A Jar of Hearts (7 page)

He awoke early the next day, excited about his new project. This was the closest he had got to his life with Anne and he wasn’t going to let rationality ruin it.

After a short trip to the hardware store, he was now back home, wheeling his wheelbarrow to his pile of timber and tools. He loaded them in and lugged them towards Anne’s house. According to Julia, Nicholas was returning to Boston and won’t be seen around the house in a long time. He felt relieved at the mere thought that he would no longer need to explain why he was a dead ringer for Anne’s dead boyfriend.

He emptied the pile of wood onto Anne’s backyard and turned to climb up the stairs of the verandah to her house. But Ashley had already seen him and she jumped eagerly out the back door and towards him.

“You came!” she squealed. “Is this what you’re going to build it with? Do you have a design? Can I see it?”

He laughed. “A question at a time. But first let me say good morning to your mom. Is she up?”

“Yes, I am,” Julia said as she came out with a steaming cup of coffee. “Wow, don’t you start early. Here, warm yourself up with this first.” She handed him the cup. “I’ll get you some cookies with that.”

He took it appreciatively, loving its heat permeate his cold palm. It could get reasonably chilly along the beach despite a warm day.

“I thought you said you had material lying about the house. These look new to me.” She frowned, studying the timber closely.

“They were a bargain, Julia. I swear.” He sipped his coffee, his eyes wandering to the door in hopes of getting a glimpse of Anne.

A cat purred, startling him as it rubbed itself against his ankles.

“Boots?” He chuckled and picked it up. It gave a delicate meow and curled gladly into his arms. “Where had you been?”

The cat nestled comfortably against him as he stroked it gently. His life with Anne… those memories began to flood him like a tidal wave.

“You know Boots?” Ashley asked.

He realized his error and winced inwardly. He gave a quick glance at Julia but she seemed unaware of the fumble he had just made. She was busily engrossed in the expenses he had indulged into only so he could get those high quality timbers. His ‘bargain’ excuse hadn’t fooled her at all and he wondered if she would catch on to the one he had made about knowing Boots’ name without anyone telling him about it.

“I heard Anne calling for him the other day,” he lied.

“Yeah, he is Anne’s cat,” Ashley explained. “But we all love Boots. He is like the sweetest cat ever. But he can’t catch a ball or go into the water. That’s why
I
want a dog.” She beamed at the thought.

Boots meowed again, nuzzling up further into his neck. James smiled as he ran his fingers through its thick coat.

“He really likes you,” Ashley remarked. “He never does that with me.”

“Nor me,” Julia said smilingly. “Looks like you’ve won over more than just the women in this house.”

James grinned. “Not all the women. There is Anne.”

“There is Anne,” Julia repeated with a sigh.

“Isn’t she… um… around?” he asked curiously.

“She is. I’ll let her know you’re here. Although, I doubt she’ll come and say hi. I don’t know what you did to her, but she’s been spitting flames all of last night. I hope she has calmed down a little.” She giggled and then added, “It’s good to see her all fired up instead of brooding. Don’t you worry about it. She’ll come around to you soon.”

He put Boots down and rubbed his brow. He could only hope she would.

He pressed on through the mid-day heat, hammering on the roof of the doghouse. Finally, as the sun moved further on to meet the evening horizon, he stepped back to admire his work. The door to the verandah opened though, breaking away his attention and he noticed Anne had strolled outside with a glass of orange juice in her hand.

“Are you still there?” she asked.

“I am.” He ambled up to her, aching to see her more closely. He had waited all day, but not once had she come out to meet him. Had he riled her really badly yesterday?

“You stopped working.”

“I was just taking a break.”

She nodded and handed him the glass of juice. “Julia and Ashley have stepped out to go to the stores for a little while and so I thought I’d make you a drink, since the weather’s pretty hot.”

“Thank you,” he almost whispered. His fingers grazed hers and she withdrew them quickly from his touch.

He sipped his drink, his eyes feasting on every inch of her beautiful face.

“I wanted to buy Ashley her kennel but Julia wouldn’t let me,” she started slowly.

Was she feeling guilty about not giving Ashley a doghouse?

“Julia is a proud mother,” he said. He downed the last drops of the juice and put down the empty glass on the floor, carefully away from where she would probably bump into it. “I had thought of buying her one myself to save us all this hassle, but I doubt Julia would have appreciated it. She’d only consider it charity. And as long as she can provide for her daughter, she won’t accept anything so easily.”

