever,” Kelly said, taking up the story, “and they’ve definitely had troubles. The parents still do. But Alec, my husband, has been able to overcome that and he’s a wonderful man.”
Nice for you, Lauren wanted to say, and she wanted to say it in a sarcastic voice. She pressed her lips together.
“Cam, too,” Jodi said. “He’s had to do some work to overcome his temper, but he’s done that and continues to work on himself. He’s worth the risk I was so scared to take.”
“It’s great you all have happy lives with Fisk’s brothers,” Lauren said. “But I’m not looking to marry the man. I just want to get away from someone who has an alcohol problem and very possibly mistreats kids.”
“Mistreats kids?” Kelly’s voice rose to a squeak. “That’s not something Fisk would do. Not ever.”
The others nodded vigorous agreement.
Lauren’s stomach churned. How was she going to deal with this cheerleading squad for a man who kept messing up? She thought of her ex’s sister, who’d been so vehement that he was a great guy. So had his mother. Wrong, all wrong.
“Sausage-egg-cheese sandwiches for the teachers,” Zoey sang out, putting plates in front of Olivia and Kelly. “Jodi, here’s your omelet. And Lauren, two eggs over easy and wheat toast. I brought it dry, but here’s some butter and jelly.” She placed a small bowl containing individual servings of each in front of Lauren’s steaming plate.
The food did smell good, and Lauren took a couple of bites, then put down her fork. “Fisk and I went to the vendors’ market yesterday,” she said. “I was thinking he could do a woodworking display.”
“What a great idea,” Jodi said warmly.
But Olivia and Kelly looked at each other. “He showed his face there?” Olivia asked.
“He didn’t want to,” Lauren said, “but not knowing the story, I kind of insisted on it as his new office manager. It didn’t go well.”
“Oh no,” Kelly said. “They weren’t receptive?”
“Actually, the man we spoke with said he’d consider it,” Lauren admitted. “But he also talked about Fisk being a drunk Santa. And he said Fisk couldn’t be around kids. Which says to me that he’s dangerous to them, maybe even has a history of some kind of criminal behavior.”
“No way!” Olivia said. “He’s not dangerous. He was intoxicated and he definitely botched the Santa job, but he’s moved beyond that now.” She took a big bite of her breakfast sandwich.
“And he didn’t do any harm to kids, then or ever.” Kelly wiped her hands. “He’s very gentle with kids. I’d trust him around my daughter anytime.”
“His struggles were more with judgmental adults,” Olivia added.
Lauren blew out a breath. Could three nice women be entirely wrong? “Maybe I’m being judgmental myself,” she said. “I’m just very cautious where Bonita is concerned, because of...well, because of something that happened.”
The other women looked sympathetic. “I get that,” Jodi said. “I had some history that made me super cautious around Cam. But I’m so glad I overcame it.”
The other two nodded. “Same,” Olivia said. “In fact...” She studied Lauren. “I’d like to see Fisk meet someone nice and settle down. Are you single?”
Lauren nearly choked on her toast. She waved her hand, coughing. “No. No way. I don’t date.”
“Yeah, I said that, too,” Kelly said. She checked the time on her phone. “Oh, man, we’d better get over to the school. So nice to meet you, Lauren. I hope you’ll think about what we’ve said.”
“Of course, nice to meet you guys, too,” Lauren said faintly as the two teachers gathered their things, put money on the table and rushed out.
Jodi remained. “I’m sorry we triple-teamed you,” she said. “It’s just that Fisk is a good guy at heart. We all want him to stay sober and get on his feet. I know he’s overwhelmed with this new business he’s starting, and I wish we could help, but Cam and I have our hands full.”
“Thanks. I do appreciate your taking the time with me. I’ll give it some thought.” Lauren looked over at Gramps, still holding court with Bonita on his lap. “I know he wants us to stay, and if I do, I need work. I guess I just freaked out with what I heard.”
“That’s understandable.” Jodi’s phone buzzed, and she looked at it and started to gather her things. “Duty calls. But if you ever want to talk or get together, I can make it happen. We all can, but I’m sure the three of us together can be a bit much.”
That was an understatement, Lauren thought as she picked up her own things more slowly and headed toward Gramps’s table.
The truth was, it would be great to have a resting place here, at least for a while. Gramps needed her, and it was mutually beneficial, since Holiday Point was remote enough from Harrisburg that they could be shielded from all that had happened.
If she were to stay, she’d need a job. And she did enjoy helping keep a business organized. Her fingers itched to start putting those office supplies to work.
The thought of seeing Fisk again made her heart beat a little faster, too, but no way was she going to pay attention to that.
