Josie tried not to think about what had very nearly happened at the lake the day before. Instead, she forced herself to focus on the rest of her life in Spring Forest.
Taking everything else except what had gone down between Declan and her into consideration, this was what she had going on in North Carolina: helping with her brother’s twins, working at the animal shelter and doing a lot of baking that she distributed around town.
Well, all of that plus worrying about her daughter, but she could do that from anywhere. Although they texted frequently and talked on the phone every week or two, it had been a long time since she’d seen Hannah in person. And the fact that her daughter wasn’t coming home this summer or, most likely, the following summer as well, meant that the situation with Hannah wasn’t really a deciding factor in where Josie ended up. Hannah was so driven to get her medical degree as quickly as possible that she kept going with classes even during summer semesters. Because of that, there really was no reason for her to go back to Florida at all.
If she wanted more to keep her occupied, her catering business could easily be restarted anywhere—like here. Shannon had given her the business card she had gotten from the woman who ran the coffee shop. When Josie had called the woman to thank her for the compliments she had relayed to Shannon, the coffee shop owner made it clear that those were not just empty words. She had really enjoyed the biscottis and she was very serious about selling the chocolate baked goods in her shop.
“You bake them and I’ll sell them” were the woman’s exact parting words.
Josie felt more needed here in Spring Forest than she had in the last year she had spent in Florida. Both her mother and her sister were busy running their business, so they didn’t need her on the premises.
As for Declan...well, what had happened between them yesterday hadn’t exactly been a deal breaker, she thought now with a smile. That little episode actually came under the heading of “we’ll see.”
Yes, Josie admitted, she was older than the horse breeder, but then she wasn’t looking for marriage or anything even remotely like that. Realistically, a little companionship right about now wasn’t all that bad an idea, Josie realized.
And even that might not actually happen, she told herself. Declan had kissed her and she had kissed him back. That didn’t exactly constitute an earth-shaking event or the start of an ongoing relationship. For all she knew, this “we’ll see thing” between them could very well go nowhere. It certainly wasn’t a reason for her not to consider relocating permanently to Spring Forest.
However, the possibility that arose from that encounter was definitely an idea, she told herself, to keep on the front burner.
For now, she would continue doing what needed to be done. That included helping out at the shelter, which also meant bringing Shannon with her whenever the girl was available and wanted to come.
Under that same heading she included not just helping out with the twins, but gathering as much useful information as she could find that might help Grant and Rebekah to capably raise the twins.
From where she stood, she and her brother and sister-in-law could stand to avail themselves of as much information as was out there.
So when Bethany, the newly appointed director of the animal shelter, had suggested that she accompany Bethany to one of the Working Parents get-togethers that was being held, Josie agreed wholeheartedly. She knew that it would be difficult for either Grant or Rebekah to get away to attend, so she willingly went in their place and promised to take notes.
In Josie’s opinion, the shelter director was the most “together” woman she had ever encountered and she gladly took the woman up on her suggestion.
Still, Josie did have some concerns. “Are you sure no one will mind my attending this gathering?” she asked as Bethany drove them over to the meeting. “I’m not even married anymore.”
“No, but you are helping take care of twins,” Bethany pointed out. “The sort of knowledge you can pick up at the meeting will definitely come in very handy. Remember, you’re not just doing this for yourself, you’re doing it for Grant and Rebekah, not to mention Lucas and Lily,” the woman added.
Put that way, Josie couldn’t very well disagree with the director.
She happily attended the meeting.
Josie found the get-together very informative, but what she really enjoyed was seeing the various “survivors” of what she thought of as “the twin invasion.” What she also noticed was that the people at the meeting were not all couples.
“C’mon,” Bethany coaxed once the meeting was over, “I want to introduce you to Ian Parson.”
Hooking her arm through Josie’s, Bethany drew her best shelter volunteer over toward a slightly frazzled and exhausted-looking young father. The brown-haired, brown-eyed man was holding on to twins that looked to be approximately three years of age. Both girls, one who looked withdrawn and one who gave the impression that she was a regular live wire.
“Ian,” Bethany greeted the young man, “I’d like you to meet Josie Whitaker.”
The athletically built father turned toward the woman he had just been introduced to. Since each of his hands was attached to one of the twins, he could only nod his head by way of a greeting.
“Hello, sorry my hands are a little occupied,” he said. There was a note of wistful envy in his voice. He clearly loved his twins, but one way or another, they appeared to definitely be a handful for him.
“It’s okay. I’m used to the way twins take up both hands,” she explained. “I spend a lot of time looking after my twin niece and nephew.”
