Текст книги "The Man Must Marry"

Автор книги: Джанет Чапмен

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

“Shelbyleft Richard!” Maureen shouted, thumping her cane. “I knew that girl would come to her senses!”

Shelbywas a regular at Kent Caskets when her kids were in school, sometimes filling in when a worker was sick and sometimes just visiting. Everyone knew she was unhappy, and in their own subtle way, all had encouraged her to leave Richard.

“But why did she move in with you?” one of the women from interiors asked. “Why didn’t she kick Richard out?”

“She can’t, Mabel,” Willa explained. “That house has been in the Bates family for five generations.”

“But that means Ida Bates will have to move back home to take care of Richard,” another woman said.

“We’re going to lose our fourth for bridge.”

“Richard Bates can damn well take care of himself,” Maureen interjected. “Ida’s not about to move back to that drafty old farmhouse. She loves her apartment at Grand Point.”

Willa set her coffee mug in the dishwasher before heading for the door. “I have to go. Richard is getting back today, and he doesn’t knowShelby moved out.” She stopped in the doorway. “I promise to tell you all aboutNew York tomorrow. Try not to remodel anything else until then, would you?”

She headed down the hall and out the back door and had just made it to Jennifer’s truck when Sam called out, “Wait up, Willa. I want to talk to you.”

Willa turned to watch Sam loping toward her. She turned and eyed Jennifer’s truck. She smiled, reaching into her pocket for the keys and tossing them to Sam.

“If you want to talk to me, you’ll have to drive me home,” she said, walking around to the passenger side. “That way, you can use the truck to come back to work .” She gave him a Cheshire cat grin when he got into the driver’s seat. “Levi is a tough boss. You ruin any more of his precious wood, and he’ll have you sweeping floors with a toothbrush.”

Before she could read his intention, Sam reached over the console, took her face in his hands, and gave her a loud kiss on the mouth.

“What did you do that for?” she snapped, glancing toward the building to see if anyone was watching. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Never mind. Just don’t do it again. The voyage is over, Mr. Sinclair, and I am no longer interested.”

“That kiss was for not firing me,” he said with maddening calm, sliding the key into the ignition. Willa snorted. “Fat lot of good it would do me. Silas would just hire you back.”

“I thought you owned Kent Caskets,” he said in surprise.

“I do.”

“Then how could Payne hire me back if you fired me?”

Willa motioned toward her factory. “Do you like the color of my building?”

Sam gave her a quizzical look. “It’s gray.”

“I had the entire building painted white when I bought it, and I had the trim painted a really nice green. But then I went out of town for three days with Shel and the kids to do some shopping inPortland . When I came back, my factory was gray with blue trim.” She turned in her seat to face him. “What did you think of the lobby when you walked in this morning?”

“It looks nice. I was a bit surprised to see the reception area painted in such cheery colors. I thought the collection of antique urns was a nice touch, though.”

“Ten days ago, that lobby was deep green and brown, with gold leaf accents. And there was a beautiful bronze statue of a breaching whale. Now that’s sitting in my office suite, under a newly installed spotlight.”

Sam stared at her. “Who has the authority to sign checks on your business accounts?”

“Only me, but it doesn’t matter. If I don’t okay an expense, they simply use their own money. Or sometimes they pool their paychecks to buy whatever they think my business needs. My older workers are very well off, and a lot of them don’t have any close family to leave their estates to. So they indulge themselves by running Kent Caskets the way they want to run it.”

“That’s actually very dangerous, Willa. If one of them dies and a relative comes out of the woodwork, you could be sued for whatever your deceased worker had contributed to your business.”

“I have two retired lawyers working in sales, and they’ve made sure that can’t happen.” She shrugged.

“Kent Caskets is more about people than it is about money. And if anything, they’ve taught me that gobs of money sitting in the bank is stagnant energy. They spent their entire lives working hard to accumulate it but found it has little value in and of itself. They claim they enjoy spending their money much more than they enjoyed earning it.” She sighed. “But I think their greatest joy is doing stuff behind my back.”

“You have got to be the weirdest woman I know,” he said, more to himself than to her.

“Thank you,” she snapped, turning to face the windshield. “Let’s go.Shelby ’s waiting for me.”

“I meant that as a compliment, Willa,” he said, starting the truck. “What the—where’s the gas pedal?”

“On the left side.”

He looked down, touched the pedal, and revved the engine, then looked at her. “Why is it on the left?”

