AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Better.” Her lips half curved. “Sorry you had to witness my emotional train wreck.”
“Seems like that was a crash that needed to happen.”
“Maybe.” Sarah pointed to the carafe. “Do you want a coffee? It should still be warm.”
“Why not?”
Dan leaned against the dining table as she flitted about, checking if he wanted milk and sugar. She seemed different today—happier, although clearly self-conscious, avoiding his eyes. As she passed the mug to him, he noticed she’d moved the ring from her left hand to her right. Huh. Yesterday reallyhadhelped if moving the ring was any indication.
“Want something to eat? Ange made these earlier.” Sarah motioned to a plate of macadamia and white chocolate cookies.
“They’re my favorite.” He devoured one, the rich, buttery cookie melting in his mouth, then picked up the plate and joined the others out on the deck. “So, what are you all up to today?”
“We’ve got branches to clean up.” John sipped his coffee. “Then Ange and I are heading to Toronto to see Doris Easterbrook in ICU. We’ll be back in a few days.”
“Tell Doris we’re praying for her.”Mental note: send flowers.“I can help with the branches and stuff. I’ve got some down as well.” He glanced over at Sarah, who’d finished her tea. “You going too?”
Her gaze met his. “I’m staying.”
“Well, if you need anything, you know where I’ll be.”
“Thanks.”
* * *
Sarah watched,hands on ears, as Dan used a chainsaw to rip through the last of the bigger branches felled by the storm. They’d waved goodbye to John and Ange hours ago, then spent the time working as Dan turned into Action Man, finishing cleaning up John and Ange’s yard, then his, before chopping up weathered logs for kindling.
Well, he’d worked. She’d attempted to look busy stacking wood, but it was hard not to stare. Growing up in a tropical forest, she’d seen her father chop wood. And she vaguely recalled Stephen using an axe on the mission trip when they’d first met. But she didn’t remember either wielding an axe quite like Dan did. There was something so fiercely masculine about it. Of course, women could chop wood, but they’d never look like Mr. Wilderness. Dan looked so strong. Her lips twisted. No way would she ever be let near an axe—that was an amputation waiting to happen.
She was still smiling about it later when they’d finished and were drinking tall glasses of iced water on the back deck of the cottage. Dan shifted his gaze from the lake to study her again. She’d noticed his glances a few times today.
“You seem happier.”
She paused. Happiness was something she’d not expected to feel again. And while she wasn’t exactlyhappy, she’d concede something like… “More accepting, maybe.”
“Acceptance is a start.” Dan glanced at her. “Maybe you need to give yourself permission to live, to feel new feelings. And not feel guilty about it.” He drained his glass of water and settled the glass with a thud. “Hey, I’m getting hungry. Want to have dinner?”
“Dinner?”
“Yeah, food.”
“I don’t know.” She hadn’t eaten alone with a man for a long time.
“It’s just a meal. I’m hungry; I need to eat.” His tan seemed to take on a reddish hue as she studied him. “Don’t worry. It’s not a date.”
“I wasn’t worried about that.”
“Just friends having dinner.”
He thought they were friends? She tried the word on for size. It felt… “Okay.”
“What do you want to eat?”
“I…I don’t cook much.”
“Apart from amazing lasagna?” He raised an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t feel like cooking. Let’s order in. But you don’t have good phone coverage down here, do you?”
She shook her head. Phone signals—and the internet—were temperamental at best.
