Anchor of Hope (12 page)

“Can I give you a lift?” Jay asked.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind walking.”

“I actually wanted to check out the back garden, to figure out how to get the gazebo down there on Saturday.”

“Oh, yeah. Do you want me to give you a hand on Saturday?” Bryan asked.

“Only if you're not too busy.”

“No, I've got extra staff rostered on, so that’ll be fine,” Bryan said.

“OK, thanks,” Jay said.

“I guess I’m coming with you then.” Ashley smiled.

“Guess so,” Jay said as he opened the door for her.

It was almost four by the time they arrived back at Jane’s house. They stepped out of the car started walking around towards the back of the house.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Ashley asked as she climbed the front steps to the porch.

“A glass of water would be great, thanks.”

Martin was in the kitchen, sitting on one of the bar stools by the counter. He was reading the newspaper and had a cup of coffee in front of him.

“Hi, Ashley. How did the surprise dress fitting go?” he asked.

“Ha! I can only assume it went well, as I didn't get a chance to see it Mom and Gran seemed happy.”

Martin smiled and sipped his coffee. “You want a cup? The coffee machine is on.”

“No, I’m fine thank you.” She cast a quick glance out the back window and could see Jay. He had one hand on his hip and his other hand was rubbing his beard as he stared at a patch towards the back of the garden.

That must be where the gazebo is going.

Martin followed Ashley’s eye line.

“Is that Jay Henderson?” Martin craned his neck to get a better look.

“Mmm hmm,” Ashley said getting a glass out of the cupboard. “He’s checking the spot for the gazebo on Saturday.”

“Have you seen it yet?” Martin asked as Ashley filled a glass with cold water from the fridge.

She shook her head.

“He’s done a great job. Your mother is going to be beside herself. You should ask Jay if you can go and have a look.”

“Hmm, maybe.” She considered. “Do you know what time will Mom be home tonight?”

“Not til late tonight. She called me about twenty minutes ago and said she was going to stay back at work, and then Karen and her were going to go over the final details for all the flowers on Saturday, getting the ribbons ready and so on. One of the advantages of working in the floral shop is that she can get access to a huge assortment of flowers I guess—and you know how crazy your mother is about flowers.” He raised his eyebrows and took another sip.

Jane
did
love flowers. In fact, Ashley couldn't remember a time when there wasn't a bunch of beautifully arranged fresh flowers on the table.

Jay knocked on the back glass door and slid the door open.

“Come in, Jay,” Martin called.

“How are you, Martin?” Jay asked as he walked into the kitchen.

“I'm well. How’s it all coming along?” Martin asked.

“Good, it’ll fit easily down the back.”

Ashley handed him the glass of water.

“Thanks.”

“I was telling Ashley that I'm sure you wouldn't mind if she went and had a quick look at the gazebo.”

Jay turned his head towards Ashley and shrugged. “Yeah, if you want to.”

“Well I wouldn't mind seeing it, but only if you’re not too busy.”

Jay shook his head.

“OK, well I guess I'm going with you—again.” Her lips curled up. She had already spent a lot of time with Jay, more than she had expected. She hoped she wasn't becoming an unwelcome guest.

“I'll see you on Saturday.” Jay waved to Martin as they left the kitchen.

As Jay opened the front door, Jasper scooted through, almost running into Jay’s feet. “Whoa.” He lifted his foot quickly to let the hideous-looking beast through. “I thought that thing died already. Twice.”

Ashley laughed.

They barely spoke as they drove towards Jay’s place. It was isolated, a good twenty-minute drive from Jane’s house. The road trailed off from the highway, and a dirt road lead them up a winding path, past his old house where they’d had their disagreement on Monday afternoon.

Jay seemed distant again. His right hand was on the steering wheel, left elbow on the window sill, and he was chewing his left thumbnail.

“Sorry for inviting myself over.” Ashley bit the inside of her lip.

“Huh? Oh, that’s all right.” He shifted his weight.

“Do you ever get lonely out here?” Ashley looked around at the thick trees. It was getting close to 5 p.m. and the late afternoon sun gave everything a warm golden glow.

“I like it. I like my privacy, and I‘ve got Benson to keep me company.” He gave a half smile.

They drove up over a small rise and the house came into view.

Ashley gasped.

The trees seemed to open up and there was a magnificent view of the lake to their left. It was a two story log house. The exterior was made from deep honey-colored lengths of horizontal timber. Upstairs had an enormous glass windowed wall overlooking the lake. A small chimney peeked over from the rear of the house. There was an inviting outdoors retreat area on the lake side of the house, with a large fire pit and three oversized outdoor sofas which would be fantastic at night. Across from that was a large red timber barn.

