Fighting Fate (14 page)

Now she was even more confused. And more than a little curious.

He was half out the door, leaning out to pick up something.

“I really don’t want anything from you Cole,” she said insistently.

He smirked at her over his shoulder. “Trust me. I think you’ll want this.”

She heard rattling as Cole fidgeted with something on the other side of the door.

A shot of annoyance burst through her. She meant what she said. She didn’t want anything from him. Accepting something would feel wrong. There was no way she was going to take anything from him.

Except for maybe…

That
.

She murmured something under her breath. She clenched her hands into fists and ground them into her hips. It was a futile attempt to keep from reaching out. It lasted only seconds and her hands flew forward.

“Oh, fine. Let me see,” she relented. Her tone was laced with an odd mixture of excitement and exasperation. “
Please
.”

She stopped staring at the object in Cole’s hands just long enough to see the smug look on his face. Then her attention drifted downward again.

The small little ball of fur mewed at her and she was hit by an intense case of insta-love.

She whimpered as Cole handed over the small body covered in charcoal gray fluff.

She was only vaguely aware of Cole leaning out the door again. He reached back outside and pulled in a pile of items that he left near her feet. She stopped nuzzling the furry bundle long enough to take a peek at what he had brought inside.

A quick scan let her know that the first item was a cat carrier. A new litter box came next. It was stacked with items: A small bag of litter, kitten chow and food dishes.

“I got everything on the checklist from the shelter. You and the little gal should be all set. There’s an envelope at the bottom. It has the adoption papers and immunization records in it,” Cole explained. “Their phone number is listed across the top. They said you can call if you have any questions. Her mom was a stray. She was born in the shelter. There were seven of them in the litter and they were just separated from the momma cat last week.”

“She’s so precious,” Sarah murmured. She was only half listening to Cole as she nuzzled her face into the soft fur.

“You, uh,” he said as he cleared his throat, “might want to rename her. The papers say her name is Penelope.”

The sweet little creature looked three times bigger than she actually was. Her excessive fluff was standing on end, as if she’ C as sized stuffed her tail into an outlet and been zapped. Under all that fur, Sarah felt the delicate bumpy ridges of her fragile rib cage.

Penelope began to purr at a volume that belied her size.

Sarah let out a small, amused giggle.

She could feel Cole’s self-satisfied, smug gaze drilling into her. She didn’t need to glance at him to know this. So she didn’t look up.

“You’re a little sweetheart, aren’t you?” Sarah asked the happy little kitten. “Yes, you are.”

She heard Cole chuckle. “I remember how much you loved that old cat of Cora’s. But Suzanne was allergic so you couldn’t have your own.”

There were a lot of things that Sarah had assumed that Cole would remember about the past. The love she’d had for her grandmother’s cat was not one of them. Cora used to tease Sarah when she visited, accusing her of only really wanting to see Bluebell.

Cole, she realized, had a better memory than she ever anticipated. Bluebell’s gray fur had had a touch of blue to it—hence, her name. While this kitten was a simple charcoal color, it looked like the beloved cat in every other way. She had no doubt that Cole had been pretty particular while picking her out.

She had always loved cats but he was right. Suzanne was allergic. And later, she’d thought about it but the house she and Aaron rented hadn’t allowed pets. As she held this one in her hands, she wondered why she didn’t think to get herself a kitten last week. She probably would have eventually, but now that Cole had chosen this one for her, she couldn’t imagine bringing home any other kitten.

“I’ll be a little late Monday morning,” Cole said. “I have a few things I need to take care of right away. But I’ll get here as soon as I can.”

Sarah barely lifted her eyes from Penelope. “That’s okay. I have a few errands to run that day too. I’ll see you when you get here.” The kitten was rubbing her face against Sarah’s cheek. Her body rumbled with the effort of her purring. She smiled when she looked back at Cole. “Thank you.”

He nodded as he took a step to go outside. He hesitated and then quickly, as if afraid to think about it too long, he leaned back in and placed a kiss on her forehead. One arm had looped loosely around her waist, careful not to squish Penelope.

She let out a little moan of contentment. In the few seconds she wasted wondering if she should ask Cole to stay, he slipped out the door and was on his way.

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Chapter Ten

After Cole’s visit yesterday, Sarah had given up all thoughts of painting. She’d pounded the lid back onto the can and neatly stacked the supplies at the end of the countertop. She’d spent the whole day bonding with Penelope. The kitten had purred on her lap as she flipped through the photos in the envelope that Gretchen had left the other day.

There were dozens of photos of her and Cole. Gretchen had just gotten a camera for Christmas that year. She took pictures of anything and everything. Animals, insects, the sky and more pictures of Sarah and Cole than Sarah had realized she’d taken. Some of the shots were candid and some were posed. All of them left Sarah feeling nostalgic for the past.

More than once she wished she’d asked him to stay. Now, she had no way to get a hold of him. She had never thought to ask for his phone number. She had no idea where he lived. Not that it mattered because she knew she would never work up the nerve to contact him. For the first time all week, she was grateful that he’d managed to finagle the job of shingling her roof. She knew she wanted to see him. And she wanted to talk to him. Beyond that, she wasn’t sure what she wanted.

After flipping through the envelope more times than she’d care to admit to, she set it aside. The pictures had made her heart hurt and her soul ache. While she was no stranger to misery, those feelings had belonged to Aaron.

Feeling that way about Cole was confusing. It felt familiar and wrong at the same time.

She had needed to do something to keep her mind off of him. She had no longer been in the mood to paint—it was too involved of a project for a day when she’d just gotten a new kitten. Instead, she’d gone down to the cellar so she could continue to sort through the cans that Gretchen had run across.

