Chapter 6
chapter
six
“Good morning,” Naomi called when Millie came back in.
“Morning.” Millie paused at the counter near where Naomi whisked a huge glass bowl of eggs. “Can I help?”
She handed her a potato. “I never turn down help—and I’ve never been much a cook either. Usually we don’t make hot breakfasts, but we have so many eggs from our chickens. We need to use them! Plus, cold mornings deserve warm breakfasts. That’s what my mom always says.”
Naomi stood at the stove, working a cast-iron skillet, while Millie chopped potatoes at the counter. The rhythm was easy and familiar.
Meanwhile, Biscuit sat beside her, upright and alert—and desperate for a piece of bacon.
“You’re good with a knife,” Naomi murmured.
Millie shrugged. “My ex-husband insisted on only the finest quality meals at the house—prepared by me.”
Naomi cast her a compassionate look before turning back to the stove. She didn’t ask questions. Didn’t press.
Millie appreciated that more than she could say.
“Thank goodness for YouTube,” Millie continued. “While he was at work, I’d watch videos and try to learn everything I could. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever be a gourmet chef. My tastebuds just aren’t refined enough.”
“All the pressure placed on you couldn’t have helped.”
“It didn’t.” After a moment, Millie ventured, “So . . . what’s your role here at Refuge Cove?”
“As you might remember, I worked in New York for a while. Finance.” Naomi paused, her hand stilling on the spatula. “Things changed after Sarah . . .”
She didn’t explain the statement—she only paused as if gathering herself.
Then Naomi exhaled and continued. “Caleb probably told you that our family is from a town about an hour from here—closer to Charlottesville. Sarah and her husband bought this property together before she was killed. I came to a crossroads in New York and needed a change. I decided to come here. Now I do the books here and manage the business side of things. Scheduling. Donations. All of that.”
“I bet coming back to this area having lived in New York City was a big change,” Millie said.
Naomi let out a quiet huff of a laugh. “Huge. It took a lot of adjustment.” She tipped eggs onto a plate, then added, more softly, “But there were things happening in New York that were . . . well, they weren’t good.
It was time for me to leave. So in that way, working here feels like an answer to prayer. ”
Millie wondered what that statement meant, but she didn’t ask. It wasn’t her business.
“Caleb handles everything maintenance wise, and he acts as security,” Naomi continued.
“And Max?
“Max used to work for Sarah, and he stayed on after her death. He runs the kennel, and we have a woman who comes in three times a week to help with things there. That’s pretty much our entire staff.”
The meal came together quickly—bacon, eggs, potatoes, and thick slices of toast. The food was hearty and practical, the kind of breakfast meant for people who worked with their hands instead of behind a desk.
Soft footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Millie glanced up as a woman stepped into the kitchen.
She looked younger than Millie had expected—early twenties, maybe—with straw-blonde hair that hung straight down her back nearly to her waist. It framed a soft, open face and made her seem even more slight than she probably was.
She cradled a small dog against her chest, a Yorkie with alert eyes and a tuft of hair falling over one eye.
The woman’s stomach rounded beneath her sweater, unmistakable even beneath the careful way she carried herself.
She was pregnant—very pregnant.
“Good morning, Sissy,” Naomi said. “You’re right on time.”
“But too late to help,” the woman murmured. “Sorry.”
“No apologies. You need to take it easy.” Naomi paused. “Sissy and Georgie, this is Millie. Millie, Sissy and Georgie.”
Sissy smiled, shy and a little tired. “Morning.”
“Morning,” Millie said.
Biscuit barked, and Millie laughed. “Sorry—Biscuit feels left out. This is Biscuit. Sometimes, I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s a human.”
Sissy laughed softly. “Don’t all dogs?”
She eased into a chair at the table and settled Georgie in her lap. The dog sniffed the air, then curled in on himself, content.
Millie watched them both, something tightening in her chest. The woman seemed fragile in a way that went beyond pregnancy.
Millie probably seemed the same way to others. She wasn’t any stronger or more capable than any other woman who found herself in this situation.
But something about seeing the woman’s pregnant belly made her heart twist.
She’d wanted so badly to have children. But now she was grateful that she and Garrick hadn’t gotten pregnant. Bringing a child into the middle of their problems would have only made things worse.
She truly might not have ever left.
But seeing Sissy reminded her of that longing. She reminded Millie about how life didn’t always turn out the way you expected. About how there were so many things out of your control.
Millie snapped from her thoughts back to the present. “Are we waiting for Caleb and Max?”
“No, they’ll join us when they can.” Naomi set the serving bowls and platters full of food on the table.
They found seats, and plates were passed. Coffee was poured into mismatched mugs.
As she ate, Millie found herself looking at the door, anticipating the moment she’d see Caleb again.
She wasn’t sure if she dreaded it or looked forward to it.
Looking forward to it made no sense. The man had broken her heart.
So why did something about him still make her feel safe?
Maybe part of her was relieved to see a familiar face here. That was probably all it was. Her feelings for him had long since died. Part of her doubted the truth in her thought, however.
The three women sat together at the table, the house quiet around them. Sissy had put Georgie on the floor, and she ate slowly, eyes lowered, one hand resting protectively over her stomach. She didn’t say much, but she didn’t seem uncomfortable either. Just present.
Millie found herself relaxing. Not totally, but enough to enjoy the food and feel the warmth of the room, the normalcy of it.
Then the back door opened.
Caleb stepped inside and called, “Morning.”
Something shifted in her chest, and the easy sense of belonging slipped away. Awareness took its place—awareness of Caleb, of herself, of the past stretching between them.
“Morning,” Naomi called back to him. “Come eat while it’s still warm.”
Millie studied Caleb as he took a seat at the table. He looked rested and steady, as if the world hadn’t cracked open beneath his feet. No, his life had kept moving forward while hers had imploded.
The two of them being around each other was inevitable, she reminded herself. They would have to talk. Work together. Exist in the same space.
She’d been through a lot. Certainly she could manage to get through this also.
Conversation stayed light as they ate. Plans for the day. The weather. Dogs.
Sissy listened more than she spoke, Georgie tucked close to her feet. Biscuit and Hamilton sat quietly by, staring longingly at the food on the table.
Millie kept her focus on her plate, her thoughts racing back to another time. A time when she was happy. When it seemed like the whole world was in front of her.
She’d had a rough childhood, especially after her parents divorced. Splitting time between their homes, listening to them fight over her, watching as they started new families and she fell in the gaps in between . . . it hadn’t been easy.
But as soon as she’d gone to college to study business, she’d become distant with her family—and they hadn’t seemed to notice. After graduating, she’d moved to DC for her job as a grant writer while they stayed behind in Michigan.
She could have fled back home when things went south with Garrick, but she knew he’d find her there.
Everyone had said she had so much potential . . . but then things had fallen apart.
How could she let Caleb see what she’d become? How could she let him know that when he’d walked away all those years ago, he’d made the right choice? That he’d walked away from a disaster?
Her life since then told a story she didn’t want him reading.
Especially not the part about the man she’d married.
She bowed her head slightly, hands resting in her lap.
Please, she prayed. Just let me get through this.
Because she was out of options. Even though she could find another job in a new location and support herself, there was nowhere she’d be safe.
Not if Garrick knew where she was.