Page 27 of Spring Showers

Pa smiled upside down. Her question stumped him, perhaps. He paused and threaded both arms through the tool bag’s handle. “It wasn’t like this before.”

“Before what?”

“I take it back,” Pa said. “It was like this a long time ago. But after the cove dried up, people moved away. Everyone thatdidstay accepted that the good days were behind them and did nothing to create change. But then, America showed up here and flipped the whole place on its head. There was a big fancy resort looking to build in the area, but after we came together, they couldn’t get what they wanted. We found our joy again and rediscovered what it means to be a community. A real one where people lift each other up instead of tearing things down.”

“Reminds me of home.”

“Where’s that?” Pa asked.

“A little town near Omaha, but on the Iowa side.”

“Ah, corn country. Do you miss it?”

“I miss some of my friends. My parents. But I’m not ready to go back anytime soon,” Thandie admitted, though she was unaccustomed to saying it out loud.

“Sounds like a story there.”

She nodded.

“Uh oh.” Pa pointed with his chin. “That story will have to wait for another time. Here comes the boss.”

Leo came through the doors carrying a large stack of white, freshly laundered towels. “Just the person I was looking for. How was the morning’s activity?”

“Good. It drizzled, but the gazebo kept us all dry, and the sound and scent of the rain were relaxing,” Thandie said. “What do you need?”

Leo handed her the towels, still warm from the dryer. “I need you to take these to the Bear Cabin.”

“Isn’t that Grant—I mean, Mr. Goldie’s cabin?”

“You got it,” he said.

“I’m happy to deliver these, but?—”

“But what? Is everything going as you planned?” Leo asked and his face tensed with concern.

Thandie didn’t want to give him anything more to worry about than he already had on his plate. “Everything is great. I’ll take these right away.” She placed them in the cart.

“Where did you get this contraption?” Leo pointed to the cart on her bike.

She nodded at Pa, who was beaming.

“I did it,” Pa said. “Your director here was having a time of it getting her things down to the gazebo. And I needed something fun to do other than dig that drainage trench behind the barn. Do you like what I came up with?”

“Nice work, Pa. I owe you one.”

“I’ll add it to your tab,” he said as he walked away. “But, for you, Thandie, this one’s on the house.”

“Thanks, Pa,” Thandie said and smirked as though she’d won a prize.

“What’s on the schedule for this afternoon?” Leo asked from the door.

“Flower arranging.” Thandie threw her leg over the rear tire and sat down on the bike seat. “And then supper.”

“Sounds good,” Leo said. “Now get going.”

Looking at the fast-moving gray clouds hovering low in the sky, Thandie knew she needed to hurry if she were going to get the towels to Grant’s cabin while they were still fresh—and dry. She pedaled and let gravity pull her and the cart down the path. Grant’s cabin was situated closer to the old shoreline than the one where she was staying, and between the barn and the gazebo.

Thankfully when she came around the back side of his cabin, it looked empty. She could just put the towels right inside and skedaddle before accidentally having another encounter withhim. Not now. She needed to focus on all the guests, not only Grant, but he was making it hard for her to do anything other than that.He’s just so good-looking, she thought, swooning.

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