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Sara took a few folded sheets of paper and crayons from her purse. “Do you mind if Amy sits on the floor to draw?”
“She doesn’t have to sit on the floor. Come here, pumpkin. Sit up here at my desk.” She took hold of a pump at the side of the chair and gave it a few squeezes. The chair rose a few inches, making it easier for Amy to draw. “Okay, there?”
Amy nodded.
Marissa motioned Sara toward the file cabinets. “What can I do for you?”
“The cottage is wonderful,” Sara assured her quickly. “Jase has been welcoming. But I don’t want to take advantage of living here. The problem is, there could be a delay with the insurance money on the house.”
“Red tape?”
Marissa’s question was an honest one. She felt more like a friend than a stranger. Should she be honest with her?
“You look troubled about something,” Marissa noticed.
She was obviously perceptive, too. “I am. The insurance company is investigating the fire because I had a lot of debt.”
“Who doesn’t?”
“Mine was substantial, so substantial I believe they think I set the fire.”
“Oh, no! You can’t be serious.”
“I am. No one knows about this besides Jase, so I’d appreciate it if you could keep it a secret.”
“Of course, I can. What do you need from me?”
“I wondered if you know the best place to look for rental properties. I’d even consider a couple of rooms in someone’s house. I want to keep the cost as low as I can. My main problem is moving Amy again. She really is settling in and likes it here. What would you do if it were you and Jordan?”
“If it were me and Jordan, I think I’d stay as long as I could. The vineyard is a beautiful place for Amy to play … a beautiful place to get your footing again. I’m sure Jase doesn’t mind your being here.”
“I don’t know.”
Marissa swept her hair back over her shoulder and studied Sara. “He seemed welcoming when you moved in. Besides, when a man and woman who have chemistry are in the same room, anyone can tell.”
“Oh, no! There’s nothing going on between us. My mind was on Amy and—”
“Tell me you didn’t see how fine Jase looked as he moved in that sofa. Tell me you didn’t notice how gray his eyes are, how his hair falls over his brow, that there’s still that wanderlust element around him that makes a girl want to just run away with him.”
“Are you thinking of running away with him?” Sara asked, partly as a defense, partly because she wanted to know.
“No, he’s not my type. I’m attracted to the bad boys, the ones who love ‘em and leave ‘em.”
Taking a stab in the dark, Sara guessed, “Jordan’s father was one of those?”
After a brief hesitation, Marissa nodded. “He absolutely was, and it wasn’t like I didn’t know what I was getting into. I just wasn’t careful enough.”
“I’m trying to be careful,” Sara assured her. “I have to, for Amy’s sake. Chemistry is fine, but when there’s no future beyond it—”
“You don’t have to tell me about that. I know. You have to be Amy’s future, and I have to be Jordan’s. But there is another side to that. Sometimes we want to be independent women and accept no help from anyone else. That just makes our lives harder. The Mommy Club found me my position here with Jase. It was a gift from heaven because I could get insurance benefits from working here in order to pay my bills when Jordan was born. At first it seemed too good to be true. But Jase had looked at my high school transcript. He liked what he saw. My boss at the restaurant where I was waitressing gave me a good recommendation. He said I was a hard worker, so Jase decided to take a chance on me. It was a gift I accepted. You should consider the cottage a gift you should accept, too. You’ll know when the time’s right to leave.”
“I owe The Mommy Club so much. Is there anything I can do now to start paying them back?”
“Sure. You can help out at the food drive on Saturday.”
She remembered the event Kaitlyn had told her about when she’d moved in. “Can I bring Amy?”
“Sure. It’s at the day care center. A couple of volunteers will keep the kids occupied so we can work.”
“What time?”
“We’re starting early, around 8:00 a.m., but when you get there, you get there. I’m hoping we’ll have so many hands, it will all get organized quickly.”
“You can count on me to be there.”
The two women moved closer to the desk again and looked at the picture Amy had drawn. Right away they could see she’d drawn a tall male stick figure in blue jeans and a T-shirt. She’d drawn herself beside him in a pink shirt and shorts. She was lopsided but recognizable. Her stick fingers were on top of Jase’s. Beside them, she’d drawn a long green vine.
“Jase took Amy for a walk while the investigator talked to me,” Sara explained. “I think she had a good time.”
“Maybe you and Jase should go for a walk,” Marissa suggested with a sly look in her eye.
“No, I’m not going to encourage … chemistry. My life is just too unsettled right now.”
“Chemistry could be fun,” Marissa said with a twinkle in her eyes.
But Sara knew chemistry could also blow up in her face.
Chapter Four
The rest of the week passed quickly as Sara helped her patients recover from injuries, build up strength after surgeries and resume function after a debilitating stroke. Her work kept her focused but every now and then she thought about what Marissa had said. Could others sense an attraction between her and Jase? Was he as attracted to her as she was to him?
She was still asking herself that question among others—like, Did Jase believe she could have set the fire?—as she sorted through a box of donated groceries Saturday morning at the day care center. Carrying the box across the room to station three where the canned vegetables were being stored, she smiled at Kaitlyn who seemed to work tirelessly in her practice as well as help parents whenever she could. With her blond hair and green eyes, Kaitlyn should be on the cover of a magazine rather than trying to make kids laugh when she used her stethoscope.
“I think we have enough canned vegetables for an army,” Sara told her now.
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