“Brave lady,” Ian commented. “We’ll be leaving in a few minutes, Abby,” he said to his more rambunctious daughter. “Calm down.” He looked back to Josie. “What do your brother and sister-in-law have?” he asked, struggling to keep Abby still.
The other little girl, Josie couldn’t help noticing, didn’t give the impression that she was listening at all. She stood gazing off at the people leaving their seats.
“Lucas and Lily. A boy and a girl,” Josie added after the fact.
“You might think I have a matched set,” Ian told her needlessly. “But their personalities are worlds apart,” he added, looking at Bethany. “As you can tell, one daughter is very outgoing while the other is almost terminally shy. Right now, I’m hoping that they wind up rubbing off on one another at least a little,” Ian confided.
The squirmy one had enough energy for two people, Josie thought. “Does it get any easier with time?” she wanted to know.
“Sure,” he answered without any conviction. “People tell me that’ll happen in another twenty-five years or so, but then another whole new set of problems will probably settle in. My advice to your brother and sister-in-law is to take it one day at a time,” Ian told her. “Getting through a whole day in one piece is an accomplishment in itself. The only thing I managed to learn in all this time,” Ian confided to the two women, “is that one and one do not make two. It makes a crowd. Tell them the sooner they get used to that, the better.”
“Oh, you know you wouldn’t trade places with anyone else for the world,” Bethany told him.
“You’re right,” Ian agreed. “But that’s because by the end of the day, between my engineering job and the twins, I’m too worn out to put one foot in front of the other to get away, so trading places is completely out of the question.”
The man made it sound as if it was just him tackling the situation, Josie thought. That didn’t seem right to her.
“Is your wife able to spend any time with the twins?” she asked.
The moment she began to ask the question, Josie could see Bethany shaking her head at her, mouthing the words Don’t ask him about his wife. But it was obviously too late.
The look on Ian’s face almost ripped her heart out. She had never seen that much sadness in a human being before.
“My wife, Serena, got sick soon after the twins were born,” he told her. “She died when they were eighteen months old. My mother-in-law is helping out for the moment while I’m working.” Reflecting on what he had just said, he added, “Except that she criticizes everything I do.” Ian flushed. “That had to sound ungrateful,” he realized. “I guess I shouldn’t have said that,” the twins’ father apologized.
“I’m very sorry—for your loss and for the criticism you’ve had to put up with,” Josie said, remembering what she had had to put up with when her ex-husband decided to take off. There were people she knew who just assumed he had left because of something she had done. “Sometimes people who mean well don’t know how to express themselves,” she told him, hoping that would comfort him a little.
“I suppose you’re right,” Ian replied.
Maybe it was her imagination, but she didn’t think that he sounded all that convinced.
“Well, thanks for talking to me,” Josie said, offering Ian a smile as she and Bethany began to leave.
Ian nodded, although his attention was already focused back on his twins. “Don’t mention it,” he murmured, going in the opposite direction.
“That poor man,” Josie sympathized.
Bethany nodded. “I know. I suppose that just goes to show you that there’s always someone out there who’s even worse off than you think you are,” the director said, speaking in general terms.
“I’ll say,” Josie wholeheartedly agreed. Her sympathy had been aroused. She felt awful for the man. “Do you know what his wife died of?” she asked Bethany.
“Cancer,” the woman told her simply. “Serena thought she was just exhausted all the time because having the twins took so much out of her. By the time they felt that she should see a doctor in case it turned out to be something else, it was already too late.” Bethany pressed her lips together.
“How awful,” Josie cried, meaning the words from the very bottom of her soul. “Maybe I should suggest that Grant and Rebekah get together with Ian and his twins. It might be good for all of them,” she speculated, thinking out loud.
“That sounds like a really good idea,” Bethany replied. “Ian could certainly use the company. Right now, that poor man is working himself to death—if he doesn’t wind up expiring from a broken heart.”
It was Rebekah who noticed that despite being busy taking care of the twins and working at the animal shelter with Shannon, as well as doing plenty of baking and keeping up with what was now an occasional riding lesson with Declan, Josie didn’t seem quite as happy as usual.
Part of her felt as if she shouldn’t be butting in, but then, family was family and Josie hadn’t sat on the sidelines when she’d felt that they needed her. She had volunteered her services before they’d ever asked for her help.
“Is anything wrong, Josie?” Rebekah asked her sister-in-law after putting her twins down for a nap. When Josie looked at her quizzically, Rebekah said, “You look a little down lately.”
Josie was about to shrug off the question, but then decided that she had always been honest with her brother and sister-in-law and that now wasn’t the time to suddenly shift gears.
