Amber: Lake House Treasures

by Kari Lee Harmon

Genres: Family Life; Women's Fiction; Contemporary Romance; Small-town Romance

Synopsis

Quiet and shy cook, Amber Scott, gets some shocking news when she receives a letter after her thirtieth birthday from the father she never knew. He’s dying and is leaving everything to her and the half-sisters she’s never met. His only stipulation is that they all spend the summer together at his house on Skaneateles Lake. With a mother who loved drugs more than her own daughter and an ex-husband who loved booze and abusing his wife, Amber spent her life feeling unloved as she took care of others and let people walk all over her. Needing the escape, she agrees to her father’s terms, having no idea the things she will learn about them all, including herself. Once there, she meets the hard working, gentle groundskeeper who slowly helps to heal her heart by taking care of her and loving her above all else. But will she find the courage to open her heart to her sisters and the father who started it all?

Release date: March 20, 2021

Publisher: Oliver Heber Books

Print pages: 120

Sample

Prologue

            “We need to talk to you,” Bridget McCloud said, standing straight and confident in their hideout in the basement at the orphanage, the wheels behind her intelligent eyes already forming a plan.

            “Okay.” Jimmy Blake swallowed hard, suspecting they’d discovered he was in a relationship with each of them at the same time.

He hadn’t meant for that to happen, knew it was wrong, and had been trying to find a way to do the right thing. Except he had no clue what that was. They had been his best friends for years. The four musketeers. They’d always had each other’s backs. Them against the world. It wasn’t until they all turned sixteen, that he’d begun to look at them differently. They were each special in their own way, and he’d fallen for all of them.

Penny Delaney was a shy angel who needed him. He couldn’t let her down by pushing her away. And it felt too good to be needed. Bridget McCloud was confident and amazing and so much fun. He couldn’t help but be drawn to her. And then there was Lila Sanders. So beautiful she made his heart ache, yet a rebel who never quite revealed how she felt. She’d challenged him and kept him on his toes. He could no more turn away from that than stop breathing.

“How could you let this happen, Jimmy?” Penny asked with a hitch in her voice. “What are we going to do?”

“I—I … maybe I shouldn’t be with any of you.” He hated the thought of hurting them. He’d always been a people pleaser, unable to say no or turn anyone away. And he truly did love them all. That was how he’d landed in such an awful predicament.

That and not having any kind of parental guidance. To this day he was a believer and contributor to the big-brother foundation. Without guidance, all sorts of bad things could happen to a kid. At the time he’d thought this was the worst kind of thing that could happen to a teenage boy. It took growing older and becoming wiser for him to realize his girls were his greatest treasures of all.

He remembered Lila shaking her head. “I knew he would bail,” she said on a shrug, acting like she didn’t care, but he knew he’d hurt her. He’d hurt them all. And that killed him. They were his best friends. His angels. And he’d ruined everything.

“Don’t you think that’s the right thing to do?” he asked helplessly, struggling to find the right thing to do and say. “I never wanted to hurt any of you. I just couldn’t choose. I didn’t want to let any of you go.”

“Then don’t choose,” Bridget said with earnest. “You don’t have to choose just one of us to step up and do the right thing for all of us.”

“Wait, you mean you don’t care if I’m seeing all of you at once? Isn’t that like against the law or something?” He was floored at how well they were taking it.

“Count me out, dude. I don’t share.” For a moment, Lila let down her guard and looked disappointed. Bridget looked pissed. And Penny looked terrified. “Look, I know we’re all friends, Jimmy. What you did was wrong, but shit happens,” Lila went on. “We just want you to help with the kids.”

Of all the things he’d expected to hear, that hadn’t been it. “Kids? You mean other orphans?”

“No, we mean your babies.” Penny looked at him pleadingly. “Our babies.”

He knew his face registered his shock, okay more like his horror, but he couldn’t help it. “What the hell are you saying?”

