by Jenny Rabe
“New cabinets in the kitchen, new tile and paint job in the three bathrooms, replace the doors, and redo the stairs. Basically, everything needs work, and we could have you busy for a good long time.”
It was as he thought. Hopefully the Kangs’ neighbors felt the same.
“We are leaving in a week for vacation, but if you agree to it, we’d love for you to start on the list now and continue after we leave. It would be a dream to come home and have some of these things done. As long as you track your hours and keep the house locked up, we’ll get along fine.”
He handed his folder to her and she flipped through the list of references. She handed it back with a smile. “You think I didn’t ask around about you? The people in Greenville wouldn’t stop talking about how hard you worked in their small city. So many good reviews online. I’m surprised you left such a great company, a managerial position, even.”
Aiden raised his eyebrows. “My dad was recently put in hospice care, and he wants to die where he was born. He gave up everything to raise me, so I figured the least I can do is be close to him.”
Paula’s perfect composure broke as her eyes watered. “That’s tender. I had a . . .” Her voice dropped off and she looked away.
Aiden shifted on the couch, not used to people feeling sorry for him. He inspected the condition of the walls and floors, anything but her heartbroken expression.
She grabbed a nearby tissue and dabbed at her cheeks. “Sorry. My husband tells me I’m emotional over the silliest things. I think it’s admirable you’re fulfilling your daddy’s last wish. I’m sure he’s proud of you.”
Despite having no connection with the woman, and in general not knowing much about women, Paula’s words warmed him from head to toe. He guessed it was something a mom would say.
Her gaze stayed glued to him despite the awkward tension in the room. “I was going to suggest starting after we left, but would you like to start today? Is that something you’re interested in?”
His heart lifted at the thought of getting paid sooner. “I’d be happy to start today. Uh . . .” He paused as he tried to read the list in her hands. “You might need to read that list to me.”
Paula laughed, her voice much softer than before. She grabbed his wrist and led him into the kitchen. “Ah, yes, nobody can read my handwriting.”
“Well, we have that in common, ma’am. No one can read mine, either. I think we’ll get along fine.”
* * *
Aiden yawned as he climbed down the sturdy wooden ladder, his paint spray gun in hand. It was still early and yet he was beat. The tan siding he’d been painting reminded him of a tree trunk with puke-green leaves on either side. If he didn’t finish painting the rest of the house, people were going to talk.
It’d been a week since starting at the Kangs’, and to add a little more income, he picked up a second job at the waffle restaurant down the street. When he wasn’t working at either job, he visited his dad at Ridgeport Nursing Home.
As he allowed himself a deep stretch, his back and neck popped in more places than they should have.
“Long day?” Laura Lee’s voice sounded next to him. He jumped, almost slamming against the side of the ladder. If it hadn’t been for her frequent visits, he might’ve worked a little faster, but then again, he’d been able to see her.
She wore a white sundress over her red-and-white striped bathing suit, a pair of old brown leather flip-flops, and she’d tied her hair up in a messy knot. Her skin was less red than the week before, but her arms and nose were still peeling from the sun exposure. “How do you do that?”
“What did I do this time?” she asked, blue eyes widening.
Despite the number of times she’d surprised him over the last week, her voice still made him jump. “You always pop out of nowhere.”
She laughed and offered him a tall glass of ice and lemonade she’d hidden behind her back. Despite his hesitancy, he’d only rejected her drink once. The sea breeze wasn’t enough to cool him from the hot siding of the house or its energy source above him.
Aiden downed the lemonade and wiped at his forehead with his arm. “Thanks.” He gave the glass back to her with a shaky hand. He’d skipped lunch so he could finish painting the first coat on the house before work.
She raised an eyebrow and took the glass. “Looks like you’ve replaced the bad siding. I can’t believe you’re already painting. Geesh, you’re fast.”
