Kindling for the Heart Page 7

  “Hello. Is anyone home?” Sam recognized Jo’s mother as soon as she pushed open the door and stepped inside. The woman was a slightly shorter, early-sixties version of Jo. Her curly blond hair was up in a bun and a puffy pink parka accentuated her femininity, but the blue eyes and soft facial features were just like Jo’s.

  “Hi, Mom.” Mollie beat Jo to the door, her tail wagging.

  “I thought I’d pop by this morning to drop off some of my homemade blueberry muffins and meet your guest.” She stomped snow off her boots and put a bag of fresh muffins on the counter then gave Jo a hug.

  “Mmmm. Thanks, Mom.” Jo opened the bag. “They’re still warm. Maybe I’ll have one for lunch.”

  “They just came out of the oven.” She turned to Sam and smiled, her blue eyes friendly. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

  “Of course.” Jo stepped forward. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Samantha White. She’ll be staying here for a while.”

  “Hi, Samantha. I’m Julia Lavigne.” She offered her hand.

  Sam smiled as she slid her palm into a firm shake that felt genuine. “Hello, Julia. It’s nice to meet you. Your daughter has been a real life-saver for me.”

  “I heard.” Julia released Sam’s hand and patted Mollie’s head when she nudged at their legs for attention. “Josephine’s a real bushwhacker and sure knows her way around the forest. It’s a good thing she was near Button Lake.”

  “And Mollie too,” Jo said. “She’s the one who alerted me that something was wrong. I couldn’t hear a thing with my hat and hood.”

  “It was so cold the other day I don’t know why you even went out in the first place,” Julia said. “It must have been fate for the two of you to meet like that.”

  Jo’s cheeks reddened. “Mom, I have a deadline, so I had to go out.”

  “I like to believe it was karma,” Sam said. “Jo told me your father knew my grandfather.”

  “It’s a small world, isn’t it?” Julia put on her navy knitted gloves. “I’ll let the two of you get back to whatever you were doing. It was nice meeting you, Samantha.”

  “The pleasure was all mine,” Sam said. “I can’t get over how much you and Jo look alike. She’s going to age very well.”

  “Oh you’re too kind,” Julia said, blushing. “Why don’t the two of you to come over for dinner tonight? Anna will be there and I’m having a vegetarian lasagna.”

  “Thank you, that sounds lovely.” Sam turned to Jo. “Are you game?”

  “For sure. Thanks again for the soup and muffins.” Jo hugged her mother, exchanging kisses on the cheek. “I never turn down a free dinner at Mom’s. Is six okay?”

  “Perfect. I’ll see you then. Bye, girls.” Julia gave Mollie another pat before heading out.

  “What a nice woman. You’re lucky to have a mother like her.”

  Jo smiled. “Yes, I am very lucky.”

  “Does your sister look like you too?” Sam imagined someone looking just like Jo, given the similarities between mother and daughter.

  “Her hair is darker, but people have said we look alike. Keep in mind, though, she’s not a lesbian and neither is my mother. There’s no need to flirt with them.”

  Sam crossed her arms, smiling at Jo’s reaction. “Your mother seemed to enjoy it.”

  “Everybody likes to be charmed once in a while.” Jo looked inside the bag of muffins and sniffed. “Mmmm. Blueberry is my favorite. Feel free to have one now if you’d like.”

  Sam reached for a muffin. “Thanks. Great timing for your mother to drop them off.”

  “Yes, considering you’re just looking for breakfast now.” Jo gave her a playful tap on the arm. “I have to get back to work. I’ll be in my office if you need anything.”

  Sam sat at the kitchen table and turned on her phone. A bunch of messages popped up and she put down her muffin to see what was going on. They were all from Trish, and had subject lines full of questions and exclamation marks.

  How could you do this to me?!

  What am I going to do now?!

  When did you lose your heart?!

  I thought you loved me!!

  What happened?!

  What did I ever do to you?!

  Sam threw her phone on the counter. She wasn’t going to read any of the diatribes, not after all they’d been through. Sam put her head in her hands and closed her eyes. She moaned with regret. No. Embarrassment. How could she have been with someone like Trish, when in only a few days, Jo made her feel more alive than ever? She wanted more of whatever it was she was feeling around Jo. There’d be no more sex for the sake of sex. It was time to grow up.