“That we’re all pregnant.” Bridget scowled. “And you’re the father, doofus.”

“How?” he’d blurted accusingly. “I thought you all took care of that.”

“You thought wrong, Einstein,” Lila ground out. “Since when is it just the girl’s responsibility? You shouldn’t have assumed anything.”  

“What are we going to do?” Penny kept repeating while wringing her hands.

“The question is,” Bridget said, “what is he going to do…?”

Chapter 1

            “I hope this isn’t a mistake,” Amber Delaney said to herself as she approached Skaneateles Lake, New York, after nearly nine hours on the road from Maine.

She’d read that Skaneateles Lake—named by the Iroquois meaning long lake—was the fifth largest of the eleven Finger Lakes in central New York, often referred to as the Roof Garden of the lakes because it was higher than the others and in the middle. The steep valley walls and flat-top ridges that had formed after being carved out by glaciers sat six hundred feet above the water, affording magnificent views on both sides. Magnificent to most people, but not necessarily to someone who didn’t like to be closed in.

Amber took a deep breath and turned on soothing music. It was an average Sunday afternoon at the end of June. The first day of summer. The windows of her rusted yellow VW bug were rolled down, letting in the scent of fresh cut grass, pine and maple trees, and wildflowers on the warm, early summer breeze. The sun was high, the road was bare, and her mood was peaceful. Dare she say hopeful? Because hope was something she desperately needed these days. Hope for a new family. Hope for a new career.

Hope for a new life.

She finally reached the village on the north end of the lake and turned onto Main Street to drive through the heart of the town, heading toward the west shore. The historic village, known for its performing arts and amenities, consisted of fun shops, charming boutiques, and artisans. Not that she’d ever had much use for that, but if things worked out like she thought they might, then maybe it was time she gave them a try.

The streets were busy with people strolling about after church, eating in restaurants, visiting the shops, and walking down the long pier. She sniffed, and her stomach grumbled. Someone was cooking barbecue. A dog barked, a child squealed, some boys played catch with a Frisbee in Cliff Park with its quaint gazebo and park benches. Amber couldn’t help but smile. The lazy carefree days of summer—what should be the happiest time in a child’s life. A time of innocence with no responsibilities or worries in the world.

A time she’d never had.

Skaneateles was a small village that sat on the water. Amber was used to small towns on the water, having lived in Maine for the last half of her life, but that was where the similarities ended. Her town was a poor, small fishing village, while Skaneateles screamed of money with its pristine town, well-dressed citizens, and top of the line yacht and country club. There wasn’t anything average about this place or this day.

This was the day her life would change forever.

One month ago on her thirtieth birthday she’d received a letter from a man named James Cavanaugh. Apparently he was her father, and she had two half-sisters born within a couple weeks of her that she never knew about. He said he grew up in the same Brooklyn orphanage as their mothers and adored them all. But after getting each of them pregnant at seventeen, he couldn’t choose and couldn’t cope, so he ran away the second they turned eighteen and were on their own. Something he’d always regretted but never knew how to rectify … until now.

Now that he was forty-eight, he wanted to make amends. He’d never had to suffer or struggle like the rest of them. He’d been the lucky one. According to his letter,  a rich, lonely old man met him shortly after he left the orphanage. He took Jimmy in, mentoring him into the business man he was today, and leaving everything he had to him after passing away. But karma had a way of catching up to a person. The moment James had decided to reach out to his girls and get to know them, he found out he had one of the worst kinds of cancer: pancreatic cancer…

A progressive and deadly disease that would rob him of precious time.

James said he wanted to do the same for the girls that his mentor had done for him. He never married or had any other children, so he planned to leave all his worldly possessions to his three daughters, but there were conditions. The three women have to spend the summer with him at Skaneateles Lake in his lake house. He doesn’t expect them to forgive him, but he wants to get to know them before he dies. He said he regrets never giving any of himself or anything else to them, so he wants to make up for it by giving them each other.

