by Shirley Jump
“I want to. The center is important to me, too.” Abby climbed into her side of the truck and waited while Dylan got in the driver’s seat. “I’ve been trying to get Ty a grant so he can do some big improvements, maybe even expand. But grant writing isn’t my specialty, so I haven’t been successful yet.”
He glanced over at her. Abby was the first person outside his aunt and uncle who seemed to care as deeply about the center as he did. It was an encouraging sign. A team effort, after all, worked far better than a solitary one. For the first time since he arrived, Dylan had a flicker of hope that maybe the center could be saved after all. “That’s great. I didn’t even know there was such a thing.”
Abby shrugged. “It’s only great if it works out.”
Dylan pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. Abby was an efficient shopper and they were in and out of the first stop in less than thirty minutes. The boys helped load everything, then hopped back in for the short ride to the center. In the back seat, Cody had his head back, asleep, while Jake was working a handheld game. Quiet, for now. “I’m sure you’ll get that grant,” Dylan said. “Either way, everything you’re doing today is going to be appreciated. Ty can use all the help he can get, especially when it comes to getting that place back in shape.”
“Even if it’s from people who can barely hold a hammer?”
He shot her a grin. “By the end of the day, you’ll be an expert and the boys will be ready to open their own renovation business.”
“I’m counting on that, Dylan.” She turned her attention to the window, her gaze on the passing houses.
She didn’t share any of the troubles on her mind, not that he expected her to. Abby was clearly a woman used to shouldering her burdens alone, and given what little he’d heard about the boys’ father, Dylan suspected she’d been doing so for a long time.
Abby glanced over at her sons from time to time, as if making sure they were still there. She checked her phone but otherwise kept to herself. A few minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot for the center.
On Saturdays, the center didn’t open until three, a big departure from the early morning opening time that Dylan remembered. The hand-lettered sign announcing the new weekend times was undoubtedly put there by Ty, to minimize his hours at the center. In the old days, Ty and Virginia had planned game days and movie nights for Saturdays, but the schedule on the door was blank. Dylan wondered how long it had been since the center had been running at full speed. That river of guilt flowed over him again. If he had been here...
But he hadn’t been, and there was nothing he could do to change that fact. Nothing except make the present better.
When Dylan parked, Cody jerked awake. “We’re here, guys. Let’s get the truck unloaded and get to work. We only have a few hours before the kids arrive.”
Cody slipped out of the truck without a word, and stood by the tailgate, perfecting his teenage attitude. Jake bounced up and down beside Dylan. “What are we gonna work on first? Are we gonna build something? Should I wear a tool belt? I don’t have one, but I can make one.” He tugged on the belt loops of his jeans.
Dylan chuckled. “You’re good, Jake. And the first thing we’re going to work on is repairing the broken cabinets in the kitchen so that we can load in all the food and stuff we bought this morning.”
“Cool!” Jake grabbed a bag of supplies and hurried over to the shelter door. He kept on bouncing, impatient for Dylan to grab a load and unlock the door. As soon as the door was open, Jake beelined for the kitchen.
“I wish everyone who worked with me was that eager,” Dylan said to Abby.
“Heck, I wish he was that eager about cleaning his room.” She shed her jacket once inside the building, then motioned to Cody. “Come on, Code. Let’s get started.”
Cody muttered under his breath about it being too early, but came inside and dropped his coat on one of the sofas. He followed Dylan into the kitchen, where Abby was already waiting with Jake.
Dylan laughed. “Okay, it’s only one cabinet, so I don’t need that much help. So why don’t I get you and Cody working on removing the broken tiles in the bathroom? It’s pretty easy and foolproof because the tiles are already broken and the grout is old and dried out.”
“A job I can’t screw up?” Abby grinned. “Put me to work, sir.”
The sir had his mind derailing down a whole other path. Dylan yanked himself back to the present, and to the toolbox. He found a couple hammers, chisels and a putty knife and handed them to Abby and Cody. “Jake, can you find me four of these screws—” he held up a wood screw, then handed Jake a small plastic tub “—while I show your mom and Cody what to do?”
“Sure!” Jake scrambled onto one of the stools and started sorting through the container.
Dylan, Abby and Cody headed for the single restroom. Down the road, Dylan would love to add another bathroom, just to help handle the amount of traffic. When Ty and Virginia opened this place, they converted an old house, which meant it also had old plumbing, old wiring and an old layout.
Then he remembered that down the road, he’d be moving on. Which meant someone else would worry about the additional bathroom, the major changes the center would still need, even after he repaired and updated what he could in the space of a couple of weeks.
“Okay, how do we do this?”
He glanced at Abby and Cody, the two of them waiting in the small room for him to get his act together. He took a set of tools from her and knelt on the floor. “We only want to remove the broken tiles. First, you have to scrape out the grout.” He showed them how to do that with the edge of the chisel. “Be careful not to chip the nearby tiles. Then, use the hammer and chisel to break it up and remove it.”
“Looks easy enough.” Abby put her hands out for the tools.
“Not yet. You both need these.” He reached into his pocket and took out two pairs of safety glasses.