“This is the truck Abram bequeathed to Jennifer. She only has her learner’s permit, so I let her drive to school this morning, then I drove here.” She grinned smugly. “You can take her driving this afternoon. She wants to meet you anyway, to thank you in person for the truck.”

“I didn’t have anything to do with this truck.”

Willa shrugged. “She thinks it’s very nice how you Sinclair men don’t mind that your grandfather gave part of your inheritance to her. Oh, and she thinks you’re really sweet to let me keep the RoseWind without making a stink.” She fastened her seat belt, almost giddy with anticipation. “Drive. I want to be home when Richard shows up.”

“Will he cause trouble forShelby ? Maybe I should hang around your house today.”

“We don’t need you to protect us from Richard. He won’t do anything stupid. He was angry when he brought Abram down toNew York because Shel had just told him about the divorce, and he blamed me. Let’s go.”

Sam put his foot on the brake, pulled the shifting lever into drive, and pushed down on the accelerator with his left foot. Jennifer’s brand-new truck shot out of its parking space as if it had been kicked in the ass. Willa had to brace her hand on the dash when Sam slammed on the brakes and they came to an equally abrupt halt.

“Hell,” he muttered, darting a glance at the building to see if anyone was watching. He shifted in his seat and tried to reach the gas pedal with his right foot.

“I already tried that,” Willa said from behind her hand, which she was using to hold in her laughter. “It doesn’t work, because the brake pedal gets in the way. You have to use your left foot.”

He turned and glared at her.

“Switching the pedal to the left was Emmett’s idea, since Jennifer’s right foot is a prosthesis.”

“Using my right foot is so ingrained it’s automatic. How did you get to work this morning without killing anyone?”

“I actually got pretty good at it after several miles. Go ahead, give it another try.”

“You set me up,” he growled, slowly letting his right foot off the brake, easing down on the gas pedal with his left.

“Oh, like you set me up this morning? You’re supposed to be on your way back toNew York —

without telling anyone we spent the last five days together.”

“They wanted to know who beat me up, and I told them you did,” he said, concentrating on idling out to the road.

He looked both ways for traffic, and Willa’s head slammed into the headrest when they suddenly took off. She had to grab the door handle to stay upright because they were turning at the time. “Um…my house is the other way.”

Sam muttered something appropriately nasty.

He found a place to turn around and got them headed in the right direction, accompanied by the squeals of spinning tires. The ride eventually got less jackrabbitty as he got used to using his left foot, and they only had twenty cars behind them when they finally turned into her driveway. Willa decided it must be a guy thing, not pulling over to let honking traffic pass. Sam stopped the truck beside Peg’s car, shut off the engine with a deep sigh, and looked around. “Nice place. I can see why it appealed to Bram.”

“He stayed in that cottage over there,” she said, pointing past him toward the bluff. “You can go see it if you want. I don’t know if there’s anything of his left in there or not; I haven’t had time to look around yet.”

Peg and Shelby came out of the house and stood on the porch. Sam got out to greet Peg and introduce himself toShelby , and Willa took her time following. Did she still own that book that explained how to wipe out bad karma, or had she foolishly donated it to the library book sale?

Chapter Sixteen

As soon as Peggot a good look at Sam, she dragged him inside and scolded him for making such a mess of himself. Willa and Shelby had to run upstairs so Sam and Peg wouldn’t catch them laughing hysterically. Neither of them could decide which was more outrageous, that Peg was making such a fuss over Sam or that he was letting her. “I thought she was going to start kissing his booboos,”Shelby said, flopping down onto Willa’s bed in laughter. “Cody runs in the opposite direction if I even ask if he’s hurt.”

Willa walked over to her closet and started pulling out hangers of clothes. “You should have seen Sam in my break room this morning. He was pointing out every little bruise to my workers and blaming me for each one.”

Shelbysat up when Willa set an armful of clothes on the bed beside her. “My God, he’s handsome.

Wait—why would Sam blame you? And how did he get so beat up?” Then her eyes widened. “Oh, my God! He sailed down fromNew York with you on the RoseWind! That’s what he meant when he told Peg you tried to drown him.” She jumped up and followed Willa back to the closet. “How come you didn’t tell me about Sam last night?”

“I forgot.”

“You forgot?” She grabbed Willa’s arm and swung her around. “You can’t just forget to tell me you spent five days on a boat with a man. I’m your sister! You’re supposed to tell me everything.”Shelby dragged her back to the bed. “Okay, out with it. Did he make a pass at you?” She grinned. “Did you make a pass at him? ”

Willa escaped back to the closet. “That’s none of your business.”

