Just Right

by Jessie Gussman

  She stood up, brushing off her knees, and looked around.

  Jillian had disappeared, and Avery knew what that meant.

  “I’m up here.”

  “I figured you’d found something to climb.”

  Miss Prissypants padded over from where she had been grooming herself. She rubbed against Avery’s leg, then looked up, blinking her green eyes.

  “Just a minute, Miss.” Avery picked up the slightly altered baby carrier and fitted it over her shoulders, clicking the fastenings. Then swooped down and deposited Miss Prissypants in it. She stroked her head and searched the ceiling for Jillian, finally spotting her on the top beam over the large, open barn floor.

  “I can see the big picture up here. The thing needs cleaned. First.”

  Avery gave Miss Prissypants one last pat, then pulled her phone from her pocket and pulled up the Notes app. After creating a document, she put a number one, then typed “clean.”

  Something banged against the outside wall.

  “What was that?” Jillian called.

  It had sounded like someone hammered against the wall. “I’ll check.”

  A gap from a few missing boards seemed to be close to where the noise came from. Avery walked cautiously along the old floor—not only were there boards missing from the walls, but the floor, which was covered in places with old hay and straw, had a few holes in it as well. She wasn’t going to think about what that said about the safety of her idea of having a party in less than three weeks. The floor could be patched. She stuck her head out the hole.

  “What are you doing?”

  Gator stood halfway up a ladder perched against the side of the barn. A tool belt hung from his waist.

  A huff caused Avery to glance to the left and freeze. His ferocious man-eating canines lay in the brown grass, their teeth sparkling in the weak December sun. Noticing her mistress’s distress, as cats were naturally attuned to their human’s moods, Miss Prissypants opened one eye and studied the creatures with more intelligence than both of their brains combined contained.

  Avery moved her hand slowly and stroked Miss Prissypants’s head. “Don’t worry, honey. They’ll have to eat me before they can get to you.” Maybe that wasn’t the most reassuring thing she could have said, but most of her brainpower was involved in trying to figure out if the hole she was looking through was big enough for the dogs to squeeze in. It was a toss-up.

  “Avery.” Jillian placed her hand on Avery’s shoulder.

  She jumped and turned, smacking her head on the barn board before jerking herself out of the hole.

  “Ellie texted me, and I need to take over at the shop for a while.”

  “Oh, sure. Fine.” Avery had worked all morning and, although it was the busiest time of year for Christmas trees, it had been pretty slow, even for a Tuesday. Things always picked up in the afternoon.

  “Gator’s here, and I’m going to find out what’s going on.” She could only think of one reason why he and his woman-hating dogs would be here. “Ellie said they’d hold off on tearing the barn down until after Christmas.” Obviously, he couldn’t wait.

  Jillian grinned and held a hand out, palm down in a calm down gesture. “I know. I know. Maybe he’s here to replace a few of the missing boards.”

  Avery didn’t really think so, but she didn’t disagree. She nodded skeptically, and with a raised brow, Jillian left.

  How could she confront that confounded man without getting eaten? Her stomach twisted when she glanced back out the opening. The dogs still stared at her. A silvery rope of drool hung out of the brown one’s mouth. Avery swallowed the tightness in her throat. She would brave the dogs for Mrs. Franks. If that’s what it took to keep Gator from tearing her barn down.

  Plus, she wasn’t the slightest bit afraid of facing him after holding his hand. He’s the one that should be ashamed, since he knew his marital status. She had forgotten he was married. It was a mistake anyone could make. He could bet the farm, or the barn, that she wouldn’t make it again.

  After peeking back out of the opening, she looked around the interior. Through the cracks in the barn wall, she could see where Gator’s ladder leaned up against the side. Blessing Jillian for teaching her climbing techniques—this was the second time in the last few days that she had utilized them—she patted Miss Prissypants’s head. “I’m sorry, little girl, but I have to set you down. I know I can climb up there, but I can’t do it with you in your carrier. Plus, if I fall, I don’t want you to get hurt. It’s not your fault I’m terrified of dogs and have to avoid them at all costs.”

