Читать книгу The Bachelor's Twins - Kathryn Springer - Страница 16

Chapter Six

“Isn’t it beautiful here, Mom?” Chloe threw her arms around Anna’s trim waist. “It looks like one of the pictures in the book you’re reading to us.”

“It is beautiful.” Anna’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes as she looked at Liam. “How long do you think it will take to get the fire ready?”

“I’m not sure.” But not nearly as long as it would take Liam to catch the trout he planned to cook on that fire. “Half an hour or so.”

“Oh...” Anna’s teeth sank into the plump curve of her lower lip. “I accidentally left my phone in the van. If something happens at work, the afternoon crew won’t be able to get in touch with me.”

“I have mine. If there’s a true emergency, your employees know where you are. They’ll call Sunni, and she’ll let us know.”

“I suppose.” Anna didn’t look reassured by Liam’s logic. “It’s just... I’m sure you didn’t plan to spend the whole day with us.”

No. He hadn’t. But that didn’t mean Liam wasn’t enjoying himself. Cassie and Chloe were more entertaining than the river otters, and their bright-eyed curiosity reminded Liam of Aiden at that age. And it was nice to see the change in Anna the farther they drifted from civilization. Her slender shoulders had softened into the relaxed pose of someone who’d started to work with the current instead of against it.

She needs a friend.

The thought was too radical to have sprung from Liam’s own mind. He’d been a believer long enough to recognize a divine nudge but still...a friend?

Anna had lived in Castle Falls all her life. She was a respected business owner who served on multiple committees at church and in the community.

Not to mention Liam had tried to be her friend once, and it hadn’t gone so well.

Mom makes jewelry after we go to bed at night.

Chloe’s voice infiltrated Liam’s thoughts.

What was that old saying? Out of the mouths of babes?

He studied Anna’s face and that’s when he saw it. The faint brushstroke of lavender shadows underneath her eyes.

After Rich died, Liam and his brothers had pitched in to help Sunni. They’d taken care of each other.

But who took care of Anna?

Anna’s mother, Nancy, spent the majority of the year in Florida with Anna’s grandmother. And for as long as Liam had lived in Castle Falls, Anna’s father hadn’t been in the picture. For a town with an efficient grapevine, Liam couldn’t even remember anyone mentioning him.

Anna worked long hours, and the muffler of her rust-pocked minivan had a plaintive, rasping cough you could hear a block away.

Another nudge.

This one Liam couldn’t ignore.

All this time he’d assumed Anna didn’t want to spend one minute longer than necessary in his company. But what if she was worried about how much those extra minutes were going to cost? And if she would be the one responsible for paying for them?

“It’s my fault we’re a little off schedule.” Liam strove to keep his tone casual. “If we go over the four hours, consider it a birthday gift from Castle Falls Outfitters.”

The flash of relief in Anna’s eyes told Liam he’d hit the proverbial nail on the head even as she started to protest.

“I can’t let you—”

“Guide,” Liam interrupted, tapping his chest. “Which means you’re stuck here until I decide it’s time to go back.”

The girls, who’d been blatantly eavesdropping on their conversation, exchanged a wide-eyed look.

Liam winked at them. “There’s another fire pit up here, but we’re going to need kindling to get a campfire going. That’s where you two come in.”

“Okay!”

Cassie and Chloe looked so excited Liam had a hunch they would find some way to connect another Sunflower pin to the mission.

“What would you like me to do?” Anna asked.

“Do you see that rock over there?” Liam pointed to a gigantic piece of sun-warmed sandstone embedded in the carpet of moss. “The one that looks like a recliner?”

A smile tugged at the corners of Anna’s lips. “Only Fred Flintstone would look at that and see a recliner.”

“That might be true,” he allowed. “But I want you to go over there, spread out one of those beach towels you brought along and sit down.”

Anna’s russet brows dove together. “Sit down?”

“And relax while the girls and I get a fire going.”

“Relax?”

Liam tamped down a smile. “I’m paraphrasing a little here, but basically the word means ‘take it easy and let someone else do the work for a change.’”

“But—”

“Guide, remember?”

* * *

Liam bent closer, so close his breath feathered against Anna’s ear and sent a shiver rocketing up her spine.

“I’ve got this, Anna.”