She smiled. “Yeah, that does sum up Julia.”

She stepped further down the verandah and he held onto her. She pulled back, a frown replacing that smile.

“The yard is in a mess,” he explained quickly. “I don’t want you tripping over any nails or sharp, jagged timbers.”

“Right,” she muttered, growing quiet for a while. “Can I touch it? I just want to know how the kennel might look.”

He paused. There was still a lot to do before he could iron out every sharp, protruding piece.

“Anne, there are-” he began.

“Help me,” she cut him short, giving out her hand.

He moved towards her slowly, touching her fingers delicately. His large palms easily covered hers, spooning into his as if that’s how they always belonged. He led her to the house and guided her fingers over the roof. He moved behind her, spooning his body closely with hers. His other hand wound around her waist, his cheek caressing hers as he continued to guide her fingers over the structure of the house.

The heat of her body, her scent, her contours had him lost in an instant. He leaned down to nuzzle her neck, his memories of them together, plunging him into the past, making him completely oblivious to his present.

“Ouch,” she winced, snatching her hand away from him.

He staggered back briefly, trying to collect himself and make sense of what had just happened. She was pressing onto her finger and he realized she had pricked it.

“Let me see that,” he demanded, pulling her finger to examine it.

“It shouldn’t be bad,” she said, trying to tug her finger back from him.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” he said and she stiffened. He wiped away the blood and let out a sigh of relief. “It is only a small prick.” He brought her finger to his lips and kissed it. “I’m sorry. I should have paid more attention.”

She snatched her hand away from him and spun on her heels to head back to the house.

“Anne?”

“I have to go inside.”

“Well, let me help you or you’ll fall.”

“I don’t need your help!” she almost shouted.

He rolled his eyes with impatience and swept her off her feet and into his arms.

“What the heck?! You need to stop doing that! I am not an invalid!” she screamed.

“I’m only taking you to the door and then you can pout as much as you want when you get inside. But right now, I can’t have you falling over any of these and hurting yourself even more.”

He set her down at her doorstep and she stormed into the house. He let out an exhausting puff of air. She could be a handful but she had a right to be angry. He hadn’t been paying attention and got her hurt all over again. He shook his head. He needed to keep his senses in check whenever he held her close.

But was that possible? He ran his fingers through his hair to brace his nape. He was much weaker than he had expected to be around her. Damn… he was most definitely in trouble. He had miscalculated his measure of restraint. He should have known it was Anne that controlled him.

She leaned against a wall, heaving from the rush of her hormones. She touched her wounded finger gently, reliving his kiss.

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to shut out her memories of Eric.

“Let me be the judge of that,” Eric had said then too when she had tried to insist that a cut on her brow wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

After dressing her wound, he had smiled, taken her head in both hands and kissed her aching brow.

“He’s just a cheap doppelganger,” she chanted with trembling lips. “He’s not Eric. He’s not…”

After a second day of labor, painting the doghouse in brilliant bright colors that would be the envy of any young girl; he finally put down his paintbrush and admired it.

“It’s beautiful!” Ashley squealed with excitement. “Thank you! I love it!”

“You’re welcome,” he chuckled, wiping his paint stained hands with a rag. “Just don’t touch it yet. The paint still needs to dry off.”

“Wow…  that is beautiful,” Julia whistled from behind him. “You really know how to handle a hammer. It’s so neat.”

He smiled. “Well, you can get that dog now, Ashley.”

The eight year old looked eagerly up at her mother. “Can we, Mom? Can we get Harley, now?”

“Harley?” He raised his brow. “You’ve already found a dog?”

Julia nodded. “Ashley took a liking to one at an adoption centre we visited yesterday.”

“Can we get him tomorrow?” her daughter begged. “The paint would be dry by then.”

“Not tomorrow, honey,” she replied. “I wish we could but I’ve already made plans to meet an old friend.”

“Oh.” Ashley turned away glumly.

James looked at the girl’s sad face and he crumbled. If he had a doghouse as pretty as this at eight years old, he would also want to fill it as soon as he could.

“I could take her tomorrow, if that is okay with you.” He coughed, hoping he wasn’t being too intrusive.

“I…” Julia hesitated, glancing back and forth between him and her daughter.

“Please, Mom,” Ashley pleaded; hope filling her large brown eyes again.

“Only if it isn’t too much trouble,” she breathed out at last.

“Of course not.” He beamed and slapped Ashley’s palm.