He rested on a rung of the ladder. It amused him how quickly she spoke, spitting multiple sentences out in a short amount of time. Most times he let her talk, knowing she was lonely without her grandmother. Her nose twitched as she waited for him to answer. “Oh, sorry. Yep, my dad taught me to move fast when paint was involved. Hope I can get it all done today.”
“And not green, right?”
He smiled despite his annoyance from the growing heat and the pleasant distraction from his work. “Nope. What do you think about the tan color?”
She wrinkled her cute little snip of a nose and looked at the house again. “Normally I’d say brown is worse, but on this house it does seem to be an improvement. Have you eaten?”
“Nope. I’ll eat later during my shift at the restaurant like I did yesterday.”
She cleared her throat. “Fine, fine. How’s your job at The Waffle Spot?”
If he were honest, he struggled with his second job. He had a black thumb for cooking, and he was sure his boss, Melba, only kept him because he showed up and had a decent set of teeth. “It’s nice to have a break from this heat, that’s for sure. Waffles are good, too.”
“I hear they’re better than homemade.”
“They’re fine when I’m not the one cooking.” If he didn’t cut her off soon, she’d rattle on for hours. Even if he did like talking to her, time was up. He focused much better when she wasn’t staring at him with her baby blues. “Gotta get back to it,” he said, picking up the paint gun from the ground.
“Okay, I’ll see you.” She gave a heavy sigh on her way back to her house, the empty glass swinging in her hand. The blue paint on her side door was chipped and peeling. If he had time after the Kangs’ job, he’d paint it for her.
“Laura Lee,” he called when she was about to open the door.
She whipped around, a smile sneaking on her lips. “Yes?”
He wiped at the sweat on his forehead then waved. “Thank you for the drink. There are always extra waffles at the end of my shift. Want me to bring some by?”
Her eyes brightened. “That would be great. Be careful up there.”
Her words rang in his ear as he turned to the puke-colored house siding. Even though their budding association was a fun distraction, it was time to focus.
Hours later, after locking his precious tools in his old truck and closing the battered white shell, he headed inside to log his hours. The Kangs had left an hour earlier, going to the grocery store before leaving tomorrow for their vacation to Colorado. Once they were gone, he could come and go as he pleased, and that was when the real progress would happen.
He filled out his time on an index card Paula kept in a desk by the kitchen. As he closed the drawer again, a picture frame on top of the desk caught his eye. He leaned forward to study it then froze as he recognized the person. He scrambled to pull the picture from his wallet to compare. What was a picture of his dad doing in the Kangs’ house? Same clothes, same quality of picture, maybe even taken on the same day.
“Something caught your eye?”
He spun around at the sound of Paula’s voice. “Who is this?”
Her eyes flitted around the room as she picked it up and hid it behind her back. “Oh, that old thing. It came with the house and I kept it. Silly, right? Anyway, can you come in the kitchen? I want to show you the paint I picked out.”
That ended the conversation, but it didn’t stop Aiden’s mind from reeling. Sometimes people kept pictures and knickknacks in old homes they’d found, but it seemed fishy to him. If Paula had a con
nection to his father, he wanted to know.
Things were getting interesting.
2
Laura Lee
The ringing of the doorbell reverberated through her grandmother’s—no, her spacious house. Laura Lee pulled the pillow over her head and groaned. It was Aiden, she was sure of it. Other neighbors could help him with a cup of sugar or a teaspoon of salt. What she wouldn’t give to return to the time he avoided her and spoke in three-word sentences.
She crawled out of bed and stumbled down the stairs before he rang the doorbell again. Fixing a smile on her lips, she threw the door open wide. “What is it this time? An egg? Flour? Sugar?”
“Morning, sunshine,” a deep voice drawled. “Sugar would be nice this early.”
It was much too early for him to get away with flirting. She shielded her eyes against the morning sun. As expected, Aiden, her temporary neighbor to the right, leaned against the doorframe, one leg crossed over the other. His shaggy blond hair touched the tops of his sapphire eyes, reminding her of a surfer. He wore his typical work outfit, black slacks and a Waffle Spot shirt, and had a goofy grin on his face. He held an empty plastic measuring cup.