  Mollie came back into the kitchen, tail wagging and panting as she rested her head on Sam’s lap.

  Sam took comfort in rubbing the soft fur of Mollie’s ears. “It’s okay, girl. I’ve been a shit, that’s all. Nothing new.”

  She needed some fresh air. Sunrays were bouncing off the floor and the sky was a perfect blue, beckoning her outside. The forecast of a cloudy day was wrong. Sam moved to the kitchen sink and looked out the window above it. A sparkling winter wonderland stared back. Jo’s yard was buried in fresh snow and a cedar hedge separated the two-car garage from the house. The property was bordered by a spruce forest, with a large field behind the garage.

  “I think we should go outside, Mollie.” Sam moved to the patio door for a better view. There was a sizeable snow-covered deck with a screened-in gazebo at the far corner. A trail at the back of the yard led into the thick bush. Sam wanted to explore it, so she pulled on her parka and toque.

  “Hey, Jo.” Sam stood at Jo’s office door, coat open and mitts in hands.

  Jo looked up from her computer, and her eyes widened as she studied Sam’s attire. “Heading out?”

  “I thought I’d take Mollie for a little walk. I noticed a trail into the bush at the back of the yard. Where does it go?”

  “It doesn’t go far.” She hit a few keys as though in the middle of something and Sam was interrupting. “It leads to my haven.”

  Haven? “I can’t imagine needing a place like that with this beautiful house.”

  “Sometimes things aren’t always what they seem.” Jo sighed, her voice lowering. “There are lots of beautiful houses, but when they stop being a home, you need a sanctuary.”

  “Your ex—of course. I hope you see this place as a home again.”

  “Yes, I do, and I don’t want to ever risk losing that again.” Jo’s fingers hovered over her keyboard. “Have fun.”

  “Thanks. See you in a bit.”

  Sam donned her snowshoes and headed down the trail. True to Jo’s words, it didn’t lead far. A gray wooden shed with a red door and two front windows marked the end of the path. Sam approached and looked inside. A small desk was under the window and a brown-checkered fabric couch lined the back wall. There was a wooden table with two chairs, a white-painted rocker in the far corner, and a brown shag rug in the middle of the floor.

  Sam tried the door, but it was locked. She backed away, wondering how long it had been since Jo used the place and thinking she could have used something like this at her house in Toronto. Had her house ever really been a home?

  Not after what she’d been feeling the last few days. She liked Jo. A lot. The woman had saved her life, but it was so much more than that. For the first time ever, Sam had met someone she could envision spending the rest of her life with.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sam studied Julia Lavigne’s well-lit house as they drove up. It was set back on a big lot in an older neighborhood in Timmins. Kind of like her bungalow in Toronto, but it looked much warmer and inviting with its orange brick instead of the colder gray of hers. Julia’s blue front door decorated with a floral wreath just seemed so fitting for her. Sam was looking forward to the visit.

  Jo parked in the driveway and winked at Sam. “Ready to meet the family?”

  “For sure. If your sister’s anything like your mother, we’ll get along just fine.”
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  “What if she’s more like me?” Jo grinned as she nudged Sam’s arm.

  “All the better then.” Sam was enjoying this. Jo was in a good mood and Sam’s spirits were still high from her afternoon visit to the backyard. “We should head inside, or they might think we’re necking out here.”

  Jo nudged Sam’s arm again. “Please don’t joke like that in front of them. We shouldn’t even be doing this and I’m sorry for starting it just now.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll behave.” Sam walked onto the freshly shoveled driveway, a skip in her step as she headed to the door. Julia smiled and waved from the glowing kitchen window as they knocked.

  Jo opened the door to a gust of garlic and cheese. “Mmmm. It smells so good in here.”

  “Come on in before you let all the heat out.” Julia was hustling about, setting the table in the kitchen as they stepped inside. “Show Sam the basket of slippers so she can find herself a pair.”

  “My mother loves to knit, so you have your choice of woolen slippers to keep your feet warm on these cold floors.” Jo jiggled the wicker basket as Sam slipped out of her boots.

