Summer Angel

Chapter 2-3

“It’s beautiful, June,” he said slowly.

She grinned. “Thank you. Aeli and I designed it ourselves. We did a lot of the building, too, with some help from a few locals.”

Ben nodded and continued to gaze around. June followed the trail his eyes traveled, warmed by his obvious delight in her home. From the front door, the living room was on the left, occupying most of the front two-thirds of the first floor. The couches, which sat perpendicular to each other, gave the space a feeling of being its own room. Her office sat to the right and consisted of a log desk with a computer, printer, and stacks of papers. The kitchen took up the back third of the house with a snack bar and spiral stairs dividing it from the living room. The base of the stairs was in the kitchen, closer to the back door. Closer to Pat and Aeli’s and modeled after their cabin. The dining room, such as it was, sat between the kitchen and office area. There were also two stools set at the snack bar under the shadow of the loft. There was a utility room through a sliding door to the right off the kitchen that housed her laundry room and bathroom.

“Very nice,” Ben remarked, smiling over his shoulder at her. He dropped his sleeping bag and pillow on the longer of the couches. “Shall we introduce my mutt to Cheyenne?”

“Sure,” June replied and stepped back outside.

Cheyenne was already beside Ben’s truck, stretching her neck to sniff the dog leaning out the window. June smiled as she noted the pale blond feathers, reddish-gold overcoat and gentle but excited brown eyes of Ben’s dog—another golden retriever, just a touch lighter in color than Cheyenne. “That’s not a mutt, Ben. How dare you impugn his breeding,” she remarked laughingly.

“I know he’s not, and sometimes, I swear he let’s it go to his head. Don’t you, Casey?”

“He’ll love it up here.”

Casey leapt from the truck before Ben could fully open the door and stopped in his tracks. The two dogs spent a few moments getting to know each other, then stood perfectly still for half a dozen heartbeats before exploding into the woods, and June laughed as their excited barks resounded into the night. She let them play outside for a few minutes before calling them in for the night.

“Dogs are allowed on the beds and on the couches in this house,” June told Ben, who was unrolling his sleeping bag. “I’m sure it won’t be long before Cheyenne’s bad habits start rubbing off on your dog, so I’m apologizing in advance.”

“Likewise, but he sleeps on my bed at home… uh, in Washington.”

June smiled. “It’s hard not to call a place home after you’ve been there for a long time, regardless of whether or not it is home.”

Ben grinned. “You haven’t changed a bit, have you?” He paused, then asked, “Why didn’t anyone tell me you took Luke?”

“We tried, Ben, but you wouldn’t listen. You were inconsolable, like you wanted to hate yourself. Why did you shut me out?”

“I was afraid. Afraid that you’d hate me and turn away from me in disgust.”

“I could never do that, Ben.”

She glanced around and realized Luke had disappeared.

“It’s great to see you again,” Ben murmured, drawing her attention back to him.

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “It’s been too long.”

“I know, but I’m here now.”

He laid his hand gently on her cheek, and she closed her eyes, leaning into his touch.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered. “So much.”

“And I’ve missed you.” She kissed his cheek. “Get some rest. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

Luke sat with his arms around his knees and stared up at the star-spattered sky. The lodgepole pines stood black against the glittering indigo canvas, their branches swaying ever so gently with the cool breeze that whispered through the forest around him. Until he’d come to Northstar, he’d never seen a sky like that. The bright lights of Seattle polluted the night, and the stars, so brilliant and fiery here, could not compete. He took several deep breaths of the exquisitely clean mountain air to settle his mind.

He felt strange, sort of detached, and he couldn’t quite grasp yet what the sudden appearance of June’s friend meant to him. He had always known that there was a possibility that Ben would show up, or that he would meet him again because he was June’s friend, but…. He buried a hand in his hair and propped his elbow on his knee.

The door creaked open, and June sat down beside him. She handed him one of the root beers in her hand and opened the other for herself.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked softly.

Luke sighed. “I guess I never believed I’d actually meet him.”

“Who? Ben?”