“Well, I realized that you and Grant are getting things more under control these days, taking care of the twins and all—which is great, I’m really happy for you,” she added quickly. “But Bethany has been officially installed as the permanent shelter director, which means there’s no pressure for you to go back, so it doesn’t seem as if I’m all that necessary any more. Maybe there’s no longer any real urgent need for me to stick around town. I suppose I could always just go back to Florida,” Josie said.
The thought left her less than happy. She frowned, looking over at her sister-in-law. “But to be totally honest, the thought of leaving here does make me feel extremely sad,” Josie admitted.
Rebekah sat down next to her sister-in-law. “Grant and I were just talking about how great it was to have you so close by. You’re like our own personal guardian angel,” she told her. She leaned in closer to Josie as if the closeness emphasized her point. “You know you are more than welcome to stay in that apartment over the garage for as long as you want.
“Longer,” she emphasized the next moment. “I can’t think of anything better than to have the twins grow up having their aunt Josie around, looking after them, teaching them things, playing with them. If you want to go,” Rebekah told her, “we won’t stand in your way. But if you don’t have your heart set on leaving, we would love to have you stay here with us.”
Josie offered her sister-in-law a wide smile. “I guess I’ll stay then.”
The latter all but squealed as she hugged Josie. “Wonderful!” she exclaimed happily, honestly relieved to have her sister-in-law agreeing to remain—for so many reasons.
Josie was definitely happy to have her life fall into place this way. For the time being, she stopped worrying if she should stay or leave.
In this frame of mind, she swung by Declan’s ranch the following afternoon to pick Shannon up before going to the animal shelter.
Shannon couldn’t wait to go.
As was her habit, Josie had prepared a late lunch to take with her for some of the volunteers working at the shelter.
Dropping Shannon off so the girl could work with some of the shyer dogs, Josie brought in the lunches and distributed them. Once that was done, she went to see Bethany in her office. She was looking forward to spending a little time just talking to the woman before she went back to help Shannon with the dogs.
But things didn’t quite work out the way she had hoped.
Josie found the director in her office looking very upset. Her usually smooth brow was furrowed as she sat at her desk looking over a spreadsheet that was laid out in front of her.
Considering how upbeat the woman normally was, seeing her looking this way was something quite unusual and unsettling in Josie’s opinion.
Even though the door was open, Josie didn’t venture in. Instead she knocked lightly on the door jamb. When Bethany didn’t look up, Josie knocked again, a little louder this time.
Blinking, Bethany seemed to snap out of her mental reverie. Looking up, she seemed to see Josie for the first time.
“I’m sorry,” the woman apologized. “Were you standing there long?”
“Not long,” Josie brushed off. “But I did knock,” she pointed out. “You didn’t seem to hear me.” She entered, drawing closer to the director. The woman did look upset. “Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing a wheelbarrow full of money couldn’t fix,” the director quipped sadly.
“I think we’re all in that boat,” Josie said, placing the lunch she had prepared for the shelter director in front of her. “Could you be a little more specific?” she requested.
Josie really wanted to help, but to do that, she needed to understand what the actual problem was.
“Well, to start with, there are the four German shepherds from that backyard breeding operation—they were really sick,” Bethany said, sifting through a pile of papers that consisted of various medical bills that the four dogs had incurred.
Josie nodded. “I remember. I was here when they were brought in,” she reminded the woman.
“Three of those dogs are now recovering,” Bethany told her. “We’ll be able to move them into the Pets for Vets program.” She sighed, looking at another bill. “All of them except for Jedidiah,” she said.
“He’s not doing well?” Josie asked sympathetically.
Bethany shook her head. “No. He’s still recovering from pneumonia and the poor thing is still pretty weak,” the director said. “But Jedidiah isn’t the only problem.”
Josie studied the director’s face. She didn’t look happy. “I take it there’s more?” Josie asked. Bethany nodded her head but didn’t share any more details. “What is it?” Josie pressed the director.
Maybe if she talked about it, some new possibility would occur to her, Bethany thought.
“Well, we also took in a lot of puppies, all of who need to be fed and taken care of. Money is flowing out like water, but there isn’t much flowing back in. Donations are down,” she said, sighing. “And, frankly, I’m not sure what to do.”
“I’m guessing that bank robbery is out,” Josie wisecracked.
Bethany’s eyes met hers. Her smile was incredibly sad. “I’m afraid so.”
“Well, there’s got to be something we can do,” Josie told the director with determination. “Let me think about it for a little while. I’ll let you know if I come up with something,” she said.
Bethany laughed sadly under her breath. “I’d appreciate it,” she said, getting back to the budget she had drawn up. It didn’t look any better now than when she had initially filled in the figures.
“In the meantime, you need to keep your strength up,” Josie told her, pushing the lunch closer to the woman. “Eat!” she ordered just before she walked out.