he grabbed whatever hours he could late in the year. Working didn’t just keep him busy during the deluge of holiday forums embraced by their sweet, small town. It kept him sane. “We’ve got a couple of guys who needed day shifts. And one who just had a baby, so he’s out for a couple of weeks. I think they were in your unit, actually.” He lifted his eyes to Corinne. “Jason and Shelly Montgomery. Shelly had some problems, and was in the hospital for the last four weeks, then the baby was in the NICU for a few weeks. But now everyone is home, no one is sleeping and life is good.”
“I heard they were a very nice couple. I didn’t know Jason was a trooper.”
That surprised him, because the baseball parents seemed to open up to Corinne, and then he put two and two together. “Of course, the new job. Off the floor. So you wouldn’t get to know people the same way. Well.” He stepped back. “Gotta go. I’ll see you guys at tomorrow night’s game.”
“Last game of fall ball,” said Tee. “And then we blast right into the holidays. This will be our first Christmas on the water! Maybe we can decorate the dock and everything, like Grandpa used to do!”
Callan reached out and pumped Gabe’s hand. “This is great, Coach! Really great! I can’t believe it!”
It wasn’t great. It was the opposite of great because Gabe Cutler didn’t do holidays. He didn’t do family gatherings or twinkle lights, and if he could disengage himself from endless loops of sappy carols, he’d do it in a heartbeat. Holidays forced him to think about what he’d lost.
And now he’d be next door to twinkle lights–loving Tee and her intrinsic optimism.
Corinne was watching him. Her brows shifted together in concern. Because he’d slipped and let his dark side show?
Maybe.
But then she hid that emotion and began backpedaling to her place. “Kids, let’s go so Coach can get to work. We’ve got homework and laundry waiting for us.”
“And then can we take the boat out?” Tee gazed at the water with longing. “You said we could this weekend. You promised.”
Corinne tapped her watch. “All depends on time, kid. Let’s roll.”
Callan strode back toward the house.
Tee slumped her shoulders. “I don’t know why we live on a lake when we can’t ever do anything on the lake.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Corinne reached to put an arm around Tee’s shoulders.
The girl shrugged her off, chin down.
Corinne looked at Tee, then him, then lifted her hands. “Welcome to the neighborhood, Gabe, where moods change faster than the weather, and that’s mighty fast around here.”
She was right. Weather on the water could be unpredictable. That’s one of the things he loved about it.
Would Gracie have loved the water like he did?
He’d never know. He’d never know her favorite color, her favorite song, her favorite dolls because she was gone too soon.
He wanted to remind Corinne how precious life was. He wanted to encourage her to leave the stupid laundry and fire up that outboard. The changing seasons meant fewer trips on the water.
He kept quiet on purpose.
She knew the pros and cons, just like he did. She’d also loved and lost, and didn’t need his advice. And after working together on the intertown baseball league, and then the festival committee, he was pretty sure she wouldn’t take his advice, anyway.
She wasn’t cool or judgmental or obnoxious, but she kept her guard in place.
Uptight people tended to annoy him because he’d grown up surrounded by them. His mother’s family lived their lives tightly wound about everything from religion to politics to food choices.
And yet, with all they had, all the blessings abounding, they were never satisfied. Never content. His mother wasn’t like that. Neither was Gabe.
He’d lost his contentment through his own fault. But it bothered him when folks didn’t understand the blessings of a child. Any child. And how, if he had it to do all over again, he’d make whatever sacrifice needed to keep a kid safe and happy and content.
So you’d give Tee a phone? Even though you know better?
He wouldn’t, he realized, as Tee stomped into her house. He’d do exactly what Corinne was doing, but he’d hate every single stinkin’ minute of it.
But it would never be an issue because he’d had his chance once and blew it. And that was that.
And here he was, next door to a woman who kept a cool distance in what she did. Not exactly an ice queen, but not all that warm, either.
The sale was complete.
The deed had changed hands. He’d have to make the best of it. So would she.
Corinne resisted change. She wasn’t a fighter, but she quietly blocked it in her own way.
Did she know how blessed she was to have those two kids? He couldn’t look at Tee and not remember Gracie. And a fine kid like Callan, hardworking and devoted to playing ball. A young man, ready to explore so much of the world around him.
Not your business.
He knew that. And it wouldn’t become his business, no matter how pretty those blue eyes were when she looked his way.
He’d made a promise when he laid his baby girl into the ground, a pledge he intended to keep. He’d been given the gold ring once and lost it by his lack of attention.
He’d laid flowers on her grave and promised God he’d never take that chance again, and he meant every word, but when Corinne Gallagher waved from her back deck, his fickle heart tried to pry itself open.
He slammed it shut.
He’d had it all once and ruined it. He had absolutely no right to wish for more than what he had now. A great job keeping people safe, a small boat and a house on the water.
A house that seemed pretty empty compared with the busy family living next door.
Gabe had just finished packing dozens of boxes when his landline phone rang the following Saturday. He almost tripped getting through the confusing maze, but when he saw his mother’s number in the display, he grabbed the call quickly. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“Gabe. Do you have a minute?”
Worry wrenched her voice. He was pretty sure she was crying, and he was nearly four hours away with a moving crew on the way, but if she needed him, he’d hop in the car and head toward Albany because Linda Cutler had gone the distance for him too many times to count. And with his mother’s crazy, mixed-up, dysfunctional family, Gabe knew he’d been blessed to be on the normal end of the spectrum. “Of course I do. Take your time. I’m right here.”
“I know. I just...” She breathed out a sigh. “Aunt Maureen just got off the phone with me, screaming about life’s injustices, and how unfair things are. She’s blaming the police and the world for everything that went wrong with Adrianna. I tried to calm her down, but it didn’t work. She hung up on me, but not before she called me unkind names.”
“I’m sure she’s hurting, but that’s no reason to take it out on you. I’m sorry, Mom. You know Aunt Maureen. It’s always someone else’s fault.” His narrow-minded aunt had recently buried the daughter she’d disowned years before. Adrianna had gotten herself into a mess of trouble as a teen, then again as a young adult. She’d done time, and her parents made sure that everyone knew they wanted nothing to do with their wayward child.
She’d died in a convenience store robbery gone