“Emmett doesn’t call you Willy Wild Child for nothing,”Shelby said, following her. “You’re a completely different person when you’re at sea.” She grabbed the clothes out of Willa’s hands and tossed them in the general direction of the bed. “Or should that be wild woman ?” Her voice dropped. “Willa, be honest now. You’re attracted to Sam, aren’t you? I mean, you’d consider having an affair with him if the opportunity presented itself, wouldn’t you?”

“He’s ten times crazier than Abram, Shel. The man jumped out of a helicopter in the middle of Long Island Sound, for crying out loud.”

Shelbypulled her into a huge hug. “Oh, this is wonderful! It’s about damn time you had a fling.”

Willa pulled free and crossed her arms under her breasts. “And you think he’s just the man to end my drought? Well, let me tell you something about Samuel Sinclair. Five days after meeting me, he asked me to marry him, and three days ago, he actually told me he loved me.”

Shelbybacked up and plopped down onto a clothes-covered chair as she gaped up at Willa. Willa nodded. “Do you still think he’s a candidate for a fling?”

“He…he asked you to marry him?”

“The very night of Abram’s funeral.”

“And…oh, my God, Willa, what did you say?”

“I hightailed it out of there the very next morning.” Willa sat on the bed with a sigh. “It’s a long story, Shel, so don’t interrupt, okay? It all started when Spencer read Abram’s will after the funeral.” She paused, then shook her head. “No, actually, it started when the elevator door opened on the thirtieth floor of Tidewater International…”

Sam sat at the kitchen table, nursing a large mug of maple-syrup-laced coffee. Willa’s home was a classic oldNew England farmhouse, surrounded by towering maple and elm trees, and the kitchen looked as if it hadn’t been updated in the last fifty years. The cupboards were white bead-board that ran all the way up to the ceiling, and the counter was faded and chipped first-generation Formica. The appliances were copper-tone. There was even an old cast-iron wood cookstove on one of the outside walls,

looking as if it had just come out of a Montgomery Ward catalog. The floor was made of pine boards stained dark brown, and it tilted toward the inside hallway.

Something suddenly brushed up against his leg under the table, and he leaned over to find a one-eyed, semi-bald, wheezing gray cat that looked as old as the appliances. He extended his hand to it. “Hey there, old chump,” he said, smiling when it pushed its scraggly face against his fingers. “You must be on, what, your ninth life?”

“Poor old thing’s deaf,” Peg said as she walked into the kitchen. She pulled a vacuum cleaner out of the closet. “Took me a while to figure that out,” she continued, grabbing a dust rag, which she stuffed into her apron pocket. “I nearly sucked him up in the vacuum the second day I was here because I didn’t see him sleeping under the coffee table. Cody said Willa found him on the beach, nearly starved to death, about three years ago. There’s no telling how old he is. His name’s Ghost.”

“Cody?” Sam repeated, lifting Ghost onto his lap.

“Shelby’s boy. There’s Jennifer, who’s sixteen, and Cody, who’s ten. They’re wonderful kids. You’ll get to meet them at dinner tonight.”

“I’m invited to dinner? Can I bring a friend?”

Peg narrowed her eyes at him. “Male or female?”

“Male. My housemate, actually. Emmett Sengatti is a close friend of Willa’s. He was kind enough to take me in when she abandoned me on the dock yesterday.”

“Better the dock than the middle of the ocean,” Peg returned with a laugh. She wheeled the vacuum toward the living room. “And there’s always room at my table.”

Sam looked down at the cat on his lap. “So, Ghost, has Willa got you building your own casket, too?”

“We have a line of pet caskets and urns coming out this fall,” Willa said, walking into the kitchen, her arms laden with clothes. “But the bulk of them will likely be shipped out, since most Mainers are too thrifty to spend money on something they’re going to bury in the ground.”

He set the cat on the floor and stood up. “Here, let me have those,” he said, reaching for the clothes.

“Where are you going with them?”

“I’m moving out to the cottage so Shel can have my room,” she told him, not relinquishing her load. Sam perked up at that. “You’re moving to the cottage?”

She spun away and headed for the door. “Do you honestly have the audacity to miss your first day of work?”

“I have an empathetic boss. Levi told me not to come in until I’m ‘back up to snuff.’ Kent Caskets is a rather laid-back company.”

“You expect eighty-year-olds to be workaholics? They tell anyone with a hangnail to take the day off.”

“Is your entire workforce retirees?”