  Miss Prissypants seemed to understand—she always did. Avery gently set her on a small pile of old, musty straw bales. “Stay here until I get back.”

  After looking around, switching her tail and sniffing the straw, Miss Prissypants settled her bottom end regally on the stiff bales.

  “It’s not going to take me long. I’m simply going to inform him that Ellie, who owns this barn, said that it stands until after my party.” It wasn’t Avery’s barn, and she wasn’t going to allow herself to be sad about its ultimate destruction. She would ignore the ache in her chest, and she would most certainly not think about how much rich history resided in these old beams and timbers.

  Finding hand holds in the old wood was easy. Remembering the technique that Jillian had taught her, she twisted her knees out and flattened herself against the wall. Jillian could go faster, but Avery had never been athletic, so the very fact that she could even get herself up a wall seemed like a great accomplishment. However, she didn’t take the time to congratulate herself on her achievement. There was an obtuse, obstinate man who needed to be reminded who, exactly, owned this barn.

  Angling her climb so that her head popped up in the open space caused by a missing board, Avery pulled herself up one last foot and, clinging to the wall with both hands and feet, stuck her head out the hole directly beside the ladder and Gator’s large left foot.

  “What are you doing?” She wasn’t going to beat around the bush.

  For one terrifying second, she was afraid that he was going to fall off the ladder. He jumped and swung his head around.

  “Holy crap, lady.”

  “My name is Avery,” she snapped, instantly remorseful. Her eyes dropped. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to scare you. However, I must inform you that you need to stop tearing this barn down immediately. I have express permission from Ellie Finkenbinder to use it for my Christmas party. That’s not for three weeks. Obviously, it needs to be standing, intact at that time. Anything that you—”

  “Stop. Be quiet for a second.”

  Avery clamped her mouth shut.

  “First of all, I’m not tearing the barn down. I wanted to see the condition of the roof and do some measuring. Secondly, I spoke with Fink Finkenbinder. Who, apparently, owns the other half of this barn. And he said I could begin demolition today. I’m bonded and insured, and I have a signed contract. With Fink.” Gator lifted a brow. “You have a contract?”

  “Of course not. Not for a party.”

  “You’re insured.”

  Avery looked down. Way down. Her stomach wobbled, and her vision wavered. “Not yet.”

  “Then I’m not sure what the issue is.”

  “This is obviously a misunderstanding between Fink and Ellie. And, as much as I don’t like to get between married persons—” Guilt hit her hard between the shoulder blades as she remembered Gator holding her hand, and worse, that she had liked it. “But in this case, it’s obvious that we need to say something to them.” She took a breath to go on, but Gator interrupted.

  “I don’t see the need. I’ve got a contract. I’ve got a buyer, and I don’t have time to mess around.”

  “You can’t wait until after the party? It’s only three weeks.” Something that felt close to panic balled in Avery’s chest. It wasn’t that big of a deal if she couldn’t have the party for Mrs. Franks. She told herself that, but somehow, it felt huge.

  “
Look, I wish I could.” He opened his mouth to say more, but then closed it like he changed his mind. He pulled his tape measure off his belt and began to pull the tape out, sliding it up the slope of the roof.

  His jaw set, his postured dismissive. Avery considered telling him about how the party would cheer his mother and possibly help her fight the cancer, but she dismissed the idea. If he had such little regard for his wife and such little respect for his mother that he would stand in her kitchen holding the hand of a woman he wasn’t married to, then trying to appeal to his compassionate nature was futile.

  Avery began to descend. She needed to get this stopped before it was too late. Ellie had agreed to allow her to have the party and to fix a few holes in the floor, but she wasn’t going to be interested in paying to have the sides put back on the barn.

