by Jeannie Watt
“I’m sure,” Grady said with an easy grin.
“Emily offered to take care of them.” Emily Mansanti was the girls’ usual afternoon babysitter, who’d happened to have a free morning today.
“Why spend the money when you have me?” He wasn’t fool enough to add, “How hard could it be to take care of two little girls?” The past several days had taught him exactly how hard it could be. Kristen and Katie put new meaning into the word energetic. Although they were blond-haired-green-eyed images of their sensible brown-haired, blue-eyed mother, they seemed to have inherited their uncle Grady’s sense of adventure. And now he was getting an idea of the challenges he must have presented his own parents. Constant energy was exhausting.
Annie gave her head a small shake. “Just making sure,” she said as the girls walked into the kitchen.
“Good luck on your job,” Kristen said, hugging Annie around the waist.
“I don’t have it yet, sweetie, but I’m going to give it a shot.”
“We still get to go to riding lessons, right?” Katie piped up. “If you get the job.”
“I’m going to take you to lessons,” Grady said.
Before the girls could respond, Annie said, “He’ll take you to lessons if you behave while I’m gone. If you don’t...” She held up a finger in a warning gesture, and both girls nodded solemnly.
Somewhere along the line Annie had shifted from easygoing sister to strict mom.
“You’re going to be late,” Grady said.
“Yeah. Wish me luck.”
“Good luck,” Grady said. He’d told himself a couple of times that morning that they wouldn’t have called her in for an interview if she wasn’t a serious candidate. He didn’t trust Lex, but he did trust Danielle, and the fact that she’d arranged for the interview after they talked made him feel hopeful for his sister’s chances. Heaven knew she was due for a break.
“Do we get to help you build the garage?” Kristen asked as soon as the door shut behind her mother.
“Please?” Katie asked. “We like to hammer.”
“Yeah,” Grady said. In fact, that sounded like a fine idea. They could hammer nails into a board and he could get some work done on the frame. He found two lightweight tack hammers in the tool box and two sturdy boards. After partially hammering ten nails into each board, he cautioned the girls to grip the hammer with both hands and to never hold the nails with their fingers. He also told them to tap, not wallop.
Maybe he’d given a few too many strict instructions because after ten minutes, the girls became bored with mindless hammering and wanted another job. It didn’t take long for him to realize that he wasn’t going to get a lot done while they were there helping him.
“What else can you guys do while I work?” he asked. An idea struck him. “Hey, shouldn’t you be reading books for that library award thing your mom told me about?” After the twins had gone to bed the previous evening, Annie had explained to Grady that her girls were dead set on winning the local library’s Dedicated Reader Awards. It was a big deal in town, and part of Grady’s duties would be to sign off on their reading sheets and take them to the library when they ran low on books.
“We finished our books last night,” Kristen said. “Mom’s picking up more today.”
“Um...” Katie frowned a little. “We could clean our rooms.”
Grady lifted a skeptical eyebrow. No kids he knew of volunteered to clean their rooms. “What’s the catch?”
“It’s almost time for allowance and if our rooms aren’t clean, we don’t get allowance.”
Annie really had become a hard-ass. But she always had been a neat freak, so Grady understood the clean-rooms-linked-to-allowance thing.
“Cool.” They’d clean their rooms, get their allowance and he’d get some framing done. Win-win. “If you’re done by lunch and do a good job, I’ll add extra money to your allowance.”
The girls exchanged excited glances, then started running toward the house, laughing as they went.
Feeling rather smug, Grady went back to framing. He figured it was almost two hours until lunch. The girls would probably start cleaning their rooms, then segue into a session of cartoon streaming as they’d done the previous evening while he and Annie discussed futures—hers and his. His sister was struggling, but she wasn’t giving up. He was somehow going to help her without making her feel beholden. Neat trick, that, but he’d figure it out. In the meantime, he would rebuild the garage, patch the barn and reinforce the cellar stairs. He owned half the property, and it was only right that he help with the upkeep, despite Annie pointing out that he didn’t live there so he didn’t reap any benefits. He was reaping them now.
Grady lost himself in the building process as the sun climbed in the sky. He glanced at his watch and realized almost two hours had passed since the girls went inside. He was hungry and thirsty, and he imagined the girls were probably also in need of lunch.
He pulled his ball cap off as he approached the house and slapped it on his thigh. Annie had made sun tea the day before, and he needed about a gallon of it right now. He pushed open the back door into the kitchen and then stopped dead in his tracks as his boots hit a puddle and two pairs of startled green eyes connected with his.
“What the—” He barely cut off the curse. Swallowing hard, he stepped over the wide puddle of tea and broken glass. “Hey! Don’t touch the glass,” he yelled as Katie started picking up the pieces with her bare hands. She instantly dropped the shards and stepped back, putting her hands behind her. Grady walked through the mess and took her hands in his, examining them closely. Other than being sticky from something chocolaty, they seemed fine.
