One Day in Apple Grove(12)
“I’m sorry, I was letting my mind wander. Four sugars, please.”
Jack set down the bowl and backed away from it. “OK, as a doctor, I must caution you about the abuse of sugar. It isn’t good for you.”
Tucking one leg beneath her and the puppy securely in one arm, she pushed to her feet and walked over to stand beside him. “I make it a habit to ignore advice that like. Besides, my dad has been doctoring his coffee with tons of sugar for years.”
“And that little warning he had a few years ago didn’t show up on your radar? My mom and Miss Trudi wrote and told me about Joe’s heart attack scare. It’s never too soon to start paying attention to your diet and physical routine.”
Her cheeks flushed a delicate pink, the color of the fairy roses his mother had planted out back by the well when Jack was in grade school. He was entranced by the woman even though he wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or angry with him. Replaying his last few words through his brain didn’t help.
Handing her the dark blue enamelware cup, he warned, “Careful, the metal gets hot.”
Her color quickly returned to normal as she thanked him for the coffee. “Do you have a little bowl for water?”
Taking a quick sip, he set his cup on the butcher-block counter and opened a cabinet overhead. “How’s this?” He held up a small blue-and-white patterned bowl.
She winced. “Are you sure you want to use your mom’s good dishes?”
He shrugged. “How can you tell that they’re good?”
She shook her head at him and set her cup beside his. “My mom used to have dishes similar to this pattern. They’re probably from England, aren’t they?”
“I have no idea. When Mom and Dad were getting ready to move, they didn’t want to pack too much. They wanted an easier life, less unencumbered, so she left a lot of her dishes and glassware behind.”
Caitlin tilted her head to the side. “Do you mind if I take a look for something less breakable?”
He waved toward the cabinets. “Not at all.”
Taking the dog from her, he watched as she scanned the kitchen before lifting up on her toes and peering into the overhead cabinets. The view was subtly curved and had his mind veering off into a direction it had no business going. To distract himself, he nuzzled the dog and started talking to him.
“Your countertops are empty.”
He frowned.
“No knickknacks. I like filling mason jars with wildflowers—and we still use Gram’s copper cookie tin.”
“I like things simple,” he mumbled, not wanting to discuss his need to keep the house free of personal items.
“So are you lost?” he asked the puppy. “Where did you come from? Did someone just dump you along the side of the road, or did you run away?”
Cait’s back was turned as she held up the Transformers plastic bowl he’d used every morning for ten years. “How about this?” He frowned, wincing at the thought that she’d uncovered a bit of the past he hadn’t shared with anyone since before he had shipped out. Unprepared for the winsome smile on her face as she looked over her shoulder, he wondered what it was about Caitlin that got past his guard.
“Sure.” He reached for the bowl and their fingers brushed against one another, sending a zing of electricity through his system.
Since her back was facing him, he could slowly exhale the breath he’d drawn in and held as he let himself react to her touch. Had she felt it too? By the time she turned around, he was smiling.
While he filled the bowl with water, Cait asked, “So did he whisper any secrets in your ear while my back was turned?”
He chuckled. “Not a word. I think he’s speechless, wondering where he is and what happened to the home he knew.”
“Do you really think someone just dropped him off at the side of the road?”
He reacted to the distress in her voice but, instead of answering, decided to distract her by urging her to set the bowl on the floor. When she did, he set the puppy down and watched him lap up the cool well water. “He was thirsty.”
“Do you have anything to feed him?”
Jack crossed to the fridge, opened it up, and scanned the shelves. “A six-pack of beer, hot sauce, leftover turkey platter from lunch at the diner—I stopped home after lunch—and some eggs. I didn’t have time to grocery shop.”
“But you had time to pick up beer?”
“Beer has a lot of protein in it,” he began, only to fall silent as he looked over his shoulder and watched her settle on the floor. He shut the fridge and turned around. The little dog climbed into her lap and shut his eyes, his doggy sigh of contentment echoing in the quiet.