vehicle. Afterward, he headed back to the small ranger station where he kept an office—not that he was a desk kind of guy. The building was open to visitors and offered maps of the park, detailing the various hiking trails, kayak launches, and fishing sites. There was also a wall of pamphlets providing education on a variety of topics, including forest fire prevention and recycling, and there were nature-related handouts for identifying various plant life and birds that could be spotted in Evergreen Park.
Jack grabbed a set of dry clothes and stepped into the restroom to change. When he came out, he walked over to the front window to watch the rain outside. At least there was no reason to worry about an illegal campfire sparking a forest fire with a downpour like this.
His cell phone rang on his desk, and Jack headed to answer it. “Hello?”
His sister’s voice greeted him. “Jackie.”
Jack groaned. He hated his older sister’s nickname for him. “Hey, Amanda.” He sat in one of the lobby chairs and leaned back. His sister didn’t usually call during his work hours. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, although he heard the note of hesitation in her voice. “I was just calling to ask for a favor.”
“You got it,” he said.
She laughed on the other end of the line. “I haven’t even told you what it is yet.”
Jack ran a hand through his damp hair. “Okay, what is it?”
“I need you to take Sam for a while.”
Sam was Jack’s nephew. He was fifteen and usually came to stay with Jack a couple weekends a year. Never longer than a couple of days. “You mean for a weekend or two?”
“Longer,” she said. “He’s been out of school for a couple of weeks, and he’s already going stir-crazy here. I’m calling to ask you to take him, possibly for as long as a month.”
“Just Sam?”
She hesitated. “That’s right.”
Jack stood and started pacing, his feet moving as fast as his thoughts. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to spend more time with my nephew, but why? Where are you going?”
She was silent for a moment. “I’m not going anywhere. But I think it would be best for Sam if he wasn’t here right now.”
“And why is that?” he asked.
“I can’t really answer that right now. I don’t want Sam to overhear me,” she said, lowering her voice.
Jack stopped pacing. “So I’m just supposed to say yes, no questions asked?”
“You already said yes, actually.”
Jack wavered. “Amanda, are you okay?”
“I will be. But I need to have some time for myself. And I want Sam to have the summer of his life on Silver Lake. The kind of summers we had when we were young.”
Jack didn’t think kids in this technology age enjoyed running barefoot through the grass, swinging off ropes into swimming holes, or catching fireflies at night. Especially not the fifteen-year-old variety.
“Okay,” he finally said without another word. But he’d be asking a lot of questions the next time he and his sister spoke.
Chapter Three
Emma headed to the back room as one of her evening employees took control of the counter that she and Nina had been working all day.
“You still haven’t touched the box that Jack brought you,” Nina noted.
Emma glanced at it. Maybe she hadn’t touched it, but she’d been thinking about it all day. “I will when I get home. I think I need a deep glass of wine first.”
Nina frowned. “Want me to join you?”
Emma laughed. “No. You have other, more important things to take care of. Like that new puppy of yours.”
Nina rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t anyone warn me that puppies were so much work? I had no idea. I thought it’d be easier to get a puppy than try to fill the void in my life with a guy. Now I’m wondering if it’d have been easier to find a date.”
Working with Nina made Emma’s days so much more fun. “I love the puppy stage, but I’m glad Barnaby is older now. Even if he still thinks he’s young and feisty.”
Nina laughed. “Maybe not so young, but he’s still pretty energetic.”
This was true. “Anyway, I’ll be fine opening the box and drinking my wine alone.” Emma had wanted to be alone last night, too, but she hadn’t ended up spending it on her own. “I might stop at Home Décor and More first. I was thinking that maybe I could add a few tables outside on the sidewalk.”
“Still thinking about that review on the A-List, huh?” Nina