She laughed at that. “Are you kidding? My production would be two caskets a year if I had to rely on my Grand Point Bluff residents. I have ten able-bodied men and women who do most of the real work.”

“Yet you have at least twenty on the payroll.”

“Which the older workers put right back into my business.”

“Sam!”Shelby shouted from the top of the stairs. “Can you come up and carry this box down for me?”

Having figured out some time ago that Willa had a thing for his chest, Sam threw back his shoulders and puffed up, shooting her a grin. “Looks like your sister appreciates my muscles.”

Willa immediately walked out of the house, muttering something about hormones. Sam headed into the hall, ran up the stairs, and stepped into the bedroom of a teenage girl. The furniture was white, the bedspread pink and green and blue-flowered lace. Like the rest of the house, Willa’s bedroom seemed to be frozen in time.

“That’s the box?” he asked in surprise whenShelby handed him a shoe box full of what looked like hair thingies.

“No. Put this in that box,” she said, pointing to the bed. “And carry it over to the cottage.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Please,” she quickly tacked on, her cheeks turning as pink as the curtains behind her. She sighed. “I’m sorry if I sound like a drill sergeant. With children, you either give orders or get ignored. Why did you tell my sister you love her?”

Sam stopped in mid-step. “Is directness another characteristic of motherhood?”

“Do you?” she asked, lifting her chin much as Willa did.

“Yes.”

“Just like that? You know her a week, and you fall madly in love with her?”

He shrugged. “Not on purpose.”

“Is that the price of love these days? A fat bankbook and a few shares of some business?”

Sam picked up the large box on the bed and walked to the door. “No,” he said softly. “It’s the price your sister has to be willing to pay to get back her soul.”

Sam decided he rather likedMaine —at least, the area around Keelstone Cove and Prime Point, of which he was getting a firsthand and personal tour. He’d just sat down to his afternoon snack when Jennifer and Cody Bates had arrived home from school, and Jennifer had promptly thanked him for her new truck and boldly asked him to take her driving.

Even though Emmett had promised Sam he was in for a treat when he met Jennifer, the old man had failed to mention that for all of her precocious charm, the girl was also drop-dead beautiful. Shelbyhad blue eyes, but Jennifer’s eyes were more the startling blue of Willa’s. Her long hair was less curly and a bit lighter than her aunt’s and definitely more manageable. But whenever the teenager canted her head just right or glanced over her shoulder with a mischievous smile, Sam got the eerie feeling that he was looking at a younger Willa.

His gut had twisted in a knot as he’d watched Jennifer wolfing down a large piece of cake. What if Willa did marry him and they did have children? And what if they had a daughter as beautiful as Jennifer? He’d never survive her teenage years! Not if the images that came to mind were any indication whenShelby asked her about a particular boy at school. Sam had become positively outraged when Jennifer said she’d heard he was planning to ask someone else to the homecoming dance. Was the boy an idiot? And blind?

“That kid, Steven, I think you called him,” Sam said as Jennifer expertly guided her SUV down the narrow and winding road. “You can’t take it personally if he doesn’t ask you to the dance. Until the age of thirty, all males are self-centered idiots.”

Jennifer briefly glanced over at him, then back at the road. “I rarely take anything personally. That’s my aunt’s infuriating habit.” She sighed. “I really asked you to bring me driving so we could talk, Mr. Sinclair. I think you should know that I’m fully aware of what Abram’s will said.” She darted another quick glance in his direction, this time hitting him full force with her heart-stopping smile. “In fact, your being here means I won the bet. So, tell me, are you planning to find a way out of the bequest, or are you going to try to marry my aunt?”

She knew? And had even placed a bet? On him?

“If you’re about to threaten me with bodily harm if I break your aunt’s heart, you’ll have to stand in line. I’ve already gotten this speech from Emmett and your mother, as well as from Willa’s entire workforce.”

She turned on her blinker and pulled down an even narrower lane to their right. “Don’t underestimate Emmett. He never makes idle threats.”

“Yeah, he told me that, too.”

“So, am I going to get a new uncle?” She gave him a quick inspection, then smiled out the windshield again. “You’d be a vast improvement over my last one. David Sommers looked like a troll and had the personality of a billy goat.”

“How old did you say you are?” Sam asked with a chuckle.

“Emmett claims I’m sixteen going on sixty. You still haven’t answered my question, Mr. Sinclair.”

“I might, if you call me Sam.”

