A Case for Forgiveness

Caleb swiped at the air. “Oh, Shay, honey, I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to upset you. I’m sure I’ll be good as new before long. There’s just a little something getting me down—I’m not sure what. But right now, I’m so blasted happy that my grandson is home and that I’m sharing a meal at my very own table with my two favorite young people in the whole world. I thought I would die before I’d ever see this day again. So, no more of this downer talk—let’s eat.”

CHAPTER TWO

SHAY LOOKED DOWN at her bowl and then back up at her two dinner companions. Only minutes ago she’d been starving, now she felt...what? She ticked off descriptions in her head—shocked, irritated, baffled, worried...? All of the above, she decided, but especially the last one. The first three were due entirely to Jonah, and those she could get over. But Caleb? Anxiety welled within her. Did he have some secret illness that he’d been keeping from her?

It didn’t seem possible that something serious could be afflicting him. He was healthy and active and sharp as a knife. He still worked in his law office most days. And when he wasn’t, he was usually fishing, looking after his yard or playing cards with his buddies. He was the youngest seventy-four-year-old she’d ever known, but then again she couldn’t imagine that Jonah would be here unless it was serious... Jonah could barely stand to be away from his prestigious Chicago law firm—or his cars, or his boat, or his golf clubs, or his country club—as it was.

She needed some answers, but she didn’t want to possibly run out of patience with Jonah and ruin Caleb’s evening.

She faked her way through dinner, picking up her spoon and giving her stew an occasional stir. When his mouth wasn’t full, Caleb sported the same satisfied grin throughout the entire ordeal. He chattered about the latest news sweeping Rankins: Gary Watte had purchased a brand-new ATV with those airless, bulletproof, virtually indestructible tires; Stan Planke was building a new cabin; and the red salmon run was predicted to be a dandy.

Jonah had seconds. Caleb had thirds.

The Cedar men lingered, while Shay tried not to fidget.

When they finally finished, she couldn’t get up from the table and into the kitchen fast enough. Jonah attempted to help her tidy up. It took him ten minutes to find a container and transfer the leftover stew for storage in the fridge, while she loaded the dishwasher. He eventually located the plastic wrap, managed to rip off a piece about four feet long, and then proceeded to mummify the remaining corn bread. She didn’t see how it could possibly escape him that she knew her way around his grandfather’s kitchen better than he did.

She dished out the cobbler, and then retrieved the ice cream from the large chest freezer in the garage. She pulled the scoop from the utensil drawer, but when she tried to dig into it, she could only scrape thin layers from the frozen surface.

Jonah gestured, silently asking if she’d like him to give it a go. She shrugged her agreement and then tried not to stare as he pushed up his sleeve and began scooping the ice cream like it was a tub of mashed potatoes and not a frozen brick of ice.

He grinned proudly and made a show of placing a perfect scoop next to each dessert.

She rolled her eyes. Jonah chuckled.

“Put the ice cream in the freezer out in the garage when you’re through.”

She took Caleb’s dessert to him in the living room where he was now lounging in his worn-leather recliner. She took a seat on the sofa and tried to surreptitiously study him. He didn’t look sick. He and Jonah had been talking and laughing like everything was fine. Caleb seemed cheerier even than his usual cheerful self, making her both sad and happy because Jonah was so obviously the cause: the prodigal grandson returned, she thought bitterly.

But what if Caleb was trying to downplay his condition for her and Jonah’s sake? She hoped Jonah really was taking this seriously...

Shay stuck it out through a half-hour of news. Her mind constantly jumping between wanting to stay because of Caleb and wanting to leave because of Jonah. Jonah left the room, so she got up and hugged Caleb, and confirmed plans to see him at the Senior Circle’s bingo night in a couple of days. Yes, she told him, she and her cousin Janie would be calling numbers. Then she gathered her Crock-Pot and her bag and attempted a smooth, Jonah-less exit.

She’d almost made it to the foyer when Jonah emerged from wherever he’d gone, but not stayed quite long enough. She was sure she imagined the flash of disappointment as his eyes traveled over her form so obviously ready for departure.

“Shay, can I, uh...talk to you for a minute?”

“Um, I guess so, sure,” she agreed, reluctantly.

