Breakfast for Two (Peakview series Book 2) Read online

  Howard smiled relieved to shift the focus of the conversation. “None, I promise. I’m not sure why, really. I settled here—grew to love it. There weren’t any young single women in Peakview at that time, and I didn’t ever make the effort to go look for one elsewhere. Got used to my bachelor life. Not that I don’t love kids. I’ve sure had fun with Violet and Stan’s son Justin, and now Haley and Chase. And my nephew. And Sophie…she’s a great kid! She doesn’t know about me, does she?”

  “No. I haven’t told her anything about why we came here. I didn’t want to open her up for disappointment if it didn’t work out. She likes you. I’m glad she got to meet you.”

  “We could tell her together.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Melanie said standing up. “We have a long drive back to Ohio. I’ll tell her along the way. What do I owe you?”

  “Nothing. I owe you thirty years. The least I can do is fix your vehicle and fill it with gas. Can I give you some money for the trip home?”

  “Absolutely not, we’ll be fine.”

  “You think you’d like to come back to visit sometime?” Howard asked his heart racing at the thought of losing all that he’d just found. “It’s really nice here in the summer. You and Sophie are welcome any time, just let me know and I’ll get a cabin really for you. I can come to Ohio and visit, too. You need to meet my sister and her family. They’ll love you! I know I don’t deserve it, but please keep in touch.”

  “I don’t mean to be rude but I need some time to process all of this and explain things to Sophie. I’m sure once she’s accepted it, she’ll want to keep in touch with you. Do you have an email address?”

  “Can’t say that I even own a computer, but if it’ll let me get to know my granddaughter, I’ll buy one tomorrow. Violet has one for her business. I bet she’d teach me how to use the dang thing.”

  Melanie smiled. “Speaking of Violet, is there something going on between the two of you? You seem good together.”

  Howard’s face turned as red as his flannel shirt, remembering their earlier embrace. “We’re just friends,” he stammered.

  “Well, if you don’t mind me saying so, maybe you should make it something more. I hate to think of my dad all alone.” She smiled as she stood up to leave.

  Dad? Had she really just called him dad? Awkwardly he reached out his arms. “Can I give you a hug?”

  “Of course.”

  He pulled her into him, holding her tight.

  “I better go find Soph. We need to get on the road. I’ll send her over to say goodbye.”

  ***

  Melanie walked out of the garage, her head spinning. She didn’t want to say goodbye either. She wanted to get to know her dad. Ohio held little appeal. To clear her head, she walked past the café and headed down the three short blocks that comprised the entire main street of Peakview. For the first time, she noticed an old, dilapidated house across the street from the café with a beat up for sale sign in the yard, hanging from one hinge and flapping in the winter wind. The sign looked about as ancient as the house. Her curiosity got the better of her so she crossed the street to get a better look. She walked up on the large porch, careful not to fall through the rotting boards and peered in a dirt-covered cracked window. Not much inside but dust. Not sure why, she pulled a pen and paper out of her purse and wiped the snow from the sign writing down the phone number, before hurrying back to the café.

  By the time she walked in, most of the breakfast crowd had left. “Sophie, run next door and say goodbye to Mr. Crandall. We need to get going.”

  Sophie slid out of the booth and headed toward the garage. Violet came over and sat down across from her.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s good. We talked. I need some time to figure it all out. I dare say Sophie and I’ll come back to visit again.”

  “I’m so glad.” Violet said with genuine warmth in her voice. “I’m gotten used to the two of you. Violet covered Melanie’s hands in her own, “He’s a good man, sweetheart.”

  “Funny, I was just about to tell you the same thing,” she said with a wink.

  ***

  Melanie and Sophie headed away armed with to-go cups of coffee and hot chocolate and a substantial sack lunch from the café. Violet sat down to go over her end-of-the year financials. A big pot of turkey soup, the last of the leftover Christmas feast, simmered on the stove. It hadn’t been a bad year. She’d turned a small profit again. She wouldn’t ever get rich from this café, but along with insurance proceeds from Stan’s estate, it was enough to get by. After all, her needs were few—not much extravagant living here in Peakview.