Benson came running over barking and wagging his tail from side to side excitedly.

It looked like something out of a home and lifestyle magazine. Picture perfect.

“Jay, this is amazing!” Ashley shook her head in disbelief.

“Thanks.” He smiled, and stopped the car.

“Did you really build all this?”

He nodded.

“It’s beautiful.” She stared out the car window at the house.

He opened his door and Benson jumped up on him, apparently glad to see him. Jay patted him and Ashley hopped out of the car. Benson came around to greet her too, not jumping on her—thankfully—but sniffing and wagging his tail.

“Come, Benson.” Jay patted his thigh and started walking towards the house.

Ashley followed.

There was a small front verandah. It all looked rustic. Jay opened the front door.

“Was that unlocked?” Ashley asked.

“Yeah, I never lock it.” Jay held the door open for Ashley.

“Sorry about the mess, I wasn’t expecting visitors.” He reached up, scratching the back of his neck yet again. Ashley couldn't help but smile.

As she stepped inside she couldn't help but feel in awe. The interior was beautiful. So inviting and cosy.

“I’ll give you a quick tour, if you want,” Jay said. “Or I can just go and show you the gazebo?”

“No, I’d love to have a look around in here.” Ashley widened her eyes.

She still couldn’t believe he had created this masterpiece.

“Uh, this is my office.” He pointed to the right. “This is the spare bedroom, in here.” He pointed to the opposite side of the hallway they were in.

“There’s a laundry in there,” he said as they moved further down the hallway. “And a bathroom in here.” He motioned to the left.

As they exited the hallway, the room widened to an open living space. His kitchen was to the right,  furnished with dark, rich materials. A timber dining table big enough to seat eight people stood in the centre of the room, while a love seat, two oversized chairs and a television were off to the left of the room, along with a big stone fireplace. Six huge thick timber beams ran around the edges of the room.

Each of the three walls had a large window, letting in the light and providing a great view of the surrounding woods. The house felt like a part of the natural environment.

“Are you hungry?” Jay stood in the centre of the kitchen.

“A little, but it’s OK. I can wait til I get back to Mom’s house,” Ashley replied.

“I was
hoping
to be having leftover fish for dinner.” He smirked and Ashley giggled as she remembered throwing his dinner back into the lake the previous evening.

“But I was going to make risotto for dinner. I can make enough for two.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out.” Ashley frowned.

“I was going to make it anyway, so you’re not putting me out.”

“OK, thank you. That would be lovely.” As she turned, she noticed the rear wall near the lounge was covered with photo frames. She placed her purse on the floor beside the wall and strolled over to take a look while Jay took a large copper pan down from the hooks overhanging the counter.

There were so many photos.

She recognised some of the faces. There was Bryan and Jess with the kids—Harley looked like he was only a newborn. Ashley smiled at the mop of thick black hair Harley had as a baby. There was a photo of Jay and Ashley at prom. She couldn't help but laugh at her dress.
How quickly fashion changes
,
thankfully
. Jay was thinner, with a crew cut. He wore a light grey suit with a bright blue bow tie—to match Ashley’s cobalt dress.

Jay saw her smiling. “Prom photo?” He cocked one eyebrow.

She nodded. “What were we thinking? I don't know
how
we made Prom King and Queen,” she said, turning back towards the photo.

“Because you were the most beautiful girl there.” Jay turned his attention to chopping an onion.

“Well, that's only because there were only a handful of girls in our class.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered if there were ten thousand girls in our class.” Jay started peeling a clove of garlic. That was a lovely compliment. Of course, that
was
nine years ago, and she had changed quite a lot since then. She was no longer the carefree, beautiful young woman she had been back in high school.

She spotted another photo she recognised. Her with Jay  at the lake. She was in a red bikini and he was in his board shorts. He didn’t have any tattoos then, nor did he have as much body hair.

“I remember this day,” Ashley said, pointing at the photo “It’s the day I finally learned how to ski.”

“Yeah, that was a good day.” Jay smiled, still paying attention to the food he was preparing.

“Ha!” Ashley said. “You and I remember it very differently.” She turned towards him, “If I remember correctly this photo was taken about half an hour before you broke your foot and then were rushed to hospital and ended up having to have surgery to screw your bones back together.”

Jay laughed, still keeping his attention on the food. “Yeah, that was a painful lesson to learn.”

“What were you doing? Didn't you try to put your foot through the ski rope handle or something, while skiing barefoot?” She laughed.

He nodded. “I was trying to impress someone.” His cheeks began to turn red.

“Tsk-tsk. Always showing off in front of the ladies.” Ashley shook her head.

“Only one,” Jay said not raising his eyes.

Ashley’s heart seemed to quicken and she coughed to clear her throat. She turned her attention back to the photos.