He nodded. “He was at the sheriff’s department that night. Bill picked me up from my house and brought me in to tell me what’d happened. Since I was in the interrogation room, I couldn’t hear what he said to Ben or the other deputies. I didn’t know what was happening,” he said. He stared at the can in his hand for a moment, turned it around and around, then opened it and took a long drink before continuing. “I thought I’d be thankful if I ever did meet him, but I’m not. Well, I am, I guess. It’s kind of hard to explain. He was the one who made a second chance for me possible. Because of what he did, I’ve had the chance for a better life, but at the same time, all those memories come back.”

June rubbed his back. For a while, they just sat there, quiet. Luke closed his eyes, enjoying the relief her simple gesture brought him. She always knew when he needed to talk or when he just needed to be reminded that he was loved.

“You’ve had a tough life, Luke, and you’ve made the best of it. I’m proud of you,” she said. “You came to me a quiet, hurting boy, and before I met you, I wondered what Uncle Bill was getting me into. I figured, after I’d heard about your father’s addictions and what you’d been through, that you would be the same… or at least on the way to becoming like him. But I was blessedly wrong.”

“I saw what my father did to his life, and I wasn’t about to do the same with mine.”

He shrugged. His father was dead because of his addictions. From what Luke had learned, his father had started firing as soon as Ben had stepped out of his cruiser. John McKindel had died for a bottle of booze. And Luke had been cut adrift, but someone had been looking after him and looking out for him. He didn’t remember Bill Granger picking him up and could only vaguely recall waking up on the ride to the sheriff’s department and seeing Ben, the deputy whose single, fatal shot had slammed the door on the life Luke had known up to that point. It was all still so confused.

There were a few crystal-clear memories of those days after the shooting, like meeting June for the first time less than twelve hours after his father’s death. She’d stepped through the front door of Bill and Mary Granger’s Indianola home with the most gracious, welcoming smile he’d ever seen, and though he hadn’t acted on the impulse, he’d wanted to run to her and throw his arms around her. They had bonded over breakfast with the Grangers. She had shared his love of science and hadn’t pushed him to talk about anything he didn’t want to. She’d told him about her job and where she lived, and he’d loved the way she talked about Northstar. When she had offered to foster him—asked him as if he had any say in the matter—he had jumped at the promise of peace, happiness, and love that came with being her son… however temporarily.

Eight months later, she’d asked him if she could adopt him, and it was then that he had realized he was home. He had never dreamed he could have what he did now. Coming from where he had, he knew that he should appreciate what he’d been given. And he did, so much.

“You know,” Luke said, breaking the silence, “my life started out really bad, but I wouldn’t change how it’s turned out even if I could.”

“I thought the same thing about my life just as we were leaving the lodge. If you want my opinion, you’re a stronger person for everything you’ve been through,” June remarked. She yawned. “Well, I’m going to bed. You might want to think about it, too, because we’re chopping wood tomorrow.”

“Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“Why does Jake hate me so much?”

“He’s very insecure, and he can’t stand it that, even after everything you’ve been through, you aren’t. He’s the kind of person who has to make everyone else feel small to make himself feel big and important. You haven’t fallen under his criticism and he hates it.”

Luke shook his head, pinching his brows together and wishing he could figure out how to make Jake leave him alone. June’s subtle compliment eased his annoyance, and after a moment, his lips lifted in a faint smile. “Thanks, Mom, and I promise I’ll go to bed in a minute.”

Smiling, June stood, leaned down to kiss the top of his head, and went inside, leaving him to his thoughts. He wasn’t a religious person, but he wouldn’t be surprised if June was an angel. She’d helped him turn his life around, given him hope and love. Draining his root beer with one final gulp, he stood and went inside.

Only a single lantern burned dimly in the kitchen. Ben was sound asleep on the couch with his dog curled up on his feet. Cheyenne wagged her tail and approached Luke. He patted her head and went upstairs, setting the lantern on his dresser before blowing it out. He changed into his pajama pants and flopped on his bed, lying on his back with his fingers locked beneath his head. He stared out the window and tried to think about anything but the man sleeping downstairs on the couch and the last time they’d crossed paths so he could sleep.

It was probably three hours before he finally succeeded.