Page 17 of Through the Dark Night
It was funny how easily they settled into a rhythm. How comfortable she felt with him, how patient he was with her, and how at ease she was. They worked together with an ease that she didn’t feel with too many people. Several people commented on it as they came and went during the day. Even while Shannon had in the back of her mind the idea that she would be cooking for everyone tomorrow, she would miss working with Lance, because she wasn’t sure she’d ever worked with someone that well before. And considering that she’d never done drywall before, that was saying something.
“Excuse me,” a man’s voice said from the entrance to the room where they were now working. They’d spackled the entire closet, and Lance had explained that it was going to need to dry before they could wipe it down and sand it and put another coat of spackling on where it was needed. “I’m looking for Shannon.”
“I’m Shannon,” she said in answer to the man’s statement.
“I’m Trevor. Trevor Gillette, and I heard that you might be in need of some custom woodworking. I wanted to come and offer my services.”
“Oh my goodness. Custom woodworking? That sounds fancy.” And expensive.
“It’s my love. And with everyone else in town talking with so much excitement about the inn opening, I was hoping that I might be able to offer my services, for free, just so I can have a little bit of a hand in it. You wouldn’t believe the wildfire that you’ve startedwith the idea that you’re going to fix this old place up. And that there might actually be paying customers coming here. And a place for us to go too.”
“I hope so. That’s the dream anyway.”
“It’s a good dream,” Trevor said, coming over and shaking hands with Lance. They appeared to know each other, so Shannon didn’t bother with introductions, considering that she had just met Trevor.
“I don’t even know where to start,” Shannon said, looking around.
“Dominic told me to check with you, but he said that he could use banisters and molding around the tops and bottoms of the rooms, particularly in the entryway. Also, the porch needs to be redone. My buddy Josiah is pretty handy as well and in fact better at that kind of thing than I am. He couldn’t be here today, because he’s working on a yacht, but he said to sign him up for whatever, and he’d be here. He said he would provide his own materials as well.”
Shannon was overwhelmed. People were going to provide their own materials? They were going to do this for free? She could barely fathom the idea of a town coming together like this. But it must have been like Trevor had said, and people were really excited about the inn opening.
“Yes to anything that you want to do,” Shannon finally said. “Although, some of these things just look so terrible that I don’t know that there’s really much of anything that we can do to make it look better.”
Trevor grinned. “That’s pretty much my job. To find the beauty underneath something that doesn’t look like much of anything. Even things that look like they’re ruined have beauty inside. It just takes the right hands to bring it out.”
Shannon blinked at him. He could be talking about her. About…the right hands. She wasn’t sure who the right hands would be. Maybe God, just moving in her life.
“Shannon and I have been working in that room all day. We’ll be there tomorrow, so if you have any questions, just pop in, and we’ll answer as best we can.” Lance shook Trevor’s hand again, and Trevor walked away.
Or it could be Lance. Working with him today had felt like coming home in a way that even coming back to Raspberry Ridge hadn’t felt like. It brought back all of the things that they had done in high schooltogether. So much time, so many dreams shared, and so much compatibility. She realized just exactly how much she and James did not jive. If that was a good word for it.
James just was himself, and she was there to serve him, which she didn’t mind. That was the kind of person she was, always looking for someone to help. She was happy to be able to help her husband, help him to have a law career and to climb and be successful in whatever he wanted to do. The same with her children. That was what she wanted. She wanted to be a blessing to people. But there was a certain satisfaction in having an equal partnership, which was what it felt like when she and Lance were working together, even though Lance was the one who had all the experience.
She was deep in thought as she climbed the ladder, so deep in thought that she wasn’t paying attention and missed the second step. She slipped off and might have had another drywall catastrophe, except Lance was there to catch her, steady her, and hold her until she caught her balance.
It took her a second to realize that she was clutching his shoulders, their bodies pressed together, his eyes looking down on her with an expression on his face that she couldn’t quite read. She didn’t know about him, but her heart beat erratically, and she felt a heat that was unfamiliar but not unpleasant.
She jerked away immediately and swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “I better go check the pantry, if I’m going to make it to the grocery store before it closes tonight. Thanks for your help.”
She hurried out of the room. Knowing that once again, she was running.
Seven
That evening, Shannon sat at the table, struggling to figure out a menu. She didn’t know why it was so hard. Maybe because she’d spent most of her time castigating herself for running away from Lance. It had been almost quitting time anyway, but the guys had been gone for more than an hour, and she still hadn’t come up with meals and an ingredient list.
What could she make that would serve everyone and would still allow her to have time to work?
She had a crockpot, but one crockpot wasn’t going to be enough. Dominic had told her that usually there would be around ten to twelve men there every day—that included Trevor and Josiah.
She still hadn’t figured it out when there was a knock at the front door.
Who in the world would be here now?
It was only six o’clock and still a little bit light out, but even so, a tiny shiver went down Shannon’s spine. She was here by herself, and the town was a ten-minute walk away.
It was only a couple of minutes by car, but still. She was pretty far off the beaten path. Like she had thought the night she got there, it was a great place to hide out, but it was also a great place to…commit a crime? Is that what she was thinking? That someone was here to commit a crime?
She tried to reason with herself. Someone who was here to commit a crime would not be knocking on the front door.
