Chapter 10
Hailey set Jenna down, making sure she was steady on her feet. She bent to her eye level and snapped her fingers twice, the ASL sign for dog, then she asked, “You ready to go see Maggie?”
Jenna’s eyes brightened, and she toddled gleefully toward the house.
Hailey grinned at Peter as they followed her up the porch steps. “She and Maggie are besties.”
“Ah.”
As always, Maggie was at the door, ready to greet them as soon as it was open. Jenna squealed with delight and threw her arms around the dog.
“Sorry for the traffic jam.” She gently nudged Maggie out of the way and welcomed Peter inside.
She took a moment to introduce him to the dog, then gave him a quick tour of the main level of the house.
“Most of the family attend second service, so we have about an hour and a half before they start trickling in. I’m going to start assembling the sandwiches so we can eat soon after they arrive.
Like I said earlier, you’re welcome to nap, find something on TV, or chill in here while I work. ”
“Or I could assist? Unless you take a hands-off-my-kitchen approach.”
She considered his offer for a few seconds, then shrugged.
“I’d never turn down help.” She slid a couple of large loaves of Italian bread toward him and pointed to the cutting board and knife she’d readied this morning—and had left well out of Jenna’s reach.
“If you could slice those horizontally, then start building the sandwiches, that would be a huge help.”
“Your wish is my command.”
He started on the bread, and Hailey pulled the meats and cheeses from the fridge and gave him basic directions for how she’d like them assembled.
Then, while he was occupied with that, she double-checked that Jenna was still within sight before she started throwing a large salad together.
“So you said you’re from Southampton? I’ve heard of it, but I can’t place what part of England that is. ”
“It’s in the south. Port city.”
“Do you ever miss it?”
“On occasion.”
“What do you miss most?” She wasn’t just making small talk, she was genuinely interested in what made this man tick.
“It’s hard to compare to here. Both places are lovely, but the atmosphere is wildly different. I suppose if I had to choose just one thing, it’d be the food.”
“Kentucky’s doesn’t compare?” she teased.
He shook a loaf at her. “Don’t go putting words in my mouth. It’s like the atmosphere—both wonderful, but not the same.”
“Fair. If you could have anything you wanted from there right now, what would it be?”
He thought for a moment. “Usually, it’d be fresh fish and chips or steamed clams, but today I’d pay a pretty penny for a good peanut butter burger.”
She paused with a handful of spinach leaves half out of the bag. “A what?”
He snickered. “Yeah, I know. All my American family and friends are horrified at the thought, but I tell you it’s good.”
“It doesn’t sound absolutely disastrous. But I think I’d be afraid to order one without trying it first.”
“Fair.” He grinned and started loosely rolling roast beef slices like she’d requested. “Tell you what. Next time, I’ll fry burgers and give you a taste of something you’ll never forget.”
Next time? She hadn’t stopped to consider there might be a next time. But she was enjoying his company, and she had to admit she wouldn’t mind spending more time with the man.
Peter glanced toward the living room, seemingly oblivious to her thoughts about him. “Jenna’s not allergic to peanuts, right?”
She blinked. Remembered what they were talking about.
“No,” she said quickly. “No allergies at all that we’ve discovered up to this point.
” The fact that he’d even thought to ask—and that he’d automatically assumed her daughter would be part of any plans they might make—bumped him up a few notches in her estimation.
“Oh good.” He held up another slice of roast beef. “And I’ve got to ask, why roll these instead of just piling them on?”
She tossed some shredded carrots onto the mass of greens, then reached for the carton of cherry tomatoes.
“Not sure I can explain it. It just has a better texture. If you slap three slices of meat and a piece of cheese onto a piece of bread, you get a really dense sandwich. If you do exactly the same ingredients but with rolled or folded meat, it seems lighter and more appetizing somehow.”
“Seems reasonable. I might have to try a bit each way to see if I agree though.” He shot her a mischievous grin.
“Be my guest.” She finished the salad and joined him in front of the large cutting board that would double as a sandwich platter once everyone arrived.
He was almost through the roast beef, so she grabbed a package of turkey and started on that set of subs.
“When you’re finished, you can add a layer of Swiss, then cut the sub into four- or five-inch sections.
” Working together, they were able to speed through the rest of the prep work—only bumping hands or elbows occasionally.
When they were done, Peter looked at her expectantly. “What now?”
“Now we wait.” She draped slightly damp paper towels over the sandwiches, then slid both them and the salad into the refrigerator.
“Water?” At his nod, she grabbed a couple of bottles and motioned for him to follow her into the living room, where Jenna was fully engrossed in her attempts to build a tower with a set of colorful wooden blocks.
She considered plopping onto the couch, but when Jenna caught sight of them, she beckoned her to join her on the floor.
Setting the waters on the coffee table, she sat down cross-legged.
To her surprise, Peter did the same. Well, he didn’t sit cross-legged, but he did get down on the floor with them.
