After repocketing his money, he tipped his head toward her. “I’ll do that, Mrs. Bolton.”
She watched him descend the steps with duffel bag in hand, then head for the garage. When he disappeared from view, she went into the kitchen and grabbed the lease that Beth had insisted she needed a tenant to sign and left the house by the back door.
Her daughter would be home from school in half an hour, and she hoped to have this all settled by then. After she crossed the driveway, she climbed the stairs to the apartment over the garage at the side of the house. The door stood ajar.
Inside Chance slowly turned in a full circle, surveying the place, no expression on his face. When he saw her, he stopped, one corner of his mouth hitched in a half grin, dimpling one cheek. She was beginning to wonder if that was his trademark.
“This is nice.”
His compliment caused a catch in her throat. She’d worked hard on the apartment with some help from her friends and was proud of what she’d accomplished on a limited budget. “Thanks.”
He faced her, his large presence filling the small two-room apartment—much like her porch—his shoulders set in a taut line, his arms straight at his sides. His gaze lit upon the paper she held in her hand. “Do you want me to sign a lease?”
“Yes. This is for six months.”
“I don’t know how long I’ll be here. I’ve got an interview with Nick Blackburn about a job, but nothing’s definite.”
Tanya glanced at the standard lease and folded it several times. “Then we won’t use the lease. Where did you come from?”
“Louisville.”
“Why did you come to Sweetwater? Because of the possibility of a job with Nick?”
“No, actually Samuel has always talked so highly of Sweetwater that I decided to come pay him and the town a visit. He knew I was looking for a job and mentioned the one with Blackburn Industries.” Again Chance withdrew the wad of money from his pocket and unrolled it. Covering the short distance between them, he thrust the rent toward her. “Three hundred. Do you require a deposit?”
Deposit? Tanya bit her lower lip. She hadn’t thought about that. Having never been a landlord before, she realized how new this all was to her. “I guess a hundred. That should cover minor damages if there are any.”
“There won’t be.”
“Not from what Samuel says. He basically told me I couldn’t go wrong with you being my tenant.”
Chance glanced away for a few seconds as if embarrassed by what Samuel had said. Clearing his throat, he returned his attention to her. “Samuel does have a way about him.” He gave her the money for the deposit, then immediately stepped back as though he was uncomfortable getting too near her. He looked toward the kitchen area in one corner with a two-burner stove, a sink and a small refrigerator. “Can you give me directions to the nearest grocery store?”
Tanya thought of the bare kitchen and blurted out, “Why don’t you have dinner with me and my daughter tonight? That’s the least I can do for someone new to Sweetwater and a friend of Samuel’s.”
Chance plunged his fingers through his black hair, then massaged the back of his neck. “I don’t want you to go to any trouble, Mrs. Bolton.”
“My name is Tanya and it isn’t any trouble. I have to warn you, though, it won’t be anything fancy.”
“I’m not used to fancy.”
The tight edge to his words made her blink in surprise. “Well, then you’ll fit right in. Sweetwater’s pretty laid-back. We only have one expensive restaurant that I’ve never seen the inside of.”
“What time is dinner?”
Tanya checked her watch and realized that Crystal would be home from school soon. “Give me a couple of hours. Say six.” She backed toward the door, a sudden, awkward silence electrifying the air. “See you then.”
Out on the landing she breathed deeply. Chance Taylor wasn’t a chatty person. She would have to quiz Samuel about him. For some reason she didn’t think her new tenant would tell her much about himself. The click of the door closing behind her penetrated her thoughts. She couldn’t shake the feeling his life hadn’t been easy. The sight of the school bus coming down the street sent Tanya hurrying down the stairs.
Even though Crystal was fifteen now and a freshman in high school, when her job allowed her, Tanya liked to be there when her daughter came home from school, especially lately. Something was bothering Crystal and her daughter wouldn’t talk to her about it. Maybe today Crystal would say something that would reveal what was going on. She rounded the side of the garage when the bus stopped and the driver descended the steps to man the lift.
While Crystal powered her wheelchair up the driveway, the small school bus drove away. If the frown on her daughter’s face was any indication, today had not been a good one. Tanya sighed and met Crystal halfway.
“We have a tenant for the apartment,” Tanya said, forcing a light tone into her voice to cover the apprehension her child’s expression raised.
Her daughter didn’t say a word. She maneuvered the wheelchair around Tanya and kept going toward the ramp at the back of the house. Tanya followed, trying to decide how to approach Crystal about what was happening at school. This year when she had begun at Sweetwater High, she’d quickly started trying to get out of going, even to the point of making up things that were wrong with her. Tanya had talked with her teachers, but no one knew what was going on. She had seen her usually happy, even-tempered child become someone else, someone who was angry and resentful. Was it the typical teenager angst of going through puberty? Or was it something else? Had Crystal’s father’s death finally manifested itself in her troubled behavior? Tom had died almost five months ago, and their daughter had gone through the usual grief associated with death but had seemed all right as her summer vacation had come to an end. Now Tanya didn’t know. Maybe Crystal had suppressed her true feelings.
In the kitchen Tanya called out to Crystal before she wheeled herself through the doorway into the hall, “Our new tenant is joining us for dinner.”
Crystal continued to remain quiet as she disappeared from view. Perplexed, Tanya stared at the empty doorway, wondering if Zoey, a high school counselor, or Beth Morgan, Crystal’s English teacher, knew what was going on with her daughter at school. She made a mental note to call her friends later to see if anything had happened today to warrant this sullen demeanor.
Chance descended the stairs to his apartment over the garage and headed across the yard toward the back door. He noticed the ramp off the deck and remembered Tom talking about his teenage daughter who was in a wheelchair. Until he had seen the ramp, however, he hadn’t really thought about the implication of having a child who was physically disabled or the fact that he would be eating with a young girl who would only be a year or two older than the age his own daughter would have been if she had lived.
He stopped his progress toward the deck, indecision stiffening his body. He’d seen plenty of teenagers since his daughter’s…death. Surely he could handle an hour in the same room with Tanya’s child. How difficult could it be?
Chance discovered a few minutes later just how hard it would be when Crystal opened the door to his knock, a smile on her thin face, a black Lab standing beside her. He sucked in a sharp breath and held it. Staring up at him with open interest was a young girl who had dark brown hair and hazel eyes, so very reminiscent of his daughter’s. She even had a sprinkle of freckles on her small upturned nose as Haley had.
He cleared away the huge knot in his throat and struggled against the urge to run as far away as he could. His legs refused to move forward into the house even though Tanya’s daughter opened the door wider for him.
“Come