She blinked back tears. She had to focus on the task at hand. She could spiral later in the privacy of her cabin—hopefully after Whiskers had been found.
In the lodge she made her way to the kitchen pantry and found three cans of tuna. She opened them and took them outside, leaving one on the basketball court, one on the edge of the pavilion, and one on the Ogdens’ deck.
She joined the search party, keeping her distance from the others. She ventured into the woods, combing the ground and trees for the cat, calling his name.
A lifetime later she heard Jonah’s voice calling through the woods. “Found him!”
Her breath released in a whoosh.Thank God.The cat was okay. If she’d made a mistake, at least it hadn’t ended in disaster. By the time she made it back to the Ogdens’ cabin, only Jonah was around.
“Is he okay?” she asked. “Where was he?”
“He’s fine. Mr. Ogden found him inside somewhere. He let me know, then slammed the door in my face.” Jonah shrugged.
Relief washed over her. “He was inside all along?”
“Yep, hiding somewhere, I guess.”
She hadn’t been responsible. She tried to let that sink in, but the stress of the ordeal had left her shaken, and releasing it wasn’t so simple. However, if she dwelled on it, she’d make a fool of herself in front of Jonah.
She cleared her throat. “Now that the excitement is over, we’d better get the boat over to the marina—hopefully it’ll make it to the launch ramp.”
“I’ll make sure it starts and you can drive it over. Then I’ll hook up the trailer and meet you over there.”
***
Thirty minutes later at the boat launch, Jonah stood in the cool water, helping Lauren guide the boat onto the trailer. Once it was secured, they hopped into the cab and Jonah pulled the trailer out.
Lauren had been quiet since the cat incident and said nothing on the short drive to the marina. Once there, Jonah unhitched the trailer while Lauren went inside to inform them they were leaving the boat for repair.
Soon they were on the road again, and once more the cab was silent.
To Jonah’s perspective, their relationship seemed to have shifted over the past month. Ever since Meg had made that claim about theirsparks. He’d been avoiding Lauren, and when they did come in contact, it was as if they played out the Cold War, personal edition.
But hearing Mr. Ogden verbally attacking her had bothered Jonah. She hadn’t deserved that. Nobody deserved to be treated with such disdain. When he’d heard the man yelling at her, he’d wanted to slug the guy.
And yet... Jonah hadn’t treated her much better. Guilt pinched hard at the thought.
He’d had his reasons. But he’d eventually come to see there was more to her than designer shoes and fussy manicures. She worked well over the required hours and didn’t consider herself above any task. He knew firsthand that included some pretty dirty jobs.
He could now admit, at least to himself, that he’d felt those sparks initially—and it spooked him. He didn’t want to fall for another Monica, so he put up his guard.
He’d been unnecessarily hard on Lauren. He’d been rude and impatient and even a little mean sometimes. Once his mom had overheard him bossing Lauren around and her eyes widened.
“Jonah.”She gave him a look that both admonished and questioned.
His face flushed with heat, but Lauren was already off to the task on which he’d sent her. He gave his mom an apologetic glance, then took off in the opposite direction.
So no, this wasn’t like him at all. He was generally known to be congenial and easygoing. But he’d been the opposite with Lauren. No wonder she avoided him at every turn. Smiled at him through gritted teeth.
He glanced at her now. No wonder she was practically hugging the passenger door. She stared straight ahead at the road, jaw clenched, shoulders rigid, hands clasped tightly in her lap.
They were almost back to the resort, but he wanted to ease the tension somehow. “I’ll bet Mr. Ogden’s feeling pretty stupid about now.”
A long pause passed. “Sure.”
A minute later he turned into the property. “I’ll check on them. Take Whiskers a treat. Maybe you could collect the tuna so we don’t draw a bunch of animals onto the property.”
“Okay.”
