Brenda winked and warned him that Mike had stocked up on seasoned oak for the sauna specifically for Steve’s arrival. Steve jokingly groaned, asking if there was anywhere to hide from such aggressive hospitality. The evening was perfect: the heat of the sauna melted away the city stress, and the smell of woodsmoke felt like home.
Later, as they sat on the porch cooling off with iced tea, listening to the crickets, the front gate creaked open. A woman walked in—young, striking, but with a tired look in her eyes—that made Steve lose his train of thought. Mike whispered that it was Sarah, a former teacher who was currently raising her son alone and struggling to find steady work.
Mike explained that her husband had skipped town looking for “greener pastures,” leaving her with a mountain of debt. He warned Steve not to get any ideas; Sarah was focused entirely on her son and seemed done with men in general. She was close friends with Brenda but was too proud to accept charity.
Her story was a tough one. After her husband gambled away their savings and they lost their home, they had moved in with her mother-in-law, who made Sarah’s life miserable. Sarah eventually scraped enough together for a small fixer-upper in the village, but her ex had managed to drain their joint account before vanishing.
The police couldn’t do much since it was technically marital assets. As the men talked quietly, Sarah dropped off a borrowed book and left quickly. Brenda joined them on the porch and mentioned that Sarah’s little boy had a fever, and she was worried about the cost of prescriptions.
Noticing Steve watching Sarah walk away, Brenda smiled knowingly. She told him that a woman like Sarah, who had been burned that badly, wouldn’t be impressed by city talk. It would take a man of real character to earn her trust. Steve just smiled enigmatically and changed the subject, asking about the old, boarded-up dairy barns at the edge of town. He asked if they were structurally sound enough to be renovated.
