Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Hazel stepped up to the picture window and peered outside for what must have been the seventeenth time that morning.
“They’ll get here, Mom.” Samantha looked up from her reading perch on the couch and laughed. She had the day off from school, and she was waiting with her parents for the arrival of the Fishers. “When they get here, we’ll notice, I promise.”
Hazel chuckled. “You’re right, honey, but I’m just so excited. I can’t wait to have guests in our home, and I just want them to get here.”
“Why are you so excited?” Samantha asked curiously.
Hazel was taken aback by her daughter’s question.
She’d been so busy with helping out at The Lighthouse Grill, preparing their home for the Fishers, and doing her regular work as a receptionist as well as taking care of her home and family with Jacob that she hadn’t stopped to think about why she was so eager for the Fishers to arrive.
“I guess I love the idea of helping people,” she said.
“I feel really bad about what’s been happening to so many people in town, and being able to do something about it makes me feel kind of relieved, you know?
And I think too—” Hazel’s words slowed down as she wondered how to phrase her sudden revelation to her daughter.
“You know how things are more fun with Dad here? When it was just us, it was amazing, and part of me misses those times, but I know we’ve talked about how we’re both happier now that our family is bigger.
And I grew up in our big family with all your aunts and uncles, and that was so fun.
There was always something going on, and I really enjoyed that feeling of a big community inside one house.
I think I’m so excited about the Fishers coming here because I love the idea of our house being filled with people the way my house was filled with people when I was growing up. ”
“That makes sense.” Samantha nodded. “I think I would be happiest if every night felt like dinner night at Grandma’s house. Everything’s better when we’re all together.”
Hazel’s heart got a funny achy feeling when she heard her daughter’s words. She was starting to wonder how she could satisfy both of their wishes even after the Fishers had left their home, but at that moment Jacob came thumping down the stairs.
“They’re here!” he called out excitedly.
“Oh my gosh!” Hazel said, standing up at the same time that Samantha cried out, “Yay!” and chucked her book to the other side of the couch before jumping up.
Hazel hurried to the front door and opened it. She gazed around the front yard expectantly, and a moment later her heart sank. She turned to Jacob with confusion.
“What do you mean? I don’t see them.”
“Really?” Jacob stepped up to the open doorway and looked outside. “Oh, no. Sorry, sweetheart. I saw a truck driving up our road and I just assumed. We hardly ever get anyone driving out this way, especially in the mornings.” He grimaced apologetically, and Hazel laughed and gave him a hug.
“It’s okay.” She sighed. “I’m sure they’ll actually be here soon. I guess I’ll go check on the guest bedroom.”
Jacob and Samantha looked at each other and grinned.
Hazel had been checking the guest bedroom often ever since it had been perfectly ready the day before.
She knew it was rather silly of her to keep checking it, but she loved looking at everything that she’d prepared for the Fishers and she liked to think about what they might need in case she forgot something.
She wandered upstairs to the guest bedroom where Mr. and Mrs. Fisher would be staying. She smiled when she saw the stack of blankets that she’d set out on the dresser, and the gift basket that she’d placed at the foot of the bed.
She tiptoed over to the gift basket and looked inside it, taking satisfaction in how tidy and charming it looked.
She remembered when she’d nearly confessed her feelings to Jacob with a gift basket, and she chuckled.
At the time, she’d thought things would never work out between them—but life had proved that wrong.
Her heart glowed with happiness as she thought of how lucky she was to be married to her high school crush—someone who made her heart beat faster every time she was near him, and who loved and supported her and her daughter with his whole heart.
She thought of how many obstacles had come in the way of her ending up with Jacob, and she felt a surge of relief that she and Jacob had passed over all of them and found their way to each other.
I hope the obstacles the Fishers are facing don’t end up taking a very long time to fix, she thought. I know I wouldn’t mind them living with us for a while, but I’m certain they want to get back to their home and their own belongings as soon as possible.