She gave him what she hoped was a hard deadpan stare. “It’s not even eight. What’s the big deal?”
He shook the measuring cup. “Aren’t you proud of me? I brought the measuring cup back this time.”
“Yeah, that’s progress. Did you need anything in it?” If he was going to get her out of bed, there’d better be a bigger reason than returning a cleaned kitchen utensil.
“Got milk? I ran out again.”
She crossed her arms and smirked. Two weeks ago, it’d been her making up excuses to see the handsome man working on the house next to her. Since he was house sitting for the Kang couple, he turned the tables on her, seeking her out more often than not. Even though she hated missing sleep, his early-morning visits gave her a reason to get out of bed. The last few months without Grandma Jean were lonely. “Of course, I have milk. I can’t believe you don’t. Didn’t the Kangs leave anything in their fridge?”
“No, they didn’t, but even if they did, it’s much more fun seeing your bright, smiling face every morning.” Aiden smiled, his cocky, boyish grin showing a slightly crooked row of bottom teeth. He took in her appearance with a head-to-toe examination. “Plus, I’d miss seeing you in those cute pajamas. I bet those lobsters are getting more than they bargained for when they grabbed on to you.”
Laura Lee scoffed at his attempt to compliment her. If she hadn’t already answered the door in her PJs a dozen times or more, she might’ve been embarrassed, but it was becoming an everyday normal. Compared to Aiden’s usual clothes with paint drips and holes or bacon grease and waffle batter, she looked like a million bucks. There were more tired lines in his expression than there had been the day before. Her heart fell. He wasn’t taking proper care of himself and was overworking. “Come in; you’re letting the cold air out.”
She headed toward the kitchen, leading the way down the hallway. “If you have the time to fix up beach houses for the summer, you can go to the grocery store and buy a gallon of milk. Why did you get another job? Aren’t the Kangs paying you enough?”
“All I have is time, and I need a backup once this job finishes.”
His voice sounded so close in her ear, she spun around. Despite how grungy he dressed most of the time, the softness in his eyes and the dimple in his grin made up for it. He wasn’t all that bad looking. She shook away thoughts of him shirtless on a ladder and took a step away. No matter how much she both hated and waited for his morning visits, she relied on him more than she wanted to admit. His conversations brightened her day and left her eager for the evening when he’d drop by again. “You should be raking in the dough.”
He moved the hair out his eyes and sat on one of the cushioned barstools. “Lots of bills to pay and not enough time in the day. Buying food seems to be my last priority.”
Laura Lee rolled her eyes, but took the measuring cup and opened the fridge. “Your priorities are a bit of a mess.” When they’d first met, he’d been happy to ignore her, but in the last two weeks, he’d taken a special interest in borrowing things from her. Sure, he paid for the ingredients with waffles from work and an occasional project around the house, but that didn’t explain why his interest toward her had changed. “Fine, but you owe me some waffles tonight.”
“You got it.” Aiden stared at her from his barstool, looking contemplative as usual. While he was shameless about asking her for ingredients, he was private about the personal details of his life. Other than being in his late twenties, working at a waffle restaurant, and updating a beach house for the summer, Laura Lee didn’t know much about him.
As he sat on the barstool, she noticed how out of place he looked against all of Grandma Jean’s lavish pillows, throw rugs, and curtains. If it weren’t for her boredom and his evening waffle deliveries, she would’ve turned him away at the door the first time. Sleep was too important.
“How is your job at The Waffle Spot going?” She poured milk into the cup. “I wonder what the Kangs will think when they return home and find out you divided your time.”
Aiden still hadn’t answered by the time she finished pouring and found a spoon. Instead, he stared at the counter, curling and uncurling his fingers.
“Aiden, your job?”