“Okay, Sam,” she said, pulling into the parking lot of a small warehouse perched on the edge of a tiny cove. She shut off the engine and looked over at him. “Please tell me you’re as astute as your grandfather and can see how much my aunt deserves to have somebody love her.”

“There are no knights in shining armor in real life, Jennifer. It won’t matter how much I love Willa, if she’s unable to love herself.”

“But that’s just it. I remember how Auntie used to be. I was only eight, but when Gram and Gramps died and she lost her baby, the light inside her dimmed. Then five years ago, when we had the accident,”

she said, touching her right knee, “that light nearly went out completely. But a tiny spark’s still there; I know it is. I see hints of it every so often, like when she and I go sailing together.”

“Yeah. I saw it, too, on our trip here.”

“She just needs someone to toss fuel on that spark and coax it back to life.”

“And you think I’m that someone?”

“Yes.”

Sam leaned against his door and studied his emphatic chauffeur. “What makes you so sure?”

“Your grandfather talked about his ‘three boys’ all the time, so it wasn’t hard for me to figure out that of all of his grandsons, you’re the most like Abram. And whenever he and Aunt Willa were together, they were like baking soda and vinegar. In the six weeks your grandfather was here, I saw Auntie’s spark actually burst into flame a few times. Abram Sinclair was the first person I’ve seen her get that close to in years.”

“You don’t think she’s close to you? And Emmett? And your mother and brother?”

“Of course she is, but only by default, and only because she can’t very well stop loving us.” She dropped her gaze and shook her head. “I think it was okay for Abram to die, because she knew going in that it was going to happen. But God forbid anything should happen to any of us. I’m not sure she’d survive another tragedy.”

Completely forgetting that he was talking to a sixteen-year-old, Sam asked, “Then what makes you think adding a husband and child for her to worry about won’t send Willa over the edge?”

Jennifer sighed. “My own parents haven’t had a very…mutually supportive relationship, but I’ve had many wonderful examples of the power of true love. Emmett lost his wife, Gretchen, to cancer a little more than three years ago. What I learned from them is that when two people love each other that deeply, anything is possible, even continuing on alone. Emmett misses Gretchen immensely, but every breath he’s taken since she died has been filled with her spirit.”

She lifted her beautiful little chin in exact mimic of Willa. “I don’t intend to settle for anything less than that kind of love for myself. Nor will I let my aunt spend the rest of her life hiding from it. I may have lost my foot five years ago, but she’s the one who was crippled.” She reached out and touched his arm.

“You’re my only hope, Sam. Please, will you help me help her?”

Sam found himself staring into eyes as desperate as the ocean was deep and as old as the earth, and suddenly he couldn’t breathe, much less speak.

“Abram gave you the most powerful tool he had, Sam. His bequest is your trump card, if you decide to play it.”

“It’s also my greatest obstacle, Jennifer. Willa thinks I want to marry her to get those shares and to keep our home.”

He stiffened as several pieces of the puzzle unexpectedly fell into place. “My God,” he whispered. “You helped Bram draft that damn will.”

She looked away. “I don’t know anything about that sort of legal stuff.”

“No, but you know Willa. You certainly knew she’d never let Tidewater fall into the hands of a man who wants to destroy it. You helped my grandfather write his last will and testament in a way that Willa’s conscience wouldn’t let her ignore.”

The teenager brought her gaze back to his, her expression mutinous. “She needed a swift kick in the butt! You have no idea what it’s been like for me these last five years. Guilt can be contagious, you know.” She thumped herself on the chest. “How in hell am I supposed to get on with my life when my aunt won’t get on with hers? I can never be free until she’s free.”

Sam had never considered what Willa’s self-reproach might be doing to those around her. Of course, anyone who loved her would share her pain—especially Jennifer.

“Is your aunt aware of how you feel?” he asked softly.

Jennifer shrugged, then pulled the key out of the ignition and opened her door. “I’ve been waiting for the right man to help her figure that out.”

“Where are we going?” he asked, opening his own door and getting out. She gave him a cheeky grin across the hood of her truck. “I thought you might want to buy some lobsters for your and Emmett’s supper tomorrow night. And since we’re here, I also thought I’d give you a few pointers on courting.” She motioned toward the warehouse, which was a fish co-op. “Steven works here. If I want him to take me to the homecoming dance, I suppose I should ask him to, shouldn’t I?”

Sam choked on a bark of laughter. He strode around the truck, slipped Jennifer’s arm through his, and sauntered toward the side entrance. “I tell you what. If Steven is intelligent enough to say yes, I will fly you and your mother toNew York on Tidewater’s private jet and take you shopping for a dress for the dance.”

