Chapter Three
“I DON’T LIKE MATH. IT’S TOO HARD.”
Holly smiled down at her daughter, who was scowling at the worksheet on their kitchen table.
While she wanted to say you and me both, kiddo , she didn’t want to skew Lydia’s perception of mathematics or give her the message that she couldn’t handle any task set before her.
“Math can be hard. But it can also be fun. It’s like solving little puzzles. You love puzzles, right?”
Lydia nodded. “Puzzles are hard, too.”
“But don’t you feel good when you put the last piece in?
That’s how math is. And it’s useful, too.
We need math to show us how to build things, how to count cookies and how to go shopping.
I use math every day when I’m cooking or driving somewhere or even figuring out how many flowers I need to order for the store. ”
Lydia didn’t look convinced. “Why is it hard?”
“That is an excellent question. I guess the best things in life are always hard.”
Definitely true. Being a mom was the hardest job she could imagine but it was also the most important thing in her life.
While Lydia finished her worksheet, Holly set the table and made final preparations for their dinner while her stomach rumbled. In the end, she hadn’t eaten much of the sandwich her sister brought her, as the last hour of business at the store had been slammed. She was more than ready for dinner.
She was finishing the tossed salad when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Lydia jumped up from the table, apparently eager for any distraction from her homework.
“I need to see who’s here first,” Holly reminded her, following to make sure Lydia didn’t open the door to a serial killer.
She couldn’t open the door to anyone, serial killer or not, since Lydia had yet to figure out how to work the childproof lock, much to Holly’s relief.
Home security only made common sense. She was a single woman living alone with a vulnerable child. Shelter Springs had a relatively low crime rate but it wasn’t wholly idyllic.
Beyond the usual reasons, she locked the door for Lydia’s safety.
Holly had heard from others in her online support group for parents of children with Down syndrome about harrowing circumstances where their children had wandered outside.
Sometimes it was harder for children with developmental disabilities to understand the potential dangers that awaited them out in the world.
She peered through the door and caught her breath.
Not a serial killer, then. At least she didn’t think so. Only an extremely attractive man and his thirteen-year-old niece.
Lydia peered through the window next to the door. “It’s Audrey! My friend. Hi, Audrey!”
“She can’t hear you, Lydi-bug. Not until we open the door.”
She worked the deadbolt and the childproof lock before pulling open the door.
Oh, Ryan Caldwell was gorgeous. Why hadn’t Kim warned her? It would have been the decent thing to do.
My brother is coming to stay with Audrey and in case I forgot to tell you, he’s hot. Be prepared.
“Hi. We’re here to grab Audrey’s things,” he said after an awkward moment when she stood on the threshold, ridiculously tongue-tied suddenly.
Good grief. She couldn’t stand here gawking at the man. She cleared her throat. “Of course. Come in.”
He and Audrey walked into her house, with Lydia talking eagerly with her friend.
“It smells like Christmas in here,” Ryan said, looking around at her festive living room.
She couldn’t tell if he meant the words as a compliment but she decided to take them as such.
“Thanks. We have a particularly fragrant Christmas tree this year. It’s a Scotch pine. My brothers went up into the mountains before Thanksgiving and brought enough trees back for everyone in the family, plus two for the store.”
“It’s very... bushy.”
She couldn’t argue with that. “This one was a little bigger than I was expecting. It was originally intended for Evergreen & Ivy but I decided it would take up too much room so we swapped trees with a smaller one for the store and brought this one here instead.”
“I helped decorate the whole house a few days ago,” Audrey said with an unmistakable note of pride in her voice. “Holly did the lights then Lydia and I put on all the ornaments.”
“Impressive.”
Holly had loved putting her own personal touch on Rose Cottage. Her decorating style tended toward lush, dramatic, feminine, with bold colors and plenty of flowers.
Somehow, as she had thought earlier in the day at the store, the surroundings only served to emphasize Ryan Caldwell’s inescapable... maleness. She told herself it was only her constant fatigue that left her feeling slightly breathless.
“It smells delicious in here,” Audrey said.
She forced her attention away from the man to his niece. “That’s the chili you helped me put together last night, remember? It’s been in the slow cooker all day.”
“Oh man. I bet it’s delicious.”
“I can put some in a container for you two to take home.”