Her focus returned to the gift basket in front of her, and she went over her mental checklist yet again, making sure there wasn’t anything important that she’d forgotten.
“Makeup wipes, razors, chocolates, toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste, hand lotion, playing cards.” She smiled, feeling particularly proud of her addition of playing cards.
She knew that particular deck came with a small instruction manual that explained how to play several popular card games, which would be useful if the Fishers weren’t in the habit of playing cards together.
She and Jacob loved to play cards together when they were traveling or feeling stressed, and she hoped that Mr. and Mrs. Fisher could use the deck to have fun and relax together in their room.
She stepped into the private bathroom that adjoined the guest bedroom and took stock of everything there.
She’d set aside four large towels and four washcloths.
She’d stocked the shower with shampoo and a bar of soap that smelled of lavender.
She hoped the calming scent would help the Fishers to feel more relaxed.
She wandered into Samantha’s bedroom, where a comfortable fold-out bed had been placed on one side of the room for little Camille.
On the fold-out bed, in a little basket shaped like a cat, she’d tucked a pink teddy bear, Chapstick, a couple of lollipops, and two children’s books.
She gazed down at the basket with a nostalgic smile, fondly remembering the days when she’d read silly little books like that aloud to her daughter.
Sighing, Hazel made her way back downstairs.
She took one look at Samantha and Jacob sitting on the couch together playing chess on the coffee table and knew that the Fishers still hadn’t arrived.
She wandered into the kitchen and restlessly rearranged the bouquet of flowers on the table for the hundredth time.
Jacob appeared in the doorway a moment later and grinned at her. “Samantha said she needs at least five minutes to make her move,” he said with a chuckle. “She’s losing and she doesn’t want to admit it yet.”
Hazel laughed. “I like how you don’t let her win. It helps her feel respected and challenged, I think.”
“And she’s up for the challenge. Soon she’s going to start beating me, I swear. I just pulled a sneaky move on her this time that she didn’t see coming.”
“I love that you two play games together,” Hazel said as he pulled her into a hug. “It makes me happy.”
“It makes me happy too,” he said, rocking her back and forth a little. “But what can we do to make you relaxed? You’re buzzing under my fingertips, I can feel it. Why are you so jittery, sweetheart?”
“I don’t feel nervous, really,” she said, burrowing her head against his shoulder. “I just want them to feel welcome, you know? It means so much to me to be able to make a difference during this crisis our town is going through.”
“They will most certainly feel welcome,” he assured her, kissing her cheek. “You’ve completely outdone yourself, Mrs. Dorsey.”
She smiled at him, and at that moment, Samantha bellowed, “They’re here!” from the living room.
Hazel gasped and hurried toward the front door, hoping with all her might that it wasn’t another false alarm. Jacob followed her, chuckling.
It was not another false alarm. A small blue car was parked in the center of their driveway, and two adults were stepping out of it tentatively, gazing up at the house as if making sure that they’d arrived at the correct location.
Hazel was about to hurry outside to greet them when she noticed Samantha watching the family from the picture window with a wary expression.
“Everything okay, sweetie?” she asked.
Samantha turned to her with a smile, but Hazel noticed that the smile looked slightly forced. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“Thank you so much for being such a good sport about this,” Hazel said, giving her a big hug. “It’s an important thing we’re doing, helping a family in need.”
Samantha nodded, but she still looked a little unsure. “I know it would be really awful to have our home destroyed, and I would want someone else to be able to take us in if that happened, but—well, I don’t love the idea of a five-year-old being in my room with me.”
“I understand.” Hazel stroked her hair back. “But remember that it won’t be forever. And Dad and I are here if you feel like you need to talk with us about anything, okay?”
“Okay.” Samantha brightened. “Come on, what are we standing around for? Let’s go meet these people—it’s all you’ve been thinking about since the second we woke up this morning.”
Laughing, Samantha scampered out the front door and Jacob and Hazel followed her, exchanging a grin. The Fishers were slowly approaching their house, suitcases in hand.