  When she reached the bottom, she checked Miss Prissypants, who was sleeping soundly. Typically, Avery took her almost everywhere, but she was in a bit of a hurry and knew the cat would be fine. She wanted to get this settled. The party was not going to “cure” Mrs. Franks of her cancer, but in her heart, Avery knew that recreating the evening when she got engaged and enabling her to relive those memories would encourage her and lift her spirits through the difficult cancer treatments.

  Avery hurried out of the barn towards the Christmas tree shop, feeling like a five-year-old going to tattle on her little brother. But since the barn wasn’t hers, there really wasn’t another way to solve the problem. Hopefully, Ellie wasn’t busy with a customer and they could get this fixed fast. She wasn’t trying to keep Gator from tearing the barn down eventually, as much as she wished she could stop it; she just needed it to stay up for another few weeks until after her party.

  Chapter Six

  Gator watched the confounded woman stalk across the yard and up past the house. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what she was doing—tattling.

  The tape spooled in and snapped as it hit the end. He hooked it over his belt. He’d better go make sure Ellie didn’t change Fink’s mind. Three weeks wasn’t very long, but Christmas wasn’t going to be very merry at his house if he didn’t get the money for doing this job before the big day. The stack of bills from the hospital and doctors and the list of things the insurance company wasn’t covering seemed to grow every day.

  This morning when he’d come in from feeding the dogs, his mother had been sitting at the desk, deep creases in her forehead and her lips between her teeth. He wasn’t a health nut, but he did know that stress wasn’t good under ideal circumstances. It couldn’t be beneficial to a woman with cancer.

  Stomping down the ladder, he bade his dogs “stay” before striding up the yard behind that impossible woman. She did have a big heart. And soft hands. He shoved the thought of that hand, and how good it had felt in his, out of his mind. Although, he couldn’t stop his heart from doing a little skip and jump.

  His mother loved her, that was for sure. She’d been tired last night after Avery had gone home, but when her eyes were open, they were looking out the window at the front yard and the decorations that Avery had set up and lit. No small job. He ought to know, he’d done it throughout his high school and college years as he made new decorations to add to the old ones.

  There were a few cars in the tree farm lot as he made his way over the stones to the small trailer that served as office and shop. Bells above the door jingled happily as he opened it and stepped inside to the almost suffocating warmth. Two heads—a light one and a dark one—turned in his direction. He shut the door with a decisive click and faced Avery and her dark-haired friend as “I’ll be Home for Christmas” played softly in the background.

  Avery’s chin went up. Despite the fact that he towered over her, she somehow managed to give the impression that she was looking down her nose at him. “Ellie and Fink aren’t here.”

  “I see,” he said, not allowing his lips to turn up. The place was one room and an office, the door of which was wide open. He could see that they were the only ones in the room. Maybe Avery said the obvious because she felt as juvenile as he did.

  The brunette shifted some papers on the counter. “Their son broke his leg. It’s a pretty bad break.”

  Gator scrunched up his face. That sounded painful. “Ouch.”

  “Yeah. The ambulance just left. The whole family is headed to Pittsburgh.”

  He’d missed it since he had been working on the far side of the barn. “Hmm. So, you weren’t able to tattle on me after all?”

  “I wasn’t tattling! I told you, Ellie told me the barn would stand for three weeks.”

  “And I told you, Fink said I could start demolition today.”

  “Would it hurt for you to wait?”

  He didn’t want to get into his money issues which involved his ex, nor his mother’s unpaid insurance deductibles and copays. “I need to get this job done before my leave of absence is up and I have to go back to my real job in Montana.”

  The bell jingled over the door as it opened and Mayor Higham, tall and with slightly stooped shoulders, and who hadn’t changed a bit in the last ten years, walked in holding a clipboard, with his face permanently wrinkled in the worried expression of a bloodhound under his bald head and bushy brows.

  “Mr. Higham.” Gator nodded at the mayor, who was as tall as he, and shook his hand.