Jonah glanced toward the living room. Shay followed his gaze to where Caleb appeared to be chatting happily into the phone. The sight made her want to cry. What would she do without Caleb in her life? He was her rock, her mentor, her pseudo-grandpa... Stop, she told herself, Caleb was going to be all right. He would see Doc and they would fix this. Doc was not only an excellent doctor, he was also Caleb’s best friend and vigilant about his health.

Meanwhile, she was emotional over Agnes’s death and exhausted—she reminded herself she needed to hire more help at the inn. But it seemed like she’d spent so much of the last year worrying—about Hannah, her mom, Janie and the twins, Agnes and now Caleb.

“I’ll walk you out.”

“Okay,” she said and handed over the Crock-Pot.

They strode in silence to her SUV. Jonah opened the back door and stowed the pot. He clicked the door in place and then stared out at the water, presumably gathering his thoughts.

Shay waited with her arms crossed over her chest and didn’t care in the least if she looked impatient.

Finally he faced her. “Look, Shay, I know you aren’t exactly happy that I’m here...”

“Really, Jonah? Caleb is obviously ecstatic—and that makes me happy.”

“Shay, come on—I can tell when you’re upset. I realize it’s been a while, but some things don’t change. I just, I...”

“I?” she repeated sharply. “As always, Jonah, you’re making this all about you. I can’t believe you’re standing here and telling me that you think I’m upset because you’re here?”

“You’re not?” His arrogant smirk made her want to say something really mean—something reminiscent of their fight two years ago.

She pushed three fingers of each hand into her eyebrows, took a breath, and then released everything at once. “Jonah, I don’t care what you do. Am I thrilled to see you? No—of course not. But my obvious angst is due exclusively to the fact that I’m worried about Caleb. So you can go ahead and get over yourself right now. I don’t know what your plan is but—”

“Trust me, Shay, I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me to be. Gramps asked me to come home—I didn’t offer. He asked.”

“He asked you...”

Slowly, simultaneously, they turned and looked toward the house. It didn’t need to be spoken that if Caleb had asked Jonah to rush home then something was wrong—terribly wrong.

A surge of fear left her entire body tingling.

Their eyes met again.

“Jonah, what is going on?”

“I’m not sure. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. He hasn’t mentioned anything to you about being sick or anything?”

She shook her head.

“You haven’t noticed anything that might give you some clue?”

Shay thought about the times she’d seen him in the last couple weeks. “No, he had what we thought was a flu bug. It’s been going around—you know a sneeze and cough kind of thing? He stayed out of the office for several days, so I signed him up for the food loop at the church. But this was supposed to be his last night for that because he was feeling so much better.”

Shay gestured toward the house. “I thought he was better. I mean, he looks great, right?”

“He called me last week and asked if I could come home. I said sure, started looking at my calendar, firing off weekends that I could possibly make work but then he said... He told me that what he meant was...could I come home—like for a while?”

“I know he misses you, Jonah, maybe he just wanted you to visit or...”

Jonah started shaking his head, and she realized how silly that sounded.

“He also said there was something he wanted to talk to me about.”

Jonah’s composed features were at odds with the rigid tension emanating from his body. Jonah could be difficult to read, undoubtedly a valuable trait as a lawyer, but something that had always been frustrating for her. But she could see now that he was worried. She had known him very well once, and even though years had passed, maybe Jonah was right that some things didn’t change—not enough anyway.

“What?” Shay stared at him, waiting. “What is it?” she repeated, impatience seeping into her tone. “What did he want to talk to you about?”

“That’s just it, Shay. He hasn’t said anything yet.”

Her mind began whirring with possibilities. “What are we...you—I mean. What are you going to do?”

“Come on, Shay,” he said. “We. In this, at least, we can be a we, right? Gramps is closer to you than anyone else—except maybe Doc. And that’s what I wanted to speak to you about. I know I’m not your favorite person in the world, but I guess I’m asking for your help in...figuring this thing out.”

As much as she wished otherwise, she felt his words working on her as easily as he’d manipulated that ice cream. In spite of her disapproval of his lack of attention toward Caleb, she knew he loved his grandfather. Caleb was the only family Jonah had in the world. In direct opposition to Shay who had both parents, five siblings and a close extended family.

