Montana Love Letter. Charlotte Carter

made the room cozy, a place where a family would want to gather around the oak table. Colorful print pillows covered the seats of the matching chairs.

      This was certainly not the kitchen of a typical bachelor, but one whose wife had lent the home her feminine touch. Janelle wondered if Adam still grieved for his wife, and thought he probably did.

      Before opening the refrigerator door, she noted Hailey’s third-grade report card held there by a flower magnet. Straight A’s. She smiled. One smart young lady.

      She found some ground meat on the top shelf of the refrigerator, a bag of lettuce in the vegetable bin along with two tomatoes. After opening several cupboards, she located a box of angel-hair pasta in a small pantry along with a jar of pasta sauce next to several boxes of cereal. A heavy iron skillet was stored under the counter.

      Raeanne threw open the sliding glass door and blasted into the house, racing down the hall to the bathroom.

      Janelle smiled at Hailey, who followed at a more dignified pace.

      “Raeanne sure is quiet. Is she, like, slow?” Hailey’s hesitant question held no negative judgment but rather concerned curiosity.

      “Not at all. In fact, she’s quite intelligent and used to jabber constantly. She just sort of forgot how to talk.” Pressing her lips together, Janelle wondered how much she should reveal about her daughter’s situation, and her own.

      Hailey’s forehead puckered into a frown. “Do you think she’ll ever talk again?”

      “Oh, yes. Given enough time she’ll find her voice.” Janelle prayed every night and every morning that her daughter would let go of the pain and fear and be whole again. She desperately wished she had the skill to “fix” whatever had broken in her little girl’s heart and head when she’d witnessed the sudden death of her father.

      “Can I help her? I’m pretty good with little kids. I always wanted a little sister, but Mom got so sick she couldn’t have any more babies.”

      A surge of affection and sympathy for this young, outgoing, motherless child touched Janelle’s heart. “Just play with her and act natural. That’s the best medicine you can give her.”

      Raeanne skipped back into the living room. She gestured for Hailey to go back outside with her.

      “Why don’t you two settle down and find something on television to watch?” Janelle suggested. “Dinner won’t be too long.”

      “I’ve got some board games we could play,” Hailey volunteered.

      With Raeanne’s silent approval, the two of them raced off toward Hailey’s bedroom again. Janelle had no doubt that Raeanne would sleep well tonight with all the exercise and fresh air she was enjoying.

      Struck by how comfortable she felt in this house, almost as if she’d always lived here, Janelle put the meat on to brown.

      But she didn’t live here, she sternly reminded herself. She and her daughter were guests staying in Grandma’s cottage, nothing more, and only for one night. Tomorrow they’d find another temporary place to stay. Then they’d start some serious house hunting so they’d have a home of their own.

      * * *

      Adam had spent the past two hours laboriously going over his tax forms. They made less sense to him now than when he’d filled them out in April.

      He should’ve hired someone to do his taxes. But his receipts and invoices were all crammed in a box. He could barely make out what was what. Anybody else would’ve laughed himself silly over his record-keeping and walked away in disgust—or asked far too many questions that Adam would’ve had trouble answering.

      Lisa, his late wife, had wanted them to keep his problem to themselves. She was afraid he’d lose business if others knew he couldn’t read.

      With a headache threatening, he decided he’d call it a day. He shed his overalls and work boots and washed up in the restroom in the garage. Time to get home to fix dinner for Hailey...and his houseguests.

      His steps suddenly a little lighter, he locked up the garage and walked back to the house. The temperature had cooled and birdcalls trilled through the treetops. The distant sound of a motorboat hummed across the lake.

      The moment he walked into the house, he caught the scent of garlic and oregano, and his stomach rumbled. He found Janelle bending over a pot on the stove, tasting the spaghetti sauce.

      “My sauce never smells that good,” he said.

      She jumped back from the stove and shoved a lock of her brown hair away from her forehead. With a nervous laugh, she said, “I didn’t hear you come in.”

      “Sorry I startled you.” Seeing her in his kitchen, a drying towel tucked in the waistband of her slacks for an apron, brought a lump to his throat. It had been a long time since anyone except his aging, once-a-week cleaning lady had cooked dinner for him. And she was likely to leave a tuna casserole and broccoli with cheese sauce. Not his favorites.

      “I hope you don’t mind that I added some spices to the sauce. I found them in the cupboard.”

      He sauntered farther into the room. “Of course not. But I didn’t mean for you to have to cook for Hailey and me. You and Raeanne are our guests.”

      “I knew the girls would be getting hungry soon.”

      “Yeah.” He took the spoon from her hand and dipped it into the simmering concoction. Blowing on the spoonful of red sauce to cool it, he sampled it. “Hmm, tastes homemade.”

      “I’m not exactly an Italian chef, but I do like it spiced up a bit.”

      They were standing so close he could see tiny golden flecks in her brown eyes. “Where are the girls?”

      Her tongue peeked out and dampened the fullness of her bottom lip, leaving it shiny. “They’re playing board games in Hailey’s room.”

      “Great. Hailey gets pretty bored on her own when I work late.” And he got bored and lonely during the long nights alone with no one to talk to, no one to share with, no one to care for or tell about his day.

      A pan of water heating on the stove reached a full boil and bubbled over, sizzling on the burner.

      Her face flushed, Janelle jumped back and lowered the flame. She wiped up the spill with a corner of her towel.

      “If you’re ready to eat, I’ll put the spaghetti on to cook. You can tell the girls to clean up and we’ll eat in about five minutes.”

      Regret that the connection between them had been broken forced a sigh from his lips.

      “I’ll let them know.”

      Not that the connection mattered or was even real, he thought as he walked down the hallway. Janelle and her daughter would be gone tomorrow. The only actual relationship they had was based on a crumpled car and a cracked radiator.

      Chapter Three

      When Janelle had the last of the dinner dishes in the dishwasher and the leftovers in the refrigerator, she was ready to sit down to enjoy the evening.

      Evidently Hailey had a different idea. She’d planted herself next to where Adam was sitting on the couch, his legs stretched out in front of him. Raeanne stood beside them.

      “Dad, we promised Raeanne a ride in our boat.”

      “We did?”

      “When we invited them to stay in the cottage. Remember? It’s still light outside. Can we go now? Can we? Raeanne really, really wants to go for a boat ride.”

      Adam muttered something that resembled a groan.

      “Don’t feel you have to take Rae for a boat ride.” Janelle stepped into the living room. “You must be tired from working all day.”

      He levered himself up