by Cindy Adkins
“It’s hard to believe that we have already been back for two weeks, isn’t it?” asked Brad.
“Yes,” agreed Josh, “and since we have three jobs lined up, we are off to a good start. I think that we can make a go of this landscaping business.”
“Me, too,” said Brad, “and now that my dad needs more work done at the church, that will keep us busy, too.”
Mrs. Sullivan stepped out on the porch of her yellow Victorian home with the wrap-around porch. “Boys, I’ve made lemonade. Why don’t you get out of the hot sun and have some to drink on the veranda?”
“Thanks, Mrs. Sullivan. We’ll be right in.” Turning to Brad, Josh whispered, “That was nice of her.”
“It sure was,” agreed Brad. “Let’s go get some. We could use a break.”
The boys walked up toward the house past all the shrubs that they had planted the previous week. “Lookin’ good,” said Josh as they passed them. They walked up onto the porch and Mrs. Sullivan welcomed them inside. They followed her through the house to the large veranda. It was beautifully decorated with white wicker furniture. Blue and white toile pillows were casually placed on the chairs and loveseats lending to its relaxed atmosphere. Large windows on three sides offered a spectacular view of her property.
“This is really nice out here, Mrs. Sullivan,” Brad remarked. “Your ferns look very healthy. But, I see that you have a lot of empty pots. We could plant those if you want us to.” Mrs. Sullivan handed each of them a glass of fresh lemonade that had been sitting on a silver tray with a large glass pitcher on the white wicker coffee table.
“I was going to ask you boys about that,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “I would like to make things really colorful out here as my granddaughter is arriving next week from New York. She will be spending the summer with me.”
“We will get right on it after lunch,” offered Josh. “I can swing by the nursery and pick up flowers and bring them back with me. We can be done in here by this afternoon.”
“That would be wonderful,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “Jillian is an artist and I know that she would love seeing all the colors out here. She is bringing her easel and this would be the perfect spot for her to paint.”
All of a sudden, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” Mrs. Sullivan excused herself and the next thing the boys knew, their partner Tim Holloway was standing in the entrance to the veranda. The boys were glad that their friend had arrived.
“Oh, your timing couldn’t have been better,” said Josh. “You can help us with planting the flowers outside in the two large beds.”
“I figured you could use some help,” replied Tim.
“We sure can,” said Brad.
“I finished up that job that we started at the Meyers’ place,” Tim informed them.
“Oh, that’s great,” said Josh.
“Help yourself to some lemonade,” Mrs. Sullivan offered as she looked at him.
“Thank you, Ma’am.” Tim smiled at her. “I appreciate it.” He walked over to the table and poured himself a drink.
“Boys, I have a favor to ask of you,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “Of course, you are welcome to say ‘no,’ but I wanted to ask.”
“Sure, Mrs. Sullivan.” Josh was eager to help. “What can we do for you?”
“I have a bed with a brass headboard upstairs in one of my guest rooms that I need to bring down to the den for my granddaughter. Would you mind carrying it so I can get everything ready for her?”
“We would be happy to,” Brad told her.
“Oh, I’d appreciate that,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “I was also thinking of one more project that I’d like you to consider doing for me. You know, I have a wooden ramp that leads to the house from the back porch. But, I would like to have one out front, too. Do you think that you could build such a thing?” she asked.
“That would be no problem at all,” Tim spoke up. “I made one for my grandparents’ house when my grandfather had hip surgery last year.” He looked over at Josh and Brad. “If I get the materials, what do you say we build it tomorrow?”
“Sounds great,” Brad agreed. “My dad has lots of tools. I could bring them over.”
“Actually, before you leave today, you might want to check that large barn out back because that is where my late husband kept all of his tools,” Mrs. Sullivan suggested. “You are welcome to use any of them that you need.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Sullivan,” said Brad. “We will take a look out there when we’re done.”
“Well, let’s get that bed moved for you, Mrs. Sullivan,” urged Josh.
