The Best of Us (Sullivan's Crossing #4)(68)

It stung Leigh when she’d heard Helen’s thoughts on Johnny thirteen years ago but it felt pretty good right now. “How do you see Rob?” she asked.

“I like Rob,” Helen said. “Apart from the fact that he’s not a very good planner...”

“Can you imagine what my life would be like if I’d married Johnny Holliday? I swear to heaven, I will never be that foolish again.”

“And that means?”

“I will take a long, hard look at all the facts, all the details, before I ever again consider marriage. Women have babies without husbands all the time. After all, my mother did, didn’t she?”

“Heaven help me,” Helen said.

Helen didn’t get much writing done because her brain had been hijacked by Leigh’s issues. At about four o’clock, Sully came to the porch with the leash in his hand, Beau waiting very impatiently behind him.

“You about ready to stretch your legs?” he asked.

“Yes, I’d better,” Helen said, closing up her laptop. She slipped into her light sweater, put her laptop and duffel in the kitchen and followed Sully onto the trail.

“Did you get some good murdering done today?” he asked her.

“Unfortunately, no,” she said. “I have some personal issues clogging up my brain. Can you keep a secret?”

“I have on occasion, but I’ll be honest, people say I’m terrible at it,” Sully said.

“If it’s very important, do you think you could do it?”

“I think I could,” he said. “For you.”

“Leigh is pregnant,” she said.

“Ah. So Rob hit pay dirt, did he?”

“You know about Rob?”

Sully chuckled. “Helen, that’s no secret. Everyone knows Rob is sweet on Leigh.”

“Does everyone know about us?” she asked.

“I reckon, even if they might be surprised by some of the details.”

“Well, I’ve never lived in a town this small and transparent,” she said. “Leigh has barely found out about the baby so you can’t tell. She mentioned Rob made an offer to shack up. Imagine. Living with her boyfriend, his sons, and of course she’d include me. All we need now is a dog.”

“You’re going to move in with Rob?” he asked.

“No, I am not,” she said. “Sharing a home with Leigh is one thing—we’ve done so all her life and we have a lot of respect for each other’s personal space. If she were at all considerate, she’d have gotten knocked up in San Diego.”

“You don’t like it here?” Sully asked.

“There are many things I love about this place, you know that. The lake, the garden, you... But, Sully, what about winter? I’ve been determined to escape winter!”

He reached for her hand. “We don’t have such hard winters,” he said. “Wait till you see—it’s beautiful. We have a lot of snow on the slopes and the lake freezes. I have firewood delivered and I have all these men in the family to take care of shoveling. I did the plowing last year. Only needed to a few times but I decided I’m done with that. I’m going to hire it done. We’ve had heavy snow once in a while but I can’t remember the last blizzard. I make soup and freeze it.”

“What if you lose power out here?” she asked.

“I have a generator, but the fireplace keeps me warm. The generator is for lights and appliances. I wouldn’t want that soup to melt,” he said, laughing.

“You’re so isolated,” she said.

“I know,” he said. “Perfect, isn’t it? You know the only part of winter I can’t abide? March, that’s what. When the snowpack starts to melt, the camp gets so sloppy. I know how to step around the mud but you think that fool dog of mine has figured that out? Hell, no. He thinks it’s for rolling in. Helen, when do you suppose that baby’s coming?”

“I guess January or February.”

“Shew. They didn’t waste any time.”

“They’re new as a couple but I think she loves him. And I know he loves her.”

“How can you tell?”

“He gets a really sappy look on his face when he talks about her or them or anything to do with them being a couple. Like having a baby. And yet she says she’s not doing anything. She thinks it makes sense to leave things just as they are. The baby daddy will live a few blocks away and visit. Visit us? Oh my God.”

“I prolly do the same, get a sappy look when your name comes up,” Sully said, squeezing her hand. “You know, we don’t lose the Wi-Fi in winter. You could write ten books, drink hot chocolate, smell soup getting ready for you. The cabins are heated—you can invite all your friends and have a writers’ workshop in the living room. I’ll cook and clean up and stay scarce. You might as well think about it because I know you’re not going anywhere.”

“How do you know that?” she asked.

“Because you’re having a grandbaby. It might officially be a great-niece but it’s every bit a grandbaby. I didn’t think I’d ever get one and now I have a flock of ’em. I love ’em. Between you and the grands, I feel younger by the day. So why you letting Leigh being pregnant keep you from murdering people in the book?”