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Jack’s—he owns the bar in town. Now listen—see these shrubs that surround the place? Lilac and hydrangea and a bunch of stuff, but you also have blackberries, which you can pick and eat when they’re ripe, according to Jack, but remember that bear also happen to like them…”
Her eyes widened. “Boys! Come here! Right now!”
“We’ll go over the bear rules,” Conner said. “You’ll also have deer from time to time, and you want to learn those rules, too, because if you have bucks in rut, you really don’t want to be involved. Does and fawns, not a big worry—they’ll probably just run off if you happen upon them, but a mating buck might take the interference personally, if you get my drift.”
“What man wouldn’t?” she muttered. “How long do you give the boys before they’re lost in the woods?”
“You’re going to have to stay on top of that. Listen, if you don’t feel comfortable out here…”
“So far, I love it. Can we check out the inside?”
“It’s not locked. Help yourself. According to Jack, this place has quite a history—his wife lived here before they got married and moved into a larger house. Their first child was born here. Then others lived here—the most recent being the town doctor. We just finished his house and got him moved. We barely put up fresh paint in here…”
She stopped and turned to look up at her brother before she reached the porch. “Conner, I love it. I love Leslie. I think I’m going to love the town—but you do understand, I have to find the boys something permanent with the right schools, sports, all that…”
“I know. I know. But can you just get your bearings? Take at least a few weeks to get to know the area?”
She could do that. After Disney World and a long coast-to-coast move, she was more than ready to take a break. She had to get her life in order, get the boys set up, find a job that she really saw herself staying in for a long time. The boys would be starting first grade in the fall. She’d love to be nested by then. Here? Nearby?
The inside of the cabin was as perfect for her as the outside had been—two bedrooms separated by a bath downstairs, a loft upstairs and the rest of the downstairs space was a living room/kitchen just the right size for a single mom and two little boys. “There seems to be one important item missing,” she said to her brother. “Where’s the TV?”
“I guess it went with the doc to his new house. But Jack said you have satellite out here, so we’ll fix you up. We’ll make a run to a bigger town on the weekend, get a TV.”
“It’s either that or take them off Xbox and Wii cold-turkey, and I might not be up to that.”
“What did we have as kids?” Conner asked. “Did we have all this electronic stuff?”
“Atari and Nintendo,” she told him. “And immediately following that, I think we went to work in the store. By the way, is there a hardware store around here?”
“On the coast, Fortuna and Eureka. And that has inspired some thought.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve been thinking this place could use one. Maybe somewhere between here and the closer small towns, like Grace Valley, Clear River. Paul could use one—he’s getting most of his stuff shipped in from a wholesaler. It wouldn’t be like the last store—there aren’t enough custom jobs around here to support it, but folks around here have to drive a long way for nails and paint.”
She put her fingers on her temples. “Okay, don’t give me too much to think about yet,” she said. “Just help me get my stuff inside and go to work unpacking. I’ll get settled and meet you in town for dinner.”
While Conner brought in the boxes she had shipped, she wrangled the suitcases. She found someone had put staples in the refrigerator and cupboard—milk, cereal, bread, lunch meat, eggs. “Les,” Conner said. “She thinks of everything.”
Conner went over a few details—no food or garbage left outside to tempt bears, there was bear repellant