Driftwood Lane (Nantucket #4)(10)

“Good memory.”

Strike two. Detail-oriented people got the job done right, in her experience. He’d be lucky if he remembered every project. The thought comforted her as she took him upstairs, pointing out the missing banister, the switch in the bathroom, and the corridor that needed a doorway.

“I’d like to keep the business going while repairs are being made.” She didn’t know why she said that. He was not getting the job.

“I’ll work around your schedule,” he said when they were descending the main staircase. “What are your plans for the place?”

That information was given on a need-to-know basis, and he didn’t need to know. “Just getting the place up to code.”

She went to the front door and pulled it, eager to see the back of him. When she turned, she found herself wishing she’d worn higher heels. It didn’t help that the man didn’t seem to have a regard for personal space.

Meridith cleared her throat. “Well, get back with me and let me know how much we’re looking at.”

He nodded. “Will do.”

She closed the door and loosened the clipboard from the clutches of her cramped arms. Removing the pen from the clamp, she followed the list of contractors down to the words Comfort Heating and Plumbing and scratched through it with a dark, deep line.





Six

Jake set the flowers on the mound of dirt beside a collection of clusters in varying stages of decay. A breeze ruffled the cellophane and carried the tang of salt and the earthy smell of freshly turned dirt.

It hadn’t seemed real until two minutes ago when he’d found T. J.’s and Eva’s fresh gravesites at the foot of a barren tree. She really was gone. His beautiful, sweet, funny sister. He would never again walk into one of her warm hugs or pester her until she smacked him on the arm. She would never serve him up a platter of eggs and bacon and tease him about his bottomless stomach. His eyes burned and he clenched his jaw, fighting the emotion.

They were in a better place now. He could be thankful for that. Eva had never been shy about her faith. He stared at the clusters of browning flowers, a tangible reminder of the time that had passed since their deaths, and a hollow spot formed inside.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” he said.

The kids had been Eva’s world. If she were watching from heaven these past weeks, he was sure she was screaming for him to get his roaming butt back to Nantucket and see to the kids.

But she and T. J. had left Meridith in charge. The realization was a sucker punch. They’d thought he wouldn’t want to be saddled with three kids, that he wouldn’t rearrange his life for them, that he was too unsettled.

Maybe it was true. It wasn’t something he could’ve seen himself doing before. But now . . . now he was the kids’ only lifeline. He couldn’t turn his back on them.

He was certain Eva never dreamed it would come to this. How often were kids orphaned these days? He felt a sense of déjà vu.

But the unthinkable had happened. And now that woman had legal guardianship of his niece and nephews. His chest expanded and deflated rapidly.

He reviewed the time he’d spent with Meridith that morning. Why was she having all the work done on Summer Place? Was she going to sell it and move the kids away? Away from their home, their school, their friends? The poor kids wouldn’t know what hit them. Was she even capable of making rational decisions?

He stared at the freshly turned earth. Those kids weren’t going to suffer more than they already had. Not on his watch. And he sure wasn’t going to stand by while this stranger stripped them of everything familiar and subjected them to God knows what.

“I’ll take care of them, Eva. I promise.” He swallowed over the lump in his throat, backing away.

When he turned toward the road, he checked his watch. He had just enough time to shower and call Wyatt at Comfort Heating and Plumbing before the kids’ school dismissed.

Jake leaned his elbow out his truck window, watching the front doors of the school as if he could will them to open and produce his niece and nephews. Now that his plan was in motion he was impatient to proceed.

A line of yellow buses snaked along the drive waiting for kids. Would he have time to explain? Was it too much to expect from them, especially young Benny?

But he had to do it. The opportunity couldn’t be coincidental. It was almost as if Eva were orchestrating it from heaven. He wasn’t going to blow it.

He hopped from the truck and went to stand behind the nearest tree. He was grateful he had the pickup, but he missed his cycle. He’d called Levi from his loft, and the man had already arranged shipment.

A faint bell trilled, and Jake took two automatic strides closer to the front door. He had to be careful. It wouldn’t do to be recognized by anyone but the kids. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and waited, praying they wouldn’t be the last stragglers.

Finally he saw Noelle in a pack of giggling girls. He put his fingers between his lips and blew. The piercing whistle all but disappeared on the wind, but Noelle stopped, scanning the yard, the pack of girls leaving her behind.

He knew the instant she saw him. She went still, her face broke into a smile. And then she was running.

She was in his arms ten heartbeats later, squeezing, crying, “Uncle J!” Her sobs caught him in the gut.

He wrapped his arms around her little blonde head. “I’m here, baby. I’m here.”