  “My floors aren’t cold,” Julia said. She turned off the radio news.

  “I’m just teasing, Mom.” Jo kicked off her boots and went up the few stairs into the kitchen, greeting her mother with a kiss on the cheek. She removed her parka and hung it in the closet across from the top of the four stairs leading into the kitchen.

  Sam hopped up the stairs without selecting a pair of slippers. The floors, like the rest of the house, were nice and toasty, and Sam smiled as she handed Jo her jacket.

  “Come on in, Samantha, and make yourself at home.”

  “Thank you.” Sam went into the kitchen, her socks gliding across the shiny ceramic tiles as she greeted Julia with a hug. She stood near the small kitchen island, cluttered with dishes for the meal. “You have a beautiful place here. It smells so tantalizing my stomach won’t stop growling.”

  “Anna’s not here yet?” Jo came to stand beside Sam, her closeness comforting.

  Julia lurched at the stove to silence the blaring oven timer. She opened the oven and inspected inside. “She said she’d be a bit late because she wants to run home and change first. Everything’s ready. I hope the two of you have a big appetite.”

  “I can hardly wait.” Sam took a deep whiff of garlic and cheese, her stomach growling loud enough for everyone to hear.

  Julia laughed. “Jo, get Sam something to drink, would you please? I have to take the lasagna out of the oven.”

  “Red wine?” Jo held up the bottle they’d brought.

  “Sure, thanks.” Sam glanced into the living room. A large knitting bowl sat on the shiny hardwood floor beside an inviting rocker-recliner. The television remote perched on one arm of the chair and a half-finished scarf with knitting needles sticking out rested on the other.

  The door burst open and a dark-haired woman stepped inside. “It’s cold out there.”

  “Anna, why didn’t you let me know you were walking?” Jo said. “We could’ve picked you up.”

  “I wanted the exercise.” The tip of Anna’s nose was frosty red as she removed her light blue wool coat. Sam watched as she fluffed her wavy brown hair so it hung neatly over her ears. The family resemblance was certainly there.

  Julia came to the top of the entry stairs. “Why didn’t you wear your down parka? That jacket’s not warm enough for a night like tonight.”

  “It was fine, Mom.” Anna’s hazel eyes met Sam’s as she unzipped then pulled off her tall leather boots. “Hi. You must be Samantha.”

  “Yes, I am. It’s nice to meet you, Anna.” Sam raised her glass of red wine and smiled. “I can’t believe how much the three of you look alike.”

  “Do you think so? I always thought I was adopted because my hair’s so brown while theirs is blond.”

  “Oh really, Anna.” Jo laughed. “She’s always been jealous of my blond hair. I don’t know why you don’t use blond dye now instead of brown.”

  “Hey, this is still my natural color.” Anna’s hands were cold as she offered one to Sam. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting into by moving in with my little sister?”

  “Anna.” Jo hit her sister’s arm. “You make it sound like we’re a couple.”

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply anything.” Anna’s teasing grin warmed Sam as they shook hands, her grip pleasantly firm.

  “Yes, you did.” Jo’s cheeks were now redder than Anna’s nose as she winked at Sam. “Now, let’s eat. I think Mom’s ready.”

  “Yes, come on girls.” Julia hugged Anna. “Ooh, you’re cold. Be careful you don’t get sick.”

  “Mom, I had the flu shot. I’m okay.” Anna washed her hands in the kitchen sink.

  Jo led Sam to the bathroom, where they shared the sink to wash up for dinner. Sam longed to lather her hands with Jo’s, but instead relished the fact that their hips touched and eyes met in the mirror.

  “Did you grow up in this house?” Sam asked as they dried their hands on the shared towel.

  “I did. I can’t imagine my mother ever moving.”

  “It seems like the ideal house for her.” Sam felt it was a perfect home, too, as she followed Jo back to the kitchen. “And the way it’s been kept up is amazing. We could eat off the floors it’s so clean.”

  “What about the floors?” Julia asked as she dished out their lasagna. “Did I spill something?”

  “No, Mom.” Jo chuckled. “Sam was just commenting on how clean your floors are. We could eat off them.”