“Of course,” she said without hesitating. “Jonah, yes, anything I can do. What time is his appointment?”

“Doc said he has a full day tomorrow, so we’re going in early before he opens.”

“Okay, if something is wrong with him, Doc is the obvious place to start. Call me after you see him, okay?”

“Absolutely. As soon as I know anything I’ll call.”

* * *

JONAH KICKED UP his speed as he approached the road leading to the Faraway Inn. Instead of calling, he’d decided to go for a run and tell Shay the news about Gramps in person. Running eased his anxiety like nothing else, even though the exercise didn’t seem to be helping much now.

Doc and Gramps had holed up in his office for nearly an hour this morning while Jonah sat in the waiting room and tried not to let his anxiety-ridden imagination get the better of him. Then Gramps had come out and announced that Doc was sending him to see a heart specialist in Anchorage—in three weeks. Amazing how a few weeks could suddenly feel like an eternity.

Upon returning home from Doc’s, Gramps said he needed a nap and then promptly disappeared into his room. This caused further angst for Jonah because Gramps didn’t nap, other than dozing off occasionally in his recliner during a ball game—if that counted—and even then it had to be a pretty dull game.

Now, each stride seemed to heighten Jonah’s anxiety as it took him closer to his ex-fiancé—to the woman he had once believed would be his wife and the mother of his children.

Shay...

Seeing her the night before had absolutely tied him in knots. It was difficult to believe that he and Shay had ever believed they could share a life together. She wanted this... Jonah looked around at the rugged countryside that surrounded the remote town of Rankins. Mountains with jagged, snow-covered peaks dotted the skyline, while thick green forest stretched for-seemingly-ever. The view on his other side was of a raw, picturesque, island-dotted coastline with the town of Rankins perched on the shore of a small bay.

Sure, it was postcard pretty, but it was just...nothing. For as far as a person could see, even with binoculars from the ridge on the outskirts above town—the ridge where the Faraway Inn sat. Shay’s Faraway Inn. The inn that had ultimately meant more to her than he had.

Jonah had wanted—wanted still—a high-powered law career, skyscrapers, noise, a penthouse apartment, impractical cars that didn’t have four-wheel drive and snow tires. And yes, he wanted to be successful, make money, and enjoy these finer things in life—the things he knew his late father had wanted for him, too.

Somehow Shay always made him feel like his aspirations were some kind of mortal sin.

The sight and sound of a vehicle going by and then making a u-turn didn’t really register until a horn honked behind him. He looked over his shoulder.

“Jonah?” Shay’s cousin Bering shouted from the window of the mud-spattered black pickup idling toward him.

Jonah jogged back toward him. “Hey, Bering! How’ve you been?”

Bering pulled over, then hopped out and stuck out a hand. “Fantastic, actually.” He added a befuddled kind of head-shake as if he couldn’t quite believe it himself.

Jonah gripped his friend’s hand. “Yeah, hey, congratulations—in person—on your marriage. Looking forward to meeting your wife, Emily, right? Sorry I couldn’t make it for the ceremony. Gramps told me all about it.”

“I bet he did. And forget about it. I didn’t expect you to come all the way home for it, buddy. But thanks for the uh...the gift. I’m sure Emily sent you a thank-you and all that.”

Jonah grinned. “You’re welcome for the...gift, Bering. I’m glad you’re enjoying...it.”

“Oh, boy, yeah—we are using the heck out that...thing.” Bering looked guilty as he added, “Sorry, Jonah—I don’t even know what...”

Jonah laughed. “I don’t remember what I got for you either, Bering. My assistant took care of it for me.”

They both chuckled, and Jonah realized how good it felt to share a joke with a friend. He didn’t have friends like this back in Chicago. Coworkers, colleagues that he admired, but no true got-your-back kinds of friends like Bering.

“Man, it’s good to lay eyes on you though,” Bering said. “Glad to see city life isn’t making you soft. How long are you in town for?”

“Not sure yet. A few weeks at least.”

“That’s great. We’ll have to get together. By the way, have you heard yet that I’m going to be a dad?”

Jonah felt something wrench hard in his chest. He was happy for his friend of course; it was just being here so close to Shay where he was inundated with these thoughts of their almost-life together that had him feeling a bit envious, he told himself.

