Home > The Country Guesthouse (Sullivan's Crossing #5)(14)

The Country Guesthouse (Sullivan's Crossing #5)(14)
Author: Robyn Carr

“Owen, I need to face this. I have to get back to earning some money rather than just spending it. I love your house but...”

“Hannah, I think you know having you here has been good for me, too. I wouldn’t charge you to stay in the house. In fact, if you hadn’t already paid the rental in advance, I’d tear up the bill.”

“Why, Owen? Why is this good for you?”

“It must be the timing, that’s all I can think of. It’s been a little over ten years since my divorce. I can honestly say I haven’t been too lonely. My relationships with women were few and brief. I haven’t spent this much time with a woman and child in all that time. My wife remarried. A very nice fellow. I like him. They have a couple of little girls.” He laughed with some embarrassment. “I talked to her a couple of days ago and she suggested bringing the family out here for a visit and I asked her what kind of woman visits her ex-husband.” He shook his head. “But from the day you and Noah got here, it’s felt so ridiculously normal. I understand if you need to go. Maybe we’ll stay in touch. Maybe you’ll come back. I think it’s less odd if you and Noah visit than if my ex-wife and her new family visits, don’t you?”

She laughed a little. “I suppose.”

“I’m used to feeling odd,” he said. “I’m known around here as that skinny guy with the camera. For some reason, I don’t feel that odd with you.”

“But you’re not odd. You’re the most real person I’ve met in too long. And I don’t think you’re skinny at all.”

“I could get things off the top shelf for my mother when I was twelve. I can get things off the top shelf for you. I can swim with Noah. He’s thriving here.”

“I think it’s my responsibility to help him thrive in his forever home, in the place we’re going to live from now on. I have a plan. I should stick to the plan, no matter how uncertain I might feel.”

“This is usually an uncomplicated place,” he said. “You have a couple of days before your plan says it’s time to go. Think about it, okay? Think about giving yourself this gift of time. It’s working for all of us.”

“Please tell me you won’t hold it against me if I feel I have to go,” she said.

“Of course not,” he said. “We’ve become good friends. I only want you to be happy, to be doing exactly what’s best for you.”

She smiled at him. “Why do I have the strangest feeling those were your words when you decided to divorce? Were you polite and supportive even then?”

His shoulders shook with a silent chuckle. “Found me out,” he said. “It was very much like that. Poor Sheila, she has so much energy, has so much to say, so much to give. She’s a total people person. She said that sometimes I was quiet for days. I never thought it was that bad but I didn’t crave large groups of people. It’s true I began seeing more of my world through a lens. I’m afraid I enjoy quiet dinners, sunsets, long walks, campfires, people who don’t have five hundred friends but only a few good ones and count me as one of them. I walked around the Colorado countryside for months and then stumbled on this place, where I could be as quiet, slow and easy as I wanted to be.”

“But you travel to so many exotic places,” she said.

“I know. I have an insatiable curiosity about things I haven’t seen and I do have to make a living. Not always in exotic places, though. I’ve traveled to many ordinary towns to witness a soldier coming home from deployment or being released from a hospital on his new legs. I shot some amazing soup kitchens and some real raw homelessness. But I love places few people get to go. I think that, like you, there’s a puzzle in my head and I’m putting the pieces in place.”

“I don’t know how I can ever thank you for your kindness and generosity to me and Noah,” she said. “It’s been such a privilege to see some of your work.”

“Now you’re just flattering me,” he said.

“Ha! Not at all. I envy you that talent and drive. I have no idea what to do with my life! My job is a good job. The company is a good company. It pays well but it’s only rewarding to me in the area of income. Everything else about it has worn me down.”

“Hannah, that happens to most people, I think. No matter what field. I was a different kind of photographer before my divorce. I shot weddings, ball games, school photos, babies and Christmas card photos. Then I had this uncomfortable freedom and I started to change.”

“Did I tell you when I was here last? Did I tell you about our team building exercise?”

“Well, that you were here for a company retreat. Right? I was away.”

She told him about the trust exercises, about the sexy moderator, about her male colleagues getting stoned, about going home to find her fiancé boinking her administrative assistant.

And he laughed. “Oh my God, I apologize. That wasn’t really funny. Was it?”

