Tidings of Joy. Margaret Daley

room with Tanya’s child. How difficult could it be?

      Chance discovered a few minutes later just how hard it would be when Crystal opened the door to his knock, a smile on her thin face, a black Lab standing beside her. He sucked in a sharp breath and held it. Staring up at him with open interest was a young girl who had dark brown hair and hazel eyes, so very reminiscent of his daughter’s. She even had a sprinkle of freckles on her small upturned nose as Haley had.

      He cleared away the huge knot in his throat and struggled against the urge to run as far away as he could. His legs refused to move forward into the house even though Tanya’s daughter opened the door wider for him.

      “Come in before all the insects do,” Tanya said, approaching them.

      He shook off the panic beginning to swell in his chest and shuffled into the kitchen. Turning to shut the back door, he took a few precious seconds to compose his reeling emotions at the sharp reminder of what he’d lost. When he pivoted back toward the pair, his feelings were tamped down beneath all the defensive layers he’d created over the past few years. Under closer inspection of Tom’s daughter, he saw no real similarities between Haley and her, other than their coloring.

      If he was going to repay the debt, he had no choice but to learn to deal with the teenager—and the mother. I can do this, he told himself and forced a smile to his lips. “I’m Chance, the new tenant,” he said to Crystal, realizing he was probably stating the obvious.

      The teenager’s smile grew. “I’m Crystal. Welcome to Sweetwater.”

      “Thanks.” He inhaled the aroma of ground beef that peppered the air. “It smells wonderful. What are we having?”

      “As I told you earlier, nothing fancy. Just tacos. I hope you like Mexican food. Crystal and I love it.” Tanya gestured toward the counter. “Everyone’s going to put their own together.”

      “I like anything I don’t have to cook.” He took another few steps farther into the kitchen, committing himself to spending some time with his landlady and her daughter.

      Tanya handed him a plate with big yellow and blue flowers painted on it. “You don’t cook then?”

      “Not unless you call heating up a can of spaghetti cooking.”

      Crystal giggled, patting her dog. “Even I can do that.”

      “My daughter’s taking a Foods and Nutrition class this year. Hopefully she’ll learn more than heating up what’s in a can.”

      Chance noticed the instant school was mentioned that Crystal’s cheerful expression vanished and the young girl dropped her head, her attention glued to her lap. Did she struggle with schoolwork? He made a note to find out. Maybe he could help her with her homework, then he would be one step closer to being able to leave Sweetwater, to appeasing his guilt.

      “You go first.” Tanya swept her arm across her body, indicating he prepare his tacos.

      Chance took two large empty shells and filled them with the meat sauce, cheese, lettuce and diced tomatoes. His mouth watered in anticipation of his first home-cooked meal in years. After he doused his tacos with chunky salsa, he made his way to the round oak table in the alcove with three large windows overlooking the deck and backyard.

      He sat at one of the places already set with utensils, a blue linen napkin and a glass with ice in it. When he noticed a pitcher on the table, he poured himself some tea, then doctored it with several scoops of sugar.

      Crystal positioned herself next to him and put her plate on her yellow place mat. “Mom said you’re from Louisville. I went there once, when I was nine, and took a riverboat up the Ohio River.”

      As Tanya settled into the chair across from him, Chance said to Crystal, “I’ve never ridden on a riverboat. Did you like it?”

      “Yeah! I’d like to take one all the way to New Orleans. I’ve never been to New Orleans. I haven’t seen very many places.” She glanced down at her wheelchair, then fixed her large hazel eyes on him as though that explained why she didn’t go places.

      A tightness constricted his chest. He couldn’t imagine being confined to a wheelchair, every little bump in the terrain an obstacle, not free to move about as you wanted. He knew about that and had hated every second of his confinement. “You’ll have time,” he finally said, feeling a connection between him and Crystal that went beyond her father.

      “That’s what Mom says.”

      “I promised her a trip when she graduates from high school.” Tanya poured tea for herself and her daughter. “She’ll get to pick where, depending on my budget.”

      “Mom’s got a saving account for the trip at the bank where she works.”

      “That’s a good plan.” After he picked up his taco carefully so as not to make a mess, he took a big bite, relishing the spicy meat sauce. “Mmm. This is good.”

      Tanya smiled. “Thanks.”

      She and Crystal bowed their heads while Tanya said a prayer.

      When she glanced up at Chance, he’d put his taco back on his plate, a look of unease in his expression. “I don’t have the time to cook like I want to, but I do enjoy getting into the kitchen when I can,” she said, hoping to make him feel comfortable.

      “I’m glad you invited me.” Chance caught her gaze and held it for a long moment. He realized he meant what he had just said. The warmth emanating from both the mother and daughter spoke to a part of him that he thought had died in prison.

      Finally Tanya dropped her regard and ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “What kind of job are you applying for with Nick?”

      “As an assistant for his office in Sweetwater.”

      “Nick said something to me about expanding his company’s presence in Sweetwater. I guess this must be the beginning. Since he and Jesse got married, I know he doesn’t like to travel to Chicago as much as he used to. What have you done before?”

      Tension knifed through Chance. He should have expected questions about his past. That was the last thing he wanted to discuss. “I was a financial advisor.”

      “Was? Not anymore?”

      “I’m looking for something different. That’s why this assistant’s job interests me.” That and the fact Samuel paved the way for him with Nick Blackburn. But even with Samuel’s reference, the job wasn’t a sure thing. He would have to convince Mr. Blackburn he could do the work, definitely a step down from what he’d done in the past where he’d had his own assistant.

      “What happens if you don’t get the job?”

      “I’m still staying for a while. I’ll just look for another one,” he quickly said to ease the worry he heard in her voice.

      He needed the conversation focused on someone else. Angling around toward Crystal, he asked, “Besides Foods and Nutrition, what else are you taking?”

      The teenager downed a swallow of tea. “I’m taking the usual—U.S. history, English, algebra and biology. I’m also in the girls’ choir.”

      “In high school I was in the show choir. I enjoyed it.” Chance felt Tanya’s puzzled gaze on him and shifted in his chair, feeling uncomfortable under her scrutiny as though she could see into his heart and soul. Their emptiness wasn’t something he wanted exposed to the world. He busied himself by taking another bite.

      “I sing in the choir at church. We can always use another man to sing.”

      He heard Tanya’s words of encouragement and gritted his teeth so hard that pain streaked down his neck. Church. Religion. God wasn’t for him. He’d believed once, and his whole life, his family, had been taken away from him. He stuffed the rest of the taco into his mouth and occupied himself with chewing—slowly. Averting his gaze, he stared out the window at the backyard and hoped the woman didn’t pursue the topic