“That’s not necessary,” Ryan said stiffly. “We’re planning to go to the grocery store after this.”
“But I’m hungry now,” Audrey said.
“Okay. In that case, we can pick up takeout before we head home and then go shopping later tonight or tomorrow.”
“I’d rather have chili than takeout.” Audrey had that stubborn look Holly had come to recognize, mostly because Lydia so often wore the same expression. A certain set to the jaw, a firmness of lips, a determined look in her eyes.
“Why don’t you stay and eat with us? It’s ready now, which means it’s even quicker than running somewhere for fast food.”
As soon as the words were out, she regretted them. Why had she issued the invitation? She wasn’t at all sure she liked Ryan Caldwell. She did know she wasn’t eager to spend more time with him than she had to, especially given this sudden and unexpected attraction.
On the other hand, her heart squeezed with compassion for Audrey. Despite her brave face, the girl was struggling with the sudden tumult in her life, with her mother gone for the weeks leading up to the holidays and her grandfather and his wife preoccupied and unable to care for her.
Audrey was doing her best in the middle of a tough situation and Holly could not help but admire her for it. And Audrey had helped her prep everything the night before. It seemed only fair that she have the chance to enjoy the fruits of her labor.
“I have fresh corn bread with honey butter, if that makes a difference in your decision.”
Ryan arched an eyebrow. “Well, why didn’t you say so. How can I say no to fresh corn bread?”
His dry tone almost made her smile, the first sign of levity from a man who seemed as tough as a granite cliff.
“Excellent. Lydia, can you set a few more places at the table for our guests?”
“Yep.” Her daughter beamed happily at all of them, clearly thrilled at the chance to spend more time with Audrey.
“I’ll help you reach the plates,” Audrey said and led the girl into the kitchen, leaving Holly alone with Ryan.
She had a sudden wild wish that he was more ordinary looking, which annoyed her. It was silly to feel so tongue-tied around him and even more ridiculous that she had this vague sense of resentment.
She had allowed good looks to influence her decision-making once. Troy had been charismatic and charming, the kind of guy who could treat a woman like she was the most important thing in his life, until she wasn’t.
She, who had never had a boyfriend in high school, had been completely seduced by his attention.
“Sorry to force your hand, if you really didn’t want chili and corn bread for dinner,” she said.
“I have nothing against chili. Or corn bread, for that matter. I love them both. But you have already done enough to help Audrey and Kim. Our family seems to be sliding further and further into your debt.”
She guessed Ryan Caldwell was not a man who accepted help easily. Why was it so important for him not to find himself beholden to anyone?
“That’s silly. No one is in anyone’s debt.
Audrey basically threw the whole chili together for me.
By that logic, I’m in her debt, actually.
We wouldn’t be having this delicious dinner tonight if not for her.
The only thing I did was make the corn bread after work, and that was only from a mix, with a few tweaks. You’re more than welcome to join us.”
“It’s very kind of you,” he said, his voice stiff.
“People in Shelter Springs like to help each other out. I expect when word gets out you took military leave to come out here and stay with Audrey, you will have people knocking down the door with casseroles and soups.”
Especially women, once they caught sight of the town’s newest temporary resident. She decided to keep that particular opinion to herself.
“Thanks for the warning.”
His dry tone again made her smile as she led the way down the hall toward her kitchen.
He looked around as they made their way through Rose Cottage. “This is nice.”
She loved this house, with its exposed beams, the stone fireplace, the original wood moldings. She couldn’t wait for her first Christmas with Lydia here. From the moment she bought the house, she had dreamed of holiday traditions she could create with her child.
Rose Cottage was on the small side and had some old-fashioned elements and more than a few quirks, like the drafty windows and the uneven flooring in the kitchen.
Still, it was hers. Well, hers and the bank’s, anyway.
She pushed away her ever-present financial worries as they entered the kitchen, where she found Audrey and Lydia pouring glasses of water from the filtered pitcher out of the refrigerator.
“We’re a little tight in here but I’m afraid my dining room is currently crammed full of supplies for my shop.”
“Why do you keep them here and not at your shop?” he asked as he took a seat.
“Convenience, mostly. I’m doing the flowers for three weddings this month, two with some artificial floral elements, and it’s easier to have some supplies here at my house so I can work on things after Lydia is in bed.”