Lars nodded. “She was a good lady. Jenny-girl’s a lot like her.”
“She got back here and found an apartment and got the job at the high school. She has a good life.”
“Never talked much about Great Falls again.”
They were all silent for a moment. Sam couldn’t stop thinking about Jenny living in Great Falls. She seemed so at home in Gardiner, he just assumed returning home after school had been her first choice. What a revelation that she would have made a different choice if fate hadn’t intervened.
He thought of young Jenny losing her mother at twenty-one and ached for her. Losing her dream and her mother at the same time. Life was incredibly unfair.
A petite redheaded waitress stopped by their table and smiled at all four of them, her warm brown eyes finally resting on Nils. “Jenny comin’ back?”
Erik and Lars suddenly busied themselves with the menus. Nils cleared his throat and nodded at the young woman. “She’ll be back, Maggie.”
Sam glanced up at Maggie and smiled politely. As he started looking back down he caught a glimpse of Nils’s face and did a double take, realizing the telltale scarlet flush was not singular to Jenny. Nils was turning an interesting shade of salmon as he faced Maggie.
Now that Sam was clued in, he realized Maggie had offered a polite smile to all of them. The smile she offered to Nils now was eons away from mere politeness. When she spoke for a second time, Sam noticed her soft Scottish burr. “Then I’ll hold yer food ’til she gets back.”
Nils nodded at her once. She tucked her pencil back behind her ear, turned and walked away.
Sam watched her go out of earshot, then broke into a beaming smile, eyebrows raised in teasing, nodding at Nils intentionally. “Maggie, huh?”
Suddenly Jenny was back and plopped back down next to Sam, winking at Lars. “It’s always been Maggie for Nils. Not that he’s done much about it.”
“Gode Gud. Shut up, Jen,” Nils snarled, frowning at her and elbowing Lars in the side roughly. Erik was smiling back and forth at his brothers and sister in frank amusement.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Nils. Ask her out already. Everyone in town knows you’re sweet on her.” Jenny whispered this across the table and Sam sensed she was enjoying herself immensely.
“When I want to ask someone out, Jen, I’ll good and darn well ask them out. Until then, it’s exactly none of your business, lillesøster.”
Jenny burst into barely stifled giggles and was quickly joined by Erik and Lars, whose shuddering shoulders gave away their amusement. Sam gave Nils a sympathetic look, and Nils rolled his eyes at his younger siblings, shaking his head in annoyance.
The lady of the moment returned with their sandwiches and asked if she could bring them anything else. Four sets of eyes turned to Nils, but he stammered out that they had everything they needed.
“Thanks, Mags,” said Jenny and grinned at her. The way Maggie smiled back at Jenny, Sam got the feeling the two women were pretty good friends.
Erik pushed the salt and pepper to the center of the table. “Salt, pepper, Sam?”
“Sam’s had enough pepper for today.” Jenny looked at Sam beside her and winked.
Erik nodded in understanding. “Allergic?”
Sam smiled and felt Jenny’s shoulders shaking with mirth beside him. “Something like that.” Man, she sure could hold her own with four men. She was something different. “My ex-girlfriend’s name was Pepper.”
Erik nodded again, but furrowed his brows in the Lindstrom family trademark way. “Pepper’s a condiment.”
Already giddy, Jenny lost it then, choking on her sandwich from laughing so hard. Sam clapped her on the back until she stopped coughing, but she had tears spilling down her face by the time she stopped laughing, and three sets of sympathetic eyes regarded Sam from across the table.
“Long weekend for you, Sam,” offered Erik with feeling, gesturing toward Jenny by jerking his head and cringing. Lars and Nils nodded earnestly, clearly feeling sorry for Sam. “He broke the mold after He made Jenny.”
Yes, He did, thought Sam, looking at her, feeling his heart fill. Indeed He did.
Chapter 7
What a day. Jenny flopped down on the old loveseat, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.
Lars and Erik would pick up the booth pieces and assemble them on Main Street at their designated spot in front of the Tackle Shop, and Sam left Jenny at her apartment with a promise to pick her up at five that afternoon. She glanced at her watch; she had a few hours.
Her head ached from all of the developments of the day: so much to think about and process. Sam, Pepper, Paul. She turned her mind to Paul first and thought about writing him a quick e-mail to clear the air but then thought better of it. His feelings were bound to be tender, and she didn’t want to pour salt on the wound. She was still flustered by his near-declaration; Jenny had spent much of her life in the company of men, but she still didn’t understand them.