Donna Gartshore - Instant Family

“Maybe Ben can help us?” Ben heard Rae offer.

“Ben?” Frankie stopped her maneuverings and put her hands on her hips. “No, honey, we’re not going to ask him for any more help.”

She stood with her hands anchored to her hips and her legs slightly apart, and looked around as if hoping the solution would come by carried on the breeze.

When her eyes fell on Ben, she froze. Then her cheeks flushed pink.

“How long have you been there?” she asked.

Chapter Three

“Not long,” Ben said. He knew she didn’t want to be seen as incompetent “I heard a noise and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine.”

Ben looked at her, looked at the raging fire and back at her again. His mouth twitched as he tried to suppress a grin.

“I can see that,” he said with mock seriousness.

“Are you laughing at me?” She still looked upset, but he could tell that she was also starting to see the humor in the situation.

“I would never do that,” Ben said in an overly solemn tone, placing his hand on his heart with a dramatic gesture.

Rae giggled heartily, and they both turned to look at her.

Frankie’s face was wreathed in pleased surprise. “I haven’t heard that sound for a while,” she admitted, and then snapped her mouth shut as if to keep herself from revealing more.

“Mom, can he please just start the fire for us?” Rae begged. “I’m totally starving and then we could probably eat in, like, ten minutes.”

“Your daughter’s pretty smart,” Ben said. “She makes a lot of sense for—an eight-year-old?” he guessed.

“I’m ten,” Rae corrected him, fixing him with a flat look that made him chuckle again. It was abundantly clear what she thought of his age-guessing abilities.

“Now what’s funny?” Frankie asked.

“Nothing... It’s just that her expression reminded me very much of you.”

“How can you say that when you don’t even know me,” Frankie retorted.

Oh, but somehow he felt like he did, Ben thought. And he didn’t want to because he didn’t need his life to get more complicated.

He clapped his hands together, briskly, and said, “How about it? I could show you how to manage this temperamental beast now, and next time it’s all you.”

“Well, I guess so,” Frankie agreed reluctantly. “But then you and your dad must join us for supper because you’ve already done enough for us. That is, if you haven’t already eaten.”

“We just started eating,” Ben said. He did a quick check over his shoulder at Al, who was flattening his eggs with his fork, but still in his chair.

“Well...” Frankie hesitated.

“Mom!” demanded Rae.

“Listen to your daughter,” Ben urged.

A few minutes later, he had the flames licking and spitting at a reasonable rate, having been careful to explain to Frankie what he had done.

Ben felt inordinately pleased when Frankie quickly mastered the fire as he had shown her, and cautioned himself not to get too involved.

* * *

Within a few weeks at Silver Lake, Frankie and Rae had fallen into a comfortable rhythm, the kind that Frankie had almost forgotten could exist since everything at home reminded her of what they had lost. Here, in this new setting, she found that looking ahead, rather than back, was starting to feel more natural.

Early in the morning, Frankie took her coffee out onto the deck while Rae was still sleeping and enjoyed the way the day quietly unfolded before more people began to stir. She loved the smell of the pine from the trees and the fresh wind off the lake. Occasionally, a smattering of other early risers passed by, with morning newspapers under their arms, as they headed down to get coffee and sit at the tables in front of the Beachfront Confectionery and bakeshop. They waved and smiled in greeting, and Frankie waved and smiled back.

Previously, the early mornings and the peaceful setting would have been an opportune time to do a morning devotional, but she knew it would take more time for her to make progress in that area.

She was grateful that, slowly but surely, her daughter was taking steps out of the cave she had created for herself. She loved the beach and the Nature Center and going for ice cream. Rae had started to make observations again, with her artist’s eye, commenting on colors and the proximity of shapes and textures—solid rocks at the edge of the ever-changing water; mossy grass swallowing up the bark-rough base of a tree—and Frankie dared to hope that a full-fledged return to her art was imminent.

But Rae was also, in Frankie’s opinion, just a little too fond of wanting to know what Ben and Al were doing. It was a frequent reminder to Frankie that she wasn’t nearly as oblivious to her summer neighbor as she wanted to be—as she needed to be.

She’d have to be blind not to notice how good-looking Ben was with those dark blue eyes that provided such great contrast to the wheat and sunshine of his hair. But she wasn’t going to think about that.

She also wasn’t going to think about his rugged chin or the funny expression he got when he was trying not to laugh.

The screen door of the cabin banged and startled her.

“What time is it?” Rae asked, poking her head out of the door.

“It’s early, Sweet Pea, really early. What are you doing up?”

Frankie looked affectionately at her daughter, wearing her SpongeBob pajamas, her hair a fuzzy cloud around her face.

“I’m excited for today.”

“Today?” Frankie teased, “Hmm, what’s today?”

“Mom!”

Frankie winked at her and reached out an arm to pull her in for a little side hug.

“I know. But you’ll have to be excited for a little while longer. The Nature Center doesn’t even open for a couple more hours. You’ll have to find something to keep you busy until then.”

The day before, when they had visited the Nature Center, there was a sign advertising that anyone interested could go there to learn about how the displays were put together and then how to make displays of their own.

It had warmed Frankie’s heart to see Rae’s enthusiasm. Maybe it was true, she mused, that there was something healing about the lake. Did she dare to hope that it could do the same for her? If she could be satisfied that Rae was back to her ardent, artistic self, would Frankie then feel free to unearth the dreams in her own heart?

Rae bounced up and down a little. “Can I have something for breakfast?”

“If you’re hungry, you know where the cereal and milk are, or there’s toast.”

Her daughter wrinkled her snub nose. “That’s boring.”

“Well, it’s what we’ve got.” Frankie gave her one more squeeze and stood up to stretch and take her coffee cup in for a refill.

“What time do you think Ben and Al will get up?” Rae looked in the direction of their cabin.

The cleaning crews had done their best and the side of the cabin looked much better than it had, but a gray dinginess still lurked as a reminder under the fresh paint. There also continued to be graffiti that showed up randomly on other cabins and buildings. No one knew who the culprit or culprits were, or if they did, they weren’t saying. Frankie wondered if Ben was right about the rich parents and their children who had too much time to get into trouble. She didn’t like the way it hummed like an out-of-tune buzzing underneath the harmony of the summer days.

“Mom!” Rae tugged her hand, letting her know she hadn’t been listening.

Oh yes, Ben and Al...again.

Frankie was going to try this one more time. “Look, Sweet Pea, I think that Ben and his dad probably want some quiet time to enjoy the summer. Remember that Al is sick.”

“He doesn’t look sick.”