Giving them the family they never had.

Amber didn’t know him, but that didn’t stop her from feeling bad for him. She had to keep reminding herself she didn’t owe him anything, but she figured she didn’t have anything to lose and nothing holding her back. What would be the harm in at least meeting him?

Shy and quiet, she’d always felt unloved. Her mother, Penny Delaney, had loved drugs more than her own daughter. When her mother got in too deep and owed the wrong people money, she took Amber and fled to Maine to start over. But it was Amber who had played the role of caregiver from a young age on, never knowing what it was like to be a child.

A few years later, her mother died of an overdose, leaving Amber on her own at the tender age of eighteen. She got a job in a restaurant as a cook. That was where she met and married a sailor named Max Baker, only to discover he loved his booze more than her. Story of her life. She always ended up with the wrong people who never put her first. She finally got up the courage to divorce him, leaving her totally alone but free. Needing the escape, she had been all too happy to flee to Skaneateles Lake.

It was worth losing her job over. She could be a cook anywhere. And if she inherited as much money as James Cavanaugh indicated she would, then she could truly start over. She didn’t know how she felt about James as a man, a father, or a person in general. Her mother had spoken very little of the past, and they had been alone for so long, Amber couldn’t begin to think about actually being a part of a family. If she were honest, she would admit she was afraid to set herself up for another failure.

What if none of them loved her, either?

Amber decided to play it safe and keep her guard up, then she wouldn’t be disappointed. As long as she could stay strong and remember that, then everything would be fine. She drove past postcard-perfect farms and rolling green hills that surrounded the lake as she traveled further west out of the village. She reached the west shore of the lake with its gorgeous houses and magnificent views of the mountains and did a double take at the address on the mailbox.

This was James Cavanaugh’s house?

She couldn’t bring herself to call him her father. He might have helped her mother conceive her, but it took a lot more than a piece of paper to make a person a father. His place was huge! Bigger than anything she’d ever stayed in, let alone lived in. She pulled in the driveway and cut the engine, her bug sputtering to a stop as though it had taken its last breath. She was always afraid it wouldn’t start up again because she couldn’t afford to buy another vehicle. Tapping the steering wheel, she reminded herself that was all about to change.

Climbing out, she carried her battered suitcase and walked out back to a view that took her breath away. The house was ultra-modern, a couple stories high, and was lined with glass windows facing the lake. The grounds were gorgeous—perfectly groomed with flowers in full bloom, a goldfish pond with a little waterfall, an upper deck with a stunning view and lower deck with lights that undoubtedly twinkled at night, and even a stoned patio surrounded by colorful crushed rocks and plants. She loved gardening but did not have a green thumb. Everything she touched died, so she’d confined herself to the kitchen which was one area she excelled in.

Whoever took care of this yard had a gift.

Past the grounds, the deck, and the patio was a half circle of Adirondack chairs in various colors situated on the lawn, facing the water like a dream come true. Beyond that was a private beach with a boat launch and a well-maintained dock. The smell of wet dirt, lake water, fish and trees drifted to Amber’s nose like ambrosia and so unlike her former home. She hated salt water. The sheer vastness of the ocean intimidated her with its wild, temperamental ways. It was unpredictable, and everyone knew scary monsters lived in the ocean. Scary monsters also came out of the ocean with salty residue that abraded a person’s skin. Kind of like how she felt every time her ex would touch her. She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself.

Yet she loved the peacefulness of a lake. Surprisingly she didn’t feel closed in here at all. She felt alive and free. She had often dreamed of escaping to a small, tranquil place with fresh water like this, but had never imagined she’d actually get the chance to even visit one. She needed the money, yet suddenly she wondered how she could ever bring herself to sell  a house as beautiful as this.

