Not by Sight A Novel

CHAPTER 2

Kate went out the front entrance of Angel View Lodge, the morning sun high and the fog now dissipated. She walked across the road and spotted her son Jesse on the porch of their two-story log house, his red wagon parked at the bottom of the steps and filled with plastic jugs.

“Hi, Mama!” Jesse bounded down the steps and ran toward her. “Hawk and I loaded the wagon with nectar for the hummingbirds.”

Jesse came to an abrupt stop and threw his arms around her waist. “Thanks for trusting me with this. I won’t let you down.”

“I never thought you would.” Kate brushed his fine dark hair out of his eyes, noting that the smattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks seemed to have multiplied from exposure to the sun. “I have every confidence in you, or I wouldn’t have put you in charge of the hummingbirds for the summer. It’s a big job. And I wouldn’t let just anyone do it. You know how I love them.”

“Me, too. I’ll make sure they never run out of nectar. I promise!” Jesse’s eyes were round and animated, the color of the summer sky.

“I’m proud of you for the effort you’re putting into this.”

Jesse puffed out his skinny chest, as if to show off the word staff embroidered above the pocket of his bright blue Angel View Lodge T-shirt. “I Googled so much stuff about the ruby-throated hummingbird, I should be able to answer any questions the guests ask me. I’m the go-to guy, right?”

“Absolutely.” Kate smiled. Micah would be so proud of him. It broke her heart that Jesse could hardly remember his father.

“I’d better get going. I have a ton of feeders to fill.” Jesse hugged her waist again and ran toward the wagon. “See you later, Mama.”

“I love you,” she called.

“Love you, too! Bye!”

Kate watched as Jesse took the wagon by the handle and headed for the hummingbird garden, looking oh-so-grown-up and responsible. Had she contributed to that, or was he just a great kid all on his own? She worried whether Micah and Riley Jo’s disappearance would cause any long-term effects in Jessie, who had been just five when they went missing. Half his life, he’d been living with that loss and a mother consumed with grief.

Kate heard the screen door slam and glanced up. Hawk stood on the porch, slipping his arms into the straps of his backpack.

Kate walked up the steps. “Thanks for helping your brother. He is beyond excited.”

“Doesn’t take much to float his boat,” Hawk Cummings said.

“Why the sarcasm? A word of encouragement from his big brother would go a long way.”

“I did encourage him. I just think you’re making too much of it.”

Kate eyed her oldest son. “You sound jealous.”

“It’s nothing like that, Mama. But y’all are acting like Jesse’s the only one who does anything around here.”

“I’m sorry if I gave that impression. You’ve done so much, I wouldn’t know where to begin. I’m not sure I would have survived the past five years without your help. You’ve stepped up and done your father proud. I have told you that.”

Hawk hung his head, his expression sheepish. “I guess that sounded petty. Jesse’s really jazzed about being a part of what we’re doing here. He wants to prove himself.”

Kate tilted Hawk’s chin, still not used to the five o’clock shadow that matched his buzz cut. “It’s not as though I’m creating busywork for him. Having Jesse taking care of the hummers will help me immensely. I’d like to think we would all build him up.”

“You know I will.” Hawk glanced at his watch. “Gotta run. I’ve got three drivers already out there, and I’m scheduled to take out a dad and his two boys at ten.”

“Hawk …” Kate waited until he looked at her. “I hope you know I’m proud of you for pulling together the details to launch the jeep-rides operation. I would never have thought of such a thing, let alone that it would become a huge draw, even for folks who don’t stay at Angel View. It’s helped keep us in the black.”

Hawk smiled with his eyes. “I love it. I can’t imagine working for someone else and punching a time clock.”

“You do better when you can set your own schedule. This suits you.”

“Good. Because I’m never leaving Sure Foot Mountain.”

She hoped that was true, more than she dared say. For some reason she couldn’t explain, she felt vulnerable every time Hawk was away on a hiking or hunting trip. “Then you’d better marry a girl who loves it as much as you do.”

“Marry?” Hawk cocked his head and flashed his father’s grin. “I’m barely twenty-one. Don’t be trying to marry me off just yet.”

“I’m in no hurry. I think you have to start dating first anyway.”

“I’m too busy getting the jeep business going. I’ve got plenty of time for that later.”

“Not if you’re interested in that cute little blonde at Bella’s Bakery. Some other young man is liable to snatch her out from under your nose.”

Hawk threw his hands in the air. “Did Abby tell you I had my eye on Laura Lynn Parks?”

“So it is true.”

“I’d have to be blind not to notice her,” Hawk said. “She wouldn’t give me the time of day.”

“How do you know if you don’t ask her out?”

“Chicks like that can date any guy they want.”

Kate put her hands on her hips. “And how do you know she doesn’t want to date you?”

“Guess I’m too chicken to find out. I don’t want to get shot down.”

“Hawk Cummings, since when are you afraid of anything? So what if she says no? There are plenty of fish in the sea.”

“Fish?” A smile tugged at the corners of Hawk’s mouth. “We’re talking mermaid here.”

Kate and Hawk laughed at the same time.

“Granted, she’s a beautiful girl,” Kate said, thinking it should be Micah having this conversation with Hawk. “But don’t underestimate yourself. You’re handsome, inside and out. Smart. Creative. Hardworking. Polite. And, I dare say, a tad romantic like your father.”

Hawk grinned and put on his sunglasses. “I’ve really gotta run, Mama. I’ll be home in time for dinner.”

“Be safe,” Kate said, painfully aware that those were the words she had withheld from Micah before he and Riley Jo vanished.