The Country Guesthouse (Sullivan's Crossing #5)(11)

“If you’d been up a little earlier, you would have seen Romeo chase off a couple of deer,” Hannah said.

“It was very rude of him,” Owen said. “Those ladies were just grazing, not bothering anyone.”

“How’d you know they were ladies?” Noah asked. “You look under ’em?”

Owen laughed. “I didn’t have to go to that much trouble. The bucks have antlers and the does don’t. Same with the elk. The guys get the headgear and they use it to fight each other. Or to defend themselves and their does. You’re going to learn a lot on this vacation, aren’t you?”

“I guess,” he said, not taking his hands off Romeo. And then the big dog flipped over on his back, making his belly available. “What are you gonna do today?” he asked.

“Well, I’ll take Romeo for a hike, I’ll work in my shop a little while, I might fish. You like to fish?”

“I only did it once,” he said.

“If you’re not busy later, we can go out on the dock. About that dock—you have to be with Hannah or me. The water is pretty deep. If you lost your balance and fell in with your braces on, you’d sink. A life jacket would be a good precaution but even that might not be enough. You can’t flap your feet with the braces. You have to be with an adult who can swim. Noah, did you get that?”

“Uh-huh,” he said, scratching Romeo’s belly.

“What did I say?” Owen pushed.

“I can’t go on the dock without you or Hannah because I could sink and drown.”

“That’s good enough,” Owen said.

“Want some breakfast, buddy?” Hannah asked.

“Can Romeo have some breakfast?”

“He eats only dog food,” Owen said. “I’ve got it at the barn. He doesn’t look like he’s starving.”

“I’m going to mess up some eggs,” Hannah said. “Would you like to join us, Owen? In your house,” she added with a laugh.

“Now, it’s not my house for two weeks. I don’t want to get in the way. But okay, I could eat. Then we can start our days.”







What lies behind us and
what lies before us are
but tiny matters compared
to what lies within us.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson



3


Noah did not seem at all intrigued by the possibility of going to a campground until they got there. Hannah had completely forgotten about Beau, Sully’s yellow Lab.

“Well, howdy do,” Sully said when he saw Hannah. “I heard you were coming back, without the executive team this time. Nice to see you again.”

“Good to see you, Sully. Sully, this is my best guy, Noah. We’re a team now. Noah, this gentleman, Mr. Sullivan, owns this campground and this is Beau, his dog.”

Noah was immediately rubbing the dog behind his ears. “Does everybody here got a dog?”

“Nearly,” he said. “How do you like my lake?”

“Is that whole lake yours?” Noah asked.

“Nope, but I claim the part of it that’s up against my land and have the use of the whole thing. Would you like to throw the ball for Beau? Or would you like a cold drink or something to eat? Or would you like to be left alone?”

“Can I throw the ball, please?” Noah said.

“You bet.” Sully stuck a hand under the counter at the cash register and pulled out a tennis ball. The second he did that, Beau started to prance. “My advice is throw the ball into the yard before you go down the porch steps. Beau sometimes gets ahead of himself and knocks people down.”

“I will,” Noah said.

Silence hung in the air while Noah and Beau went outdoors. Noah clip-clopped in his heavy shoes that held the braces, and Beau’s nails against the wooden floors went tickety-tickety-tickety. Then they heard Noah yell, “Go get it!”

“I didn’t know you had a child,” Sully said.

“I didn’t,” she said, keeping her voice down. “Right after I met you my best friend passed away. She got sick, had complications and in just a matter of days she was gone. Noah was her son. Years ago she asked me to be the guardian to her children if she was ever lucky enough to have them and I said yes. Of course, I said yes. And I asked the same of her. Neither of us had family to do that. So here I am, a few weeks later. Noah has always known me as Aunt Hannah, a girlfriend auntie he saw a few times a year. I woke up one morning and my whole life had changed.”

“Damn near that same thing happened to Helen,” he said.

“Really?”

“She is Aunt Helen, raised her niece from the age of four. Her niece is Leigh Shandon, the town doctor at the urgent care, so it all worked out in the end. I’ll get her to come over on her break. She’s writing on the porch.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and texted Helen.

“Want to get a drink and sit on the porch, where we can keep an eye on the boy and his dog?”

“Excellent idea,” Hannah said. She reached in the cooler for a diet cola and followed Sully. By the time she was sitting at a table with him, Noah was working that dog like a trainer. When Beau returned the ball, Noah had him sit, stay, fetch. Then Beau returned the ball again and Noah rewarded him with many hugs and petting.