“No way, man,” Cody said, warding them off. “I’m not wearing those dork goggles.”
“You will if you don’t want tile chips in your eyes. Trust me, that’s no fun.” Dylan handed Abby a pair. She slipped them on, and he thought no one in the world had ever looked as cute with safety glasses on as she did. For a second, he imagined being alone in the close quarters of the bathroom with her. Then he glanced at her and remembered that Abby came with an entire package that he had no business being around.
“Well, uh, you guys let me know if you run into any problems. I’ll be in the kitchen.”
Then he headed back to the cabinets before he lingered too long with a woman who made him think about everything but the reason he was really here.
* * *
Abby knelt beside Cody and started working on the first tile while her son worked on one a few feet away. “I think we can handle this. What do you think, Cody?”
Cody grunted.
Abby sighed and sat back on her heels. “Cody, will you talk to me?”
“I am.”
“A grunt and two words is not talking to me. How’s school, how are your friends, how’s—”
“School sucks. My friends are cool and I don’t want to talk about anything else.” He bent down and started chiseling away at the grout.
“Be careful, remember what Dylan said—”
“I’m not a baby, Mom. Quit telling me what to do.”
Abby sighed again. When had everything shifted between her and Cody? When had the boy who had rushed into her arms at the end of the school day turned into this distant almost-man?
A part of her was envious that Dylan had gotten through to her eldest. What secret was she missing?
They worked together for the next half hour. Abby tried, over and over, to get Cody to talk, but he’d gone back to grunts and single-word answers. The chisels made more noise in the bathroom than her son did.
“I’ve finished m
y section.” Abby got to her feet and wiped the dust off her jeans. “I’m just going to check on your brother. Or do you want me to help...?”
“I’ve got it, Mom.” Cody kept his back to her and went on working.
Abby headed toward the kitchen, her mind still heavy with worry about her eldest son. Every day, he seemed to grow more and more detached. Did he blame her for his father’s absence? For the long hours she worked to make ends meet? Or was it all normal teenage attitude?
As she neared the kitchen, she could hear Jake talking to Dylan. Her youngest was, as always, excited and chipper, going a mile a minute, telling him all about the puppies next door and how he’d named them and thought the littlest one was the cutest and the loneliest. Dylan was indulgent and patient with Jake, which made Abby like him even more. He had a way of relating to her kids that was nice. Reassuring.
Easy to get attached to.
That sent the red warning flag up in her head. Something she had better pay attention to, regardless of how a few conversations went.
“Can we fix more stuff, Dylan?” Jake was saying. “Can we fix my window? Cuz Mommy says it’s broken and when it’s hot, I wanna open my window. And if I get a puppy, he’ll get hot, too.”
Dylan chuckled. “I can fix that later. But right now, let’s fix the stuff we have here. Now, do you want to help me replace the wall outside the office?”
“A whole wall? Sure!”
Dylan emerged from the kitchen and drew up short when he saw Abby. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She stood there like an idiot for a long second, then remembered why she had sought him out. “We finished taking out the broken tiles.”
“Great. I’ll lay the new ones when the center closes for the night. They need time to set before people start walking on them.”
“Did you finish the cabinet repair?”
“Yup. Me and my trusty helper. Then we put the groceries away. They might not be exactly where Ty expects them to be but—”
“I’m sure it’s all fine. Thank you, Dylan. It was really sweet.” She shifted closer to him, intrigued, attracted, despite her common sense. This man, who connected with her kids, did thoughtful things to help her out... Every time she saw him, all she did was crave more of all that.
He shrugged, but his gaze locked on hers, held. A heartbeat filled the space between them. Another. “No problem.”
Jake sauntered out of the kitchen then, a kid-size hammer tucked in his jeans pocket. “I was a big help, Mommy. Dylan said so.”
“That’s right. And now he’s going to help me fix a wall.” Dylan looked at Abby. “You want in on that fun, too?”
“Sure.” She flexed a biceps. “I’ll add it to my list of skills.”
“Stick with me and you’ll have a killer handywoman résumé in no time.” Dylan grinned, then headed out to the truck.
Stick with me. Why did those words impact her? Why did her gaze linger on him, and more, her thoughts? She’d found herself smiling a hundred times more today than she had in weeks. She told herself it was because she was spending time with her boys. Nothing more.
When Dylan returned with two panels of Sheetrock, with a thrilled Jake rushing to hold the door and start up his endless stream of questions again, Abby found that smile returning. Even though she had a stack of work waiting for her at home, she felt light, happy. Unstressed.
Dylan laid the Sheetrock against the wall, then popped his head in the bathroom. “Cody, wanna help do some demo work?”
“Does that mean I get to destroy something?” Cody said.
“Yup. Bring your hammer.”
“Cool.” Cody ambled into the room, his hammer tucked in his pocket, just like Jake. His little brother ran up beside him, mimicking Cody’s stance. Cody leaned over and ruffled Jake’s hair.
Well, heck, if that’s what it took to get her teenager to come out from under that perpetual dark storm cloud, maybe she should have Dylan come over and figure out something they could demo in her house. Of course, that would probably mean Dylan would get sweaty and have to take off his shirt—
Not productive. Not one bit.