Something about this lake felt right to her. Amber didn’t want to go back to Maine. Too many bad memories haunted her there. The only person she missed was her coworker, Tina Trombone. She had a big family and was used to the fisherman way of life. Her heart was just as big, and she was the only real friend Amber had ever had. She was going to miss her, but staying in Maine wasn’t an option. Not after everything that had happened. Maybe she could start over here. Buy out the other two and make this place her own.  Amber wrapped her arms around herself and stared out at the dark water. What if the other two women—it was hard to think of them as sisters—fell in love with this place as well? She didn’t want a battle on her hands. In fact, she didn’t want trouble at all.

She just wanted a place to call home.

                                ***

James Cavanaugh stared out the window of his lake house that was nestled in a quiet lakeside bay of the pristine blue waters of Skaneateles Lake that had been such a part of him for so long now.  As a young man given privilege, he’d become enamored by the Finger Lakes from his first solo flight in the small Cessna. When you looked at the lakes from above, they would look like fingers, with Oneida Lake not being a part of them but looking like the thumb. He hoped one day his girls would see and appreciate the beauty that he’d learned to never take for granted.

Today was a picture-perfect day with sunny blue skies, hills and trees in various shades of green, waterfowl flying overhead, and all sorts of boats already on the water. A wonderful welcome for his daughters. The start of another fantastic summer full of golf, sailing, tennis, hiking….

His heart saddened when he realized he wouldn’t be able to do those things any more. He couldn’t imagine not seeing something that fed his soul and spoke to the very core of who he was on a daily basis. He would never admit it to another living person, but he was afraid of dying. Not afraid of pain, so much, but afraid of not having enough time to right his wrongs. Skaneateles was his home. He had made a name for himself in his adoptive father’s ship building business, the water as much a part of him as the very air he breathed.

His parents had died in a car accident when he was little, but that didn’t mean Alex Cavanaugh wasn’t just as much James’s father as his biological one had been. He’d loved them both, and Alex had come along at a time when James needed a father figure the most. The entire village had felt like family. James’s family. His father’s family. The family James wanted his daughters to experience.

The legacy he would leave behind.

It was so unfair that he had to leave it all. He’d been lost and alone and terrified when he’d left the orphanage at the young age of eighteen. His real name had been Jimmy Blake, but then he’d met Alexander Cavanaugh the second, and his life had never been the same again.

Alex had spent a lifetime building his empire in the ship building business, but it had come at a price. He’d been so lonely, the only one in his family not to marry or have children. When he met Jimmy, a special bond had formed between the two. They’d become father and son. Alex mentored him, sent him to school, gave James his name, made him his heir, and left him everything he owned. For the first time in a long time, Jimmy had remembered what it was like to have a family.

Skaneateles loved Alex and had welcomed James with open arms. He’d worked hard, wanting to impress Alex and never make him regret his decision.  From day one James had been on a mission: make Alex proud and worry about his own happiness later.

And he’d done just that.

Alex had died so proud of his son, but a little sad that he’d followed in his footsteps too closely. His last words to James were that he should find a family of his own. James had been too ashamed to tell his father the truth. He’d been a coward and had let them all down. Let himself down for all that he’d missed out on.

Discovering he was dying had been the one thing to finally make him man up.

            That kind of news really did make a person’s life flash before his eyes, and James didn’t like what he saw. That’s why he’d insisted on this summer before it was too late. He didn’t want to die. Cancer was a bitch. He was young, dammit. Too goddamned young. He had a private investigator look into each of his daughters. Jesus, the stuff he had found out would haunt him until the day he died. He shook his head and took a steady breath. He’d put his girls through so much by never being there, how could they ever forgive him? He understood that and had come to accept it. But if he could just get them to see how wonderful and amazing they all were, maybe he could give them the greatest treasure of all … each other.

            The family they never had.

            He was taken back to the day his best friends had told him the news that would turn his world upside down. Back to all the shame and regret because he hadn’t stepped up and become a man. When he’d learned he had three daughters, his heart broke even more. He’d taken the coward’s way out and left in a panic before the sun rose the very next day, regretting it ever since. He had nightmares about what his angels must have thought of him. He’d abandoned them. He was just a kid himself back then, unable to handle three children all at once. So he’d figured they each could handle their own.

