Chapter Three #2
He reached into the freezer and grabbed her hands.
They were ice cold and wrapped around a big bulb of frozen ginger.
“You don’t owe me for anything, Jennifer.
Life is not just one transaction after another.
Some people still do things just because it’s the right thing to do.
” He removed the ginger from her fingers and put it back in the freezer.
“This will not spoil. And I also have a lot of ginger at home.”
Her eyes met his.
He brought both her hands between his and just held them there to warm them up, their gazes locked. A small smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “Come on. I’m starving. Let’s go home and have breakfast.” Then he closed the fridge and freezer, grabbed the cooler and zipped it up. “Out your go.”
She preceded him.
“Good girl.”
He waited for her to lock the house again, and together they headed out to the truck. He stowed the cooler in the back of his truck and rejoined everyone in the cab a moment later.
“One more time. Doors are locked? Gas is off?”
Four people said, “Yes.”
“Then let’s get the heck out of here.”
“Gloria, my love,” Dax said, pressing his hand to his heart and leaning back in his chair in the kitchen, “divorce Phil and marry me. That was the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten in my life.”
Gloria chuckled and swatted her hand playfully at Dax. “Oh you. But if you’re swooning about the hollandaise, that was all Jennifer. This is her masterpiece, I just assembled.”
Dax pivoted his attention to Jennifer whose cheeks had once again turned pink as she sat there nibbling on a piece of pineapple. “It’s just a simple seafood eggs Benedict. Cold smoke instead of ham. Nothing fancy.”
“No. Scrambled eggs and bacon is nothing fancy. Oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar is nothing fancy. This is five-star decadence.” Dax swept his finger through some of the remaining hollandaise on his plate and popped it into his mouth, humming with delight.
Then he turned to Gloria. “I take back my marriage proposal. Sorry.”
She giggled and swatted her hand in his direction again.
“You sure have a nice place here, Dax,” Phil said, taking a sip of his coffee.
What hair remained on Phil’s head was bright white.
He had an uncountable amount of well-earned lines on his face from his thirty years running a log loader in the woods.
But it was his crystal-blue eyes that twinkled when he laughed or cracked a joke that really spoke of his good nature and kindness. “What is it, about an acre?
“Yeah. Just enough for me to manage. I didn’t want anything too big. Perfect for the chickens, goats and me.”
“You have chickens and goats?” Levi asked, his eyes bright with excitement.
“All outside. Though, I’m sure with the rain, they’re being little wimps and huddled up together in the barn and coop.”
“Can we go see them later?” Levi asked.
Dax nodded. “I’ll have to go out and see them eventually. You can come with me.”
Jennifer got up from the table and reached for Dax’s plate, but his hand gently rested on her wrist and he stood up. “I can do it. You cooked.”
“Yes, but this is your home. It’s the least I can do.”
He shook his head. “Sit.”
She sat.
He smirked and collected everyone’s plates. “Levi, why don’t you help me do the dishes?”
Nodding, Levi stood up and together they made quick work washing the dishes, drying them and putting them away.
“I hope we’re not keeping you from anything, Dax,” Gloria said, sipping her tea.
Unlike her husband who had not much hair left and what was left was bright white, Gloria had a head full of bright red curls.
She reminded Dax a lot of Lucille Ball, actually.
She even had a similar raspy voice like Lucille.
“Not at all.”
“What is it you do, exactly?” Phil asked. “I noticed the farm stand at the end of your driveway, but surely you don’t make enough from eggs to afford a place like this.”
Dax huffed a laugh. “Well, I sold my condo in Vancouver a few years ago, which allowed me to afford land over here. But I’m an artist, as well as a musician.
I’m in a couple of bands on the mainland and I go over to Vancouver a few times a month for gigs.
I also have my paintings in galleries over there, a few on the island, a few in Seattle and one on the Sunshine Coast.”
“An artist,” Gloria crooned. “Mind if we see your work?”
He shrugged. “Not at all. Both my music studio and art studio are above the barn. I soundproofed it so I didn’t torture the animals.
I have a few unfinished pieces up there right now.
” He caught Jennifer watching him out of the corner of his eye and he flashed her a smile.
“But you’re not keeping me from anything.
I paint when I feel like it. I make my own schedule.
So go about your business as per usual. Do what you like. ”
“We’re retired,” Phil said. “And we have friends that we get together with. We walk, we go to the seniors’ center, but with this weather we prefer to stay home.”
“I’m knitting a blanket for my friend’s new great grandbaby,” Gloria said, reaching down beside her and bringing up a whicker basket with knitting needles sticking out of it.
“And I like to whittle spoons,” Phil added.
“Very cool,” Dax said.
“I’ll make you a spoon.” Phil stood up. “I’ll go get my wood and whittle.”
“Oh you don’t have—”
“There’s no stopping him now,” Gloria said, getting out her yarn. “It’ll be nice to have someone else be the recipient of a spoon for once. Our house is full of them.”
Dax approached Jennifer with the coffee pot. “More coffee?”
“Please,” she said, her voice soft.
“I hate that my Nintendo Switch wasn’t plugged in to charge,” Levi said. “Not that it would have helped since the power was off when we got home.” He pouted. “I’m bored.”
“Go read a book,” Jennifer said, shaking her head.
Levi lobbed a sigh. “Yeah, I guess.” He stood up from the table and trudged off to the guest room he was sharing with his mother.
Gloria stood up from the table, too. “I’m going to grab my slippers from my suitcase.” Then she toddled off in the same direction as Levi and Phil.
That left Dax and Jennifer.
She really was a very beautiful woman.
He probably put her around thirty-six, but she definitely wasn’t a day over forty. She’d seen some shit, though. There was a lot of trauma behind those pretty eyes. A lot of sadness. A lot of fear. A lot of deep-seated exhaustion.
“Why don’t you go lay down on my bed,” he offered. “It’s the quietest room in the house.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t.”
“Why? What else is there to do?”
“Well, I—”
Resting a hand on her shoulder, he felt her tense beneath his touch for just a moment, then truly relax.
Her gaze dropped to her lap and her chin dropped to her chest. She shuddered a little like she had last night.
This was a woman who had been keeping it together for way too long without any source of an outlet or reprieve.
“Go and have a nap, Jennifer. I mean it. I have a free-standing tub in my bathroom and some pretty amazing body wash that makes great bubbles. Use it.”
When she didn’t respond or move, he pulled her chair out and helped her to her feet. Then he escorted her down the hall and up the stairs to his bedroom and into his ensuite. He made her sit on his bed while he ran her a bath, filling the bathroom with the scent of his hemp and jojoba bodywash.
He dimmed the lights, set out some towels and faced her. “Nobody will disturb you. I promise.”
Her bottom lip and chin trembled and her throat moved on a hard swallow. “I—”
“Need this. After your bath, have a nap. I’ll change the sheets right now.”
“Why are you being so kind?”
“Do I need a reason?”
“Most people do.”
He shrugged. “I was raised by a single mom. My dad was an abusive asshole and it took her a long time to work up the courage to leave him. She was strong for my sister and I. But I could tell when she was barely hanging on by a thread. When she was close to a breaking point. And maybe I’m wrong, but I see similar signs in you.
So, I couldn’t really help my mom back then because I was just a kid.
But I can help you now.” He offered her a small, reassuring smile.
“Life is all about balance.” Then he left her in the bathroom, and closed the door behind himself.
Glancing toward the ceiling, he smiled. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you when you needed it most, Mom. I hope you’re at peace now.”