Finally, he met her eyes and winked. “You’re sure interested in me this morning, but to answer your question, work is good. Keeps me busy in the hot hours of the day. Don’t worry about the Kangs’ house. Renovations are coming right along.”
His ability to think deeply about something and answer a question shallowly without missing a beat was impressive. He was hiding something. If she had to lose sleep over his visit, she wanted some adult conversation out of their little interaction.
She cleared her throat and gave him a hard stare. “Something on your mind?”
“Uh, not really. I was thinking about the Kangs. What do you know about them?”
“They’re quiet neighbors for the most part, but my grandma never liked Mrs. Kang much.”
Aiden straightened and studied her for a minute. “Why?
“I’m not sure. It surprised me, too. Grandma Jean got along with everyone, but I think she and the Kangs had a big disagreement years ago and they never patched things up. When she died, they brought a big vase of beautiful white lilies, but there were so many people in the house, I didn’t have a chance to say much to them.”
Aiden went back to studying the counter and she changed the subject. “I think it would be fun to work at The Waffle Spot,” she said, resting her chin in her hands. “Everyone’s a little crazy and loud, but the employees are sweet grandmas and hardworking single moms.”
He leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand. “And what does that make me?”
She blinked fast a few times. “Uh . . . I heard they’re in the market for some hot handymen, too.” He laughed heartily. Embarrassed, she kept talking, hoping that if she didn’t give him time to respond, he wouldn’t comment on her too-honest assessment of his looks. “Anyway, some people say it’s not classy, but I’d rather eat there than at some fancy restaurant with stiff waiters who plaster smiles on their faces.”
Aiden glanced up and gave her a crooked smile. “Well, I could knock out a few of your teeth, and then you’d qualify to work there.”
Laura Lee snorted and put the carton of milk back in the fridge. “I didn’t leave teaching to work at a local breakfast restaurant. You’d probably make me fetch everything for you in a little maid outfit.”
She found a plastic bag in a drawer and poured in the cup of milk. A bag would be a better way to send ingredients. She tossed the measuring cup into the sink and zipped the bag closed.
When she turned around, he was staring intently at her. Her cheeks filled with heat. Wow, he was cute. His facial features reminded her of a boy she’d met at the beach years ago who had left quite an im
pression on her.
He tucked his hands under his chin, leaned on the counter, and batted his eyes playfully. “If you’re not working, what are you going to do this summer? Inherited beach house, nice back pockets filled with cash, and plenty of food. You’re set to be a beach bum the rest of your life.”
With the bag still clenched in her hand, she leaned against the cool gray granite counter and tapped her fingers along its hard surface, considering his words. “It gets old real quick. The first few months here have zapped my motivation.”
Aiden shrugged and ran his fingers through his mess of hair. “The schools in Myrtle Beach might be different than the ones in Atlanta. Why not teach here?”
Over and over she’d asked herself the same thing. Her parents had kept her from knowing the extent of her grandmother’s declining health, and before she’d wrapped up things in Georgia, Grandma Jean had slipped away. It broke Laura Lee’s heart knowing her sweet grandmother died alone.
She moved to Myrtle Beach with a heavy loss, a broken relationship with her parents, and zero goals for her future. With what she’d saved, combined with what Grandma Jean left her, she had enough to live on for the rest of her miserable, lonely life. She wanted to do something meaningful with her time, but the thought of returning to education made her stomach twist into a ton of knots.
“I’m not ready to go back to teaching. In five short years, I saw children deal with some sad, scary situations. The parents were too involved to the point of harassment or not involved at all. I loved my students, but it physically hurt to see them fall into the same addictive traps as their parents.”
“I understand that.” Aiden gestured to the bag of milk and laughed. “Well, it’s kind that you’ve given me less dishes to do, but some people have to go to work today. How long are you going to hold my milk prisoner? I’ll be late.”
She lifted the bag in the air, but held it hostage until she made sure he would keep his end of the bargain. “Depends if you’re bringing syrup packets with the waffles.”
