CHAPTER ONE #2
“I’m Lance’s cousin. I have the summer off since I’m a teacher, so I was able to come help them out.”
“You’re a teacher?”
“Yep. I teach first grade. What grade are you in?”
“I just finished kindergarten.”
“Cool. You’ll be in grade one when school starts.”
Isabella nodded. “I did so well that when I asked Daddy for a tablet, he got me one.” She gestured toward the floral bag sitting next to her on the counter. “My favorite color is purple.”
“I know a lot of little girls who like purple.”
“Is that your favorite color, too?”
“One of them,” Amy admitted. “But I also like pink and blue and green. And sometimes red.” She leaned close and with a grin whispered, “I try to be fair to all the colors, so they don’t feel bad. Don’t want anyone to feel left out.”
Isabella giggled as she lifted her cookie to take another bite.
Someone cleared their throat, and Amy turned to see Will standing in the doorway once again. His hands were on his hips, and Amy wondered if perhaps Isabella had been wrong about her dad’s reaction to a cookie this close to lunch.
“Ready to go, Isabella?” he asked.
“Amy gave me a cookie,” she told him as she slid off the stool. Cookie in one hand, Isabella grasped the handle of her bag and pulled it from the counter.
Amy stood up. “I hope that was okay.”
“That’s fine,” Will said distractedly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Here. This is my business card. Please call if something happens with Jessa. And if you’re unable to reach Lance, don’t hesitate to contact me.”
“Will do.” Amy took the card, hating the fact that his nearness was leaving her breathless. She was supposed to have been over him.
Will looked at her more closely. “Do I know you? I mean, have we met before?”
For a moment, Amy wasn’t sure how to respond. There was a tiny part of her heart that hurt when she realized he didn’t remember her. Finally, she nodded. “Josh is my brother.”
Will’s brows drew together for a moment before comprehension dawned on his face. “You were here for Christmas when Jessa and Lance got married.”
“Yes.” Amy wasn’t surprised that he didn’t remember her from Josh and Cami’s wedding. He’d been a little distracted at the time.
“You must have been here for Cami’s wedding, too,” he said.
“I was her maid of honor,” she replied, hoping he wouldn’t delve too deeply into that day. She didn’t think it was a place he’d want to revisit either, although for obviously different reasons.
“That was eight years ago. You’ve changed a bit,” he commented. “I guess that’s why I didn’t recognize you right away.”
“You’ve changed, too,” Amy replied. She was well aware that she wasn’t the thin teenager she’d once been.
A love of good cooking and abhorrence of exercise had led to some weight gain over the years.
Having gotten to the point where her curves were a few pounds away from pushing her into the “you need to lose weight” doctor lecture zone, she was trying to be more careful about what she ate.
Will nodded and turned to Isabella. “I guess we’d better go. Thank you for watching her.”
“Anytime,” Amy said with a smile. “I teach first grade, so I’m used to kids her age.”
“I may take you up on that. See you around.” Will laid a hand on Isabella’s back, and they left the kitchen.
Amy waited for the door to close before sinking back onto her stool.
Well, she’d known that the meeting would come sooner or later, so it was actually a relief to have it out of the way already.
And it was also a relief to see that some of the things that she’d loved about him as a teenager were gone.
There seemed to be very little left of the young man she’d set her heart on.
Too bad there was still something about the man that caused her heart to react.
It didn’t bode well for the weeks ahead.
~*~*~
“She was nice.”
Will glanced into the rearview mirror to see Isabella in her booster seat behind him. “Amy?”
“Yes. She was nice,” Isabella repeated, her dark eyes serious.
“I’m sure that’s true.” He flicked on the blinker and leaned forward to check for traffic before pulling from the driveway onto the highway leading to Collingsworth. “She’s Uncle Josh’s sister, and you think he’s nice, too, right?”
“Yes. I like him. And Aunt Cami. And Grace and Jojo.”
“They should all be here in a few weeks, so you’ll be able to play with your cousins again.”
“She said she teaches kids like me,” Isabella said, apparently not ready to let go of the subject of Amy Moyer just yet. “I think I’d like her to teach me.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think she teaches school here.”
“Where does she teach?”
Will tried to keep his impatience at bay. Isabella had been a curious one since she’d started talking and usually it wasn’t a big deal, but when he didn’t know the answers, it became a little irritating. “I really don’t know. Maybe Texas. I think that’s where Josh’s family is from.”
“Why is she here?”
“She said she’s here to help Aunt Jessa until she has the baby.” Will hit some controls on the dashboard. “Do you want to watch a DVD?”
