Harvest Moon (Virgin River #15)(52)

“I hear that happens. And there’s another thing—holidays are coming up. I’d like to spend them with you, but I think for Thanksgiving I’d better take Courtney home to my family in Idaho—a visit before Spike comes to live with us. She hasn’t seen them in a long time, and I’ll be honest, I’m anxious for them to see her looking normal. I’d like to take you with me, but I’m afraid it’s too soon…”

“I understand, Lief. I’m a big girl.”

“You might be the best thing that’s happened to me in a long, long time. Thank you for understanding.”

“Of course I understand. Now, since you’re going to be unavailable most of the time, take me back to bed and be the best thing that’s happened to me in about an hour.”

“My pleasure,” he said, standing and reaching for her hand.

Life felt brand-new to Kelly. Like a couple of bad kids, they stole moments alone at Lief’s house while Courtney was in school or at her friend’s house. They hadn’t scored another whole night together, but there was no mistaking a new glow in his eyes and the satisfied flush on her cheeks.

Time in the kitchen was much more pleasurable for Kelly during the November wet and cold. She kept the kitchen hearth blazing and the stove or ovens running. The county health inspector had visited, passed her with flying colors, and now it was just down to paperwork—her official permits would arrive by mail soon. She had stacked crates of her specialty sauces, relishes and chutneys in the unfurnished dining room, and now, while it drizzled outside, she was indulging her favorite pastime of baking breads and rolls, some of which she would give away and some that would be frozen.

Colin had her labels printed for her, and she added business cards to the supplies. Jillian, a former PR executive, put together a four-color brochure, and Kelly set about the task of making a list of people she could send some complimentary jars to. There were about a dozen stores and delis in the general area that she would hand-deliver her goods to. There were also shops and restaurants in the Bay Area where she was a known chef. She thought they would be receptive to the gift and might even wish to order more. While her bread baked, she boxed up packages for delivery or shipping.

During this time of year, Virgin River exploded with duck hunters, and one of them was Lief Holbrook. He wanted to go out a couple of times with Muriel and Walt and had invited Courtney to come along. “Ewww,” she said. So Kelly generously offered to be Courtney’s go-to girl while Lief squatted behind a bush at river’s edge with a duck whistle in his pocket.

“It’s not like I need a babysitter,” she said indignantly.

“Of course you don’t, but you might need a ride somewhere or something to occupy your time after school. You can help me bake bread if you want to—it’s fun.”

“Whatever,” came the inevitable reply.

“Or you can watch TV or watch Colin paint or maybe even drive the garden mobile for Jillian, who works rain or shine.”

“That sounds a lot more interesting than bread,” she said.

And Kelly thought, It’s going to be a long, long courtship!

“Are you sure?” Lief whispered to her when Courtney was out of earshot.

“Maybe if I actually spend a little time alone with her, things will improve between us.”

“You do understand that it’s not about you, right?”

“Are you sure? Maybe she just doesn’t like me. I don’t claim to have any instincts about kids, especially teenagers.”

“Trust me,” he said. “It’s all about her. As much trouble as she gives me, I think it makes her nervous to think about sharing me. Plus there’s likely a little bit of her being afraid her mother will be replaced or forgotten.”

“We’ll work it out,” Kelly said, though she wasn’t all that optimistic.

“If I get lucky, do you want a duck?”

That made her smile. “You would not believe what I can do with a duck.”

On the day Kelly picked Courtney up from school and brought her out to the Victorian, it was drizzling—great weather for ducks. So Courtney wasn’t real interested in driving around in the garden mobile. She went upstairs to the sunroom to see what Colin was painting, and Kelly started on more bread—she was doing a few glazed, twisted French loaves.

She was into the kneading when Courtney came down to the kitchen. She pulled up a chair at the work island and watched.

“Want some dough?” Kelly asked.

She shrugged. “Sure. I guess.”

“I’m making a few loaves that look like a braid.” She separated some dough, sprinkled a little flour on the island in front of Courtney and handed her the dough. “When I baked bread at the restaurant, which was pretty rare for me, I could make as many as a hundred loaves. We usually had our bread delivered from our favorite bakery, but now and then we did it ourselves. I love making bread. Lots of things in the kitchen smell good, but almost nothing beats bread baking.”

The whole bread-baking thing obviously didn’t interest Courtney because she asked, “What do you like about my dad?”

Kelly’s eyes snapped up. Courtney was kneading away at her ball of dough, not looking at Kelly. “I…ah… Well, he’s a very nice man. What do you like about him?”

“Me?” Courtney asked. “Doesn’t really matter, does it? It’s just the two of us, anyway.”