  She always got a headache from trying to crunch numbers, and soon her mind began to wander. She’d enjoyed having Melanie to help out, but she couldn’t afford to hire an employee for the long term. She prayed things went well for those two back in Ohio. She was curious about how the conversation went between Howard and Melanie. What she wouldn’t have given to be a fly on the wall during that conversation. Hopefully, Howard would enlighten her. And while she was on the subject of Howard, her whole body warmed as she vividly remembered the kiss they’d shared. It was something she’d like try again—soon.

  The lunch crowd came and went, but no Howard. Violet was more than a little disappointed. She tried, unsuccessfully, not to take his absence personally. After all, he was probably busy with end of the year figures too, she rationalized. Still, when she climbed the stairs to her little apartment for a short break in the middle of the afternoon, her heart sank in disappointment. She was definitely too old for romance. One silly kiss and her world flew off balance. She settled down in her recliner, with Lucky curled up and purring on her lap. Nope, her life was just fine. The last thing she needed—a man to complicate things.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Melanie looked over at a quieter than usual Sophie, slumped down in her passenger seat, playing with her I-pod. The mass of buildings that was Denver, sprawled out before them as they crested a hill and began the winding descent into the city.

  “You feel okay? You seem awfully quiet today.” She reached over and gave her daughter’s shoulder a squeeze. ‘Look we’re almost to Denver.”

  “I’m fine Mom, I’m just sad to leave Peakview. I really liked it there. Columbus is so lame.”

  Melanie smiled. “What do you say we stop for the night? Maybe we explore the city, but first I’d like to talk to you about something.”

  “About what?” Sophie said skeptically.

  “I’ll tell you soon.” Melanie pulled into a decent looking motel on the outskirts of town. “Let’s see if they have a vacancy.”

  After checking in, they made their way to their room. Melanie grabbed the lunch that Violet packed for them, and spread the items out on the small table. Sophie joined her, and she took a deep breath and began.

  “There’s something I need to tell you. When Nana died, I began to think more and more about the dad that I’d never known. I wanted to find out who him and know why he left me before I was even born. I conducted an intensive internet search and called hospitals all over Pennsylvania until I found the one where I was born. There wasn’t much information but I did eventually find a name—Howard Crandall.

  “Our Howard Crandall! He’s my grandpa? Why didn’t you tell me?” Sophie laid down her sandwich and stared at her mom.

  “Slow down. There are a lot of Howard Crandalls out there. I narrowed them down by age, but I didn’t know for sure. I didn’t want you to be disappointed if we came all the way to Peakview only to find out it wasn’t him, or that he wasn’t a nice person.”

  “But he is my grandpa? When did you find out?”

  “I didn’t know for sure until I talked to him this morning, but I started to suspect on Christmas Day, when he looked at us like he’d seen a ghost. You know we both look a lot like Nana in her younger days.”

  “So he knew about us? Why hasn’t he ever come to see us?”

  “No, he
had no idea he fathered a child, much less who I was.” Sophie looked at her in disbelief. How could she explain this to a twelve year old? “He and Nana dated for a while, but things got bad and he left—moved to Peakview. He never heard from her again.”

  “He left because of her drinking didn’t he?”

  Melanie hated that her daughter had lived through having a drunk for a grandmother. “I’m sure it had something to do with it, but it was a long time ago.”

  That’s why he asked me those questions the other day about Nana, wasn’t it? I really like him, Mom.”

  “I like him too. He wanted to tell you, but I asked him to let me. I told him you can keep in touch through phone, email and Skype, if you want to. Maybe we’ll come back and visit next summer.”

  “But I don’t want to visit. I want to live in Peakview, with my grandpa. Please, Mom. You could keep working for Violet.”