“That would be perfect,” she smiled. “Let me show you where it is.”
They all went upstairs to a small guest room that had beautiful pink rose wallpaper and a fireplace with a large white wooden mantel. Tim and Josh picked up the twin mattress and box spring set and carried it down to the den. Brad brought the brass headboard. Mrs. Sullivan got some new taupe and white plaid bedding out of the closet and took it downstairs, as well.
The cream-colored den was large with built-in white wooden bookcases and a window seat in front of a bay window. There was a small robin’s egg blue loveseat against one wall with an antique oak table next to it. “I think that Jillian will prefer this room because it overlooks the pond,” remarked Mrs. Sullivan.
“Is Jillian your granddaughter?” asked Tim.
“Yes, she is coming from New York to visit me for the summer,” explained Mrs. Sullivan. “Jillian recently finished high school and my daughter thought that she would enjoy spending some time in the country.”
“I will have to introduce her to my sister, Hailey, and my girlfriend Rachel,” offered Brad. “She would have some instant friends.”
“Well, we’ll see,” Mrs. Sullivan hesitated.
The boys set up the bed and headboard on the empty wall facing the pond. “When it is done, this will room work out nicely,” Mrs. Sullivan told them. “Once I get all the new bedding on here, I think this will suit her perfectly.”
“I’d say that she will be very comfortable,” Josh assured her. “We better head back outside and get the rest of our work done.”
“Thank you so much for your help,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “I’ll be here all day, so when you come back with those plants for the veranda, I’ll be sure to let you in.”
“I already counted twelve pots out there, so I will get enough flowers,” Josh assured her.
“Wonderful,” smiled Mrs. Sullivan. “You seem to have such a green thumb that I’ll leave it up to you.”
The boys thanked her for the lemonade and spent the rest of the morning planting the large flowerbeds and mulching out front. Right before noon, Josh turned to Brad and Tim. “Why don’t you two go pick up some hamburgers?” Josh had a plan in mind. “I’ll finish up this area. After we eat, I’ll swing by the nursery and get the flowers for the veranda.”
“Okay,” Brad agreed. “We can take my truck.”
Tim and Brad got into the truck and drove awhile down the winding road away from the Sullivan Estate. They were grateful when the air-conditioning finally started cooling them off. The summer heat and humidity had taken its toll on them. “Mrs. Sullivan sure got quiet when I offered to introduce her granddaughter to Hailey and Rachel,” said Brad.
“I noticed that,” agreed Tim. “I wonder why.”
“Maybe because Jillian’s a ‘city’ girl, Mrs. Sullivan might think that she wouldn’t have much in common with them.”
“I don’t know,” confessed Tim. “But, she did not sound keen on the idea when you mentioned it.”
“I’m also curious why she needed for us move the bed downstairs for Jillian,” Brad questioned. “That room upstairs seemed ideal for any girl. Hailey would love a room like that.”
“It didn’t make sense to me, either,” admitted Tim. “I guess she wanted to make sure that Jillian had a nice view.”
“Will that ramp take us very long to build?” asked Brad.
“I don’t think so,” rep
lied Tim. “I may have my dad stop over later and take a look at the porch because he’s built plenty of them.”
“That would be a big help,” said Brad. “Mrs. Sullivan is always fair about paying us, so I know it will be worth our while.”
“As long as we can get started early, I’d say we’d be in good shape,” said Tim.
Just then, Brad’s cell phone rang. It was Josh on the line.
“Brad, you’ve got to get back to Mrs. Sullivan’s,” urged Josh. “She fell off the steps and I’m here waiting for an ambulance.”
“Okay,” Brad responded. “I’ll be right there.” He hung up the phone.
“What happened?” asked Tim.
“Mrs. Sullivan fell off the steps and she is badly hurt,” Brad explained. “We’ve got to get back over there right away.”
Brad drove down the road awhile until he could find a place to turn his truck around. He tried to return to the Sullivan Estate as soon as he could. When they got back, Mrs. Sullivan was lying on the grass out front and Josh was kneeling down trying to comfort her. The boys got out of the truck and rushed over to them.