“All right,” he said once he was satisfied he wouldn’t be rendering first aid. “How did this hap...” The word trailed off as he suddenly became aware of the condition of the rest of the kitchen, which had been close to spotless when Annie had left. Egad. Where had all that chocolate come from?
He shifted his gaze back to his nieces, unable to find words. They seemed similarly afflicted until Kristen blinked at him, all wide green eyes and stricken expression. “We wanted to surprise you with a cake.”
Chapter Three
Indeed, there were signs of cake making in the form of chocolate batter pretty much everywhere, including the front of the fridge, the cabinets and the floor. No fewer than five bowls were stacked in the sink, along with a gooey eggbeater lying on the counter. Grady picked it up gingerly and set it in the bowls.
“We aren’t allowed to use the mixer,” Katie explained, casually wiping her gooey hands down the sides of her pink jeans.
Grady could only imagine the havoc they could have created with an electric mixer tossing batter around the room. “I see.” He rubbed his jaw as he took in the carnage. If he was quick, there was an off chance they could get the mess cleaned up before Annie got home.
“Here’s the deal, guys. I want you to stay out of here until I get the floor cleaned up, then—”
The sound of a car interrupted his words.
“Mom,” the girls said simultaneously in a hushed tone.
“Sounds like it,” he agreed, heading for the door and shooting a look out the window. It was indeed Annie who’d pulled into the drive. He turned back to the two wide-eyed girls. “Why don’t you two wait in the living room?”
They turned without argument and walked side by side down the hall. Katie had a perfect chocolate handprint on her backside. They’d just disappeared into the living room when he heard Kristen say in a low voice, “She’s going to be mad.”
No doubt.
Grady pulled open the door to take the heat.
Annie practically danced up the sidewalk. “I got the job!”
“Congratulations,” Grady said, forcing a quick smile. He glanced over his shoulder at the house.
“What happened?” Annie’s voice instantly went flat. The Mom Voice.
“Well...” Grady shrugged. “Slight mishap. The ice tea jug got knocked out of the fridge and broke.”
Annie paled. “No one got hurt?”
“No.” That was the good news. “But the mess is still there.”
“It happens,” Annie said as she headed past him to the door.
“And the girls made a cake.”
She stopped dead and turned back to him. “With supervision...right?”
He gave a small cough. “It was kind of an independent project.”
A curse slipped out of Annie’s lips followed by an even more colorful curse when she opened the door. For a moment she simply stood cataloging the damage to her kitchen. “Did they ask?”
“Uh...”
“Answer enough. Where are they?”
“Living room.”
She carefully skirted the broken glass in her heels before marching toward the living room. Grady thought about intervening, since he had vague memories of him and Annie doing the exact same thing, minus the broken tea jug, but decided not to risk the wrath of his sister.
Half an hour later the kitchen was cleaned, the girls fed and playing on their swing set and Grady was waiting to hear that he was an irresponsible uncle. Instead Annie opened the fridge and looked inside. “Good. Beer. Do you want one?”
Annie didn’t normally partake at home, and Grady hated the thought that he’d driven her to drink. “Sure.”
She pulled out two bottles and set them on the counter. He automatically stepped over to open them and then handed one to Annie before touching the top of his bottle to hers. “Congratulations, sis. I wish your homecoming had been better.”
“Yes. That’s what I want to talk to you about.” She held the bottle in front of her but had yet to take a sip. “I have a favor to ask.”
“Yeah?” he asked cautiously.
“I know you plan to practice at Hennessey’s while you’re here, and you’re going to be busy with the garage and barn and I know today was a bit of a disaster, but—” she pressed her lips together “—could you also watch the girls in the mornings? They have their regular sitter for the afternoons, but she can’t do mornings.”
Grady shrugged as if watching the twins were the easiest thing in the world. “Sure. Not a problem.”
Annie’s face broke into a wide smile. “I don’t know about that, but it would really help me out.”
“Like I said, not a problem. I came home to help.”
“You came home to rebuild the garage and barn, since I underinsured the outbuildings.”
“We underinsured the outbuildings.” Grady went to sit at the kitchen table, but Annie stayed where she was, leaning against the newly cleaned counter. “I don’t mind watching the girls. I learned a lot today, and I can’t see this—” he gestured at the kitchen “—happening again.”
“They’ll think of something else,” Annie said matter-of-factly. “It’s not an easy job keeping them out of trouble.”
“I can handle it.” He hoped. “I’d even keep them in the afternoons if you want.”
“I need to keep my sitter booked or I’ll lose her during the school year.” And she couldn’t count on him then, because he was leaving for a few months at the end of the summer to take part in the traveling Bull Extravaganza Buck-Off.
“Yeah. That makes sense.” He grinned at her. It’d been a while since he saw Annie so happy. “I’m glad that you got the job.”
“I think I’m going to like it. A lot.” She shot him a sideways look after taking a sip of her beer. “Does it bother you that Danielle’s getting married?”
“I thought it might, but it doesn’t.”
She regarded him for a moment, using her truth-detector look. The same look she’d used whenever he said things like, Honest, I haven’t said a word to Joey Barton about you having a crush on him.
