“I’m quite happy to sit here and watch you, actually. The drive out here was nice and I don’t often take the time to sit and do nothing. Don’t worry about me.”
*
He couldn’t help but worry about her and the idea didn’t sit well either. With just Cory to care about, life had been running along smoothly. When Bella had called and asked him to join her for coffee, he’d been pleased but surprised. He didn’t think she’d enjoyed herself the other day when Mari had thrown them together but he must have been wrong.
He pushed the mask down his chin. “If you’re sure. I didn’t mean for you to get bored. I thought the change of scenery would be nice though.” He pushed the mask back, picked up a scraper, and scooped a dab of the fiberglass. Pretty soon he was lost in his own world. Filling the dents and scrapes he’d missed last time he’d been out here. Smoothing it out as best he could ready for the next step of the process. He glanced up once and Bella was still sitting on the drum, leaning back against a post with her eyes closed and a small smile flickering over her lips.
She really was quite beautiful. He could see her sisters there but Bella was definitely her own person. She had a vitality the other girls didn’t have as much as they were both go-getters. What drove the delectable Bella Moore? He really wanted, no needed, to find out more about her. Silly, really, when she wasn’t staying in town but something drew him to her. Was it the energy she exuded? Or the ease with which she fitted in?
The slant of her cheeks as she tilted her head to catch the rays of winter sun made him stop and stare. The smile deepened and her lips parted. Jake’s stomach clenched and his breath caught in his throat. The moment shattered as a laugh rose in her throat. She doubled over and held her sides and the joy escaped her.
“Have I got filler on my nose or something?” Jake stood, slighted because the moment was broken but relieved because he wasn’t ready to fall for this gorgeous creature.
Bella stood up, wiped her hands over her face. “No, sorry. I was just thinking about where I was six months ago and where I am now. I’m easily amused by my own thoughts. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. At least you can look back and laugh, which is more than a lot of people can do.” He threw the mask in the trash can. “Listen, let me clean up this mess and then I’ll take you for a quick walk around the shoreline before we head back to town. Okay with you?”
She gave him a warm smile, the light dancing in her eyes. “That would be lovely, Jake. Thank you.”
Chapter Six
After he dropped Bella off, Jake was determined to find out more about her. He stood in the living room, the television controls in his hand staring at the screen. “I had no idea.” Larger than life, a very different-looking Bella diced onions with the precision of a master samurai, all the time smiling and talking at the camera, the huge blade glinting under the studio lights. Her fingers moving like liquid with a speed that worried him. She hadn’t appeared to be missing a digit but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen the way she wielded that knife.
“Hmmm. Seems to be pretty famous. One of the best ranking shows on the network. How come we didn’t know who she was?” Woodsie walked into the room with a cup of coffee in his hand.
“’Cause we don’t watch that kind of show, I guess. I Googled it and found the last of her previous series on now.” Jake held his breath when she splashed a cup of brandy into her pan of diced browned onions and tipped it enough that it caught on fire. “What the heck…”
If this was what she did, was it any wonder the stove went up in flames?
“And you say she wants to cook for us until the hotel kitchen is back up and running? Hell, Jake, don’t let her get away. This looks like the kind of food I could get used to.”
Jake snorted. “As if. If it isn’t ready made and frozen prepared, you look at it expecting it to grow horns, Dad.”
“Nah, you have it all wrong. I could get used to that one cooking for me. I just don’t like doing that kind of fare myself.”
A skid on the road outside and the clang of a bike dropping to the ground heralded the arrival of Cory home from school. The loud thumps of a teenage boy sounded on the front porch. Cory burst into the house, tossed his school bag on the floor and strode to the refrigerator, pulled open the door as he did every afternoon. “Hey, Dad, Granddad.”
“Have a good day?” Jake stood transfixed to the television screen.
“Yeah, alright I guess. What are you doing?” He messed around in the kitchen and then walked over with a bowl of Cheerios, slurping them into his mouth. “Hey, isn’t that Bella, the lady in the pink house?” He dropped down onto the chair and stared at the screen, his bowl of cereal tipping dangerously close to emptying on the carpet.
“That’s her.” Woodsie gave him a grin. “Watch your bowl. She wants to cook for us because she can’t use the kitchen in the hotel until they get a new stove. Seems she set the place on fire and can’t use the kitchen for a bit.”
“Why?” Cory moved the bowl and saved his snack and the carpet. Another spoonful of cereal disappeared