“What would I do without all of you?” asked Mrs. Sullivan who appeared to be in a great deal of pain.
“I’m glad we could be here, Mrs. Sullivan,” Brad reassured her. “I hope that the ambulance gets here right away.”
Before long, they could all hear the sirens in the distance. “Here they come,” announced Josh, “and not a minute too soon. Hold tight, Mrs. Sullivan and they will take care of you.”
“Thank you so much, Hon,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “You’re a good boy. Please be sure to grab my keys off of the kitchen counter so that you will have a way to get into the house when I am gone.”
“Okay, Mrs. Sullivan,” replied Josh. “Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll take care of it all.”
Before long, the paramedics arrived and put Mrs. Sullivan into an ambulance. “Where are you taking her,” asked Josh.
“To Davis Memorial,” answered the young, brown-haired paramedic. “Do you know where it is?”
“Yes,” he affirmed. Hearing the name of it made him shudder as he vividly remembered his mother dying there. However, he tried to focus on the situation at hand. “Mrs. Sullivan has a sister named Jean Smart who lives nearby, so I hope that she can be notified.”
“We’ll pass that information on,” said the paramedic. “Thanks a lot.”
The ambulance drove away. Josh turned to Brad and Tim. “I am so glad I was here when that happened.”
“Can you imagine if you had gone with us?” asked Brad looking at Josh.
“She would have been all alone,” said Tim.
“I hope that she will be all right,” Josh told them. “It seems like we’re not building that ramp a minute too soon.”
“I’m glad her granddaughter will be coming to visit,” said Tim. “She can use the company now.”
“Well, let’s whip this place into shape and get things ready so that they will be comfortable,” urged Brad. “I hope that Mrs. Sullivan will be okay. I’m going to call my dad and see if he can go visit her in the hospital. She and her husband used to go to the church a long time ago before her husband died. My dad would want to know about this.”
“You’re right,” agreed Josh. “Give him a call.”
“We can go visit her when we’re done here, too,” Brad suggested.
“Yes, and it would be nice to get flowers from the nursery to take to her,” said Josh.
“Great idea,” agreed Brad.
Brad called his father and then all three of the boys decided to go eat lunch. Afterwards, they stopped by the nursery to get more flowers. Then, they came back to the house and got all of their work done. By the time that they were finished, the veranda was dripping with blooms in pink, purple, and yellow.
In the late afternoon, the three of them drove to the hospital to see how Mrs. Sullivan was doing. She was resting in a room on the third floor. Luckily, she had not broken any bones. There were numerous scrapes and bruises on her legs, so the doctor wanted to keep her overnight for observation as a precaution. Her sister Jean was planning to come in the morning to take her home.
When the boys arrived into Mrs. Sullivan’s hospital room, Josh was holding a large bouquet of red carnations. He walked up to her bedside and handed them to her.
“Oh, these are beautiful,” exclaimed Mrs. Sullivan. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome, Ma’am.” Josh smiled at her. “I hope that you will be feeling better soon.”
“We’ll be working on that ramp for you, Mrs. Sullivan,” Brad assured her. “Tim’s dad came over and helped us plan it.”
“I’d say you’ll have a new ramp by tomorrow afternoon,” said Tim. “We found the tools in the barn and everything that we need is there.”
“I am so glad,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “Boys, I can’t thank you enough.”
“Don’t worry about a thing,” replied Tim. “You get well and we’ll take care of the rest.”
“Well, my granddaughter will be here tomorrow afternoon,” Mrs. Sullivan informed them.
“I didn’t realize that she was coming so soon,” said Brad.
“She wasn’t planning on it,” explained Mrs. Sullivan, “but because of my fall, my daughter thought it would be a good idea for me to have someone staying with me. My sister Jean will pick Jillian up at the airport in the late afternoon.” Jean Smart was a woman in her early sixties with short silver hair. She had a bubbly personality and a perpetual smile on her face.
