Lakeside Cottage. Susan WiggsЧитать онлайн книгу.
story on the Internet,” Callie said. “Millennium Commune, look it up.”
“I don’t have Internet service here. If I need to go online, I have to drive to the library in Port Angeles.”
“Whatever. I’ve been straight with you.” She looked out the window as she spoke.
There were still secrets concealed within Callie, Kate was sure of it. She studied Callie’s profile. The girl was quite pretty, though that wasn’t immediately apparent thanks to the acne and some dark patches on her skin where she’d probably forgotten to wash. Her hair needed a trim, and the shapeless sweatpants and old Big Sur Folk Festival T-shirt didn’t flatter her heavyset figure. Yet when the sunlight from the windows outlined the tender curve of her cheek, Kate saw a different person sitting there, a girl who was still a child no matter what the calendar said.
The protective instinct rose inside Kate, stronger now, urging her toward a leap of faith. She knew she had to give this girl a chance.
“Would you like to stay in the guest suite?” she heard herself saying. Back in the early days of the lakeside cottage, the first Livingstons had traveled with a housekeeper and cook, who had occupied the small bedroom and washroom off the main floor. Later generations used it to accommodate visitors, giving them more privacy than the upstairs rooms.
Callie narrowed her eyes. “What’s the catch?”
“There’s no catch. You need a place to stay, I have tons of room here, so—”
“I’d better not.” She stared at the braided rug on the floor.
“You’re going to run out of options,” Kate pointed out. “In the off-season, plenty of houses are vacant, but now that summer’s here, everything will change.”
“I’ve got camping gear.”
“I’ve got a six-bedroom house.”
“Why?” Callie asked. “There’s got to be a catch.”
“No catch, like I promised. You said you’ve been straight with me. You’ve had a rough time of it. Why not stay here where you’re safe?”
She snorted softly, a sound of bitter mirth.
“Is something funny?” asked Kate.
Callie shook her head. “I’ll stay tonight. After that, we’ll see.”
Don’t do me any favors, Kate thought. She reminded herself that if this girl’s story was even partially true, she’d lived a nightmare. She didn’t take Callie’s reluctance personally, though. Giving her a room here was the right thing to do. “I’ll call Mrs. Newman and let her know you’ll be staying with us.”
The girl looked amazed, her expression that of a starvation victim facing her first plate of food.
“It’ll be all right,” Kate said softly. “You’ll see.”
Callie sat very quiet and still for a few moments, and Kate suspected that gestures like this were rare in her life.
“You expecting someone?” Callie got up and went to the window.
Kate heard the crackle of tires over gravel, then the sound of a car door slamming. Bandit bugled his usual greeting.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“A really hot guy. He your boyfriend?”
For some reason, the suggestion brought a flush to Kate’s cheeks as she joined Callie at the window. “The guy who lives down the road. Come and meet him.”
Six
When Kate and Callie went out into the yard, Aaron was running circles around JD, talking a mile a minute. JD looked a bit discomfited by the boy’s enthusiasm. Possibly he was already regretting having stopped by.
Seeing Aaron’s efforts to get the man’s attention, Kate felt a familiar pang. Aaron wanted a father in the worst way. He always had. As a toddler, he sometimes tried to wander off in the mall or at a baseball game, and she’d catch him trying to follow random men around, imprinted like a duck.
The way he emulated the stranger suggested just a hint of hero worship. As far as Kate could tell, JD was Aaron’s ideal in faded work pants and Wolverine boots. He had a pickup truck and a chain saw. What more could a boy want?
She caught herself staring at his shoulders. They were broad without being bulky, and he moved with a certain athletic ease, suggesting a natural fitness rather than some kind of intensive training. There was something about JD. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. His careless choice of clothes suggested a lack of vanity, yet he bore himself with a curious dignity.
“Hello,” she called, motioning for Callie to join her. “How is the victim?”
JD turned to her, and her heart flipped over. It was crazy, he wasn’t her type at all, but she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Okay, she thought, studying his hair, so it wasn’t a mullet. Just long hair, and like Brad Pitt’s in his best movies.
“The volunteers at the wildlife rehab place think he’ll make a recovery.” He indicated his truck. “I washed out your cooler.”
“Thanks. JD, this is Callie Evans. She’s going to be staying with us.”
Aaron’s eyebrows lifted almost comically, but he made no comment.
“Nice to meet you,” he said.
Callie blushed and looked bashful. Kate wondered if, given her background, the girl had issues with men.
“JD, you want to check out the dock?” Aaron had a fascination with the dock and the water. “You, too, Callie.”
“Sure,” she said. “Is it deep enough to dive off the end?”
“Yep. My cousins used to dive off it all the time.”
“What about you?”
“Nope.” Aaron’s cheeks reddened, but he didn’t explain further. Kate suspected he couldn’t. He didn’t have the vocabulary to put his emotions into words. Maybe, she thought, just maybe this would be the summer he’d finally swim.
Callie gave the dog a wide berth. “A kayak,” she said, lifting the tarp that covered a long, narrow boat. “You ever go out in it?”
“All the time,” Aaron said, clearly loving the attention. “It’s a two-man, see?”
Despite his refusal to learn to swim, he loved boats and always had. The ferries of Puget Sound, a Zodiac raft, anything that would float appealed to him, bringing him close to the thing he dreaded.
“Maybe we could take it out,” Aaron suggested.
“Of course we’ll take it out,” Kate assured him. She was determined for this to be a fun summer for him even though his cousins wouldn’t be around.
Aaron showed off the kayak, which had been around since powerboats had been banned from the lake years before. Kate stood back and watched him, this boy whose teachers said he was a poor student with poor skills of self-control, as he effortlessly went through the attributes of the boat.
They had never met two strangers in one day, Kate reflected. And certainly they’d never encountered a teenage runaway and a quiet but unexpectedly interesting guy. Now she watched him next to her son, and he was patient and respectful in a way that appealed to her deeply.
Most men she met lost interest as soon as they discovered she had a child, or as soon as they discovered Aaron’s rambunctious nature. So far, this one seemed to be all right with her son’s constant chattering. He seemed to be sensitive to Callie, too, Kate noticed. He gave the girl plenty of space, didn’t ask her a lot of questions.
A sensitive diamond in the rough. Right here on the shores of Lake Crescent. Who knew?
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