Chapter 5
Juliette started her day with a long walk first along the lake and then the same path she’d followed yesterday. Despite her constant reminders to herself that getting into any kind of relationship while up here was a bad idea, she kept a lookout for Aaron. Unfortunately, the only life she saw came in the form of a single chipmunk. Man, those buggers moved quickly when startled.
Although she hadn't been able to visually appreciate the man again, thanks to Mrs. Lambert, she learned a boatload about him when Holly called her back. In fact, when it came to details about Aaron, Mrs. Lambert put the internet and all its search engines to shame.
According to Holly’s mom, not only was Aaron unmarried as she’d assumed, but he wasn’t seeing anyone, much to his mother’s dismay. During their conversation, Mrs. Lambert shared with Holly that Aaron’s mom often mentioned how much she hoped her son would get married and start a family.
Aaron’s current relationship status wasn’t the only detail she’d learned about him either, thanks to Holly and her mom. She also now knew he worked for a company in Boston. Mrs. Lambert couldn’t remember its name, but she knew he did something with computers there. Whatever it was, though, he worked from home most of the time and traveled into the city a few times a month. While giving Holly those bites of information, she’d shared that his niece and sister had moved in with him about seven months ago. However, she didn’t have all the details of why Mrs. Lambert assumed the move was related to Candace’s divorce last summer.
Following her informative conversation with Holly, Juliette left the campground for the first time since she’d arrived. With no destination in mind, she’d left her GPS turned off and simply driven around town. During her wandering, she’d found herself back on Main street. Unlike the day she arrived, the parking lots at each of the schools were full, and students ran around the playground next to one of the buildings. Rather than turn when she reached the four-way intersection on Main Street like she had the previous weekend, she continued straight and found some of the other business Holly had mentioned were scattered around town. After more than an hour of aimless driving, she reached a sign welcoming her to the town of Ashford. Instead of continuing, she pulled over and put the address for the campground into her GPS. Although she’d paid attention to her surroundings while driving, she’d known she’d never make it back to the cottage without assistance. Maybe after a few more trips, she could do it, but not today.
Despite the lack of street signs and one missed turn, she made it back to the campground just as the sky opened up. She’d expected it. Not only had the sky been overcast since she woke up, but the weather app on her phone had said there was a 90 percent chance of rain starting at noon. Still, when the first onslaught of water hit the windshield, she’d sworn. She’d hoped to sit on the porch swing and do some more reading before the rain started because the temperature was a good fifteen degrees warmer than yesterday. Instead, she’d dashed inside before she got soaked. She then proceeded to spend her time first reading and then searching various real estate websites for homes in and around the area. It might be crazy, but she couldn’t shake the idea of buying a house either in town or the general area for those weeks when she wanted to get away from the city. But as far as nutty ideas went, it wasn’t the worst one she’d ever had. And she could guarantee it wouldn’t be the last crazy notion she got either. After all, what fun was it always doing only things that made sense?
The afternoon was long gone now, and her unhappy stomach kept reminding her she’d only had a fruit salad for lunch. While she’d intended to walk up to the Wrights’ house for dinner, the rain forced her to nix her plan and drive instead.
Candace opened the door before Juliette rang the doorbell. “Come on in before you get soaked. Unless you’re a duck, this has been a pretty miserable day.”
She didn’t hesitate to step inside. “It could be worse. It could be snowing.” When she wanted to ski, she liked the cold, wet stuff, but at all other times, she found it a plain nuisance.
“I’d rather have it snow any day,” Candace said as she closed and locked the front door. “If you want to give me your jacket, I’ll hang it up for you.”
She’d thought about not wearing it—it wasn’t like she was going to be spending time outside. In the end, she’d pulled it on to keep from getting wet to and from the car.
“The potatoes need about another ten minutes in the oven.” Her hostess hung Juliette’s jacket in the large hall closet. “I should have asked when I invited you if you were a vegetarian or allergic to any foods. It didn’t occur to me until I took the roast out of the oven.”
Juliette had attempted a vegetarian diet when she was about thirteen. She’d made it three months before her cravings for hamburgers and sausage pizza had her calling it quits. While she ate a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and very little sausage pizza these days, there wasn’t any type of food that she eliminated from her diet. “No allergies, and I’ll eat almost anything except lamb.” Some people might love it, but she couldn’t stand even its smell, never mind the taste.
Candace wrinkled her nose. “My brother likes it, but I don’t know how anyone eats lamb.”
Juliette followed her hostess down the hall and into a large open kitchen. Light gray cabinets occupied one of the walls while two large sliding glass doors led out to a massive deck. Several barstools were positioned near a portion of the counter. A table set for five was near the glass doors, allowing diners to eat while enjoying the view of the lake. Other than some small potted plants on the windowsill over the sink, there were no personal touches or pictures in the room.
“Can I get you a drink? I was going to open some wine, but if you’d rather have something else, I made some iced tea earlier. I can also make you a cup of coffee.”
Unsure of what to do with herself, Juliette pulled out a barstool and sat. “Whatever you’re having is fine.”
Candace removed a box of wine from the small built-in wine fridge, a feature Juliette didn’t think was original to the house. After pouring two glasses, she handed Juliette one before taking a sip of hers. “I expect my mom and Tiegan any second. After school today, Tiegan went over there to work on a school project. Mom’s the arts and crafts guru of the family.”
Well, that explained the absence of two people but unfortunately not the one she was most interested in seeing tonight.
“I used to hate school projects.” She’d always preferred exams and quizzes to projects that required hours upon hours of work.
“Me too. Tiegan’s teacher loves them. She seems to have one every other week. Personally, I think she gives so many because they’re easy to grade.”
Juliette had never thought about it, but Candace made a good point. A visual project that the teacher could look over and compare to a rubric might be quicker to grade than a stack of tests.
“Are you enjoying your stay?”
She eyed the wine in her glass. Wine didn’t belong in a box or can. It belonged in a bottle. Now that she had some, though, she had no other choice but to drink it. “It’s been very relaxing.” She sipped her drink, expecting it to be the worst thing she’d ever tasted. “Mmm, that’s good.” The words left her lips before she could stop them.