“I know Miss Jean from the choir,” said Brad. “She has been singing in it for a long time at the church.”
“Yes, she loves being involved in that,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “She is certainly the music person in the family, no doubt.”
“Miss Jean has a beautiful voice,” said Brad.
“Oh yes, she does,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “And me? I can’t carry a tune,” she laughed.
“Well, it’s good to see a smile on your face,” said Brad. “I hope you’ll be on the mend soon.”
* * * * *
The next day, Mrs. Sullivan returned from the hospital. The boys worked on the ramp until the late afternoon and completed it. Then, they began cleaning up the area. “I’m glad that Mrs. Sullivan is improving,” said Josh. “I was really worried yesterday.” He started to load the extra wood into the bed of his truck.
“So was I,” admitted Tim. “But, it’s good that her granddaughter is coming to stay with her.”
“You’re only saying that because you’d like to meet Jillian,” joked Brad. “You can’t fool us.” He started to rake up the wood scraps that were left on the lawn.
“Oh, come on,” said Tim, “I was only thinking about Mrs. Sullivan.”
“Well, admit it,” Brad continued with a smile. “It wouldn’t hurt if her granddaughter happened to be awesome, would it?”
“I guess not,” said Tim. “But I don’t know if I’m ready to get involved with anyone yet. It’s only been six months since Nellie and I broke up.” He gathered up the tools to return them to the barn.
“You never know,” Josh contended. “Jillian could be ‘the one’ and you might not even realize it.”
“She should be here soon,” said Brad. “Maybe we’ll all find out when she pulls up in the driveway.”
“Aren’t you guys getting ahead of yourselves?” asked Tim.
“I don’t think so,” replied Josh. “It’s better than watching you mope around the way you have for almost half a year.”
“Well, I didn’t expect my girlfriend to break up with me on New Year’s Eve.” Tim had not gotten over Nellie in all that time. “Then when she decided to graduate in January and go directly into the Navy, I wasn’t prepared for that in the least.”
“It completely shocked all of us,” said Brad. “I’ve known Nellie since we were in kindergarten. I never would have thought that she would join the military. But, she’s serving our country, so we
can be proud of her.”
“I am,” Tim assured him. “I don’t know why she wanted to break up with me before she left. It made no sense.”
“Maybe she did it for you,” Josh suggested. “She probably didn’t want you to put your life on hold for her.”
“I would have.”
“Exactly,” said Josh. “Maybe Nellie wanted you to live your life and get the most out of it.”
“Well, I sure miss her,” admitted Tim. There was no hiding his feelings regarding their break-up.
“We know you do,” Brad sympathized. “Life can change. You never know what can happen in the future. I heard that she was done with boot camp and that she’s living in Hawaii now.”
“I had no idea.” Tim was surprised to hear of her whereabouts. To him, it felt like Nellie had fallen off of the planet. “I haven’t heard from her since she left.” He had finally gotten all the tools together.
Miss Jean’s white car pulled up in the circular driveway. She stopped about four feet away from where the boys were cleaning up. Tim saw Jillian in the passenger seat and was convinced that she was the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on. Her wispy brown hair framed her face and her dark sunglasses made her look like a movie star.
Josh immediately noticed the look on Tim’s face. The sadness of the last several months seemed to disappear instantly. “Take it easy, Cowboy,” warned Josh. “Remember, she’s only here for the summer.”
“Hi, Miss Jean,” said Brad when she got out of the car.
“Hello, Dear. How are you and your wonderful family?”
“Just fine, Ma’am.”
Miss Jean went to get something out of the trunk of her car. “Can I help you?” asked Brad.
“That would be great,” replied Miss Jean. “Thank you. I need to get this wheelchair out for Jillian.”
Brad rushed over to help Miss Jean. Josh and Tim followed him to the back of the car. Brad got the wheelchair out of the trunk. Miss Jean whispered to the boys, “Jillian can’t walk. She will need your help.”