Even as Isabella’s favorite movie began to play, Will pushed down the guilt.
He knew he shouldn’t just shut her down, but he was hanging on by a thread.
It was getting closer to Isabella’s sixth birthday.
The range of emotions associated with that day overwhelmed him.
How did one celebrate a birth one day and grieve a death the next?
Six years had passed, and he still hadn’t figured it out.
Every year he had to resist the urge to leave Isabella with one of his sisters and go to a remote cabin and just sleep the day away.
And this year was worse than ever. Having just finished kindergarten, Isabella had experienced friend birthday parties for the first time and was expecting nothing less than what her friends had for their special days. Much to his dismay, the days of low-key family only parties were gone.
Remembering what Isabella had said about Amy, Will wondered if he might be able to convince her to help him out.
Being a teacher, she’d probably have some good ideas of what might work for a six-year-old’s birthday party.
As long as it didn’t take away from what Amy needed to do for Jessa, she might be willing to help him out.
He’d even be willing to pay her quite handsomely for her time and effort.
Jessa might even let him host the party at the manor, since their apartment wasn’t exactly conducive to entertaining a group of young girls.
Feeling a little better about the prospect of Isabella’s party, Will headed to the restaurant he’d promised he’d take her to for lunch.
He knew they ate out far too much, but he just didn’t have the interest in cooking many meals.
Laurel had invited Isabella to come over for the afternoon, so once lunch was over, he’d drop her off and then go to the office for a few hours.
They’d just gotten back from visiting his family in California, so he needed to put some time into the work that had piled up in his absence.
~*~*~
“Do you need anything, Jessa?” Amy said into the walkie-talkie. “I’m bringing you a sandwich. Do you want some fruit as well?”
“Strawberries? And maybe a glass of milk.”
“Sure thing. Be right up.” Amy placed the sandwich on a tray and then cut up some strawberries and poured a glass of milk. She grabbed a cold water bottle as well and headed up the stairs.
Jessa was propped up against pillows in a large bed. Her red curls were gathered on top of her head, and she wore no makeup which made her look a little more pale than Amy remembered.
“Thank you,” Jessa said with a smile as Amy set the bed tray over her legs. “Did you eat already?”
“Not yet,” Amy told her.
“Why don’t you go get your lunch and come back and eat with me? No sense each eating by ourselves.”
“Sure. I’ll be right back.”
When she returned a few minutes later, Amy discovered that Jessa had waited for her. “Guess it’s kind of quiet up here.” She set her plate and glass down on the nightstand and pulled a chair closer to the bed.
“Yeah. There’s only so much TV I want to watch and so much surfing I can do. Guess I’m going to catch up on all the reading I haven’t had time for over the past couple of years.”
“I can give you some recommendations if you’d like. I love to read and have several favorite authors.” Amy took a bite of her sandwich.
“I’d like that. I’m sure that my favorites don’t have enough out there that I haven’t read yet to last until the baby comes.”
“How are you feeling today?”
“Less stressed now that you’re here.” Jessa smiled at her. “I really do appreciate you dropping everything to come. I couldn’t believe it when Cami said you were willing to help us out.”
“Not really much to drop,” Amy assured her. “It’s nice to be back in Collingsworth. I’ve always enjoyed my visits here.”
“Did you talk to Will?” Jessa asked.
“Not too much. I had a longer conversation with his daughter.” Amy knew that Jessa was unaware of her teenage feelings for Will. “She’s a beautiful little girl.”
“Yes, she is,” Jessa said. “And the spitting image of her mother,”
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen Delia, but I noticed the resemblance right away. And it seems she’s got a daddy who spoils her.”
“She does have that,” Jessa said, but her brow furrowed. “You were able to tell that from the short time she was with you?”
Amy laughed. “Not from her behavior. I asked if her daddy would let her have one of your cookies before lunch, and she informed me that he let her have anything she wanted.”
Jessa sighed. “That’s how Will loves her.”
“That’s not too surprising, is it?” Amy was a little confused by Jessa’s reaction to how Will spoiled Isabella. “She seems like a nice little girl in spite of being spoiled.”
“Oh, she is, but since the day she was born, Will has seemed to struggle with how he feels about her. Showering her with gifts and anything she asks for is his way of ‘loving’ her.”
Amy swallowed the bite of sandwich she’d taken. “I’m sure it must be difficult to deal with the birth of a baby and the death of a spouse at the same time.”
“Isabella was born a month premature. For the first two weeks after she was born, Laurel, Violet, Lily and I were the ones who stayed with her in the hospital. Once Delia’s funeral was over, Will disappeared for a week.”