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Evie couldn’t argue with that. The boat tied to the dock was as plain and drab as a cardboard box. And looked about as seaworthy.
“I admire anyone with artistic ability.” Evie held out her hand. “Evangeline McBride. Science geek.”
The girl’s eyes met hers shyly and then she smiled. “My name’s Faith. I’m a jock.”
“What sport?”
Faith shrugged. “You name it.”
“But Lake Superior inspired you, huh?”
“No, I’m being forced. It’s art class.” Faith peeked at the sketch pad and made a face. “It’s terrible.”
Evie knew better than to push. If Faith wanted her to take a look at her drawing, it had to be her idea.
“Okay. Tell me the truth.” Faith suddenly flipped it over for Evie to see.
“It’s…” Evie’s voice trailed off when she saw the gleam of humor in Faith’s eyes. She’d colored the entire page blue. “You captured it perfectly, I’d say. A closeup of the water.”
“Very close up!”
Faith giggled and Evie joined in.
“Faith!”
The voice behind them startled Evie. Her foot slipped on the rocks, sending an avalanche of stones skipping down the bank.
“Hi, Sam.” Faith’s giggle changed to a bored monotone.
Evie looked up and sucked in her breath. The man looming above them blotted out the sun. Evie could tell immediately that he and the girl were related. Both of them had silver-gray eyes and thick, shadow-dark hair. Faith’s eyes were still warm with laughter, but the other pair trained on Evie were as chilly as the water.
“I’m Evie McBride.” She scrambled to her feet to regain her dignity, but it didn’t matter. She barely reached the man’s broad shoulders. “Your daughter and I sort of…bumped…into each other.”
Sam looked from the slender redhead to his niece in disbelief. He’d been looking for Faith for the past hour—so he could ground her for the rest of her life. He was pretty sure he had the authority. Although Faith might not agree. The truth was, they hadn’t been agreeing about much the past few days, and Sam was at the end of his rope. Moodiness he could cope with, but Faith had started to disappear whenever the opportunity presented itself. Like an hour ago.
They’d been staying with Jacob, who’d left early that morning on a fishing trip, and Sam had brought Faith into town with him while he got the Natalie ready to launch. This would be the first time they’d had an opportunity to take the boat out. While he’d checked the engine, his wily niece had pulled another disappearing act.
He hadn’t expected to find her in the company of Patrick McBride’s daughter. The uptight schoolteacher his dad had warned him about. But somehow Jacob had forgotten to mention that Evie McBride was a beautiful uptight schoolteacher.
And he hadn’t expected to hear Faith giggling the way twelve-year-old girls were supposed to giggle. The sound had thrown him off balance. He realized he hadn’t seen Faith smile or heard her laugh for a long time. Too long. Dan’s accident had been like a scalpel—going in deep and removing the laughter from all of them.
“I’m Sam Cutter—”
“He’s my uncle, not my dad,” Faith interrupted.
Sam exhaled silently. No one knew better than he did that he couldn’t fill Dan’s shoes. His twin brother had been a great dad, and all Sam could be was what he’d always been—a doting uncle. But lately he found himself wondering if that was enough to keep Faith from drowning in grief. When Dan had been injured, she’d taken a leave of absence from school. Now she was so far behind, the principal had said the only way she could pass to the next grade level was by completing her homework over the summer. What bothered Sam the most was that Faith didn’t seem to care.
“Cutter? Are you related to Jacob Cutter?”
“I’m his son.” Sam noticed the instant change in Evie’s expression.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
Sure it was. Jacob hadn’t been kidding. Evie McBride didn’t approve of him. He wondered why. “Dad mentioned you’re minding the store while he and Patrick are fishing.”
“I don’t know a lot about antiques, but I do know how to dust them.” She glanced down at Faith and winked.
Faith grinned back.
Maybe Ms. McBride came across as a little stuffy, but she definitely had a way with kids.
“Faith, are you ready? We should be long gone by now.” Sam stared his niece down, not ready to let her off the hook for disappearing on him.
Faith shifted uncomfortably and he saw a flash of good old-fashioned guilt in her eyes. Good.
“Are you house-sitting for your dad?” Evie directed the question at him, her voice polite but strained.
Sam suppressed a smile. With that tone, she sounded just like a prim schoolteacher. All she needed was a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and a bun. They’d go really well with the heavy cardigan she had buttoned up to her chin and the ankle-length denim skirt.
“We’re staying on the Natalie.” Faith pointed to the boat nodding drowsily in the waves.
“You’re living on that?”
Sam bristled at what sounded like an accusation. It scraped against the doubts he was already having about bringing Faith along. So the Natalie wasn’t the best-looking boat in the harbor. And maybe she didn’t have all the latest bells and whistles. But he’d checked her over, and she was sturdy. The engine had purred like a kitten before settling into a reliable, even hum.
