Rescue Me(19)

“Would you have let him kiss you?” Willow said.

Jess looked past her, out the front window. “Maybe.”

“Jess,” Sierra said.

“Why not? I mean, I know you guys say he’s such a womanizer, but really, I haven’t seen it. Yes, he flirts—but that’s just his personality. And . . . oh, I don’t know. You’re probably right. I don’t want a guy who just wants to have fun. I’m not that kind of girl. Except, maybe I am, because the last thing I need is to get tangled up in a relationship.”

Willow watched her as she wiped her mouth, crumpled her napkin. “Jess, why didn’t he kiss you?”

Jess tossed the napkin on her plate. “He asked if I’d help him write a résumé. He wants to be an incident commander for the PEAK team.”

“That’s a great idea,” Sierra said. “Sam’s always saying that they need a backup, in case Miles is unavailable.”

“Yeah, well, I mentioned that Sam would have to hire him, and Pete sort of shut down. There’s bad blood between them, but Pete never talks about it.”

Sierra was nodding. “Sam doesn’t either. I don’t know what their problem is.”

Willow stared at her sister. “What are you talking about? Of course you know—it’s about their dad. And the fact that he got lost on the mountain chasing Pete.”

Sierra frowned at her. “I guess I thought he was over that.”

“What are you talking about?” Jess asked.

“What do you mean over that?” Willow said to Sierra.

“I don’t mean losing his dad, but the fight between him and Pete—”

“What fight?” Jess said.

“I guess I didn’t realize he really blamed Pete. I thought it was an accident,” Sierra said.

“They got in a huge fight. In front of everyone!” Willow said.

“Pete and Sam?” Jess interjected.

Poor Jess. Willow turned to her. “Yeah. It was about twelve years ago—I remember because I was at Dad’s that weekend. He was called out to find a skier who’d gone missing in the backwoods off a nearby ski resort. A storm blew in that night, and they didn’t find the skier for two days. He’d fallen in a tree well and frozen to death.”

“Oh my gosh—and that was Pete and Sam’s dad?” Jess said.

“Yeah. Apparently, when they found him, Sam blamed Pete, publicly. It was pretty ugly.” She left off the rest, the more private information he’d shared with her in error. “Sometimes I think I hate him. So much it makes me want to scream. I want to throw my fist in his face.”

His wretched tone could still shake her. Oh, Sam.

She refused to think about the rest. Especially when she was sitting next to Sierra.

But her throat burned.

“Sam was out of school for about two weeks, right in the middle of our senior year,” Sierra was saying to Jess, finishing the story. “His uncle took over the lumber company. Maybe that’s why Sam didn’t go to college. Stayed local.”

“Probably to help his mom. Especially after Pete took off.” Willow saw the teenagers in need of a checkup. She got up and delivered them more water, then fished around in her apron for the check. Ripped it off. “No hurry.”

She swung by the counter, picked up the coffeepot, and refilled mugs for the book ladies. Then stopped by the family, whose children were still finishing their chicken nuggets.

“Don’t forget to pick a candy from one of the bins. It comes with the kids’ meals,” she said and pointed to the baskets of old-time candies, one of the Summit’s novelties.

She debated swinging into the back room and instead headed back to Jess and Sierra. She picked up Jess’s plate.

“Hey, what’s happening back there?” Sierra said. “You get a glimpse of the new youth pastor?”

“Yeah. He’s about three years old. Perfect Bible name—Josh Blessing. He’s a newlywed and apparently he and his wife, Ava, just found out that she’s expecting.”

She stacked Sierra’s malt glass on the plate. “I shouldn’t judge—they’re probably super nice. The kids are going to learn lots. I’m just going to miss everyone.”

She turned, but Sierra reached out, touched her arm. “Willow, what are you talking about? You’re not stepping down as a youth leader just because they have an official youth pastor, are you? Those kids know you—they need you. Probably Josh could use your help settling in. Don’t let the committee’s rejection keep you from doing what’s right for these kids.”

And see, this was why Sierra deserved a happy ending—although maybe if she’d heard Sam’s words in the stairwell, she might not be so thrilled with him. But still, Sierra had nothing but mercy, nothing but a generous spirit.