“You sound pretty sure about that,” Annie said. “What changed ‘it might’ to ‘it doesn’t’?”
“She stopped by and we talked. It’s pretty clear to me now that when I left two years ago, I accidentally did the best thing for both of us.”
“So you have no issue with me working for her?”
“Of course not.” Actually, he had more of an issue with her working for Lex, but she was a silent partner, as he understood it, so really he had no issue at all. All he wanted was for his sister to be employed and secure.
* * *
ANNIE OWEN’S FIRST day of work was a typical summer Monday at the store. Crotchety Mrs. Lacombe stopped by before lunch to admire the quilts and complain bitterly about the prices, even though she was perhaps the wealthiest person in town. Annie did her best to assist the woman, but nothing she did was right. Lex wanted to rescue her, but when you worked in retail, you had to learn to deal with the Mrs. Lacombes of the world. Annie looked as if her smile were literally frozen in place by the time the woman left—empty-handed as usual, a broken salesperson in her wake.
She was barely out the door when four ladies in their midfifties, wearing Yellowstone National Park T-shirts, came in and started oohing and aahing over the Western-themed memorabilia. And, thankfully, they were buyers, so Annie came away from her second retail encounter feeling a lot better about her sales abilities.
“I’ve never really spoken to Mrs. Lacombe before,” Annie said after the Yellowstone women went on their way, each carrying a paper shopping bag filled with gifts for children and grandchildren. “Now I know why,” she added with feeling.
Lex fought a smile. She hadn’t expected Annie to be so candid. She liked it.
“Mrs. Lacombe can be trying,” Lex agreed as she opened the small refrigerator and pulled out the salad and sandwiches she’d brought for lunch. Annie had been given strict instructions not to bring lunch the first day. “Danielle doesn’t like it when I help her, because there’s usually smoke rolling off my back by the time she leaves but I haven’t blown yet.”
“Does she ever buy anything?” Annie asked as Danielle came into the workroom.
Lex and Danielle exchanged thoughtful glances. “I think I sold her a set of pot holders once,” Lex said. “Right after we opened.”
“And I sold her a vase,” Danielle said. “The one we’d marked down so many times that if we’d marked it down again, we would have had to pay the person who took it.”
Annie laughed. “So she only comes in to browse.”
“And browbeat,” Lex added with a small grimace. “She’s lonely, so we kind of...endure.” An odd expression crossed Annie’s face, as if she hadn’t expected Lex to say something insightful. Or sensitive. Which made her wonder what Grady had said about her.
It didn’t matter.
The lunch hour was devoid of customers, so the three women were able to eat without interruption. Danielle did point out that normally they considered that a bad thing. “We’ve had a good spring and early summer, though,” she said, “so this is nice.”
The words were barely out of her mouth when the back door opened and Great-granny came in, wearing immaculate jeans and a neatly pressed red gingham Western shirt. She peeked through the workroom door into the shop. “Good. We’re alone.”
“What’s up?” Danielle asked.
“I have a color question.” Great-granny pulled a handful of hardware store paint color cards out of her purse and started arranging them on the table in front of Danielle as if she were dealing out a game of solitaire. “I’ve been looking at bridesmaid dresses. When you say pink, which part of the spectrum are you aiming at?” She laid down the last card and stood back, hands on her narrow hips.
“Well,” Danielle said, briefly meeting Lex’s gaze before lowering it to the sea of pink in front of her, “I’m not certain, so that is
a very good question.” She studied the paint chips—Great-granny had the whole range here, from rose to coral, petal to shocking. “Wow. Um...”
There was a knock on the back door then, and Lex tore herself away from the pink debate to answer it, finding herself face-to-face with Grady Owen once she pulled the door open. Her heart shouldn’t have jumped, but it did. She was that used to expecting disaster whenever Grady was around.
“Uh, hi,” he said, having the good grace to look uncomfortable for once in his life. “I didn’t want to call my sister at work, but if she has a moment, we have a slight emergency. I need her advice.”
“Never a problem,” Lex said coolly, tearing her gaze away from his rather mesmerizing one. She and Danielle knew their employees had lives. She only wished that didn’t have to include Grady Owen showing up at her back door. “I’ll get her.”
A few seconds later Annie was at the door talking to her brother. Lex hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, but as she cleared plates so that Great-granny could spread out the pink paint chips, she was close enough to hear Annie say, “Tar? No. Prewash will not get tar out of clothing.”
“Then I’m buying them new jeans,” Grady replied. “What size are they?”
“Grady, you don’t need to buy new jeans, and how in the world—”
The bell rang over the customer entrance and Annie started to turn, but Lex put a hand on her arm on her way by. “You deal. I’ll get the customer.” Annie looked torn, so Lex said, “It’s a cute guy. I don’t mind.”
She had no idea whether the customer was a cute guy or not, but Annie bought the line and continued talking to Grady while Lex went into the shop to greet the three teenagers gathered around the jewelry display. She sold two necklaces and a pair of earrings, and before she got the sale rung up, Annie was back in the shop.