  After a few pleasantries, the mayor’s expression grew serious again. “I have one more booth to fill for the town celebration on Saturday. It’s actually the biggest draw every year. Sometimes we make almost a quarter of our profit on it. I should fill it first, but every year I think we should skip it, since it’s the hardest booth to work. Anyway, I was hoping that I could offer a little free advertising for the farm and entice Fink or Ellie to man it for me.”

  “They just left…” Avery began, but the mayor was already nodding.

  “I heard.” The mayor’s normally sour face stretched into a semblance of a grin. “So, Jillian, what are you doing Saturday?”

  An expression, maybe like disappointment, flashed across Avery’s face, and it occurred to Gator that the mayor hadn’t really looked at her. His first impression of her was that she was a bit of an airhead, and she hadn’t even had the cat strapped to her then. Granted, she was up a light pole. But maybe the town had assumed the same thing.

  “I’m sorry, Mayor. I just promised Fink and Ellie that if they weren’t back by Saturday, I’d man the farm’s booth at the festival. Ellie has a ton of Christmas wreaths and decorations made, plus they have apples and cider. Wish I could.” Her expression said she wished anything but.

  “Gator?” The mayor turned toward him. “I know you don’t have a business to advertise, so I can’t give any incentive there, but maybe you’d devote some time for a good cause? We’re splitting the money fifty-fifty between putting in new sidewalks in the downtown and sending Christmas sweaters to the mothers of active duty servicemen.”

  “Love to, Mayor, but I’m entered in the lumberjack competition. Plus, I’ll be helping my mom.”

  “Oh, yes. I forgot about her. You’ll be busy.”

  “I can do it, Mayor,” Avery said in a small voice. She fingered her large, bell-shaped earring.

  The mayor turned doubtful eyes on Avery. “This would involve taking people’s money and counting it. Making change. That type of thing. Aren’t you hauling that big horn around and marching in the parade?”

  “The parade’s at eight. I’m in it, yes. But I can open the booth immediately after.”

  The mayor looked around the office skeptically. He narrowed his eyes and raised a brow. “The cat stays home.”

  Avery hesitated. Her hand dropped from her earring and skimmed down her fuzzy, soft-looking oversized sweater which was cinched at her waist by a large, wide belt. “Okay,” she said softly.

  The mayor stared at her.

  Avery met his gaze without blinking.

  Gator watched the exchange, wanting, for some reason, to defend Avery. The mayor hadn�
��t exactly made any accusations, either of stupidity or theft, but he’d implied something.

  “My mother loves Avery.” No one had a better reputation in town than his mother. Gator leaned a hip against the small table and crossed his arms over his chest, trying to appear casual. Like he defended women every day.

  “Oh? She does?” The mayor’s bushy brows floated up toward his forehead.

  Gator hid his smug satisfaction. The mayor glanced back at Avery with fresh appreciation. Gator’s estimation of Avery rose. Apparently, she hadn’t been running around town bragging about how she was helping her sick neighbor.

  “Well, then.” The mayor lifted his clipboard. “I’ll put you down for booth 342. Be there as soon as the parade is over and it’s your responsibility until twelve.”

  “You’ve got it,” Avery said.

  The mayor flipped through a few pages. “I guess I’d better take Fink and Ellie off of the Christmas tree trimming contest. That’s a shame. Their farm has not only donated the trees for it every year since Ellie and Fink married, but they’ve decorated under the farm banner, and if I’m not mistaken, they’ve won every year, except the year Ellie hired Mr. Herschel, the chemistry teacher, to create changing colors of lights with chemical concoctions.”

  “That actually sounds like a great idea,” Jillian said.

  “It would have been, if the tree hadn’t exploded.” The mayor scratched his head. “I think that might have been the year after Mr. Herschel exploded the school’s parade float.”

  “Oh, my,” Avery said. “Mr. Herschel sounds like he might be a little dangerous.”