  “Honey, Violet was just being kind. She can’t afford to give me enough hours for you and me to live on. But I have a crazy idea. Want to hear it?”

  “Oh, yes!”

  “Well, this morning, after talking to Howard, I walked across the street from the café. There’s an old house with a for sale sign in the yard, so I wrote down the phone number of the Denver realtor.”

  “We could live there?”

  “I don’t know but I’ve always wanted to open a book store. Maybe we remodel the first floor into a store and live on the second floor, like Violet does at the café.”

  “I’ll to Mountain High School with Allie and come home after school and work in the store with you. Let’s do it.” Sophie beamed.

  “Slow down,” Melanie laughed. “First, we need to call the realtor and see if it’s even something we can afford. Then we need to go look inside. It looked pretty beat up. I don’t even know if it’s inhabitable.

  “Call the realtor right now.”

  Melanie fished the number out of her purse and made the call.

  “Hello, Mountain Realty. How can we help you today?”

  “I’m interested in the house you have listed in Peakview. Can you tell me the listing price?”

  “Peakview?” The voice on the other end sounded confused. “Oh, you mean the old Jameson place? We haven’t had a call on that place in years. I’m afraid it’s falling down. I’m not sure if it’s even livable. We listed it for the estate when Mrs. Jameson died. The family has long since given up on ever selling it. If you want to make them an offer, I’ll see what I can do. I don’t know why you’d want it.”

  “Would it be possible to get a key and go look at the inside?”

  “Sure. There’s one around here somewhere. Stop by our office any time this afternoon.”

  Melanie hung up the phone and looked at her daughter.

  “Yippee! We’re moving to Peakview,” Sophie screamed jumping up and down with excitement.

  “Not so fast. Tomorrow morning we’ll go back and check it out. Don’t get your hopes up too high. It may not work out.”

  Sophie hugged her mom. “Thanks Mom, you’re the best.”

  ***

  Early the next morning they retraced their drive—back to Peakview. As Melanie drove into the little town, her heart raced. Was she really considering moving to Colorado? This was crazy. But then again, what did they really have to go back to in Ohio? Turning off of I-70, the sun shone brightly, not a cloud in the sky. The sky never was this blue in Ohio. Despite the fact that it was January, the warmth of the sun beamed through their windshield. As they pulled into town, she saw snow melting off of the street and sidewalks. It looked like a new beginning. Melanie pulled up in front of Howard’s garage. She barely got the car in park, before Sophie jumped out and ran into the building.

  “Grandpa, we’re back!” Sophie yelled, flinging herself into the older man’s arms.

  “I can see that,” Howard replied hugging his granddaughter. “Is something wrong? Did your car break down?”

  Melanie walked into the garage. “No, nothing’s wrong. Sophie and I have an idea, and we’d like to get your input. Do you have a minute?”

  Howard beamed. “I’ll always make time for my favorite daughter and granddaughter. What’s on your minds?”

  “Well, we had a long discussion and neither of us feels that there is much for us to go back to in Ohio, except bad memories. We feel at home in Peakview. Before we left yesterday, I noticed the boarded-up house across the street.”

  “The old Jameson place? I’m not sure you would even call it a house anymore.”

  “I think it has potential. I went to the real estate company in Denver, and they gave me a key so we can check out the inside.” Melanie hesitated and looked up at Howard, waiting for him to shut her down, but he just sat and listened intently. “I’ve always wanted to run a bookstore, and maybe we could open one on the first floor and Soph and I live upstairs. Would there be enough business for a bookstore make a profit here?”

  “I don’t see why not. Might be a little slow in the winter, but during the summer season, I bet you’d sell a lot of books to tourists. Especially if you carried informational books about the Colorado Mountains and maybe novels about life in Colorado—lots of Westerns.”

  That’s what I was hoping. Shall we go take a look?”

  “Lead the way.”

