Sophia looked horrified.
Jake pointed toward door.
“School.”
Avery grabbed backpack.
Before leaving, she looked at Sophia.
“Are you going out again?”
Sophia glanced toward Jake.
“Yes.”
Avery nodded.
Then she said something that made Jake’s chest tighten.
“Okay.”
Not excitement.
Not teasing.
Just okay.
She left.
Sophia watched through window.
“Was that bad?”
Jake exhaled.
“No.”
“Maybe.”
“She likes you.”
“She met me thirty seconds.”
“She’s ten.”
“That’s a lifetime.”
He opened Mercedes hood.
Sophia leaned against fender.
“Does she want you to date?”
“She thinks she does.”
“What does that mean?”
Jake inspected ground strap.
“She wants me happy.”
“She also doesn’t fully understand what someone new would mean.”
Sophia nodded.
Neither did he.
He replaced the terminal end and ground strap.
Sophia insisted on paying full shop rate.
Jake did not argue.
That mattered to her.
She came back two days later.
Not because something broke.
She brought coffee.
Jake looked suspicious.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing.”
“You don’t trust gifts?”
“I trust gifts.”
“Coffee usually means request.”
“I need someone to look at the backup generator at the lodge.”
Jake stared.
“There it is.”
Sophia smiled.
“I’ll pay.”
“Obviously.”
“You are impossible.”
“Schedule’s on board.”
“You’re going to make me book appointment?”
“Yes.”
She looked toward office calendar.
“Thursday?”
“Three.”
“Done.”
Thursday afternoon Jake drove up to Lauron Lodge.
He had passed the gates hundreds of times.
Never inside.
The main house was enormous without being ostentatious in the way new money often tried to be.
Stone foundation.
Dark timber.
Wide windows facing mountains.
Built in 1947 and expanded slowly.
Sophia met him wearing work jeans, a gray sweater, hair tied back messily.
No fur.
No makeup beyond what remained from morning.
Jake liked this version too.
Maybe more because it surprised him.
“You look disappointed.”
“What?”
“No giant coat.”
“I have other clothes.”
“I wasn’t sure.”
She led him to generator room.
Jake inspected.
The machine was old but well maintained.
Fuel line dry.
Starter weak.
Battery nearly dead.
“This isn’t emergency.”
“I know.”
“You could replace battery yourself.”
“I could also pay expert and keep fingers.”
“Fair.”
He worked.
Sophia sat on wooden stairs nearby.
“You really plan to sell?”
Jake asked.
She looked toward generator.