“A few days on the water and a few days at the cabin.” Sam lifted one eyebrow, daring her to comment.
Evie McBride’s chin lifted, accepting his challenge. “I don’t think—”
“You should come with us sometime,” Faith broke in, leaving both adults momentarily speechless.
“That’s sweet of you, Faith, but…” Evie turned and stared, almost mesmerized, at the water. “Beach Glass is going to keep me pretty busy over the next few weeks.”
She was afraid of the water, Sam realized in surprise. His gaze dropped to the hem of her skirt, where the toes of a sensible pair of shoes peeked out. Not exactly the type of footwear designed for splashing in the surf. He hid another smile.
“I should get going, too. The shop opens at ten.” Evie’s expression softened when she looked at Faith. “Be careful when you’re out on the lake.”
Sam expected Faith to give Evie her signature don’t-fuss-over-me-I’m-not-a-little-kid-anymore look, but his niece nodded solemnly.
“Sam knows what he’s doing.”
Sam’s mouth dropped open at the confidence he heard in her voice. Before he had a chance to bask in the glow, she skipped down the rocks toward the dock. “I can’t keep up with her.”
He realized he’d said the words out loud when he felt Evie touch his arm. The warmth of her fingers soaked into his skin. When he glanced down at her, he saw a knowing look in her eyes.
“Don’t try to keep up with her.” Evie smiled. A genuine smile that sparkled like sunlight dancing on the water and had a curious effect on his pulse. For the first time, he noticed a dusting of cinnamon freckles on her nose. “The secret is to stay one step ahead of her.”
On the way back to the cottage, Evie couldn’t stop thinking about Faith Cutter. And Sam. Although she didn’t want to think about him. Anyone who would take a child out in a boat on a lake as unpredictable as Superior for any length of time had to be a live-on-the-edge type of person. And in the end, that kind of person always hurt the ones closest to them, whether they meant to or not.
Just like her mother.
Growing up, Evie had loved hearing the story of her parents’ romantic courtship. Her father and mother had met in the principal’s office of the local high school. Patrick had been a first-year English teacher and Laura McIntyre—Officer Laura McIntyre—had been invited to talk to the students for career day. The principal had asked Patrick to give Laura a tour of the school before the assembly started.
They’d married six months later.
Growing up, Evie had been blissfully unaware of the dangers of her mother’s career. By the time Evie was in middle school, Laura had been promoted to sergeant and spent the bulk of her time at a desk, scheduling shifts and taking complaints.
And then one day, Laura hadn’t come home on time. Evie could still see the look on her father’s face when the squad car pulled into the driveway and the chief of police had walked up to the front door.
Laura had been struck and killed by a drunk driver while assisting a stranded motorist.
Patrick’s strong faith had never wavered, and he’d appealed to his daughters to lean on God, not blame Him for Laura’s death. But in the following months as her family handled their grief in different ways, Evie had struggled with a growing realization. It wasn’t God she was angry with. It was her mother, for choosing a career that had put her at risk.
Chapter Three
Evie’s first customers of the day turned out to be newlyweds who spent more time exchanging loving glances than they did browsing through the aisles.
She felt a stab of envy as she watched the young man press a lingering kiss to his bride’s cheek. The young woman, who didn’t look much older than Evie, blushed and halfheartedly pushed him away. Evie pretended she hadn’t seen the kiss. There were times she asked God why He was waiting so long to bring her future mate into her life. She liked to think God was working on a certain man’s heart, making sure he was just right for her so when they met, she’d recognize him at a glance….
Sam Cutter’s face flashed in her mind, and Evie fumbled the ironstone pitcher she’d been dusting. Fortunately, she caught it again before it hit the ground. Sam Cutter! Not likely. He wasn’t exactly Mr. Personable. In fact, she’d sensed he’d found her…amusing. She hadn’t missed his quick, appraising glance when she’d stood up. Or the half smile on his face when his silver gaze had lingered on her wool cardigan. It was chilly by the shore. Not everyone had an internal thermostat that made them comfortable wearing a T-shirt on a cool day.
Which brought to mind the tanned, muscular arms his T-shirt had revealed…
“Ah, Miss?”
The bride’s tentative question zapped her back to reality. Snap out of it, Evie.
“I’m sorry. Can I help you?”
“We’ll take this.” She pushed a small figurine toward Evie. A ceramic horse with one ear missing.
“Did you notice it’s chipped?” Evie wanted to make sure Patrick’s customers were satisfied with their purchases when they left.
The woman nodded. “I don’t care. It looks just like the horse I had when I was ten. And believe it or not, half her ear was missing, too.”
Her husband hovered nearby while Evie carefully wrapped the figurine in tissue paper.
