Читать книгу The Cottage on Juniper Ridge - Sheila Roberts - Страница 12

Chapter Four

Never be afraid to start again.

—Muriel Sterling, author of Simplicity

Garrett Armstrong was the owner of this cottage. That meant he’d be Jen’s landlord? She’d take it. No wedding ring on his left hand. She’d take him, too.

Don’t be in a rush, she warned herself. She’d been there, done that. Serge had been a big, hormone-fueled mistake and she didn’t need that kind of heartbreak again. One romantic misstep equaled a starter marriage, but two equaled no brains. She was going to be smart the next time around and pick a man who had his act together. No more falling for a pretty face.

But, oh, what a pretty face this guy had—dark eyes, square manly chin, big shoulders.

You’re here for the house. Oh, yeah. That.

“Where are you from?” he asked as they walked up the little path to the cabin.

“Seattle.”

“Where people have neighbors,” Toni added, an oh-so-unsubtle reminder that Jen was a city girl.

“I’m sure there are neighbors here somewhere,” Jen said.

“There are,” Garrett assured her. “They’re half a mile down the road.”

“Well, that’ll be handy if you want to borrow a cup of sugar,” Toni said with a sneer.

“So I’ll stock up on sugar.” Jen sent her a look that said, “Shut up already.”

She shut up, but scowled in disapproval.

“Anyway, this is only a few minutes from town,” Jen mumbled.

“You’re moving over here for...?” he asked.

A chance for my eggs to meet a nice sperm. “I’m simplifying my life,” Jen said.

He nodded. “Always a good idea.”

“Right now she’s just looking around, getting ideas,” put in Toni, and it was all Jen could do not to kick her.

Garrett the Gorgeous frowned.

Jen could hardly blame him. No doubt he had better things to do than waste his time with someone who wasn’t really interested in renting his place. Was there someone in his life he was doing those better things with? Not that she was rushing into anything. She was just wondering. And wondering wasn’t rushing.

“I’m definitely interested in renting up here,” she said, sending her sister’s mouth slipping even farther down at the corners. “Do you have cable? Wi-Fi?”

“Just got it,” he said.

“That’s great.” Jen wanted to live simply, not primitively.

Then they went inside and she came to a complete, startled stop.

“Oh,” Toni said faintly from behind her.

Oh, didn’t begin to cover it. The cottage’s inside definitely didn’t match its cute exterior. It was one level and that consisted of a great room (well, sort of great) that included a kitchen, a dining area with a rickety wooden table and four equally rickety chairs and living room furniture that no self-respecting thrift store would accept. A tiny hallway scooted past the kitchen, probably leading to the bedrooms and bathroom. The place smelled musty and Jen wrinkled her nose.

Garrett must have noticed because he said, “It’s been closed up for a while. All it needs is a good fire in the woodstove.”

The woodstove was a bonus, she had to admit. Once she imported her furniture and hung some nice curtains at the windows, the living area would look totally different. She moved toward the kitchen, half the size of the one she had at the condo. The cabinets were old and battered, but they could have a second life if she painted them white.

Nothing would make those mustard-yellow Formica counters anything but disgusting, though. Jen pushed away the image of her spiffy granite counters in the condo. Instead, she pictured herself setting out freshly baked bread, making this kitchen homey with a mason jar full of wildflowers on the counter. There was enough room there to work. She could master the art of making pies, can fruit.

Speaking of fruit... “What kind of tree is that in the front yard?” she asked.

“Apple.”

“Home-canned applesauce,” she said dreamily.

He seemed impressed. “You know how to can?”

“I’m going to learn.”

Toni was standing by the window now. “Is it my imagination or is the floor slanting over here?”

“The foundation settled,” Garrett explained.

“I’ll bet that’s what they said about the leaning tower of Pisa,” Toni muttered.

Jen started down the hall. “So, two bedrooms, right?”

“That’s right,” he said.

“One for me and one for guests. You and Wayne and the kids can come visit,” she said to Toni, who was falling in behind them.

“It might get a little crowded with four of us in one bed.”

“The sofa’s a sleeper,” said Jen’s would-be landlord.

“Mmm,” Toni responded diplomatically.

Jen knew what she was thinking. The ratty, old brown couch would have to be fumigated before she’d let her children sleep on it.