“It’s getting a little funnier as time passes. By the time Noah is older, I might tell the story at his wedding...”

“I hope I’m there,” Owen said. “That sounds like something in a sitcom.”

“I picked the lock on your closet door to get my phone and laptop,” she said. “The moderator took our devices away so we’d have to communicate the old-fashioned way. I should’ve picked the lock on the wine cellar...”

“Ah, but then you wouldn’t have caught the fiancé and the admin.”

They looked at each other and burst out laughing. They enjoyed another glass of wine. When they said good-night, Owen kissed her on the forehead. “This is a slow, safe place. If you think it would be good for you and Noah, you can stay longer.”

“You’re such a kind man.”

“Sometimes I’m a little bit selfish.”

* * *

“Kate,” Hannah said into the phone. “Can your life change in two weeks? Completely? Can everything you once wanted become things you’d like to be free of and things you thought you’d never want mean everything?”

“Hannah, Hannah. That can happen in two minutes, haven’t we learned that much? Are you okay?”

“This place is like heaven and I dread going back to Minneapolis,” she said. “I’m afraid I’ll be so lonely. I’m afraid Noah will somehow slip through my fingers, that I won’t be able to do my job and keep tabs on him. What if I can’t find a good babysitter? What if I find out I got a bad—”

“You don’t have to rush back to work,” Kate said. “You can take all the time you need to make adjustments. Sharon and I will help you as much as we can. We’re pretty well connected in the kids’ arena. Experienced, too. We can help you find the right support system. But you don’t have to rush back if you don’t want to. It’s only been two weeks.”

“Owen offered me another two weeks, if I want it. He said that our being here is working for him, too.”

“Why don’t you take it?” Kate asked. “It’s not that long. You’ll still have the whole summer to settle in. Does Noah need any medical attention?”

“He seems to be fine. Improving, in fact. And I’ve gotten friendly with the town doctor—if I need anything, I’m sure she can direct me.”

“So, you and Noah are getting along?”

“Oh, yes, absolutely. I adore him and I think he’s growing to love me.”

“Then trust yourself. Take a little more time, then come home. We’ll have all summer to adjust and we’re here to help. It’s going to be all right.”

“You’re right,” she said. “I want to stay. Not just for Noah—I need this, too.”

“And you’re more than a little curious about the man,” Kate said. “Might as well see what you can learn about him.”

Hannah chuckled with a tiny spasm of embarrassment. “Yes, that, too.”

The next morning Hannah told Noah first. “I’ve decided we can take another two weeks, since Owen offered. But then we absolutely have to get back to Minneapolis. We have lots to do!”

“Yay!” he said. “What did Owen say?”

“I haven’t told him yet. Do you want to tell him?”

“I’ll tell him!” Noah said.

Noah got dressed and into his braces the fastest he ever had, and with the help of crutches he was practically running across the yard. He was careening like a drunken sailor and so cute. Hannah readied herself to run and pick him up, but he made it all the way without falling. From her place on the porch she could hear Noah yell, “We’re staying longer!” And she saw Owen pick Noah up and toss him into the air. One of Noah’s crutches hit Owen in the head. He winced and laughed.

For just a moment, she worried that by taking two more weeks she had worsened the problem, making leaving even harder.

Owen carried the boy across the yard, his crutches dangling from his arms. Romeo was prancing along behind, taking a detour for his morning constitutional. Owen’s smile was wider than she’d ever seen it.

“This was good news to wake up to,” he said.

“I hope this doesn’t make it worse, like if Noah and Romeo bond even more...”

“Don’t be silly,” Owen said. “They couldn’t possibly bond any more.”

“You do understand that’s all I have. Two more weeks. After that, I’m almost into my unpaid family leave.”

“I get it. And you’ll be leaving before summer really hits,” he said. “You’ll still have plenty of time to establish your routine.”

“That’s right,” she said. “So, now what?”

“We have many things to do—swimming, fishing, visiting neighbors, taking pictures and taking walks. Maybe we should take a road trip or two and visit some of the small towns around here, check out their pubs, diners, galleries, bookstores—everything. Don’t worry, I think we’ll be busy and have great fun, so let’s not burn daylight.”

   
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