Chance on You (Pub 4)

42 - The beginning

Isla was glad to be home. The second flight frightened her more than the first, but she didn't step on the first plane feeling like a sinner. She hadn't slept in a man's arms before leaving Boston. Was it a sin if she was only comforting him? He thought she was his dead wife. She allowed it in order to give him the gift of sleep. Unfortunately, in the light of day, it left things awkward between them.

How could he possibly like her if he dreamed about sleeping with his wife? Sometimes prayer wasn't enough. She prayed for the mother to be at peace, but it left Leo in pain. She could only be there for him, but felt a bruise inside when he didn't suggest Cody sit with Riley for takeoff. Isla had to brace herself and not show fear to Riley who calmly looked out the window the whole time.

Leo had looked over when the giant plane was airborne. "You're a pro now."

He didn't know her fear went beyond first time jitters. She feared gravity. Her common sense told her that planes were the exception, unless they weren't.

Back on solid ground in the house Isla thought of as home, she helped settle the children before retiring to her basement room. Everything could wait until the following day, unpacking, laundry, shopping. Leo's goal was to go to work and for the kids to go to school. Isla suspected school might be optional, but he would force himself. She didn't know what he had told his friends, Lilli and Zach, about his wife. His guilt over the divorce had only grown worse. Isla wanted to suggest that he go to speak with father.

If Leo had a nightmare, she didn't hear it. When her alarm went off, she wanted to turn over and ignore it. Groggily, she stepped into her shower and dressed in warm clothes. November in Boston was not like LA. The kitchen was empty as she started the coffee. She needed a cup and pulled the pot before it finished brewing.

"I need one too."

The masculine voice behind her caused tingles on the back of her neck and he stood across the room. She handed him the first cup she had poured for herself.

"How did you sleep?"

He nodded, but didn't meet her face. "Good. Thank you." He cleared his throat. "Riley wants to go to school. Cody will go if we tell him. Expect some irritability this afternoon.

"From me?"

He chuckled. "From all of us, but I meant the kids. Don't clean the entire house."

She lied. "I wasn't planning to."

"Laundry and food shopping, everything else can wait."

"Yes, boss." He looked at her with a puzzled expression, but she felt like they had gone back to the beginning. Instead of a train, she had stepped off the plane feeling unsure, but she wasn't alone. She had her friends too and looked forward to Mass even though they had stopped walking in the cold temperatures.

When she stepped into church, she breathed in the familiar scent of wax and incense, faint but there. The funeral church looked less like a church and the fragrance of flowers overwhelmed any wax. Just like the house around the corner and down the street, the church was her home. As she watched the Eucharistic sacrament, tears welled up. The emotion bubbled and she couldn't pinpoint the cause. So much had happened in the past week and none of it brought her closer to Leo.

At the end of Mass, Helen and Marcia accosted her.

"What happened?"

"How was your trip?"

She looked from one to the other. "Their mother passed away. She had been sick. It was a difficult trip for all of them."

"The poor things." Helen frowned.