By the end of the day, she had all of the bills stacked inside several shoe boxes that she ended up tucking under her bed. The coins, they had been another matter completely. She’d sorted them into two groups. The first, coins she would simply cash in. The second, coins she thought needed to be researched to find out if they actually held more than their face value.

The project had taken her longer than expected because while she was in the cellar, she’d decided to sort through items on the rest of the shelves. She hadn’t found any more cash. However, she did find an envelope, tucked under a box that had ‘Melinda’ written across it in large, black script.

The keepsake box of Melinda’s contained a silver plated brush, a photo clearly taken at the hospital, a knit baby blanket and a baptismal gown, among other items.

The envelope itself contained savings bonds under her grandmother’s name. Sarah placed those in one of the shoe boxes, along with the cash.

The next morning she was sitting in the living room. Her feet were propped up on the coffee table and the kitten was curled up on her lap. She was using the arm of the sofa to balance her notebook. She flipped through the pages, finding a blank one. Her pen tapped against the paper as she gave a few moments’ thought to her latest list. Her free hand was mindlessly stroking the soft fur and she smiled absently at the vibration of Penelope’s purring.

The windows were closed and she hadn’t heard a vehicle approaching. The sound of a door slamming startled her. Smiling a little more broadly now, she scooped the kitten up and hopped up from the cushions. Her assumption was that it was Cole. Perhaps he was coming to see how his gift was settling in.

She flew to the door, clutching Penelope to her chest. Before anyone had a chance to knock, she pulled it open, smiling. That smile fell away quickly as she stared in surprise.

“Hello, Sarah.”

The woman before her, though familiar, was a complete stranger. Her cinnamon-colored hair was cut in a smooth chin-length bob. Her eyes, though a similar color to Sarah’s, seemed completely foreign. The woman worked up a smile. It didn’t look genuine.

“Melinda.” As she said the name, her eyes swept out over the front yard, uncertain of what or who else she expected to see. Her body was suddenly tingling with anxiety. Her heart had taken off, beating with such force she could hear the pounding in her ears. Her fingers trembled and she was  glad she had the kitten to hold to keep them steady.

Melinda fidgeted briefly, looking a little unsure of herself.

“May I come in?” she asked.

Nodding slightly, Sarah stepped aside to allow her entrance.

“I’m sorry, I would’ve called first but…” She shrugged and Sarah knew she wouldn’t have been able to get her phone number. She didn’t have a landline an Ka ltd in order to get her cell phone number, she would’ve had to go through Frank.

Sarah closed the door and then turned to face her. She fought the urge to lean up against the wall. She didn’t want to show how weak she suddenly felt.

She had nothing to say to the woman so she waited with raised eyebrows, wondering what Melinda had to say to her.

The older woman sighed. “Look…I know I have no right to ask this of you—”

Sarah felt her spine become rigid. She kept her retort to herself because whatever it was she was about to request, those words were absolutely true.

“—but I was hoping you would let me look for a few keepsakes. They belong to me,” she said pointedly. When she continued, Sarah detected a note of bitterness. “Since I haven’t had access to the house for years, I haven’t been able to look for them. I heard you just moved in. So I was hoping…” She gave Sarah a tight smile and a small shrug.

“What is that you want?” Sarah asked.

“Don’t worry,” Melinda said, her voice hard, “it’s nothing of value. Not to you, anyway. There’s a box of Christmas ornaments in the basement. Dad used to make them. It was his hobby. He’d putter around in that old workshop of his. Every year, from the time I was born, he made an ornament for me. He did it every year up until the year he died. There should be nineteen ornaments in that box.”

“And you’re just deciding now that you want them?”

“I purchased a new home last winter,” she explained. “Up until that point, I moved around a lot. I liked to travel light.” Sarah nodded because she could understand this. In Melinda’s case, traveling light clearly meant not having a child in tow that would weigh her down. “But now that I’m settled, I have a place for them. I would’ve liked them back a while ago but Mom was gone. You were gone. There was no one to ask.”

“How did you know that I would be here now?” Sarah wanted to know.

“I heard that you moved back to town. That you were living here,” she said.

“How did you hear that?”

“It’s a small town. People talk. I grew up here. I still have friends here you know,” Melinda said a bit defensively.

“No, actually, I didn’t know. I don’t know anything about you.” Her voice did not hide her bitterness. For the first time, she felt a bolt of anger shoot through her. Up until now, all she’d felt was shock.

Melinda ignored her. “Are you going to let me to look for my ornaments, or not?”

“Do you know where they are?” Even though she’d sorted through things in the cellar yesterday, she hadn’t completed the task. There were just too many things to sort through.

Melinda nodded. “I think so. Or at least, I have a pretty goo K a ligd idea.” She pointed to the cellar door. “May I?”

For just a brief moment, Sarah wanted to tell her that no, she may not. She didn’t want to do this woman any favors. Yet, if this woman found something that she treasured, despite everything, Sarah didn’t have it in her to keep it from her. She realized she didn’t want to be that kind of person. Deep in her heart, she knew that her grandmother would appreciate that.

She nodded and without so much as a thank you, Melinda crossed the kitchen. She pulled the door open and disappeared down the steps.

Sarah stared after her, wondering if she should follow. Should she help? She decided not to. Being in the small cellar with the near-stranger? That would simply be awkward beyond measure. Besides, she figured that Melinda had lived in the house for the first eighteen years of her life. Most likely she’d helped with holiday decorating. It was probable that she knew exactly where her ornaments were located.

The kitten, which Sarah had forgotten she was holding, squirmed in her arms. She bent over to place Penelope on the floor. Without looking back at her the little fur ball pranced across the kitchen. Before Sarah could stop her, she slithered through the crack in the door that led to the cellar. She heard the soft thuds as she clumsily descended the old steps.