Page 15 of Through the Dark Night
“Very much so,” Shannon said, realizing that Vera had seen straight through her somehow. Interestingly, it didn’t make her feel defensive. Although she didn’t feel like sharing much either. She just felt seen.
Vera told her the day and time, and Shannon said that she would try as hard as she could to be there.
They were chatting about the inn and about some of the things that Dominic had told Vera, when movement by the door caught Shannon’s eye.
Lance walked in. And her heart stopped.
She hadn’t said anything more to him on the bluffs after she admitted that she didn’t know whether she was brave enough to stay. She had made some kind of excuse and hurried away back to the inn, and he hadn’t tried to stop her nor follow her. Which, of course, she hadn’t expected him to.
“Where have you been, Lance?” Pastor Garnett said as he held his hand out to shake Lance’s.
Lance was not dressed in church clothes—in fact, it looked like he had been working.
Shannon was close enough to hear everything as Lance said, “Mrs. James had a toilet that overflowed this morning when I went to pick her up to bring her to church. She needed my help to fix it, and one thing led to another, and I ended up opening up the shop and buying an entirely new toilet. Somehow hers had cracked overnight, which seems odd, but she claims she has no idea how it could have happened.”
“Wow. That sounds like a mess,” Pastor Garnett said. “I reallyappreciate you helping some of our elderly church members get here on time, but I didn’t realize that you were going to need to use your skills as well.”
They laughed together, and that’s when Lance glanced around and caught her eye.
He smiled, not pushing, not even questioning. Just accepting that she was there and looking like he was glad of it.
And she was glad he was. She thought of all the times that her husband hadn’t bothered to go with her to church, and the idea that Lance not only went but helped other people get there, and that he still came, even though he was too late to actually be at the service, spoke to her heart.
Definitely coming to church this morning had been an excellent idea. She felt, not like she could handle anything that life threw at her, but like maybe the town was just what she needed, and she had been reminded that God loved her, which was something else she had desperately longed for. Without even knowing it.
Six
The next day, Monday morning, Dominic’s crew arrived, and there was major chaos as he sent different groups to work in different areas.
After Vera had spoken with Shannon at church, Dominic had come over and said basically the same thing that she had—anyone who was brave enough to renovate the inn and provide a place for people to stay in Raspberry Ridge was someone that they wanted to help as much as they could. He had mentioned a figure that was so low that Shannon couldn’t keep from gasping in surprise, and then she agreed immediately.
She was pretty sure that what he was going to charge her wasn’t even going to cover the cost of his workers, but she remembered what Vera had said about Dominic and her having more than what they needed and wanting to be able to help the community. Apparently they thought helping her was helping the community that she was in. And really it was. When she opened the inn, it would be a blessing to everyone. That was her hope, anyway.
Regardless, Shannon buckled the new tool belt that she had bought at the hardware store around her waist and waited for Dominic to get done giving orders to all of his crew before she approached him.
“What can I do?” she asked.
He looked at her in surprise, his eyes going to her tool belt before back up and meeting her gaze. “I wasn’t expecting?—”
“I’m here, and I want a job. Or I guess I could kind of go off on my own and see what I can get into.”
Dominic laughed. “I promise you, we can take care of it.”
“I want to.” She said it with firmness, and his eyes flicked back to hers, drilling in and seeming to understand that it wasn’t that she wanted to—she needed to.
“All right. By now, the first crew I sent out should be almost done putting drywall up in the closet of the first room off the lobby. That’s a new crew, and the best place to learn is a closet. You can do the spackling.”
She couldn’t help but feel relief. A closet was an excellent spot to learn—Dominic was absolutely right. If she screwed up, it wouldn’t be nearly as obvious.
“I’ll do it until I learn it.”
“All right. I’ll be in in a little bit to give you a few pointers, but for now, I need to go and make sure that everybody is doing what they’re supposed to be doing. I’m not worried about you doing your best.” He smiled at her, a gentle smile that made her feel understood.
He walked away, and Shannon turned toward the room he had spoken of.
Sure enough, when she got there, the crew had already finished in the closet and had picked up their tools and headed out.
Shannon had to admit she was relieved to be by herself. Learning a new task was not usually something that one appreciated having an audience for.
