Page 12 of Unexpected Gifts

“I don’t know. He just is.” Jack shrugged. “Like my friend Cooper at school. He’s always making everyone laugh.”

Luke Hayes had not struck her as particularly funny. At first, she’d thought he was judgmental and ill-tempered, but as they conversed, she’d changed her mind. He was clearly protective of Lily. Perhaps it was a single-father thing?

One thing for certain. He was as handsome as she remembered. Actually, more so. His even features had sharpened with age, carving his chin into rugged perfection and thinning his face so that his high cheekbones were more evident. When he’d looked into her eyes, she’d sensed a deepening of character that only came from age—and hard times met with courage. His divorce had clearly been a blow, not to mention having to care for a tiny baby. She’d definitely had the impression that the ex-wife was not in Lily’s life in any capacity.

He clearly spent a lot of time doing physical labor, considering the width of his shoulders and bulk of his chest. She hadn’t been sure if it was his attractiveness that made her knees wobbly or her embarrassment about Rufus. Regardless, he’d awakened some long-dormant butterflies, now dancing around in her stomach as if set free from prison.

Her musings drifted back to Lily’s mother. How could a mother leave her child? Ramona would have done anything to stay with hers.

Upon further reflection on her conversation with Luke, she’d been surprisingly honest with him. She wasn’t sure why. Typically, Abby kept her feelings to herself. A woman in science didn’t get ahead by acting sensitive or sentimental. She had a mantra all through school and residency. Never let anyone see her uncertain or nervous. No visible weakness. Even when she wanted to burst into tears in the middle of a test or rotation, she’d kept it all inside. Sometimes, she wondered where all those unshed tears had gone. Did they evaporate? Or did they collect in an invisible well inside a person, just waiting to leak fromheartsick eyes the moment one let go of tenuous control over their emotions?

“Abby, did you hear me?” Sophie asked.

Abby startled. “No, I’m sorry. What did you ask?”

Sophie shifted her gaze toward her pile of checkers and began to stack them one by one on top of each other. “My mom always made Jell-O salad to take to the Hayes’s’. Are you going to do that?”

Jell-O salad? She hadn’t thought about that dish for years.

“My mother used to make that too.” Abby smiled at the memory. “She said her mother used to make it every year.”

“My mom told us that, too,” Sophie said.

“I’ve never made it, though. Should we learn together? Is it hard, do you think?”

Both the children looked at her with wide, incredulous eyes, as if she’d said something horribly inappropriate.

“It’s Jell-O and whipped cream,” Sophie said. “And some pineapple, marshmallows, and nuts. Nothing hard about it.”

“And whipped cream.” Jack looked up from petting Rufus and practically shouted. “Don’t forget the best part.”

“I just said that,” Sophie said, sounding slightly exasperated.

Worried about the weather, Abby glanced out the window. The sun was still shining. Could she make it into town without mishap? She wasn’t sure she could get out of the driveway without slipping. Her car had been fine for California, but here, she needed a more rugged vehicle. She’d planned on buying one once she got to Emerson Pass. Breck had said she would need a truck or SUV for making rounds out to the farms and ranches during winter months, but she hadn’t had the time to take care of it before she’d left LA. But then, somewhere in Nevada, she’d gotten the news about Ramona, and all thoughts of a new vehicle had gone completely out of her mind.

“My mom already had everything we needed for it,” Sophie said woodenly. “It’s all in the pantry.”

“The whipped cream’s in the freezer,” Jack added.

Ramona had already bought the ingredients for a Thanksgiving side dish? She’d been gone for two weeks, but she’d clearly planned ahead. How could it be that she was gone? Just like that?

If she felt this way, she could only imagine how devastating it was to the children.

“Shall we make it together?” Abby asked, keeping her voice even.

“Mom made it by herself. We just get in the way,” Jack said.

Sophie smiled, transforming her pale, drawn face. “Yougot in the way. Not me.”

“Your mother was a great cook. I am not. Which means I may need some help. Would you like to help?”

“If you need me to, I will.” Sophie shrugged. A gesture that had become all too familiar to Abby even in the short time she’d been with them. The Sophie shrug. Heartbreaking and frustrating at the same time.

“How do you know my mom was a good cook?” Sophie’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“We were good friends back when we were teenagers. I used to come here to visit, and she and her mother would make all kinds of yummy meals.”

“My grandmother?” Sophie asked.

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