Jayce pressed his lips together to stifle a smile. His dad would despise having Gus around constantly.
“Most of them are pretty good at what they do.” Jayce felt he should defend the crew, at least a little.
“Then they need to stick to doing what they do well and not put a woman’s life in danger, which is exactly what they did today.And from what I heard, it was nearly as bad on Friday.” He shook his head. “Idiots.”
“Veronica said you saved her life.” Jayce kept his eyes on the old guy, curious how he’d respond.
“Somebody had to.” He snapped his head to the right and glared at Jayce. “Why weren’t you in the boat, by the way? You twoseem close. Didn’t you want to make sure she’d be all right?”
Jayce wasn’t going to fess up and give Gus anything to fuel his scorn.
“Not close the way you might think. She dated my dad until recently. You’re not going to say anything bad about him, are you? You might get booted from the film.” He grunted. “Like everyone else, you have to kiss up to Brandon Clarkson no matter what. Did he even make a move to go in after Veronica?”
Gus stared straight ahead. “Kid, can you just shut up until we get back? I’ve had a traumatic ordeal, and you’re giving mea headache.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘no.’ Dad didn’t throw himself in harm’s way to save the woman he loves, or at least used to love.” Jaycewas pretty sure his father still loved Veronica, but he wasn’t sure he loved anyone more than himself. Putting himself atrisk seemed unlikely.
Gus was quiet for a while, so Jayce kept silent as well. No matter what, he’d saved Veronica, and the man deserved respectfor that.
“You know, you kids don’t know a thing about raising kids. There ain’t no handbook.” Gus’s jowls jiggled when the old truckhit a pothole. “Maybe you oughta give your dad a break and quit acting like a little punk.”
“Watch it, old man.” Jayce felt a familiar rage bubbling to the surface, but he would never hit an elderly person, not evensomeone as obnoxious as Gus. “Don’t act like you know me or my father. You don’t know him.” He huffed. “Trust me. You don’tknow him.”
“Maybe you don’t know him either.”
It seemed a strange thing to say, but Jayce recalled Gus saying he had a daughter who hated him. “Does your daughter knowyou? You said she hated you.”
Gus rattled off a string of curse words, ending with, “You’re just a punk kid.”
They turned onto the driveway at the inn. “And you’re a grumpy old man who treats people like dirt. But you did save Veronica’slife, and for that . . . I am very grateful.”
Jayce got out of the truck and headed for the main house. He was ready to spend a quiet evening watching the sunset with Evelyn.
When he opened the door and stepped into the living room, the aroma he’d begun looking forward to didn’t waft up his nostrils.Instead, something smelled burnt. He rushed toward the kitchen.
Esther had the stove open and was using a dustpan to fan smoke toward the open window. Lizzie’s head covering was fallingoff her head as she knelt on the floor picking up what appeared to be charred loaves of bread. An Amish woman Jayce hadn’tseen before paced the kitchen, crying.
Instinctively, Jayce went to the woman crying. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He glanced at Esther and Lizzie, but neitherone looked up, only stayed busy with their tasks.
“Ya, ya. I’m fine. Except I almost burned the haus down on mei first day of work.” The woman covered her face with her hands. “Lizzie and Esther went to take a nap. The timer was set forthe bread. All I had to do was take it out of the oven when the buzzer went off. But it didn’t go off!” She uncovered herface. “So I waited a while. But then I needed to use the facilities, so I did. Then I remembered I needed to collect the towelsfrom the guest rooms upstairs. I saw all the pretty clothes on the racks, and I was just looking at them as I gathered thetowels. I guess I stayed up there too long.” She drew in a breath before swiping at her tears. “By the time I came back downstairs,I was winded and decided to rest. All I did was sit on the couch and lay mei head back. Mei mamm calls them power naps. You sleep for five minutes and wake up feeling refreshed. I must have slept longer than five minutes. Maybe I was tired from my trip.” She lifted her shoulders and raised her palms. “And the bread burned.”
Jayce was speechless.
Esther finally closed the oven, and Lizzie threw the charred bread in the trash can. “Everything is fine,” Esther said. “Jayce,this is Rose, our new employee. Today is her first day, and she’s just having first-day jitters.”
“You two go out on the porch.” Lizzie motioned toward the living room.
“Rose, gather yourself, dear. Everything will be all right. Jayce, where’s everyone else? I didn’t hear them come in.” Esthercoughed. How smoky had it been? A strong stench still lingered.
“Actually, they stopped at a restaurant. I was riding with Gus, and he didn’t want to stop.” Jayce cringed. “Do you need meto do anything in here to help?”
“Nee. Just take her outside.” Lizzie waved to shoo them away again. Jayce saw her roll her eyes and did as she asked.
* * *
Esther held her head in her hands and sighed.
“I don’t want to hear it. You told me to find someone to help us, and I did.” At least Lizzie’s teeth were back in her mouth.“I don’t know what to do about her.”
Esther was more exhausted than she’d been before Rose joined them earlier in the day. “Can we train her not to talk so much?I’m sure she’s a sweet maedel and all, but . . .”
“Well, thank the Lord the others stopped
