Sea Glass Cottage (30 page)

The day before
Thanksgiving a Pacific storm roared into the area bringing heavy rain. The gusty wind slammed out of the north, whipping and whistling, shaking and rattling the window panes. The bad weather made for an intimate setting where Thane and Jonah had found a place to spread out with the dogs by the fire. Thane had brought in a stack of firewood for the night and kept tossing logs on the hearth so the cottage had a nice and toasty feel to it.

Isabella had stowed her stash of guns away in a locked safe in her closet. So there was no chance Jonah could get to any of them or reach any of the knives she kept around the house. Besides, what did she have to be afraid of when she had an athletic, former NFL linebacker for a boyfriend?

It was enough for her that Jonah was excited to be here, eager about the big meal tomorrow when his Uncle Fisch would show up and spend the day with them watching football.

In the kitchen Isabella had spent her morning keeping busy preparing the menu for tomorrow’s meal. She’d discovered she liked the homey duties. Getting a turkey stuffed and ready for someone else to eat seemed like the key to cooking.

She stood at the stove pouring hot cocoa she’d made from scratch into mugs. “Hot chocolate’s ready,” she called out. Two seconds later, Jonah came darting in, appeared at her elbow, to get his share.

“Yum. You make it better than Uncle Fisch does.”

“I do? What a nice thing to say. Thank you. That’s quite a compliment. Although let’s keep it between the two of us. We don’t want to hurt Fischer’s feelings.”

“Uh-oh, I already told him last time you made me cocoa,” Jonah admitted.

Isabella snuck out a chuckle. “It’s okay. I’ll tell you a secret. I’m a little nervous to have Fischer coming here for dinner tomorrow sampling my cooking.”

“Don’t be,” Thane said from the doorway. “The guy might be a picky perfectionist in his own kitchen when he’s at the helm, but I’ve never seen him become a rude guest when it comes to grabbing a meal at other people’s houses.”

“You’re sure about that? I suppose that makes me feel better. But I wouldn’t be honest if I said he doesn’t intimidate me a little bit with his skills near a stove. I’m nervous.”

Thane watched her check the pot of soup she had simmering for lunch, watched as she opened the oven to test the cornbread she’d baked for what she hoped to use for stuffing. She’d even rolled out dough for a crust and added the pumpkin mixture she’d created from scratch to pour into a baking dish for pie.

To show his appreciation, he went to where she stood, wrapped his arms around her body. Nestled up against each other like this, he felt as though he’d finally found what he’d been looking for his entire life.

“Do you mind if Jonah and I stay here tonight?”

“You have to ask? Of course not. It makes no sense to go out into the pouring rain when there’s a perfectly good guest room for Jonah.”

He nuzzled her neck and lowered his voice, “Good because after dinner I have this idea where we get naked and…”

From his perch on the bar stool next to the counter, Jonah piped up, “Daddy, help, I can’t get the last piggy on Angry Birds. I’m stuck on level four and I can’t get past this one mean pig.”

Thane kissed Izzy’s neck and muttered, “Duty calls. Later.” With that, he moved over to join his son at the island. “Let’s see if we can figure this out together.”  

For lunch she dished up vegetable chowder and watched as they went through the whole vat of soup like they hadn’t eaten in days.

After spending time with kitchen detail, Isabella went to the closet and took down a game from the shelf, spread out the board, pawns, and dice on the table.

“I remember this,” Thane said as he took a seat. “I didn’t know they still made Parcheesi.”

“I don’t know either. I found this at Layne’s Trains going through a stack of Cooper’s old inventory. As the only toy store in town you’d be surprised how busy that man has been since getting his business going two months ago. He said his first month was abysmal and slow but now…”

“It’s turned around. I know he told me the same thing.”

“Cooper also mentioned that there used to be an old theater sandwiched between your pizza place and the police station. I got curious and went by there to check it out.”

“Wow, I remember that. It was gone two decades ago. Now that I think about it, I remember being around ten and standing on the corner watching them dismantle the old marquee and truck it off somewhere.”

“Well, that’s a shame. I checked the place out, the marquee’s definitely history, the only thing that remains are the ornate doors on the front of the building. Someone gutted the inside. I know because I scraped off a layer of dirt to get a look inside. Anyway, it’s an empty shell now. Remember when we were out at that old barn where you bought the tables? There were all these old theater seats just sitting there gathering dust. It occurs to me that Cleef must’ve acquired them at some point and stored them there.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That if you own the pizza parlor next door to a movie theater, you could pick up walk-in business when they come out hungry.”

Thane nodded beginning to see the upside. “We could bring the place back to its former glory. I’m sure Troy or Ryder or Zach could tell us what kind of money we’d be talking about for a space that size.”

“Or if it’s even doable.”

Thane chuckled. “Are you kidding? Troy will try to tackle anything. Ryder has the presence of mind to see the pitfalls. And Zach is the one who grumbles about their choices. They’re an odd group of guys.”

After three rounds of Parcheesi the game had them laughing and arguing good-naturedly over moves. Later, she helped tuck Jonah into the guest room with a sense that he had something weighing on his mind.

“Okay, spill it, what’s wrong?”

“I like it here in your house.”

“That’s good. That means you’ll come back.”

“Tommy says you’re almost like a mom. How come you don’t have kids of your own? Don’t you like kids?”

“I love kids, especially balls of energy and wiggle worms like you,” she told him, poking him in the ribs.

