Page 11 of There I Find Peace

“I think Matt told you that I run a bed-and-breakfast here?”

“He did.”

“It’s going to be busy by the end of this month, and for July and August as well. I... I can handle the guests, and cooking breakfast, making meals, even the cleaning is not too bad. But I’ve been trying to do an organic garden to go along with it. People enjoy eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and they love it whenever what is served is grown right here on the farm. I... I get behind in the gardening. And I was wondering if you would help me with that, especially. But with anything else that I need help with as well. With eight bedrooms and a mother-in-law suite in the basement, it gets to be a lot. And that was last year. I’m going to be a lot busier this year.”

“You want to give me a job?” Jubilee asked, and she sounded like she couldn’t believe it.

“I do. I... I think I could even keep you on definitely in the spring and fall, and possibly even the winter if we get booked over Christmas. Which happened to my surprise last year. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“I think lots of people want to get away for Christmas. It’s easier to let someone else clean after you’re done than to do it yourself. Or maybe it’s just the idea of everyone meets at someone else’s house.”

“Exactly. Whatever it is, it was a big deal, and I was actually fully booked for almost the entire month of December.”

“There might even be a way to frame it so that people want to come to the lake in January and February. There would be skiing here and ice fishing.”

“We did have some ice fishermen. And I suppose if there were a ski shop... I suppose we should have a surf shop in Strawberry Sands before we have a ski shop.” They laughed together.

“It could be both. You know, in the summer a surf shop, in the winter a ski shop, with the merchandise flipping back and forth from the back to the front of the store.”

“Someone needs to do that.”

“Maybe we should,” Jubilee said, laughing, but Lana sobered immediately.

“Why don’t we?” she asked.

Jubilee’s mouth opened and closed like she was thinking about all the reasons why they shouldn’t.

The first probably being that they just met yesterday, they could hardly go into business together when they didn’t even know each other.

Rather than let Jubilee stew, Lana just started talking. “I hadn’t considered that at all, and I don’t know much about surfing. Or skiing for that matter, but it could end up being great for my bed-and-breakfast business, so I could look into it. It would be something to do in the winter. It would give an added income. If we are careful with our expenses, we should at least break even. There is an empty store, several actually, right on Main Street in Strawberry Sands. Not far from the beach. The horses are a big draw up here, and maybe we could add saddles and other horse paraphernalia as well.”

“You’re serious,” Jubilee said, and she still sounded surprised.

“Yes. I want to say, let’s do this. Because I am serious, but I understand that you’re just coming from a huge change, and we did just meet each other. Let’s work together for the summer. Let’s think about it. Let’s see what happens, and let’s keep that in mind. It might be something that we want to do for the long haul.”

“I’m kind of in disbelief, but yeah. I... I could really get into that. I want to settle somewhere and put down roots.”

“You don’t have to tell me what happened to make you feel like you need a change, but if you want to, I can listen.” Lana thought that maybe she should have started with that. She just didn’t want to pry too hard into Jubilee’s background and make her feel defensive or insecure.

“I guess everybody who’s divorced has a story like that. A cheating husband or some way they just couldn’t get along. I guess... I guess mine’s the same. Although sometimes I think that I can’t really blame everything on my husband. I made mistakes too. You know?”

“I think there’s a difference between making mistakes, which is human nature, and cheating or abuse.”

“There wasn’t any abuse. No physical abuse anyway. But I couldn’t stay with a man I couldn’t trust after he cheated. And I just had to go.”

“And you picked Strawberry Sands?”

“I had great memories here. We spent the summer here. It was the best summer of my life. I felt the pull and wanted to come back. I guess we always want to go where we have the happy memories. The places that made us feel secure. That’s what Strawberry Sands is to me.” She laughed a little. “I guess it was pretty interesting to me that when I broke down, Matt was the one who found me. He wasn’t someone I hung out with that summer, but he was someone I admired from a distance. I’m sure you know he’s good looking.”

“He’s my son. Of course I think he’s good looking. But his dad was really good looking too. I think that was probably the problem. Maybe Matt knows that, he...made a mistake back when he was younger. And I think he worries that his looks attract the wrong kind of women. Or maybe he just doesn’t know how to tell the difference between the right and wrong kinds.”

“He said something about his daughter coming for the summer.”

“Yeah. That’s probably his story to tell, but that was what I was talking about. Her mother was...not the right kind of woman.” Lana sighed. She didn’t want to bad-mouth Eva. Although, some people grew up, and some people just didn’t. “Everyone can change. Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes we look at someone and they’ve done something, and we don’t ever want to give them credit for becoming someone different. You know?”

“I’m not the same person I used to be. But sometimes I want to look at someone else and think that they couldn’t possibly change. I look for proof of that, you know? And you can always find proof.”

“Exactly. You really can. I’m guilty of that too. After all, I know the pain that Matt has been through, and I suppose that makes me even more protective, since he’s my son. Anyway, Nora, his daughter who is twelve, about the same age as Scarlett if I’m not mistaken, will be here in a week or so.”

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