“Enjoy your trip,” she called after them.
The store remained quiet for the rest of the afternoon, so Evie took advantage of the time by rearranging shelves and washing the leaded-glass windows in the store.
Solitude was wonderful during the day when she could see boats out on the water and the glint of the church steeple as it winked back at the sun. But as the sun melted into the horizon and shadows began to sift through the trees and creep toward the door, Evie realized it wasn’t so friendly at night. To counteract the silence, she turned on her dad’s ancient record player and curled up in a chair with one of the books she’d been waiting since Christmas to read.
It was just after eight when the motion lights in the front yard came on. Evie walked over to the window and peered outside. All she could see was the outline of a shadowy figure walking up the sidewalk toward the house.
Evie’s breath caught in her throat until she saw the person’s face briefly illuminated in the light.
Sam Cutter.
She hurried to open the door. His clothing looked rumpled from a day out on the water, and his hair was in disarray, combed by the wind. She didn’t understand why he’d come for a visit so late in the evening, unless…
“Is Dad okay? Did you hear something?”
“I imagine they’re fine. I haven’t heard otherwise.”
Relief poured through Evie. “Then why—”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you’d be tucked in for the night already.” The faint smile had returned.
Evie didn’t like his choice of words. He made it sound as if she were a chipmunk, hiding in a hole.
“Come in.” Evie stepped to the side and he stalked past her. Her traitorous nose twitched at the pleasing scent of sunshine, wind and sand that clung to his clothes. “Where’s Faith?”
“I didn’t leave her alone on the boat, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
That had been what she was thinking, and the warmth flooding into her cheeks gave her away. Evie ducked her head so he wouldn’t notice.
“My father mentioned that you’re a teacher, Miss McBride.”
“Evie,” she corrected, wondering where this was going. “That’s right. I teach seventh-and eighth-grade science classes at a Christian school—”
“Faith needs a tutor.”
The terse interruption reminded Evie of Caitlin. Her back stiffened like an irritated cat.
“A tutor.” Evie repeated the words, giving herself a few extra seconds to process the unexpected statement. Was Sam simply stating a fact or asking her to be Faith’s tutor?
“We’re planning to stay in Cooper’s Landing for…a while,” Sam said. “We’ll be out on the water most of the day, but in the evening we’ll be back at the cabin. Faith needs to finish some of her classes before school starts in the fall and someone has to check her progress. Are you interested?”
Sam didn’t bother to fill in the gaps. Originally, he’d planned to come to Cooper’s Landing alone, but when Rachel, his sister-in-law, had found out, she’d insisted a change of scenery would be good for Faith. Sam had agreed reluctantly, not because he didn’t love spending time with Faith but because he couldn’t find a way through his own mixed emotions. How could he help Faith deal with something he wasn’t dealing with very well himself? And then there was Faith herself. The happy-go-lucky little girl he’d spoiled since the day she was born had turned into a sullen stranger.
When Faith had laughed with Evie that morning, it had made Sam realize just how much his sweet-tempered niece had changed over the past few months. Maybe she needed someone outside the family to motivate her to get her schoolwork done. A tutor. And Evangeline McBride—with her funny wool cardigan and disapproving eyes—happened to be the perfect solution. She obviously liked kids or she wouldn’t be a teacher. And maybe a woman would be able to navigate Faith’s changing moods better than he could.
“I don’t know.” Evie perched on the edge of a leather chair and stared at him. “What exactly does Faith need help with? Did she fail a class?”
Sam walked to the window and stared outside at the darkness. “Not yet. She got…behind…a few months ago and didn’t have enough time to make up the work she missed. Rachel, Faith’s mother, talked to the principal and he said if she completed the work over the summer she could move on with the rest of her class.”
Evie sensed there was more to the story than what he was telling her. Questions tumbled over each other in her mind. Obviously, since Faith’s last name was Cutter, her mother, Rachel, must be Sam’s sister-in-law. But Sam hadn’t mentioned his brother—Faith’s father. Several things didn’t add up. If Faith needed to catch up on her schoolwork, why was she vacationing on a boat with her uncle instead of working on her classes at home with her parents? Maybe Rachel and Sam’s brother had divorced.
The possibility softened Evie’s initial reservations. Losing a parent under any circumstances was traumatic, especially for someone in an already vulnerable age group like Faith.
“I’ll only be here for two weeks,” Evie reminded him. “And I have the shop to take care of.”
Sam turned to face her again. “We’ll work around your schedule. What time do you close for the day?”
“Four o’clock.”
Patrick lived on his pension, so Beach Glass provided a supplemental income and gave him the luxury of flexible hours. He could open the antique shop late and close early, even take a day or two off if he felt like it. And her dad had encouraged Evie to do the same if necessary.