“Congratulations, Bering! That’s amazing.”

Neither he nor Bering were much for social media, so over the years they’d mostly kept in touch via the occasional email or phone call—usually on Bering’s part. Suddenly, Jonah felt a little guilty about that.

Bering dipped his head in the direction of his pickup. “Hop in, I’ll buy you breakfast at the Caribou. I’m meeting Tag and Cricket and some of the guys.”

“That sounds good, but, um...I’m not quite finished with my run.” Not to mention that Shay’s older brother, Tag, would be less than thrilled to discover he was back in town.

“Ah, I get it. You headed up to see Shay?”

“I am, but not for the reason you’re probably thinking.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything.” Bering shrugged, but he appeared to be fighting a grin.

Jonah stared at his feet for a few seconds. Maybe it would do him some good to talk to Bering. And he definitely wouldn’t mind seeing some of the guys. He looked back up. “You know what? Breakfast sounds great.”

* * *

“SO, IF MR. TAKAGI CALLS—or shows up—tell him that yes, he can absolutely check in early. His suite is ready and he could be arriving at any time because he’s flying in on his own plane. And you will personally help Mr. Takagi put the koi in the tank and get him anything he needs, okay? We will also be feeding the fish and monitoring the water temperature et cetera, per Mr. Takagi’s instructions. You’ve read them, right?”

“Yes, but Shay, they are goldfish. How difficult can this be?”

“Hannah, they are not mere goldfish.”

Hannah tipped her head and gave Shay a doubtful look.

“For your information—these fish are worth thousands of dollars. There is one that could sell for over ten-thousand alone. It has a rare lipstick pattern.”

Hannah snickered. “Lipstick pattern, huh? I don’t even want to think about how that came to be.”

“Hannah, this is serious.”

“I know.” Hannah nodded, her face now a solemn mask. “I do know, so in my ongoing quest to constantly improve my customer service skills, I am going to assure Mr. Takagi that I will win him as many goldfish as he wants at the next carnival to come through Glacier City. You can get six Ping-Pong balls for a five-spot, and as you’re well aware, my accuracy at the fish frenzy is renowned. And, as a special bonus—for Mr. Takagi only—I can arrange for these fish to all have Hannah James’s personalized Ping-Pong pattern.”

Shay sighed, dipped her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. Then she looked back at her sister and met gold-brown eyes that were a close match to her own, except Hannah’s were now filled with laughter.

“In spite of your lame attempts at fish humor here, you are going to follow all of these instructions, right?”

“Of course,” Hannah said. “But remind me again why we’re going to have the giant goldfish trough out back.”

“We have to keep these fish alive until Mrs. Milner gets her pond and atrium finished. There was a delay in the construction, but Mr. Takagi could only transport the fish now—and he insists on transporting all the rare koi himself. If she didn’t get them now then she would have to wait months for another opportunity, which would add the complication of the winter weather. Mrs. Milner asked if we could keep them here because she doesn’t want them at her house with all the noise and mess of the construction going on.”

Hannah stared back at her and Shay could tell she was trying not to crack a smile.

“Go ahead and say it,” Shay said.

“Okay, I’m thinking about how Bud and Cindy—our goldfish? The ones I won at the school carnival in fourth grade? We had them for nine years in a glass bowl in the middle of the coffee table. Mom and Dad raised six kids in that house. Mittens drank out of the bowl daily and I wasn’t exactly religious about changing the water.” She chuckled. “Remember that time Seth knocked the bowl over and Bud and Cindy were flopping around on the floor? Mittens swatted Bud around a couple times like he was a cat toy and I was sure he was a goner. But I scooped them both up and dropped them in Tag’s glass of water.” She laughed for a few long seconds.

Shay stared back at her blandly, brows arched—prompting her to get to the point.

“I’m thinking the goldfish will be fine, Shay.”

“Hannah, listen to me, if you are going to operate your own place someday—like you tell me you might like to do—then you have to go above and beyond for your guests.” Owning her own hotel had been Hannah’s latest idea in a long list that she’d been compiling during the months of her recovery.

Shay reminded herself to have patience. Hannah was still trying to deal with having her life’s work—her identity—snatched away from her. It had been just over a year since the accident—and the end of her professional skiing career. Her body had healed for the most part, but Shay knew it would be a while before the rest of her completely caught up.