They stopped at the first bedroom, furnished with twin beds covered in ancient brown bedspreads with big orange flowers that must’ve been hanging out in there since the seventies. “I suppose this is the guest room,” Toni said, her tone of voice speaking volumes.

“It’s not bad,” Jen insisted.

“The other bedroom is here,” Garrett said, leading the way to the next room. He was beautiful to follow, broad-shouldered and tall with a stare-worthy butt.

He opened the door and Jen peeked into the room and got a pleasant surprise. Lace curtains hung at the windows. Yes, they needed washing, but they were pretty, nonetheless. There, in the middle of the room, sat a double bed with a carved headboard and a beautiful quilt, done in shades of pink. Matching oak nightstands flanked it. Against another wall stood an antique oak dresser complete with beveled mirror.

“This is so sweet,” she said.

“The bedroom set was my grandmother’s,” Garrett told her.

“Did she make the quilt?”

“As a matter of fact, she did.”

“Is she still alive?”

He shook his head. “No. But my other grandmother is. She lives here in Icicle Falls.”

“It’s important to be close to family.” Toni gave Jen a meaningful look.

“This isn’t that far from Seattle,” Jen said.

“But it’ll feel like it is if you get snowed in,” Toni retorted.

“Most of us manage to get around okay in the snow,” Garrett said.

Jen thought about how poorly she drove in the stuff. Only the year before she’d slid backward down Eleventh Avenue in Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill neighborhood after a rare snowfall. She’d been afraid to venture out in her car ever since. But it was all level around here. Surely she could handle that. Anyway, they seemed to keep the roads clear.

“This is charming,” she said, glancing around the room, which was paneled with cedar. Two pictures of flowers hung on the wall. Everything about the room said family and love. If she moved into this cottage, she was sure she’d be embraced by the warm memories haunting it. “In fact, this whole place has potential. I’ll take it.”

Her sister stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. “What she means,” Toni began.

“Is that I’ll take it,” Jen said firmly, pulling out her checkbook.

He nodded. “I’ll have to do a routine credit check.”

“No problem. My credit’s good,” Jen told him.

“Which is more than I can say for your brain,” Toni hissed as they preceded him out of the room. “What are you thinking?”

“That this place is perfect for living the simple life.”

Toni groaned.

“If you need time to decide...” Garrett said from behind them.

“Yes, she does,” Toni said even as Jen said, “No, I don’t.” They glared at each other.

Jen wrote him a check for a deposit and gave him her contact information, and he said he’d be in touch.

Then there was nothing left to do but say goodbye and go back to the car. With her disapproving sister.

“You have lost your mind,” Toni said the moment Garrett and his gorgeous behind were back inside his truck.

“That’s probably what they told the Wright brothers when they invented the airplane. Or Walt Disney when he came up with the idea for Disneyland.”

“You’re not inventing anything. And this idea isn’t practical. What if your condo doesn’t sell?”

That was an unpleasant thought. Jen pushed it resolutely away. “Then I’ll lose my deposit.”

Toni’s angry expression softened. “Jen-Jen, I’m not trying to rain on your parade. You’ve got to know that. I just don’t want to see you jump from the frying pan into the fire. I worry about you.”

That made Jen smile. Yes, her sister could be a bossy pain in the patootie. But she cared. Jen reached across the car and hugged Toni. “And I love you for it.” She drew back so they were face-to-face. “I realize this seems crazy to you, but I’ve got a feeling that it’s going to be good for me, that it’s exactly what I need. Maybe I’m wrong but I’m willing to take a chance. I can’t keep going on like I’m doing. I hate my life.”

Toni sighed. “I know. I’m worried you’re going to wind up hating it even more.”

“If this doesn’t work out, I can always move back to Seattle. And if it does work out, you can come up for the chocolate festival and stay with me,” Jen added with a grin.

“After you get those beds fumigated,” Toni said with a shudder.

* * *

The image of Jen Heath accompanied Garrett Armstrong as he drove to his mom’s to pick up his son who’d been staying with Grammy while Garrett worked his shift at the fire station. With her strawberry-blond hair and those freckles, Jen was about the cutest thing he’d seen in a long time. A woman who wanted to do old-fashioned stuff like make applesauce? Man, he didn’t know that kind of woman existed anymore.

His ex sure hadn’t been interested in anything domestic. And she’d proved it by letting Garrett be the custodial parent while she settled for having their son every other weekend.

