Page 18 of Candy Cane Dreams
"I see," she said, more curious than ever. His answer didn't answer anything.
The bell jingled above the door as a cool rush of air floated in, along with a ruggedly handsome man with a thick beard and shining eyes that could possibly contain humor, although they looked somber and serious tonight.
From his uniform, Kate assumed he was the sheriff.
"Everything looking good tonight, Jack?" the man said, his voice businesslike but also concerned. If Kate had to guess, she would say that Jack and the man were friends.
"Looking good, Ben. Appreciate you stopping in."
A shadow of a smile crossed Ben's face. "It's my job." He nodded to Kate and said, "Ma'am."
That was it, and then he turned and walked out the door.
"He's a good sheriff. I never saw hide nor hair of the last guy, but Ben stops in every single night, unless he's out on acall somewhere, and even then, I've seen him walking the streets long after his shift should have been over."
"Quite admirable. Someone who's dedicated to their job."
"Not unlike you." Jack's voice might have held admiration, or perhaps a compliment.
"I don't know that I'm doing a job, so much as I truly feel drawn to Lilly. I can relate to her."
"You've been mute before?" Jack asked, as he finished drying his hands and hung the towel back on the rack.
"No. Of course not."
"I don't know that I would say 'of course.' If Lilly grows out of this, there'll be a lot of people in her life that didn't know that she had several years of never saying anything."
"I suppose you're probably right. But no. She just... there's a lot of potential in her, and..." Kate took a breath. How much of her family history did she want to get into? She wasn't sure if she wanted to get into any of it, honestly, although there was something about Jack that made her want to share.
"I never lost my mother. She's still alive. But I guess I just felt alone a lot of times, because she wasn't very affectionate. And while she was interested and a good mother, for the most part, she just didn't have any emotional connection to me."
"I see. That must have been hard, especially because anyone who looked at you might have thought, 'Oh, she's got a great home life, she's lucky.'"
"Exactly. How could I complain? I couldn't. So I just kind of kept it to myself. But it hurt."
"That makes sense to me. I know that everyone's trial is hard for them, even if someone else might look at it and think, 'Oh, that I could handle that easily.' Probably that's why God didn't give you that trial."
She laughed. "Right? He already knows what we can handle easily, and He gives us something else, because we're notsupposed to just have a life of ease and happiness. We're supposed to be growing and becoming more like Jesus. And how else are we going to do that if we don't go through hard things?"
"Yeah. I would agree with that wholeheartedly. Even though the hard things are usually not fun. And sometimes it seems like they're never-ending."
She wondered what felt like it was never-ending to him. The grief from losing his wife? She wanted to ask about her, if they had been high school sweethearts, and if she was his soulmate, and he would never get married again.
But why did she care? She shouldn't. Not about that.
So she kept her mouth shut and didn't say anything.
Not about that. Maybe someday they'd be close enough friends that she could ask.
"I better get upstairs to Lilly. She can take a bath by herself, but I still put her to bed. I know someday she'll not want me to anymore, and I try to always make time for that. Every night."
"I think that's really good. I wish all parents were that conscientious and tried to make time for their children."
She heard the note of sadness in her voice, and it bordered on self-pity. She didn't want that. She wouldn't allow that. Everything that she had gone through had shaped her into the person that she was. If her parents had been perfect, she would have missed the opportunities to grow, and... she wouldn't have become better. At least, that's the way it felt to her.
"Thanks for chatting with me. I enjoyed it," she said honestly. She felt like maybe she had found a friend in this town.
Jack nodded his head. "Stop by anytime. I'm in one of the few professions where I can talk and work at the same time and be just as productive."
