Read Online Love Finds a Home by Kathryn Springer - Free Book Online Page B

bed, his gaze fixed on the arrowhead in his hand.
    “And here I thought I’d find you reading up on Native American artifacts,” Emma had gently teased.
    “It’s not the same.” Jeremy had run his thumb over the jagged edges of the stone. The sparkle in his eyeshad warned Emma that a change was coming. A change she didn’t understand but knew she couldn’t prevent.
    He wanted to find arrowheads, not read about them.
    That simple statement forced Emma to face her own limitations. Forced her to acknowledge that Jeremy needed something that she couldn’t give him. She remembered the way Jake had boosted his confidence by letting him dig the hole for the apple tree.
    How had Jake put it? That boys needed to test themselves?
    The thought both terrified Emma and made her proud of her son at the same time.
    But Jake Sutton?
    A man who, like Brian, had chosen a dangerous career. A man whose scarred jaw and measured gaze were an unsettling contradiction to the one who’d clapped a battered cowboy hat on his head and completely charmed a rambunctious group of children.
    If he saw Jeremy on a regular basis, did that mean she would have to see him?
    Emma’s knees turned to liquid at the thought.
    “Would you consider letting Jeremy and me spend some time together for a trial period?” Jake asked. “After that, if you still believe it’s a bad idea, you can withdraw him from the program. If you explained it to Jeremy, I think he would agree to that.”
    So did Emma. After all, as her son was quick to point out these days, it was reasonable for a person to check things out before they made a decision. If only she’d known her favorite saying would be used against her!
    “A trial period,” she repeated.
    “How about a month?”
    “I don’t know.” I don’t know you. “What are yourqualifications? Have you been involved in a mentoring program before?”
    Jake looked up at the ceiling, providing Emma with a closer view of the pale grid of scars etching his jaw. “I don’t have any experience with kids. This is all new to me, too.”
    It was the last thing Emma had expected him to admit.
    “Then give me one good reason why I should trust you with my son.”
    “Because Jeremy wants you to.”
    Now who wasn’t playing fair? Emma thought. Jake had to know that Jeremy was her reason for getting up in the morning. The last thing she wanted to do was deny her son something that put a sparkle in his eyes. Like the one she’d seen when he’d shown her the arrowhead…and talked about the crime that he and Jake had “solved together” on Saturday. “Why do you want to do this?” Emma asked.
    Jake’s lips quirked. “Because Jeremy wants me to.”
    The same reason. Like it or not, concern for her son had become a connecting point between them.
    “I’ll agree to a month.” Emma hoped she wasn’t making a huge mistake.
    “I’ll tell Pastor Wilde.” Jake started to walk away but paused when he reached the door. “And Emma?”
    She forced herself to look at him.
    “You can trust me.”
    As soon as the door closed, Emma sank against the desk.
    Trust him?
    At the moment, it was the feelings Jake stirred up inside of her that she didn’t trust.

Chapter Eight

    J ake’s cell phone rang less than five minutes after he walked into the house.
    He glanced at the tiny screen to read the name before answering it. It seemed that someone—and Jake had a hunch that someone’s name was Delia Peake—had given his private number to everyone in Mirror Lake.
    This time, however, it was safe to pick up.
    “Whatsup, Bro?” Andy’s cheerful greeting came over the line. “Whatsup, Bro? ” Jake echoed. “You’ve been spending too much time with the kids in your youth group.”
    But even as he gave Andy a hard time, Jake was glad the term “brother” came so easily. Jake had been twelve, Andy three years younger, when Jake’s mom and Andy’s dad had fallen in love. They had become linked together by their parents’