When he’d first met Ashley, he’d found her party-girl attitude exciting. She was a huge flirt and she’d dance anywhere at the drop of a hat—the dance floor of the Red Barn, tabletops, his lap. Oh, yeah, the sex had been incredible. She was blonde, beautiful and the hottest thing he’d ever handled and he’d just had to have her. He’d rushed to marry her before anyone else could steal her away.

His dad hadn’t told him what to do since he turned eighteen, but his mother had been a different story. “That woman’s going to break your heart,” she’d cautioned. “Don’t do it.”

Of course he hadn’t listened, because he’d figured that by twenty-six he knew everything. So he and Ashley had the big blowout wedding and a honeymoon in the Caribbean that ate up all his savings and then came home to settle down in Icicle Falls. Only one of them had settled down, though. Ashley never quite got the concept of home, sweet home. She’d much preferred to make herself at home at a restaurant or club. And she’d never let Garrett’s work schedule keep her from going out. That was what girlfriends were for.

They hadn’t planned on getting pregnant but once they were, she seemed to get into parenthood. She enjoyed the baby showers and all the preparation for the baby (probably because it involved spending money). But after she had Timmy, she quickly tired of staying home being a mom. She jumped from one crazy thing to another— redecorating the house (more spending), going out with her girlfriends, taking line dancing lessons at the Red Barn (and having an affair with her dance instructor). That roll in the hay had spelled the end as far as Garrett was concerned, and that had been fine with her. According to Ashley, he was a controlling stick-in-the-mud.

Garrett liked being stuck in the mud just fine. Anything was better than the emotional roller coaster he’d ridden with Ashley for the past few years. And because they had a son, he still had to deal with her. Whenever Timmy spent the weekend at her place, he came home a handful, testing boundaries and wondering why, when Grammy babysat him, he couldn’t have pizza for breakfast.

And then there was the matter of money. Ashley seemed to think they were still married and she could hit him up anytime she needed a fresh infusion of cash.

He was already paying her a hefty support check every month as part of the divorce settlement so she could go to school and train for a career. As to what kind of career, she was still vague. Hardly surprising. Ashley seemed to be permanently stalled at the age of sixteen. He was willing to bet she cut more classes than she attended. And, of course, she wasn’t working. Why work when you could get money from your stupid ex-husband?

She always needed extra money for something. The requests ranged from books to new pans. All of Icicle Falls knew about the pans, since she’d announced in the middle of Hearth and Home that he’d left her so broke she couldn’t afford any. Right. He was the one who couldn’t afford pans. He was using some his mother had given him. The others he’d purchased at the Kindness Cupboard, the town’s thrift store.

Her latest ploy had been new clothes for Timmy. That one he wasn’t about to let her get away with. He was the custodial parent and his mom bought Timmy’s clothes. “I want to take him shopping,” Ashley had whined. “But if you can’t come up with a few bucks, I’m sure Timmy will understand. Daddy has other things to spend his money on than his son.”

“Don’t even try to pull that crap on me,” he’d growled.

But she had. As usual, in the end, he’d caved.

He was done caving now. He had to stop letting her use him as her own personal ATM. She was killing him.

It would help his bank account if he got this renter into the cottage his great-uncle had recently left him. It would also help if Ashley found some other sucker to marry. Surely there was someone in Icicle Falls stupid enough to do that. Maybe Billy Williams, whom she’d been seen with at the Red Barn. Except he wouldn’t wish Ash on his worst enemy, let alone poor old Bill Will.

“I wish you’d never met that woman,” his mother often complained.

Well, that made two of them. Between the money and the 2:00 a.m. calls when she was tipsy and “just wanted to talk,” he was paying big-time for his hormone-induced insanity.

He’d learned his lesson, though. At thirty-two he was older and wiser. He was never getting involved with a flake again. His kid needed stability, and the next woman he picked was going to be someone stable, someone who had her act together.

Like Tilda Morrison. They’d gone out a couple of times and he liked her. She was buff and tough and she wouldn’t take any shit from a kid who was misbehaving. She probably wouldn’t take any shit from a misbehaving ex-wife, either. He enjoyed playing racquetball at Bruisers with her and he appreciated her no-nonsense approach to life.

But it wasn’t Tilda he kept thinking about as he drove to his mom’s. What was the story with Jen Heath?