             James had learned over the years, their own were his own, and running away didn’t stop him from thinking about them and worrying about them and missing them every single day.

                        Chapter 2

Taking a shaky breath, James looked out the window of the lake house once more, and his heart skipped a beat. He stared out into his back lawn with that same fear and trepidation of first learning of her existence. Amber Delaney. His youngest daughter. He would recognize her anywhere after the intel he’d received from his private investigator. He knew everything about all of his daughters—the good, the bad, and the ugly. She stood out back of his house, looking over the water. Her arms were wrapped around her middle protectively. She was a petite blond-haired, green-eyed, girl next door kind of pretty who had been through a lot.

She looked so much like her mother, Penny. He smiled sadly. Shy, impressionable, gullible Penny who would cling to anyone who would have her, going along with whatever they wanted her to do. He’d worried about her after he left, and rightfully so. The crowd she’d ended up hanging out with had been a bad one. She hadn’t been strong enough to resist or break free. She did run away, but by then it was too late. If only he’d thought to reach out to them all sooner, maybe there was something he could have done. He would die blaming himself for her death and for all his sweet Amber had to go through.

A few minutes later a red haired, tawny eyed, sophisticated kind of woman joined her. That would be Meghan McCloud, his middle child, who had persevered no matter what. She came to a stop by Amber and stood straight and confident as she stuck out her hand. She too looked just like her mother. His lips twisted into a wry grin whenever he thought of Bridget. Stubborn, bold, and independent. She didn’t let life get her down and always found a way to turn every negative situation into a logical, practical, positive one.

He’d always admired her for that. Not to say she didn’t go through tough times, but her life was a peach compared to her sisters. He’d known she would be okay on her own, and she had. She’d gotten a job in housekeeping at a big hotel chain. She’d even remarried and had a whole new family. It was Meghan he worried more about than her mother. She was successful, having gone through college on an academic scholarship for hotel management, and now ran a prestigious hotel in Connecticut. But he was afraid she was too much like him, throwing herself into her work and not taking time to look up and enjoy the world around her. Getting sick had taught him that life was too damn short not to live it.

Moments later a black haired, blue eyed, stunningly beautiful replica of himself joined them, standing tall and rebellious and defiant. She wore her hair short and spikey, but the jet black color matched his perfectly. He’d seen a picture of her. The pale blue of her eyes was even more striking than his. She had tattoos and piercings and a bad attitude. He didn’t even have to speak to her to know that. Her posture screamed: mess with me … I dare you.

Brook Sanders, his first born.

He felt connected to all of his daughters, but for some reason he felt a special bond with Brook. Maybe because she looked so much like him. Or maybe because something deep inside told him she, more than any of them, needed him most. She didn’t look anything like her mother, Lila, who had soft brown hair and gray eyes he’d never been able to forget. He had been most concerned about her mother.

Lila was tough, with a dangerous hard edge on the verge of being out of control. She’d ended up homeless. She’d tried her best, but motherhood wasn’t in the cards for her. Still … he never thought she would abandon Brook as well. His poor baby had grown up without either parent around. The things she’d had to do to survive were worse than the pain from his cancer. Somehow, someway, he would make it up to her. To all of them.

Lila, most of all, had needed help with raising a baby, but he’d been a coward. He smiled sadly. A coward who’d loved three women and couldn’t bear the thought of breaking any of their hearts, so he’d walked away and suffered in silence, destroying them all. Brook was the most wounded of his girls and would probably rather spit on his grave later than talk to him now. He couldn’t blame her. Didn’t blame any of them.

But he did love them all … more than they would ever know.

