Jake's Biggest Risk (Those Hollister Boys) Read Free Page A

Luigi came to the counter with a broad smile. “
Ciao
. I’ll take care of you, Hannah. Your usual pizza?”
    “You bet.” Hannah thought about the lucrative lease she’d been offered and decided to splurge. “But add a garden salad and an order of garlic chicken wings.”
    “Excellent. I heard Barbara speak to you about tutoring,” Luigi said as he took the money. “I’m glad she’s finally doing this.”
    “She mentioned you’ve been urging her to get a GED.”
    “I was sixteen when we came to America from Sicily. My mama told me to study hard, not just to get ahead, but because learning is how to stay young.” He thumped his chest. “My heart is
not
sixty-eight years old—it is strong like I’m still a boy.”
    Hannah’s lips curved into a smile. “How
is
your mother, Luigi?”
    “Ah, she goes to the church every day. She tells the priest when he makes a mistake in Mass and then works in the kitchen, making gnocchi to raise money for another stained glass window. She will not be happy until every window in the sanctuary is done. And she is reading
War and Peace
. So far, she likes Tolstoy better than Hemingway.”
    “
War and Peace
is a good book. Say hello to her for me.”
    She paid the bill and went into the arcade to watch Danny play as she waited for the food. He was an exceptionally bright kid, a year ahead of children his own age and curious about everything, including his deadbeat dad.
    But whenever she started to feel bad for Danny or got upset with her poor judgment, she should remember Barbi Paulson. An absentee father was surely better than one who was drunk all the time. God knew what Barbi’s childhood had been like, and Hannah suspected Vic Paulson still came around now and then to make life difficult for her.
    * * *
    D RIVING HIS NEW Jeep Wrangler, Jake followed his agent’s car to Mahalaton Lake, Washington, grateful to be away from doctors and the hospital.
    Andy Bedard, his agent, had offered to stay and help for a few days, but Jake would have none of it. That was why he’d insisted they bring two vehicles; if Andy had his own transportation, he’d have less excuse to become an unwanted houseguest.
    It would have been worse if Jake had let his half brother drive him. Matt had been the one who’d arranged for Jake’s transfer to a hospital in Seattle and gotten top specialists to treat him...including Matt’s own father-in-law, Walter McGraw. Matt wasn’t a bad sort, and he’d chartered a flight and flown to Alaska as soon as news had come of the accident. Still, Matt had become depressingly domestic since giving up his carefree party days and getting married. At least he’d traveled extensively before; now he wore a suit every day and handed out money for a charitable organization.
    His wife was nice, though, full of energy. And while Layne worked as a researcher for a weekly regional news magazine, she hadn’t asked him to do an interview.
    Jake shifted his aching leg as they drove through the little town and out onto a road lined with tall evergreens, before turning right onto an even smaller road. It opened to a clearing where a two-story structure sat overlooking the lake.
    Not bad
.
    It was a large mountain lodge, built solidly of natural beams, with a hint of the Arts and Crafts architectural style. In fact, it was reminiscent of some of the work done by Julia Morgan, an early twentieth-century California architect. Andy was right—if he had to be trapped in one place, Huckleberry Lodge was more palatable than most locations.
    Small-town America made Jake shudder, and the cities were worse. Not that he’d spent much time in either, but even that was enough to know he preferred the solitude of locations like Nepal or the Australian outback. There were too many cars and people in most places.
    Andy honked his horn and a young woman came out of the lodge, followed by a small boy. The dog lying on the doorstep got to its feet, tail wagging furiously. Jake frowned; he