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Chapter Three
Kendra rolled over to glare at the clock with a low groan. Not even five a.m. The damn nightmare had struck again, and she’d been awake for the past hour, trying to fall back asle
ep. Staring at the ceiling in the dark was getting her nowhere; she had to find something to do.
Padding into the kitchen in her bare feet and pajamas, she flipped on the light and searched the cupboards for coffee. The rest of the house had been stocked; sheets, towels, dishes and mugs, and she was not surprised to find a small sealed can of breakfast blend above the coffee pot.
She drank hers black, but still opened the fridge to see what it offered as the pot began to drip. Not much beyond some condiments. Maybe she could ask Joel for some money to buy a few groceries to tide them over until she received her first paycheck. She didn’t relish the idea of having to ask for more so soon, but she didn’t expect free meals at the main house, either.
After finding a pen and paper next to the phone, she sat at the breakfast counter to make a list of what she and Noah needed right away. Then she made a second list of things to purchase after she was paid.
Wow, what a thought. She’d never received a paycheck in her life. The money was just always there in her account—until she’d left New York. She figured Robert must have done something, because her ATM card stopped working after the first two days. And then there were the darn credit cards. She wished she would’ve thought things through a little more; not panicked so fast. If she hadn’t left a trail with the cards, maybe she and Noah wouldn’t be in such an awkward position right now.
But then again, she wasn’t sorry for having finally come here. She’d met her brother. And she liked him, liked his whole family. It brought an ache to her heart that she could’ve grown up with a big brother like Joel instead of Robert.
A resounding double knock on the back door made her jump and started her heart pounding.
Oh, God, Robert.
After a moment of blind, paralyzing panic, she realized at this point, he wouldn’t bother to knock. She took a deep breath and twisted in her stool toward the window above the kitchen sink. Unless she stood, there was no way to see who was outside. She glanced at her watch without moving to get up. Six o’clock.
Who could it be? It hadn’t been a friendly knock, more like a fist pounding. It occurred to her the most likely person to be knocking at this hour was Joel. Instead of diminishing, her anxiety grew. Had Colton told him about her stealing his wallet? Would he order them to leave now? Filled with dread, she finally rose to answer the summons.
Only, no one stood on the small porch. She looked around, then caught sight of a brown paper bag at her feet. Inside were bread, milk, eggs, butter, jam, peanut butter, and a few other essentials that she’d listed not long ago. Once again, she couldn’t believe how kind her brother and his wife were when they barely knew her and Noah. A box of Frosted Flakes made her smile. Noah would appreciate that—she didn’t usually let him have sugared cereal.
Glancing around again, her gaze halted at the pulse-jarring sight of Colton’s car over by the barn. Her gaze narrowed. He could take a few lessons from Joel.
She picked up the groceries and carried them inside to put them away. When the phone rang, the unexpected noise jarred, but this time she controlled the initial urge to go straight into panic mode.
“Hello?” she answered, her voice soft and hesitant.
“Good morning,” Joel greeted. “We saw lights on and guessed you were up; wanted to know if you and Noah would like to come over for breakfast since there’s nothing in your fridge.”
“Um, didn’t you leave the groceries on the back step just a little while ago?”
“Groceries?”
It struck her then that Joel would’ve waited for her to open the door. That left one person.
“I heard Colton’s car not too long ago, must’ve been him,” Joel guessed at the same time she did. “You’re still invited for breakfast.”
The gesture of the groceries didn’t go with the knock. Suddenly, she was too nervous to eat, knowing she’d have to face the man behind that knock in a very short while. “I appreciate it, but I usually just eat toast,” she told Joel. “I bet Noah wouldn’t mind, though. He’s not fond of my cooking.”
Joel laughed. “Send him over. Also, Cody and Dustin are back in school today, maybe Noah would like to go with them?”
“Can he do that?”
“Sure, kids do it all the time,” Joel said. “If he wants to go, he can tell us at breakfast. Send him over when he’s awake, the bus picks them up by seven forty-five.”
“Oh, he’ll go. He loves school.”
Another one of Joel’s warm chuckles came across the line. “You said that like you didn’t.”
“I didn’t,” she confirmed. “He’ll be there, though.”
“Great, I’ll see you at the barn a little later.”
She drew in a deep breath and tried to sound enthusiastic. “See you there.”