There was a photo of Jay and Benson, when Benson was a puppy. He was cute and fluffy, and his coat was a lighter color. There were photos of Jay with his dad, fishing.

A photo of his mother, holding Jay as a baby. She was beautiful, with auburn hair which reached all the way down to her waist. Big eyes and beautiful full lips—just like Jay’s.

She didn’t recognise the two men in the next photo at first, but as she looked harder she realized one of them was Jay. He was in an army uniform with his arm around the shoulders of another guy, also dressed in an army uniform. The background was khaki tents in a dry, desert-looking environment.

“What's this photo?” she asked, frowning.

“Which one?” Jay scraped the contents of the board into the frying pan and wiped his hands on the tea towel, then came over to stand beside her.

“Oh, that’s me and Mike.” He smiled as he stared at the photo.“Mike?”

“When I was in the army.”.

“Wait. When were you in the army?” She was surprised by this information, even though Meika had mentioned something about Afghanistan earlier.

“I joined up not long after you left,” he said, scratching the back of his head.

Ashley stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate further.

The stock began to boil and he returned to the kitchen to reduce the heat.

“You never told me that,” Ashley said, watching him.

“You never asked.” He shrugged. “It’s not like we kept in touch after you left.”

He had a point. She looked at the other photos. Lots of unfamiliar faces and places. There were photos of families—none of whom were familiar. There were a few photos containing landmarks that Ashley did recognise, like the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, an Aztec temple, and an old castle, which looked to be in Europe somewhere. Plus many, many others.

“Where are all these photos from?” she asked.

“Different places.” Jay shrugged, his back to her as he stirred the rice.

“Who are all these people?” They looked foreign.

“Full of questions tonight.” Jay smiled over his shoulder at her.

“Well, you don’t  give much away. I’m surprised at all this information I’m discovering about you. This house, the army, travelling the world . . . I’m starting to think you’re an imposter. You seem like a completely different person.”

Jay laughed. “I’m the same person—but I
am
a different person.”

Well, that clarifies things.

“So are you going to tell me about these photos?” She pointed over her shoulder at them.

He nodded. “After dinner. If you want to know, I’ll tell you.”

She raised her eyebrows.

Why was he being so mysterious and secretive?

As he placed the plate in front of her she felt hungry, and realized she hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked.

“Water is fine, thank you.” He got her a glass of cold water and came to sit opposite her at the table.

“This looks good. Thank you so much.” Ashley took a deep breath of the enticing aroma wafting up from her plate.

“Do you mind if I say grace?” Jay peered at her, raising his eyebrows.

Ashley’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. Was he serious?.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He was keeping a straight face, so Ashley nodded.

“Uh, sure.”              

He held out his hands and Ashley reluctantly placed her hands in his. They were warm.

He bowed his head.

She kept waiting for him to look up and laugh and say “
Got ya!”
but he didn’t.

“Thank you, Lord, for our food and thank you for good company.” He shot Ashley a quick glance and smiled. “Amen.”

He let go of her hands.

Well, that was bizarre. Almost as strange as the blind dress fitting earlier that day. She stared up at him.

“What?” he asked as he took a forkful of risotto.

“Nothing. I didn’t think you'd be a praying type of man.” She picked up her fork.

He smiled but didn’t say anything.

“So I guess you found Jesus or something?”

“Something like that.” His eyes thinned slightly. “You don’t believe in God?”

“No. I used to, but you know . . . things change, stuff happens and I guess I started believing in what was logical instead of what I’d been told as a child. Don’t get me wrong, I'm all for freedom of religion. You can believe in whatever you want—Jesus, Buddha, the flying spaghetti monster—whatever floats your boat. I think it’s nice people have something to turn to. I know Mom still believes in God. I just don’t think it’s for me.” She took a forkful of the meal.

Jay didn't say anything, just watched her.

“Sorry, did that sound rude? I didn't mean it to sound offensive.”             

“It’s all right.” A hint of a smile played on his lips. “You didn’t offend me.”

“It’s that sometimes my mouth moves faster than my brain.”

He smiled and continued eating his meal in silence. She was glad her comments hadn’t caused an argument. She knew better than to argue with ‘religious’ people. It was a pointless conversation, mostly because she based her arguments on facts, logic and scientific evidence, whereas they based their opinions on faith and fairy tales. Even when presented with all the evidence, Christians would still point to the Bible and state that they believe in God because the Bible says he exists. That was like saying you believe in Santa Claus because you've read ‘The Night Before Christmas'’. It drove her crazy. She didn't know why, but for some unknown reason she got frustrated that Christians were so stubborn. Either that, or they were too stupid to recognise the truth when it was staring them in the face.