right.” She took a quick little breath and spoke in a rush, as though she was afraid she’d lose her nerve. “I wanted to say yes this morning, but I needed to consider my options.”
“You weren’t prepared to act on impulse.”
Her chin rose a little and her eyes narrowed. Then she nodded. “Exactly.”
“I can understand that.” He motioned for her to take a seat. She lowered herself carefully into the chair. She wasn’t clumsy in her pregnancy, but neither had Kara been until the end. He wondered exactly how pregnant Tessa Masterson was.
“I’ve learned the hard way not to walk into a situation without both eyes wide open,” she said, and he thought he heard sadness, laced with an undercurrent of resignation, in her voice. She looked past him for a moment, as though his scrutiny had made her uncomfortable. He didn’t fool himself that she was looking at the Riverbend Farmers’ Co-op calendar hanging on the wall behind him.
He waited for her to go on. It was quiet in the office area. Linda Christman, the bookkeeper, had gone to lunch. His granddad was still chewing the fat with Harvey. Someone was loading lumber out in the yard. He could hear Bill Webber’s amplified voice calling for the yard boy to bring up the forklift. But Tessa took her time, ordering her thoughts, or gathering her courage, or both.
“I had every intention of leaving town this morning. But as I said, circumstances have changed. I called my sister from the phone booth in front of the courthouse. My nieces have been exposed to chicken pox. I’ve never had chicken pox.” She was looking at him again, not past him, and he didn’t have to guess about the emotion in her cornflower-blue eyes. It was plain to read. Fear. Not for herself but for her unborn child. “I can’t take the chance of catching it from the girls and risk harming my baby.”
Mitch nodded his agreement.
“I would have to find someplace to stay if I go on to Albany. I need money badly. Another job like this one isn’t going to fall into my lap.” She gave him another little half smile. “Not that I have much of a lap left these days.”
He liked that about her, too. Her determination to see the lighter side of things.
“So you decided to stick around Riverbend as an informed choice and not on impulse. I’d probably do the same thing if I were in your shoes.”
“I can’t promise you how long I’ll stay. My baby’s due the middle of December. I need to be settled in Albany and to have found an obstetrician before then.”
“What will you do about prenatal care while you’re here?”
“I have my medical records with me. I saw my old doctor just a week ago. I’m healthy. But…”
“One of the docs at the hospital is a friend of mine. I’ll give her a call and set you up with an appointment.”
Her lips tightened almost imperceptibly, and her eyes sparkled with challenge. For a moment he thought she’d refuse his offer. But in the end she swallowed her pride. “Thank you. Does that mean I get the job?”
“I’m as desperate as you are, Tessa. I’m making an informed choice, too. Yes, the job’s yours for as long as you care to stay. The apartment above the boathouse, too. Just like I told you this morning.”
“I won’t stay there for nothing. I’ll pay fair rent. Is a hundred dollars a week enough?”
Mitch snorted. He couldn’t help himself. For a moment the fear was back in her eyes and he was immediately sorry. She probably figured he was going to ask for more. “This isn’t California. Three-bedroom houses might rent for a hundred dollars a week in these parts, but not the boathouse. I’ll tell you what. I can’t offer you any benefits. My insurance carrier won’t cover you until you’ve worked here for six months. And they won’t cover your pregnancy even then.”
“I understand that.”
“Consider the use of the apartment the only fringe benefit I can offer.”
“I—”
“Take it or leave it.”
Once more she surprised him, this time by not arguing. “I’ll take it. Providing I can start work as soon as possible.”
“First thing tomorrow.” Mitch stood up. She did, too, and he motioned with his hand for her to precede him down the stairs.
She stayed put. “I want to start today. Now. Or the deal’s off.”
“You drive a hard bargain.” He didn’t want to push her any further, or she might bolt and run. She was going to be staying in Riverbend for at least a couple of weeks. He felt like a kid who had made a wish on a star and had it come true.
The only thing he had to remember now was not to get too close to that star, or he might find himself blinded by the brightness.
“SHE’S GOING to be staying in the boathouse,” Caleb told Sam as they were setting the table for supper. He stopped putting down forks and spoons so that Sam could watch his lips. “She’s going to work at the hardware for a couple of weeks.”
“To help you and Dad.”
“That’s the idea.” His great-grandfather’s lips were pulled into a tight line. That meant he wasn’t happy.
“It’s hard working at the store,” Sam said. “She’s going to have a baby. Should she be doing that work?” He’d noticed she was pregnant right away. It was pretty hard to miss.
“Having a baby is a natural thing. As long as we don’t let her lift anything too heavy, she’ll be okay.”
“Where’s her husband?” Sam set a glass of water by Caleb’s plate. He didn’t sign much with his great-grandfather. Caleb’s arthritis was too bad.
“I don’t know she has one.”
“Why not?” The pregnant ladies he knew in Riverbend had husbands.
“Haven’t got the foggiest notion why not.” The old man shook his head and frowned. “The world’s changing fast. In my day a pregnant woman didn’t go gallivanting around the country by herself. She stayed home and let her husband take care of her. Women don’t think they need husbands to raise kids these days, more’s the pity.”
Sam couldn’t catch all the words. Caleb liked to ramble on to himself, and he didn’t always remember to look at Sam while he did it. Granddad Caleb was losing his hearing, too. Pretty soon, he said, he and Sam would be in the same boat.
Except Granddad Caleb had been able to hear things all his life. He didn’t have to guess what a bird singing sounded like. He didn’t have to wear a hearing aid and use an augmenter in class and feel like a geek.
“She’s pretty,” Sam said. “Her hair’s the same color as Mom’s.”
“She doesn’t look anything like your mother.” Caleb rounded on him with narrowed eyes. With his big nose and white hair, he looked just like an eagle when he did that.
“I know. Mom’s shorter than her. And skinnier.”