  Melanie was not used to being taken seriously by anyone, much less having someone support her dreams. The fact that her newly-discovered father seemed willing to do both of those things filled her whole body with warmth. She linked arms with him and pulled him out the door.

  ***

  Howard’s heart swelled with joy as he followed his excited daughter and granddaughter across the street. What a wreck the Jameson place was, but if it brought his family back to him, he’d do whatever it took to make it livable.

  Stepping onto the rickety porch, Melanie turned the key in the lock, and she and Sophie tried, unsuccessfully, to push open the door.

  “It’s probably warped. Who knows how many years since anyone tried to open it. Let me try.”

  The women stood aside as he turned the key and rammed his shoulder into the door, which flew open with a loud creak. Looming in front of them was a big empty room that didn’t look too bad except for the cobwebs, layer of dust, and the peeling paint on the walls. The hardwood floors appeared to just need sanding and refinishing. They entered the former living room. It led to a similar sized room—maybe a dining room? In the back, a doorway led to a kitchen—minus any modern appliances, with a narrow, steep staircase leading to the second floor.

  “Let’s go see where we’re going to live.” Sophie yelled running up the stairs, with the enthusiasm only a child would muster for this broken-down mess.

  Howard and Melanie followed hesitantly, brushing aside cobwebs as they went. The upper level consisted of three bedrooms, with a not-so-modern bathroom at the end.

  “It’s perfect,” Sophie proclaimed, twirling around in the hallway.

  Howard smiled. His daughter had done a wonderful job raising Sophie. Her joy at the little things in life was infectious. He couldn’t help but find himself caught up in her excitement.

  “What do you think, Grandpa? Isn’t it wonderful?”

  Howard still wasn’t used to that word “grandpa”. His heart threatened to explode from the pure joy of it.

  “We can make it work. That is, if you’re sure you want to take this on. You won’t be able to live here for some time, but you’re welcome to live at the cabin where Violet and her family stayed at Christmas while we fix it this wreck. Weather permitting, we may be able to get the store up and running before the tourist season rolls around.”

  Howard wasn’t confident that anything about this plan seemed smart or practical, but he had his family, and that’s all he cared about at this moment. He’d move heaven and earth to make them happy and to become a permanent part of their lives.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The rush subsided, and Violet plopped down in the booth by the door
with the morning’s receipts and a glass of ice water. Before she dug into the numbers, she absently glanced out the window. Was that Howard coming out of the old Jameson place across the street? And who was that behind him? She picked up her glasses for a better view. Well, if it wasn’t Melanie and Sophie. Her lips curved into a huge smile. It looked like Howard’s new family had a change of heart and returned to Peakview. She was delighted for her dear friend. But what on earth were they doing in that dilapidated old house? She wanted to run over and ask, but she held back. It wasn’t her place to interrupt. Surely Howard would enlighten her soon. She watched the three of them cross the street and disappear into Howard’s garage.

  She took off her glasses and turned back to the receipts. She’d only gone through a half dozen when her mind began to wander. While she was thrilled for Howard, she wondered how Melanie’s return would impact the seed of a relationship that was beginning to sprout between herself and Howard. Had he only turned to her in his loneliness and confusion, or did he want something more from her? For as long as she’d known him, Howard was a loner. Did he have room in his life for not only a daughter and granddaughter, but also a romantic partner? Only time would tell, but the emotions that awakened in her the past couple of days refused to be patient.

  Violet didn’t sit and brood for long before the front door burst open and in skipped a jubilant Sophie.

  “Guess what Violet? Mom and I are moving here to Peakview and I’m going to go to school with Allie!”

  “That’s wonderful. When did all this happen?”

  “We were both sad to leave, so we started talking and decided to come back. Mom has always wanted to open a book store, and we found the perfect place right across the street. The store will be on the bottom and we’ll live upstairs. You’ll get to see me every day.”

  Violet laughed. “I sure will enjoy seeing your smiling face every day, but that old house is pretty beat up.”