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“Best training there is for distance runners. How are you?”
“I am so good! My dad promised me we’d walk along the beach and then get ice cream, and I think that’s like the best two things of all, don’t you?”
Drew had finished wiping Davy down. He stood. Kimberly was looking at Addie, delighted with the girl’s enthusiasm, while Drew gazed at Josie.
A part of her hated that he knew, but when she read his look of understanding, she tried to calm her racing heart.
“Hey, Dad, do you care if I sign up for the advanced babysitting course with Callan and Tee for next weekend?” Drew’s daughter Amy had crossed over from the Gallagher side of the street. “It’s an all-day Saturday thing, and I’d kind of like to get it done before my baseball schedule goes into full swing.”
Amy had made the cut for the hardball team when she first arrived in town and had been playing with the boys ever since.
Drew looked at Kimberly. “Are you expecting to have that baby before Saturday?”
“I can’t think of anything that would make me happier,” she told him, and winked at Amy. “If I’m not here to help with the running around, Josie’s got some time off. Do you mind, Jo-Jo?”
“Not at all.”
“Jo-Jo?” Addie giggled out loud. “That’s like such a fun name, isn’t it?”
“For little kids and sassy cousins, yes.” Jacob drew closer. She’d bent to reply to Addie.
Now she straightened. “Perfect night for a walk along the beach,” Josie said.
“Our first since the weather broke,” said Jacob. “I heard this end of the lake is a major gathering spot over the summer.”
“With ice cream!” Addie fist-pumped the air.
“Stan’s Frozen Custard is the best around,” said Kimberly. “You must have just missed last summer’s season.”
“We came in on the end, but with start-up details and Addie’s schooling, it took me a couple of weeks to get acclimated,” Jacob replied. “Settling into a new project and a new place can be taxing.”
Too taxing to do fun things with a beloved child? Irritation snaked its way up Josie’s spine. “I’m sure it is.”
Drew shot her a quick look of warning. She pretended not to notice as she asked the next question. “Have you decided on a project when this one’s done?”
Jacob shook his head. “There are offers on the table. Nothing that’s jumping out at me at the moment. Once Addie’s done with school, I’ll get serious about locking something in. My daughter’s not a fan of hot, humid stretches, and while I’ve got a couple of good options in the Southwest, I think she’d be miserable down there.” He palmed her head with his already suntanned hand, and when she tipped a smile up to him, the effect was pure joy. “She must be carrying northern blood in her veins because once we got here, she took to Grace Haven like a duck takes to water.”
Breath escaped Josie.
She tried to will her heart to slow down, but it refused to listen.
Did Jacob mean that? Was he sending out feelers? Or was he simply making a fatherly comment about a cute kid?
“I don’t like things really hot, unless maybe it’s for a little while,” Addie announced to the entire group. “And I loved going sledding with my dad. It was like the best ever!” She raised a finger and pretended to underline the last three words for emphasis. “And he really, really, really liked taking me.”
“I’ve never been quite that cold or that happy in my life,” Jacob admitted, and the way he said it put Josie’s heart back in a sinus rhythm.
He loved Addie.
The sweet emotion was there in everything he said or did. Did that make her the bad guy in all of this?
How could it, when she was the one led astray? But then she remembered her driver’s education instructor, drilling into their heads that the person with the last possible chance to stop an accident from happening bears as much guilt as the person who moves in error.
If you can stop, do it. Always be willing to apply the brakes.
That’s what Mr. Bronkowski used to say as he lectured about reducing speed to save lives, and his common-sense directives had stayed with her all these years.