“It’s part of—”

Hannah interrupted. “Shay, I’m kidding. I’m ready for the fish. What is wrong with you, today? You always—well, almost always, think I’m funny.”

Shay stared at her sister, anxiety fluttering in her stomach. Maybe it would help to talk about it. “Don’t say anything to anyone else, okay? I’m waiting for Jonah to call. Caleb—”

“Jonah!” Her voice shot up in tone and volume. “Jonah is here? He’s in town? In Rankins?”

“Yes, to all three of the exact same creatively crafted questions,” Shay answered drily.

Hannah flashed a knowing smile with an exaggerated nod. “I get it.”

“Get what?”

“Why you’re all testy and irritable.”

“Hannah, no, I’m not. Jonah doesn’t have anything—”

Hannah held up a finger. “Hold on just a sec.” She grabbed her phone and tapped out a text. Then she looked back at Shay. “Continue.”

“I’m worried about Caleb. He had an appointment with Doc this morning.”

“Doc? Well, of course you’re worried about Caleb, too, then. But that’s not what’s going on right now. Because when you’re worried you look like this—” Hannah made a ridiculous tight-lipped face that Shay was almost certain she had never made in her life.

“And you get quiet—not snippy. I know. It’s Jonah.”

Shay narrowed her eyes at her little sister.

Hannah met her look and added a one-shoulder shrug daring Shay to dispute her claim.

“Really?” Shay said. “You know, huh? Can you tell what I’m thinking now?”

Hannah winced. “I can actually, and I don’t think it’s very nice to mind-talk to me like that. I would never mind-say something like that to you.”

Hannah reached down and picked up her phone, which had let out a buzz. She looked at the display and grinned. Her fingers flew over the screen again.

“You know I hate it when you text and talk to me. And what are you smiling about?” Shay realized then that her voice did have an edge to it—best to work on that, she told herself, before she inadvertently unleashed on a guest.

“Oh, I’m just excited that I was able to scoop Piper. What do you think is wrong with Caleb? I thought he was getting over that bug. Did he have a relapse or something?”

Shay looked at her quizzically. “Piper?” Piper Davidson was a friend of Hannah’s and the younger sister of Shay’s friend, Laurel. Laurel owned the Rankins Press, the town’s newspaper. Piper wrote the “Happenings” column in addition to being the biggest gossip in town.

Hannah seemed pleased with herself. “I texted Piper asking if she knew that Jonah was back in town, and she texted back saying that she hadn’t heard that yet. So, yay—scoop.”

“And this is news, why?”

“Come on, Shay. Jonah coming home is kind of a big deal. Small-town boy goes off to the big city, has tons of success and makes piles of money. He’s good-looking, he’s a bachelor, he owns a ’69 Boss 429. I can guarantee you that everyone will be talking about this.”

“You know what kind of car he drives?” Shay heard Hannah’s phone buzz again, no doubt Piper with a follow-up question. She hoped it didn’t involve her. After all, it’d been ten years since she and Jonah had broken up, Sometimes though it felt as if it was only yesterday. She and Jonah had been friends throughout their childhood, and it had seemed inevitable when they’d started dating during their senior year of high school. They’d gone away together to the University of Alaska and earned their undergraduate degrees. Jonah proposed soon after he’d found out that he’d been accepted to Yale Law. They’d come home to Rankins to enjoy one more carefree summer with plans to elope in the fall before they moved to Connecticut. Life was as perfect for Shay as it had ever been—before or since.

But then, as that summer was drawing to a close, her world began to unravel.

Shay’s Grandpa Gus died and left her the inn. Shay had spent much of her childhood working at the inn with her grandfather and while it was her dream to have her own hotel one day she hadn’t expected it to be the Faraway Inn.

Shay had been touched and honored and hadn’t felt like she had any choice but to stay in Rankins and take over the business. Grandpa Gus had taught her so much, showered so much love and attention on her. She owed it to her grandfather—to her family, to continue the inn’s success.

Jonah and Shay had been left with two different dreams—two different lives—that couldn’t possibly merge. Hannah asked, “Do you have any idea what’s wrong with Caleb?”