“Here, Mom!” Chloe bounded over with Anna’s beach towel, proving her girls didn’t miss a thing. “You can use mine.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

Feeling all kinds of self-conscious, Anna trudged over to the rock Liam had pointed out. Slightly bowl shaped with a high back and two slabs the perfect height to rest her arms, it did look a little like a recliner.

It took a minute to spread out the towel and another five to get comfortable. A task made more difficult because she was forced to remain idle while her daughters headed into the grove of trees to search for kindling.

“Cassie, Chloe...don’t go too far,” Anna called out. “Stay where I can see you!”

A shadow suddenly fell across the rock and momentarily blotted out the sun. Liam stood in front of her, holding what had to be the ugliest hat ever to grace the shelf of CJ’s Variety store. It was stained, misshapen and smelled a little like—Anna’s nose twitched—fish.

“It’s pretty bright up here. I thought you might want to cover your eyes.” Without waiting for a response, Liam plunked the hat on her head.

“I can’t see anything.” Anna peered at him through the cloud of mosquito netting that drifted over her face like a pea-green wedding veil.

“It won’t matter because your eyes will be closed.”

Liam sauntered away to start the fire, and Anna stifled a yawn. Fresh air and sunshine were a dangerous combination for a woman who logged only five or six hours of sleep a night.

She wadded up the towel underneath her head like a pillow and rolled over onto her side so she could keep an eye on the girls.

“I’m going back down and see if I can catch something to eat,” Liam announced a few minutes later. “Who wants to come with me?”

Cassie and Chloe squealed and dumped the kindling on the ground beside the fire pit, and were at his side in an instant, not the least bit afraid to take on the wall of rock they’d climbed up a few minutes ago.

Cassie and Chloe loved to play outdoors, but Anna’s childhood home, located on a quiet side street in town, boasted a yard the size of a postage stamp. Anna wasn’t ready to let the girls walk to the park alone, so most of their free time was spent in the play area Anna had fixed up in the back room of The Happy Cow or in her studio.

The twins rarely complained, but that didn’t stop the guilt from pressing hard against the scar tissue on Anna’s heart.

She’d taught the girls how to cook but never over an open flame. They visited the library on the weekends and were halfway through a book about a snowy owl named Winter, while two real-life furry acrobats named Ben and Jerry performed a few miles down the river.

Anna scooted closer to the ledge overlooking the river and stretched out on the grass so she could watch. She’d gone fishing once or twice with the church youth group as a teenager, but the boys had been more interested in catching the girls’ attention than catching trout.

The canvas vest studded with colorful lures that Liam shrugged on over his shirt told Anna he took the sport a little more seriously. He retrieved his fly rod from the canoe and walked to the edge of the water. The girls followed, squealing when the ice-cold water lapped against their bare toes.

Anna was used to their exuberant displays of enthusiasm, but Liam was probably wishing he’d taken advantage of the time alone.

Can’t you keep them quiet, Anna? How am I supposed to concentrate when they’re screeching like that?

Memories from the four years she’d been married to Ross continued to pop up like weeds, crowding Anna’s thoughts when she least expected it.

Ross had complained about the level of noise in the apartment, but every sound the twins made had been music to Anna’s ears. She’d been terrified Cassie and Chloe would suffer lasting effects from being born a month premature. The girls had been tiny in size and weight, but as the months went by they hit every milestone on the development chart and in some areas, even surpassed other infants their age.

Ross hadn’t cared about any of that. He’d been too focused on his personal stats, which had fallen far short of his college coach’s expectations for Castle Falls’s star quarterback.

Somehow that had been Anna’s fault, too.

Ross had been charming and attentive while they’d dated, buying her flowers and candy and saying all the things a girl wanted to hear. And then everything had changed after they’d eloped, making Anna wonder if she’d really known him at all.

She had been too ashamed to tell anyone that her marriage had been far from perfect...and too ashamed to tell Liam he’d been right.

For the twins’ sake, she had to protect Ross’s memory. And the only way to do that was to keep her secrets.

Liam seemed like the kind of man a woman could trust, but Anna didn’t trust her judgment anymore.

She closed her eyes and felt the breeze filter through the lacy holes of the netting as the sound of Liam’s husky laughter rolled over her.

The next thing she knew, the girls were screaming.