Against the odds, his daughters had survived. Now it was his time to pay for his sins and suffer, while it was their time to prosper. He opened his sliding screen door and stepped onto the deck. “Ladies, if you’d care to join me, I’m serving snacks and drinks in the bar for a little welcome reception. I think it’s time we got to know each other.”

                                       ***

            Amber sat at one end of a bar worthy of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Vaulted ceilings, crown molding, windows galore, gorgeous lighting, hardwood and tile floors, granite and marble counter tops … it had it all. She took a minute to study her sisters and father. Biologically they were that, but it felt odd to think of them as anything other than strangers.

Meghan seemed like she’d done well for herself. She was put together and classy, with an unmistakable air of confidence. She was open and friendly, almost overly so, like she was trying to make sure everyone accepted her. Whereas Brook was more difficult to read. She didn’t speak much, and she had a wall in place where you couldn’t see what she was thinking or feeling. It was clear she didn’t want to be there and didn’t want to get to know any of them, either.

Amber could relate. She was so afraid they would all reject her. It was hard to let down her guard and give them a genuine chance of winning her affection. Not to mention she felt so simple next to both of them. No matter how tough Brook tried to look, she was gorgeous. And Meghan was classy and sophisticated. Amber felt plain and inconsequential. Then again she’d always had an issue with low self-esteem thanks to her mother and ex-husband. Amber was taken back to a time right before her mother had died…

“What are you doing?” Penny Delaney had said. Her thin frame sat slumped over in a dingy recliner that had seen better days. She lifted her head, her straggly blond hair hanging half over her face in desperate need of a scrub. Her green eyes looked washed out and vacant, and her t-shirt and sweatpants were so baggy they barely stayed in place. “You can’t clean up every mess, Amber. You know that, don’t you, baby? Some messes are just too dirty to be fixed.” She snorted. “That’s life. It sucks, but that’s life. No sense whining or begging because people don’t care. You remember that.” She thrust a bony finger at her. “People … don’t … care!”

“It’s okay, Mama.” Amber continued to pick up the empty liquor bottles and needles scattered about. “Do you want me to make you some something to eat?”

“No!” Penny shouted, then her tone softened in a rare moment of compassion. “You’re so much like him, you know.”

“Who?” Amber asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“Your father. He was like you. Kind, compassionate, loving … he just wasn’t strong enough to choose.”

Amber remembered swallowing almost convulsively. “Wh-What was his name?”

Her mother’s fog lifted, and she swiped her hand through the air. “It doesn’t matter. He made his choice, and I’ve made mine.” She’d looked at Amber with sadness and regret. “I’m sorry, baby. I tried. I really did, but I’m no good.”

“Don’t say that, Mama. It’ll be okay, you’ll see.” Amber had tucked a blanket over her mother, finished cleaning up, and brought her food that she never touched.

That was one of the rare moments her mother had talked about him or said anything positive about Amber. Amber had held onto those words—you’re so much like him: kind, compassionate, loving—treasuring them. Most days her mother was just plain mean, telling Amber she was no good either and would never get very far in life. That was one of the last conversations she’d had with her mother before her mother overdosed and left Amber to fend for herself. She’d had to grow up in a hurry that year.

Then again, she’d never really been a kid.

“What can I get you, Amber?” James Cavanaugh’s words brought her back to the present.

“Ice tea would be great.” She didn’t drink, didn’t dare because she was terrified of turning out just like her.

            Her father stood behind the bar, making them all drinks. She shook her head, thinking the word “father” sounded so weird. She’d wondered about him for so long. He was only forty-eight years old. He seemed too young to be dying. And he looked so healthy. It didn’t seem possible. He was tall with a full head of salt and pepper hair and the most striking blue eyes she’d ever seen. She kind of envied Brook for looking like him. At least she had some small part of him to take with her forever. Amber just had his flaw of being too nice and never being able to say no. He was still really fit for his age. He’d been absent her whole life for so long, she didn’t know how to make him—or them—a part of it now.