She’d give the job with Fisk a try, but she’d work hard to keep her distance.
Lauren’s presence at Fisk’s desk, even all the way across the woodworking studio, kept distracting him.
It was Thursday morning, and Fisk was thankful that Lauren was here. After she’d worked all day yesterday, his desktop was actually visible, the paperwork in organized stacks. More importantly, he had a priority list of what to work on, based on phone calls she’d been making and emails she’d sent.
Most of his customers were fine with a slight delay. It helped that she introduced herself as his office manager and took a warm but businesslike tone on her calls. She was on the phone now, and he found he enjoyed the musical sound of her voice.
He reached down to rub Nemo’s head and then focused on the bench in front of him, fitting the decorative legs to the smooth wooden top.
Lauren didn’t trust him, he could tell. Not completely. But now at least, she no longer seemed to suspect him of being some horrible criminal and a danger to children. The very idea of that shocked him. It was ridiculous. The Wilkins family was known for getting in trouble, sure, but they specialized in misdemeanors, not felonies.
The tone of Lauren’s voice changed, and Fisk realized he’d been listening to its low murmur in the background rather than turning on the music.
“Oh no, I was afraid of that,” she was saying. “It’s probably not a big deal, but I’ll come home and check on her.”
Fisk looked up in time to see her bite her lip. Then she stood. “I need to go check on Bonita,” she said. “Gramps says she’s congested and fussy.”
“Do you want me to come?”
She looked at him like he’d grown horns. “No! No, I mean, why would you come?”
He held up his hands like stop signs and stepped back. “It’s just, I was a medic in the army.”
“Oh, right. Um...”
“If you want to bring her over here so you can keep an eye on her, that’s fine. That was part of our agreement. And then, if you want me to take a look, I can.”
She nodded doubtfully, shrugged into her jacket and headed across the snowy yard between his place and her grandfather’s.
He sighed and got back to work, attaching the arms of the decorative bench. Soon, it would be ready for the stain and glossy varnish this particular customer had decided on.
He wasn’t going to win everyone over, and that was okay. His AA sponsor had discussed it with him. Some people were easy forgivers, some were more difficult, and some never forgave at all. You had no control over that; you only had control of your own behavior. Beyond that, you had to turn it over to God.
He set the bench on the sheet-covered area where he did the staining and painting, then started planning out the next project on the list, a small curio cabinet.
When Lauren came back in, he deliberately didn’t pay attention. She was the type who you had to let come to you; she didn’t like being approached or overwhelmed, especially by someone she was already wary of. More like a cat than a dog, he thought, as Nemo returned from greeting her and settled by Fisk’s side.
What had happened to her to make her that way?
He tore his eyes away from the tender sight of her settling the baby into a warm corner beside her desk. He focused on penciling in the necessary lines and circles on the light-colored beechwood.
When he turned on the jigsaw, he winced and looked over toward Lauren, worried he’d awakened the baby. Lauren smiled reassuringly and tilted her head onto prayer hands, the universal sign for “sleep.”
He went back to work. This was nice. He could focus on his carpentry, and he appreciated the companionship in his shop.
After a while, he heard something discordant. The sound got louder, and his low-key irritation shifted into concern. That baby sounded sick.
His baby. Scarlett.
Everything in him lit up with hope and joy. She was here. She wasn’t gone, she just had a cold. He could get to her, help her, soothe her hurts. He could hold her in his arms. He could—
As he started to stand, something pressed against his leg. He reached down and felt soft fur.
Nemo.
With his hand on the dog’s shaggy head, his surroundings came into focus. He realized where he was.
Not in Baltimore with Di and Scarlett.
He was in Holiday Point with Lauren and her baby. Her baby, not his. Scarlett was gone.
He sank back down, his heart breaking all over again.
Nemo jumped his front paws to rest on Fisk’s thigh and nudged his head under Fisk’s hand.
“Sorry she’s crying,” came a woman’s voice. “Are you okay?”
The words banged against each other in his head, making no sense.
“Fisk. Hey. Is everything all right?”
Nothing’s all right.
Nemo dropped to a sitting position and leaned against Fisk’s side, and he ran his hand over the dog’s back. He looked down. Dark, concerned eyes watched him steadily.
“Fisk?” It was Lauren’s voice. She was holding her baby, Bonita. “What’s going on?”
He sucked in deep breaths, digging his fingers into Nemo’s fur. Focus. Answer. “Nothing. I’m fine. How’s, uh, how’s she doing?”