  “Oh, like in a Japanese restaurant.” Julia put a basket of garlic bread on the table then sat down.

  “Mom.” Anna laughed. “Japanese people sit on the floor, but don’t eat off it. Right, Sam? You must have eaten at a traditional Japanese restaurant before, being that you live in Toronto where there are all kinds of exotic places to eat.”

  “I can’t say that I’ve ever eaten at a Japanese restaurant with floor seating,” Sam said as she took her seat at the table. “I sometimes like to eat on the floor, though, especially at the cottage when the woodstove is throwing off lots of heat.”

  “What’s a city girl like you doing up here?” Anna asked.

  “And way out in the bush in the middle of winter,” Julia said, dishing herself up some salad. “How long were you planning to stay there? And by yourself?”

  “Mom,” Jo said, sitting beside Sam, “it’s really none of our business.”

  “No, it’s fine,” Sam said. “I was intending to stay for a month to experience a northern winter. If Jo and Mollie hadn’t come along, I’d have only had less than a week.”

  “What do you mean?” Julia asked. “I thought your car was buried in snow. How could you have left?”

  “Angels would have carried me away.” Sam took another drink of her wine, thoroughly enjoying the ease with which Jo’s family seemed to accept her.

  “What?” Anna and Julia asked at the same time, their forks clinking on plates.

  “I didn’t know you could be so dramatic,” Jo said, her eyebrows raised.

  “Neither did I.” Sam chuckled, realizing she’d probably drunk her wine too fast. “I almost went through the ice in front of the cottage. Luckily Jo and Mollie came along and saved me. I owe them my life.”

  “I’m sure you would’ve gotten yourself out on your own,” Jo said.

  “Josephine,” Julia said, “you never told me Samantha fell through the ice.”

  “If you’re going to be rescued by anyone in the bush,” Anna said, “it might as well be Jo. You’d think she was part tree by the way she treks around the forest.”

  “Trees don’t trek,” Jo said. Her cheeks were slightly red. “They put down roots.”

  “You know what I mean.” Anna took a mouthful of her lasagna. “This is really good, Mom.”

  After dinner the four of them cleaned up the dishes then retreated to the living room. Sam sat in the comfy recliner, knitting needle
s and TV remote quickly gathered up by Julia. Jo sat on the matching blue couch, between her mother and sister. All four sipped on tea.

  “There you are.” Julia held out her hands as a large black and white Persian cat strolled into the room.

  “I didn’t know you had a cat,” Sam said as she snapped her fingers. “Here, kitty.”

  “His name’s Felix and he’s not very sociable,” Julia said. “I’m surprised he’s even come out tonight.”

  “He’s a grouch and scratched Mollie when she was a pup,” Jo said. “She’s terrified of him now so I can’t bring her over here.”

  “That’s too bad.” Sam yanked her hand back as the cat approached.

  Anna laughed. “Mollie’s a big chicken. Felix won’t hurt you.” She patted her knees and the cat jumped up, its tail almost hitting her nose as it circled. “Nice boy. Come sit with Auntie Anna.”

  “Isn’t she your mother’s cat?” Sam teased. “I thought you were Jo’s sister instead of Julia’s.”

  Jo and Julia burst out laughing.

  “You thought right.” Anna snickered, her cheeks reddening as she wove her fingers through the long fur on Felix’s back. “Jo’s made it clear she’s never going to have kids and I want to be an aunt.”

  “You’re Mollie’s aunt,” Jo said.

  “I know,” Anna said, “but Felix is just a cat and I don’t like to think of Mom as having any more kids.”

  “True enough.” Jo looked at her watch. “Well, Sam, I think we should get going. It’s been a long day and I don’t want to leave Mollie on her own for much longer.”

  They left shortly afterward, and spent the fifteen-minute drive home chatting about what groceries they needed. Sam shivered, but not from the cold air engulfing the truck cab. Her jitters were about wanting Jo, and the family life she could offer, more than she’d ever wanted anything before.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jo tasked Sam with getting grocery items while she met with a client at ten the next morning. She’d had a good night’s sleep and felt well rested. The dinner at her mother’s had been quite enjoyable with Sam there; Jo was pleased her mother and sister seemed to like her.