He nodded toward the fireplace. “That masonry is incredible.”
“It’s local river rock. At least, that’s what the previous owners claimed.”
“It’s lovely. You really have a beautiful home.” He picked up a block and added it to Jenna’s small but wobbly stack.
“Thank you.” Although the place had always felt a bit too large—especially once she’d lost Wesley—she very much appreciated the open floor plan that allowed her to better keep an eye on her daughter while cooking or cleaning in the kitchen.
And it made for an easy place for local family to gather.
Bryce and Corina used to host in their backyard, but with the addition of their new baby, Allye’s fiancé, and the two boys Allye and Eric were in the process of adopting, their group no longer fit comfortably in the patio space.
Add in the occasional extra friend or other family members, such as her parents, Aunt Julie, Corina’s dad, or even Hailey’s siblings and nephews when they happened to be in town, and meeting at her house was practically a necessity.
Jenna placed a yellow triangular-shaped block in Hailey’s hand and signed for her to build. Carefully, Hailey placed it on its side atop Peter’s. Her daughter then turned to Peter with a purple square and repeated the sign.
“She’s not afraid to take charge now, is she?” Peter chuckled and did as requested.
“Not at all.” Hailey laughed. “She’s shy at first, but she’s quite happy to boss people around. We’re still working on when that’s appropriate and how to react when she doesn’t get her way.”
“That’s a hard one. I think I’m still learning.”
“Same.”
Without warning, Jenna flung her hand out and toppled the tower. Blocks skipped across the hardwood floor, and Jenna bounced with glee.
Hailey gave him a rueful look. “I know all babies seem to enjoy knocking over towers, but I suspect she especially does because of the vibrations when they hit the floor. She’s not nearly as excited when we try rubber blocks instead of these wooden ones—even though they’re more brightly colored.”
“Makes sense to me.” He used his arm to sweep the fallen blocks into a pile they could easily reach.
Jenna grabbed one and thrust it into Peter’s hand, again making the sign for build, coupled with another Hailey hadn’t seen her make in months. The sign for daddy.
Her heart dropped, and her cheeks heated with mortification. She glanced at Peter. Judging by his stunned expression, he hadn’t missed the word.
She had to correct this fast. Tapping Jenna’s shoulder to get her attention, she shook her head, then pointed to Peter and signed his name. Her daughter seemed unaffected by the correction. Instead, she leaned over, tapped the block in his hand, and pointed to the floor.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said aloud.
“No worries.” Peter obediently placed the block where Jenna had indicated he should. But after a few moments of rebuilding, he glanced at her. “Has losing her father been hard on her?”
Pain sliced through Hailey’s heart at the gently spoken question, but she tried not to show it. Jenna pressed another block, a red square this time, into her hand. Hailey turned it slowly in her fingers as she deliberated how to answer.
He placed a blue rectangle on the tower, distracting Jenna from Hailey’s dawdling. “You don’t have to talk about it if you’d rather not.”
“No, it’s all right.” She pulled in a ragged breath.
“She seems to have adjusted well. The first few weeks were the hardest for her. Jenna adored her daddy. But she was so little when he was killed—much too young for me to even try to explain the concept of death. Eventually, she stopped asking for him.”
She’d thought her daughter had forgotten what she’d lost. Realizing she still held to some remnant of his memory but had no context for processing the situation broke Hailey’s heart all over again.
“And you?” Peter kept his eyes on the emerging block tower as if trying to signal that he didn’t want to pressure her. That she could take her time or choose not to answer at all.
Somehow, that gave her courage to open up, if only a little.
“It’s been a hard year. Wesley had plenty of faults, as I discovered much too late, and he sometimes spent too much time working, but we both loved him, and there was no doubt he loved us.
Finding out he’d been involved in something illegal and then losing him so unexpectedly . . . it crushed me.”
Peter met her gaze, tenderness in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how hard it’s been for you.”
She nodded, unable to come up with a response to his compassion.
She couldn’t pretend she was past the hurt.
But she had no choice but to move on with life.
She finally added the red block to the growing tower.
It swayed. Tottered. Then all at once, it collapsed, sending the array of wooden blocks clattering across the floor again.
Jenna clapped her hands, clearly not minding that someone else had demolished the tower this time. Peter chuckled, but Hailey could see that his mind was still on their conversation.
She was surprised by his lack of reaction to the revelation of Wesley’s criminal activity.
Either he was a great actor or this wasn’t the first time he’d heard about what happened.
And why would she assume he hadn’t? Everyone else in town knew.
Though he hadn’t seemed to know she was a widow until she’d told him yesterday, he could have simply failed to make the connection between her and Wesley until after the fact.
Before he could ask any more questions, her phone buzzed. She pulled it from her pocket, glad for the interruption. After reading the message, she popped to her feet. “I’m going to start pulling everything out. They just texted that they’re leaving church now.”