Page 127 of Crossing Every Line

“Be careful on the water. It’s freezing,” Susan called out.

Kendall smiled. “Don’t worry. The swing’s very sturdy.”

“Should it be so close to the end of the dock?”

Kendall led Susan down the dock. “See, not as close as it seems.”

“Oh, wow.”

Kendall folded her arms. “Beautiful, isn’t it? This is my favorite view.”

“I can see why.” Susan’s face was flushed with cold, and her smooth complexion spoke of days indoors.

Unlike Kendall’s chapped cheeks that wouldn’t stay moisturized this time of year even if she slicked her face with Vaseline.

Susan turned bright blue eyes in her direction. “I can’t wait to see our room. This whole place is so cozy and inviting.”

Kendall smiled and saw even more improvements thanks to Shane’s hand with the landscape. Shoveled walkways, boards replaced, and a few heavy blankets were folded on the chairs scattered around the swing. A bright cobalt-blue-stained Adirondack chair sat in her favorite spot on the deck.

She swallowed down a lump in her throat and showed Susan and her sister-in-law Jennifer the paths along the back of the house that hugged the lake.

Half an hour later she had all the couples divvied up on the second floor and the teens a few doors down. She remembered what it was like to be fifteen and on the cusp of independence.

She found her mother in the kitchen pulling two coffee cakes out of the oven with one already cooling on the table. “Smells amazing, Mom.”

“I want you to take half of that one to Shane. I saw all he did outside early this morning even before we were up. He might be antisocial, but he likes my coffee cake.”

Kendall laughed. Shane certainly had disappeared the minute the cars had come up the drive. She’d thought he was sleeping, but the plowed drive said otherwise. She wrapped half of the cake in tinfoil and kissed her mom on the cheek. “The Simmonses are getting situated, and I know that Todd and Mark were already looking for coffee.”

Lily nodded to the large coffee dispenser and a row of mugs. “All ready for them.”

“You are a wonder, Lily Proctor.”

“I know.”

Kendall shook her head and escaped through the back door, crossing the lawn to Shane’s domain. The whir of a drill and the scent of the strong brew he called coffee met her at the door. He was crouched beside the table, clamping a vise across the span of rich wood. With a deft hand he smoothed thin slats of the koa wood along the middle of the table, giving it a distinct stripe.

“It’s gorgeous.”

He looked up, then quickly away. “Thanks.”

The man was really bad at taking a compliment when it came to his art. She held up the foil package. “Mom sent this.”

He quirked a brow. “Coffee cake?”

“You’ve got her wrapped, Oscar.”

He took the pastry. “I had to put up a heavy bag out back.” He patted his belly. “Your mother’s going to give me a spare tire.”

She doubted it. The man was nothing but sinew and muscle under the layers he always wore. She walked around the table and slid her finger over the glass-smooth finish of the table. “I saw the Adirondack chair you left out there.”

He shrugged. “You kept stroking the one I made for a client. I figured you wanted one.”

“Did it hurt your heart to stain it blue?”

“A little.” He leaned against the table and crossed his arms over his powerful chest. His arms seemed larger, if that was at all possible. From all the labor he’d been doing on the Heron? Or maybe that heavy bag?

She curled her fingers under the fuzzy mittens she wore. “Well, I love it. You didn’t have to do that, though. I know what a good price you can get for them.”

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