Julia laughed. “And if Anne could go with you, it would be great. A few cute and cuddly puppies might bring a smile to her face,” she added with a sigh.

“I doubt anywhere near me is where she wants to be,” he muttered.

“I suppose.” Julia glanced at the house and then smiled. “Why don’t you wash up and come in for dinner?”

So he would be in the same room as Anne? He hadn’t seen her at all today and this could only mean she was still angry with him. He fidgeted slightly. He didn’t want to annoy her any further. “That’s okay. I think I should head back home instead. I have some stuff I need to catch up on.”

“James, it’s the least I can do for you after building this doghouse. Please, let me thank you properly.”

He sat at the table feeling a little awkward. He had managed to persuade Julia into allowing him to take a shower first, promising her he would be back straight after. He could only imagine Anne reprimanding the old Eric for sitting at the table in his dirty work clothes. He recalled their dinners were always so special. One that they had while they laughed; kissed and just spent loving the fact that they could be together.

She sat across him now, quietly cutting through her delicious piece of barbecued lamb. Unlike those early days, she didn’t want him at her table. But then again he was James now and not Eric. And she most certainly didn’t like James.

“Your carpentry skills are excellent,” Julia started. “Your work on the kennel is beautiful.”

Anne halted mid-way through her slicing, frowning at Julia’s remark.

“Do you work as a carpenter?” Julia continued to ask him, oblivious of the tension between him and Anne.

He swallowed. “No, it’s just skill I picked up from my father. I’m a financial investor.” He gulped down his wine together with his lie.

“And what is it that you invest in?” Anne asked, tilting her face to the side with curiosity.

“Anne, can I give you another piece of roast?” Julia interrupted quickly, blushing with embarrassment

He put his fork down and dabbed his mouth with a napkin. Anne was calling out on his bluff and since he started it, he’d have to make sure she believed it. “Stocks, businesses… whatever has potential to grow my investment. I’m sure Miss Mullen, you don’t expect me to reveal the specifics about my business. Don’t you think you’re being a tad bit...?”

“Rude?” Anne offered sarcastically.

He smiled. He knew she was intentionally trying to rub him the wrong way. “Pushy,” he corrected.

Anne sat back in her chair quietly, sticking out her chin defiantly.

“Ashley… why don’t you tell Anne about that dog you really loved?” Julia licked her lips nervously; hoping Ashley’s diversion could diffuse the little dissension between Anne and James.

“It’s a puppy with golden coat and long, fluffy hair,” the girl said excitedly, too glad to finally talk about her dog. “Anne, will you come with us and get him? Please?”

Anne smiled and reached out for Ashley’s hand. “Of course, I will.”

The girl jumped gleefully in her chair. “James, when will you come and get us?”

Anne stiffened. “James?”

“James will be taking you and Ashley to the adoption centre tomorrow,” Julia explained. “I can’t go because I had already made plans to meet with a friend. So, James was kind enough to offer helping Ashley out.”

James frowned. He didn’t want to force Anne into anything. And if she didn’t want his company for the moment, he would have to dab his wounds and accept it.

Anne fumbled in her chair and then dragged it abruptly back to get up. “Excuse me, I think I’m done.”

She picked up her plate and headed towards the kitchen. Julia gathered the rest of the dishes and followed after her.

“Anne?” she said, dunking the dirty plates into a sink full of suds. “Is something wrong?”

Anne snapped her head up angrily. “What do you think, Julia? You
knew
I do not like that man. And yet you invited him for dinner, and now you expect me to go out and get a dog with him?”

“Anne, he has been nothing but nice to us,” she whispered, trying to keep her anger low and in check. “It would have been impolite of me if I hadn’t even offered him a meal for all his hard work.”

“You’re right. It wouldn’t have been. But
I
don’t need to go with him anywhere.”

“You’re not going with him. You’re going with Ashley.” Julia shook her head disappointedly. “But if you’re not happy about it, I can just tell Ashley we’ll have to get her dog another day.”

Anne bit her lips. She didn’t want to hurt Ashley. Her bad temper was James’ fault and not Ashley’s. “No… don’t do that. I just don’t like being around that man, that is all.”

Julia threw her hands in the air helplessly. “I don’t know what your prejudices are against James but I wish you would leave them aside and see him for the man he is. Anne, you need to start letting people into your life. I understand you will never stop loving Eric, but he is gone and you’re still here. You need to start living- for you and for Eric.”