            “Thank you,” Amber said as he handed her the glass of tea.

            “You’re welcome.” He smiled kindly and then handed Meghan a glass of wine and Brook a beer. He chose water for himself. His hand shook a little as he took a sip. “So tell me all about yourselves. I want to know everything.”

            Brook snorted. “Don’t you think it’s a little too late?”

            His features remained relaxed as though he’d been expecting that from her. From all of them. “I don’t think it’s ever too late to try,” he replied in a quiet, thoughtful tone of voice.

            “Yeah, well, trust me.” She stared down at her beer, taking a moment to swirl the amber liquid around in the iced glass mug. “You don’t want to know everything.” Then she tossed back the rest of the contents all at once. “Thanks for the drink, Pops. I think I’ll take a nap. It was exhausting hitching a ride all the way from Jersey.”

            He frowned. “You don’t have a car?”

            She laughed harshly. “I don’t have a lot of things. That’s the only reason I’m here.” She stood and grabbed her duffle bag. “Any room good?” she asked, pointing toward the winding staircase that led upstairs.

            He nodded, looking pensive.

            “It’s not going to be easy for any of us, Mr. Cavanaugh,” Meghan said.

            “Do you have a car?” he asked, looking up at her as if her answer were the most important thing in the world to him.

            She chuckled softly. “Yes. A company vehicle in fact, and a nice one at that. I’m doing just fine on my own. Quite well, actually, in spite of everything.” She sounded a little bitter. “I could afford to take a vacation since I’m the boss, and that’s the only reason I’m here. Call it curiosity, but don’t be foolish enough to think it had anything to do with affection.” She sat up straight and proud.

            He seemed to relax at her having a car, ignoring the rest of what she’d said. “Of course you have a car, and anyone can see you’re doing well.” He smiled a little. “Please, call me James.”

            “Well, James, I think I will get settled into my room as well. It’s been a long day for us all.” She took her wine glass with her and picked up her designer suitcase, then headed up the stairs without looking back.

            James studied Amber questioningly, waiting for her to leave yet hopeful when she hesitated. She looked away, feeling her cheeks heat. She was uncomfortable, yet the caregiver in her had a hard time walking out on him. Helping people was all she knew how to do. Well, that and cook. Amber was there because she wanted to be there. A secret part of her had always longed to get to know her father. She was just terrified of being unlovable. No one had ever loved her enough or put her first. A person could only take so much rejection.

            “Dare I ask if you have a car?”

            She laughed. “Yes, I have a car. Not much of one, and it runs only half the time, but it’s still a car.”

            “That’s good,” he said, looking relieved and a bit uncomfortable himself.

“Do you have any help?” she finally asked, making herself meet his gaze.

            “I have a housekeeper who comes in once a week to clean and prepare my meals, and a gardener who tends to my lawn twice a week, but that’s all.” He shrugged, looking down into his water. “I like my privacy … especially now.”

            “You’re going to need more than that when….” Her voice trailed off as she realized in horror that she’d spoken out loud. She tended to do that a lot. Speak without thinking. It had gotten her into trouble one too many times in the past. She gulped down her iced tea and then wrung her hands.

            “It’s okay, Amber.” He looked at her as if he knew all her secrets, yet she knew virtually nothing about him. She suddenly realized she wanted to know everything about him. Everything about her mother. Maybe then she would finally understand herself.

“I don’t mind talking about it,” he continued. “I feel good now. I know that will change quickly, but don’t worry. I didn’t bring you girls here to take care of me. I just want to get to know you. You all deserve the money, but without the stipulations I stated in my will, I knew getting to know you would never happen. I regret that you girls feel trapped for the summer, but I don’t regret that you’re here. I’m a desperate man on borrowed time. Is it so wrong to want to die without you all hating me?”

“I don’t hate you,” she said, adding truthfully, “I just don’t know you.”

He nodded as if to say fair enough, and then finally responded, “Well, that’s a start.”