Lauren pulled up a stool to sit beside him, the baby in her arms. “Do you think she’s got a fever? I couldn’t find a thermometer at Gramps’s place. I know I packed ours, but I can’t find it either.”
Fisk placed a hand on Bonita’s forehead. His heart constricted. How many times had he done the same with his own child?
“She’s got a fever, doesn’t she? I should take her to the clinic.”
Fisk was coming back to himself, enough that he could study the baby. Her face wrinkled into a frown, and she cried just a little, in a low-energy way. But her pulse was steady, and there was a slight fever at most. He asked Lauren a couple of questions about her night and her morning. “She’s warm, but not burning up,” he said. “I think she’ll be fine after some rest and fluids.”
“Do you think so? I always worry.”
“It’s common for kids to have a little bit of a fever with a cold. Let’s keep a close eye on her and we’ll see how she’s feeling later.” His heart rate was slowing back down to normal.
She nodded and swayed with the baby, calming her. “How do you know about babies, anyway, being an army medic? I wouldn’t think you’d have learned about pediatric medicine.”
Fisk didn’t want to give the real answer. “They train us for a little bit of everything. If we’re in a town or village and a child needs medical support, we have to respond.”
He didn’t mention the fact that he had a baby of his own. Used to, anyway. “I still have my medical bag. Keep it in my truck for emergencies. I can grab it and look into her ears if you want. Sometimes, an ear infection causes these symptoms.” That was something he knew as a father, not as a trained medic. It was also something concrete to do, which would help him stay in the present instead of drowning in the past. He’d learned that through past experience with this kind of episode.
“No, it’s okay,” she said, standing. “If she gets worse, maybe, but for now, you need to get back to work. You have orders to fill.”
“I have time—”
“No, you don’t. Get back to work.” She turned and headed back toward the office area.
“Yes, ma’am.” As he watched her go, he felt the corners of his mouth lifting into a smile. He’d never been the best at staying on track. Needed someone to keep him focused, and Lauren seemed tailor-made for the role.
Don’t get any ideas about her, he warned himself. You’re a mess, and you don’t deserve love and a family.
A loud knocking on the shop door provided a distraction. He started to stand, but Lauren waved him back. “I’ll take care of it,” she said, heading to the door with a sleepy-looking Bonita on her hip. “You work.”
When she opened the door, though, it was harder to stay focused, because his most difficult customer walked in. “I came to check on my project,” Mrs. Wittinger said sharply. “Now I see why there’s going to be a delay. You’re playing house in here.”
Not wanting Lauren to have to deal with the woman alone, Fisk stood and walked over. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Wittinger. I’ll prioritize it.” Who needed sleep? He’d work on it all night. Mrs. Wittinger was influential in town and at church, and he didn’t want to damage the slight good reputation he’d been building.
Lauren had walked back over toward the desk while he’d been speaking, and now, she returned with a clipboard. “Actually,” she said to Mrs. Wittinger, “you’ve been moved to the bottom of his list.”
Mrs. Wittinger’s eyes widened and her face got red. “What?”
“You didn’t pay your deposit,” Lauren explained gently. “It looks like you didn’t have money with you, but Fisk took you at your word and purchased materials for the project. You still haven’t come up with the money, so your project can’t be completed ahead of others who have paid.”
Hands on hips, Mrs. Wittinger glared from him to Lauren and back again. “I’m giving business to you. You should be grateful.”
“I am—” Fisk started to say.
“Fisk is extremely busy,” Lauren interrupted him, giving Mrs. Wittinger a stern, teacher-like frown. “We have to prioritize projects that have paid down payments.”
“Are you the so-called office manager?”
“Nothing so-called about it,” Lauren said easily. She shifted the baby to the other side and held out a hand. “Lauren Kantz. And I actually unearthed an old credit card machine, if you’d like to pay today. That would get you back on the list.”
Mrs. Wittinger’s mouth opened and closed.
Fisk felt like the expression on his own face was the same. He started to say, “Oh, it’s—” but Lauren gave him a small hand-wave, indicating he should be quiet.
He obeyed.
“Oh, fine,” Mrs. Wittinger said. “How much is it?”
“Come on over to the desk, and I’ll get you the exact figure. We can take care of the deposit, and I’ll put you back on the list.”
As they talked, Lauren charmed the older woman back into being cheerful, and Fisk smiled and got back to work.
It felt nice to have someone defend him.
Too nice.
He needed to remember that no matter how good his working relationship with Lauren became, he’d never deserve anything more. Anything personal. Anything permanent.
He rubbed Nemo’s side and the dog leaned against him, and he refocused on working hard to build furniture and rebuild his reputation in Holiday Point.