“Deal!” she said with delight. She batted her eyelashes at him. “But I should warn you, I’ve been accused of having expensive tastes.”

“No problem,” Sam drawled. “I’ve managed to tuck away some of my paychecks over the years. And if that’s not enough, I’m sure my brothers won’t mind kicking in a few bucks.”

Sam sat at the small, battered table, in the exact same chair his grandfather had sat in to record his good-bye video. The cottage was dark except for the moonlight coming through the windows, it washalf past eleven , and he was waiting for Willa to get home from her date with Barry Cobb.

Tonight’s dinner conversation in the old Kent homestead had ranged from Cody’s decision to try out for next year’s Odyssey of the Mind, to Emmett’s new keel design he was working on, to whether Sam though the Red Sox would play the Yankees in the World Series again this season. The only thing not discussed was Willa’s blaring absence.

Sam still couldn’t believe that Barry Cobb had had the audacity to drive up to her home that afternoon and boldly ask her out to dinner. Even more surprising, Willa didn’t seem to mind being seen in public not only with the enemy but with a very eligible bachelor.

The enemy part didn’t worry Sam; he figured Willa had agreed to dinner out of sheer curiosity. He smiled. And maybe also to piss him off. But what if she was seen by one of the marriage posse? The last thing he needed was for those damn busybodies to decide that Cobb was the perfect match for her. Headlights suddenly slashed through the darkness, briefly illuminating the interior of the cottage before they swung around to the beachfront and stopped. Sam smiled again when he heard a car door immediately open and shut and footsteps scampering onto the cottage porch. The poor bastard wasn’t even getting a good-night kiss for his troubles. The headlights repeated their arcing display in reverse as the cottage door opened. The interior lights came on, and Willa let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead. Sam stood up. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“What are you doing here?” She clutched her jacket to her chest.

“Waiting for you.”

Her expression instantly became indignant. “Are you checking up on me?”

“Hmm?” he asked, studying her. “No, of course not. Is that dirt on your forehead?” He walked over, brushed back her hair, then dropped his gaze to hers with a sigh. “Did Cobb make you nervous tonight, or did you run into the marriage posse?”

She headed to the sink, tossing her jacket over a chair on her way by. “Barry was a perfect gentleman.”

“I would have expected no less.”

She frowned at him, then turned on the water, grabbed a towel hanging next to the window, and held a corner of it under the faucet. “And nobody from town saw us, because we drove thirty miles to Ellsworth to go to dinner.”

He took the towel from her and gently wiped away the mud. “That was smart. There, all clean.” He led her over to the table and sat her down. “How did you get mud on your forehead and knee?” he asked, squatting down to examine her knee through the large hole in her stocking. She pulled the hem of her wrinkled dress down. “Barry already checked me out and declared I’d live,”

she said, her expression daring him to comment.

He stood up. “Then I shall take the gentleman’s word.” He went to the fridge, got out the large piece of dark chocolate cake he’d brought from the house, and placed it on the table in front of her. “Did he buy

you dessert?”

“Warm apple pie,” she snapped, swiping her finger through the frosting and popping it into her mouth. Sam opened several drawers and came back with a fork. He sat down across from her, pulled the plate over to his side of the table, and dug in. “You still haven’t told me how you got mud on your face.”

“Go home, Sam. I want to be alone.”

He stopped eating, studied her for several seconds, then quietly set down his fork, stood up, and went to the door. “Will you go to the movies with me this Friday night?”

She blinked at him, though Sam didn’t know if she was surprised by his leaving or his asking her out. He took his jacket off the peg and slipped it on. “Or if you prefer, we can rent a movie and stay in.”

“I want to be alone Friday night, too.”

“Saturday?”

“I have to wash my hair Saturday night.”

“I’ll check in with you next week, then,” he said, stepping onto the porch and closing the door behind him.

He pulled up his collar outside but stopped under a low-hanging tree several feet away from the cottage. Through the window, he saw Willa pull the cake over to her side of the table and put a large bite into her mouth.

A few things Jennifer had said that afternoon made Sam wonder if the secret to winning Willa’s heart might not be a swift kick in the butt after all.

Fanning that little spark back to life would be fun, considering how easy it was to rile her. He’d have to take things a lot further, though, if he wanted to rid Willa of the habit of being responsible for everyone’s happiness. But then, mirrors were wonderful instruments for reflecting the naked truth right back at a person.