From the doorway Thane listened to the byplay. He had to admit his son had seemed a lot happier lately. It had been more than a week since Jonah had brought up his grandmother. The boy hadn’t pestered him to go out to the cemetery either. That had to be a good sign that the kid was moving on, didn’t it? But Thane wondered what he should do about this thing with Isabella. This was beginning to feel like a real family effort and he wasn’t sure the ground was stable enough yet.

And the next words out of Jonah’s mouth had him sweating bullets.

“Since you don’t have a little boy of your own, I could be your little boy.” 

Thane saw Isabella get tears in her eyes before she could muster up something to say. “Are you kidding? I’d love that. I’d be crazy not to love you or want you for my son. And we know I’m not crazy, remember?” she said with a wink.

Thane could see it was all she could do to fight back the water that wanted to fall out of her eyes. He understood that it wouldn’t do to have Jonah see her start bawling.

“You think you can sleep in here tonight, buddy?”

“Sure. I like it here. I brought my Legos and four of my stuffed animals.”

“Okay, then get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Can Jax and Jazz stay in here tonight?” Jonah asked.

“Absolutely, they could use the company.”

Thane closed Jonah’s door and took Isabella by the hand leading her into the bedroom. They sat down on the bed so they could talk. “Did that freak you out in there?”

“Not at all. But I can tell by the way you’re acting, it certainly freaked you out.”

“A little. It’s just that he’s so young. I don’t want to see him hurt.”

“I don’t want to see him hurt either.”

“Jonah never knew his mother, lost his grandfather early on, lost his grandmother who was basically his primary caregiver. I’m still not convinced that he’s completely over losing her either. That’s a lot of disappointment and loss for a little kid to handle at such a young age.”

“I agree. So you’re afraid that things won’t work out between us and he’ll be left confused and wondering what happened?”

“That’s part of it. This whole thing is moving so fast for him. I think he desperately wants a mother or at least a mother-figure in his life. This is hard for him. Me? I’m not a divorced parent. I’m the only parent. I can’t call up his mother, my ex, and say, ‘what about taking him for the weekend?’ It doesn’t work that way. I’m a single parent where every decision I make lands on my shoulders, my responsibility, my mistakes.”

“Parents make mistakes, Thane. It’s inevitable. They aren’t perfect. You do the best you can and hope that it’s enough. Are you trying to end this between us because you’re afraid…?”

He didn’t let her finish. “No, not that. I’m hoping with Jonah you meant what you said back there and that you weren’t just being kind to him because he put you on the spot.”

She narrowed her eyes and stared at him. “I admit I wasn’t sure exactly how to handle it. But Jonah had obviously given it a great deal of thought. Couldn’t you tell that? I would never hurt him, Thane, never. My feelings for him are as genuine as my feelings are for you.”

Thane blew out a heavy, pent-up puff of air in relief. “You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that. It’s a load off my heart and mind.”

She ran a hand up his chest. “Then let’s go to bed.”

The rain had
eased up by the time she took the dogs for a walk down the hill and back before breakfast. When she returned to the cottage, she found Thane in the kitchen starting a pot of coffee and Jonah sitting at the table holding a box of Count Chocula.

She took one look at the two stubborn faces and decided a disagreement hung in the air.

“That’s way too much sugar, especially after all the candy you’ve had lately,” Thane reasoned.

“But I want it for breakfast.”

Thane sent Isabella a smoldering look. “Who buys Count Chocula anyway?”

She lifted a shoulder in defense as she reached down to unsnap the leash on each dog’s collar. “It’s a seasonal Halloween thing. I sometimes eat it at night after supper for dessert.”

“See, Dad. Izzy eats it.”

Jax and Jazz bolted toward the boy and slid across the tile floor. Using that as an opportunity to get between the two willful corners over breakfast food, Izzy spread her fingers through Jonah’s hair. “Why don’t you feed the dogs? You know where I keep the puppy chow, remember?”

Over the past few days Jonah had gotten into a routine. She watched as he dutifully went into the pantry, used the scoop to grab enough dog food to pour into the stainless steel feeding bowls. What spilled over on the floor, the dogs quickly inhaled.

It didn’t escape Thane’s notice, the way she’d handled the situation. She’d managed to get Jonah’s attention refocused on something else while he eased off his stance. That’s why he relented and took down a bowl from the cabinet. “Count Chocula today but I don’t want to catch any flak when Jonah’s swinging from the light fixture above the dining room table because of a sugar rush.”

Jonah hooted with laughter. “I’m not gonna swing like a monkey in the zoo.”

“You’re not? Hmm, sometimes I think you are when I see you jumping up and down on the sofa.”

Isabella threw together eggs for breakfast while the banter ramped up. By the time the doorbell rang and Fischer strolled in, the announcers on TV were playing up the pregame between the Detroit Lions and the Bears. The guys huddled over the screen to see kickoff while Jonah alternated his time playing with his iPad or building stuff out of his Legos.

As Thane had promised, Fischer left her alone in the kitchen to prep Thanksgiving dinner by herself. That is, until Isabella begged for help making the gravy. “If I ruin it by using all the turkey stock we end up eating dry mashed potatoes. That’s the truth of it. Help. SOS. I’m sending up a red flare here. I’m not afraid to admit gravy scares me.” 

The chef flashed a grin. “Gravy’s tricky.” Fischer moved beside her at the stove and added, “But it’s the easiest thing to make once you get the hang of it. You have any cognac?”