Dylan positioned the three of them along the long wall in the hallway. Water damage from a leak in the roof last spring had crumbled part of the wall, left the rest a rusty tan color. “All right, Cody, you start here. Jake, you start over here, and Abby, you start here.”
“Wait, me?” she said when she realized Dylan had moved her to a place at the end.
Dylan shifted closer to her. His smile drew her in, like the proverbial moth to the flame. He had an easy smile that fit him well, like a comfortable pair of jeans. “You have a little stress you want to work off?”
“Uh...yeah.” Except it wasn’t stress burning in her right now. It was the curiosity about kissing him. Wondering what it would be like to be in his arms.
This man was all wrong for her—a charmer, a wanderer. A man who didn’t seem to want or need any ties.
Yet that didn’t stop her from wanting more. From fantasizing about him. From wanting him. And from “accidentally” bumping into him a couple times today. All of which left her discombobulated and flustered.
“Yeah, uh, I have some stress,” she said. “Where do I hit?”
Dylan pulled a marker out of his back pocket and drew three X’s on the wall. “Right there. After you punch a hole in the wall, start tearing out the old Sheetrock. Trust me, this is going to be better than therapy.”
“What about the electricity?” She pointed at the wall socket. “The mom in me doesn’t want to make any emergency room trips today.”
“I turned off the power already, and I’m handling the section with the wiring, as a double precaution. You guys should be just fine.” He waved toward the wall. “So...have at it.”
Jake hit the wall first, making a hammer-size dent. Cody followed, sending his hammer through with a crash. A chunk of wall tumbled onto the floor. Dylan and Cody turned to look at her.
“Have at it, Abby,” Dylan said. “Let her rip.”
Abby gripped her hammer with two hands, took a deep breath, then swung it at the X. She hit a little wide of the target, but hard enough to punch a hole in the wall. Sheetrock cracked, then dropped to her feet. “Wow. I did it.”
“You did.” Dylan’s eyes held a measure of pride and wonder. “Now let’s rip the rest of the wall down.”
They went at the damaged Sheetrock like a pack of wolves, hitting, tearing and yanking, then tossing the debris on the floor. Most of it yielded easily, softened by the water leak. Abby latched on to an edge, pulled, then leaned back and pulled some more. The wall tore in one giant, satisfying piece.
A few minutes later, the four of them stepped back and assessed their work. All that remained was a few wires from the electrical outlet and the studs.
Abby had had no idea how awesome it would feel to tear something apart. The whole experience was...liberating. Powerful. Unleashed. Wild. All the things she had avoided in her life for so long.
“Well, that was great,” Abby said. “More therapeutic than I expected.”
“Can I say I told you so?” Dylan said.
She laughed. “I think I deserve that. Okay, what do we get to demo next?”
“Hold on there, Bob Vila. Let’s clean this up, hang the new wall, then move on to another project.”
“That was so cool, Dylan!” Jake said. “I hit it with my hammer. Lots of times!”
“You did great, Jake,” Dylan said, then turned to her oldest. “You, too, Cody. You’re a natural at this.”
“Thanks.” Cody toed at the floor. “Can I, uh, help you hang up the new wall?”
Abby glanced at Dylan. Cody had been an unwilling participant today until just now. She half expected Dylan to do what her ex always did, tell the kids no, and do the job himself. Her ex-husband had been around so li
ttle that the boys were perpetually hopeful whenever he was home that he’d let them spend time with him—help out while he did stuff around the house. He’d always said it was easier, faster to do the work himself. And the boys would be left watching from the outside while their dad hung a picture or changed the brake pads in his car.
“Sure, Cody. Let’s just get the old stuff cleaned up and then I’ll show both you and your brother how to hang the new wall.” Dylan swung a trash can into place. “The least fun part of demo—cleaning up.”
Cody nodded, then grabbed a big dustpan and scooped up the chunks, dumping them into the trash without complaint. Jake did his best, but his littler hands didn’t do the job of his older brother. When they were done, Cody took the initiative to grab the first piece of Sheetrock.
Dylan nodded toward the wall. “Go ahead, put it up. Then the three of us will nail it into place.” He dropped some nails into Abby’s palm.
They worked together as a team. Cody held the wall while Abby hammered on one end and Dylan and Jake did the other end. Dylan would drive a couple nails, then hold one for Jake and let him take a swing at it. Even when Jake hit Dylan’s thumb a few times, Dylan went on letting Jake try. It was sweet, and for a moment, Abby found herself wondering what their childhoods would have been like if Dylan had been around the boys in those days without a father.
Then she drew herself up and faced reality—she already knew what happened with men like him. Men who had no real ties or commitments. They might be good for a while, but eventually, they left. And they let her down. More than that, they let her sons down.
And that was the one price Abby wasn’t willing to pay, no matter how much she liked Dylan’s smile.
* * *
With his motley crew, Dylan managed to make his way through a lot of the repairs before three. For sure, the wall demo had been the most popular activity of the day. The boys had been cooperative—Jake clearly eager to learn; Cody unable to pretend he didn’t care. Even Abby had been enthusiastic and, in the process, picked up a few skills.
