“Really?” The boy’s eyes went wide, then darkened. “No—but I could learn, I know I could.”
“You’ll be watching in the beginning, helping measure and hold while I nail, but you pay close attention, and you’ll get your chance.” The boy was skinny and malnourished, but Roman knew how much strength desperation could provide.
“Sweet!”
“Let’s get you in a tool belt first.”
Skinny shoulders stiffened. “I don’t have one.”
“You can use my old one.”
“I’ll get it!” Freddie took off running toward Roman’s truck.
“Where’d you turn him up?” Teo asked. “And why’s he not in school?”
“I’m not a social worker.”
Teo gave him a long, measuring look. “Doesn’t matter. Jenna might as well be.” He stuck out his hand. “Real glad to have you here.”
Roman hesitated. “Only for today. Got other things to get back to.”
Teo kept his hand out there. “I’ll take whatever I can get. You do good work.”
Roman accepted his hand and shook it. “I could say the same.”
CHAPTER SIX
JENNA READ THE PARAGRAPH again, then stared into space, fingers tapping on her desk. Grant applications were the bane of her existence. Oh, she could write well enough, but she was so much more persuasive in person.
Her phone rang, and she eagerly seized the distraction. “Foundations for Families, Jenna speaking.”
“There you are, Sunshine,” boomed her favorite voice in the world.
“Hi, Dad. How are you?”
“Missing my best girl.”
“I miss you, too. How’s Mom?”
“Still too good for me, but I’m counting on you to keep my secret.”
Jenna smiled. The ongoing love affair between her parents was the rock-solid foundation of her life. After nearly forty years, the love between the elegant Grace Montalvo MacAllister and her big, burly Hal burned steady and bright. “Wild horses couldn’t drag it from me.”
“Speaking of horses, young Robbie is training a yearling out of Diego’s Chieftain. He’s going to be every bit the horseman his father is.”
“That’s a high bar. I’ve never seen anyone whose touch with horses even came close to Diego’s.” Jenna settled in for a good chat, smiling. Her father adored all his grandchildren, but little Roberto—not so little now at nine—had been his first. Their not being biologically related counted for nothing in Hal MacAllister’s definition of family. He’d taken on her two eldest brothers as part of the package of marrying the widowed Grace, and he loved Diego and Jesse as fiercely as if he’d been there from their conception.
“You should come see for yourself. It’s been too long.”
“I know.” She sighed. “It’s hard to get away. You’ll be here in less than three weeks, though. I can’t believe Cade the wanderer is getting married.”
“We MacAllisters may take our own sweet time, but when we fall, we fall hard. Anyone caught your eye yet, Sunshine?”
Her mind immediately drifted to the mysterious man who’d surprised her by showing up at the job site this morning. Immediately she straightened in her chair. Interest in a man was another topic sure to alert the bat-sensitive ears of the men in her family. “Not really.”
“What about that lawyer fella Chloe told Caroline about?”
Exactly her point. She’d dated Patrick twice, and the MacAllister jungle drums were already making them into a couple. Her privacy was a moot point to her raft of brothers and sisters-in-law—and their sisters and brothers and friends—every one of whom considered watching over Jenna a sacred duty.
“Dad,” she remonstrated.
“You have held my heart in your hand since the first moment I saw you, little mite of a thing you were after all those strapping boys. I won’t apologize for caring about your happiness.” She heard both the lack of remorse in his voice and the tiny note of hurt.
“No girl ever had a better father,” she said, and it was true. If in his heart Hal MacAllister wanted her to stay close by him until the day he was forced to give her into the keeping of a man who’d damn well better treat her like a queen, he’d never tried to corral her into being some hothouse flower. He’d taught her to ride and hunt and fish along with her brothers, and he’d told her from her earliest memory that she was as smart as anyone and as capable. He’d encouraged her to reach out and grab what she wanted and not take any guff for her beliefs or who she was.
“Mom got the best man in the world, but sadly, there’s only one of you. I know you wish I’d find my prince, but I don’t want to settle, not when I’ve witnessed what love can be. You and Mom have set a tough example to follow, and I’d rather be alone the rest of my life than be with a man who’s only suitable. I want a man who’ll look at me the way you look at Mom, as if she’s a miracle.”
“She is,” he responded. “But don’t make us into a fairy tale. Lord knows we’ve had to smooth off a lot of rough edges on each other. Your mother is not exactly a shrinking violet, and it’s possible I might have been a little hardheaded about a thing or two.”
Might have. Jenna burst out laughing. Her dad was stubborn as stone and acted like the proverbial bull in the china shop—he was a plainspoken man with a clear vision of what should happen and plenty of will to manhandle it into reality. Her mother, on the other hand, was so smooth about her handling that most people didn’t realize how thoroughly they’d been managed until later, if ever. Her parents had probably fought more in the early years of their marriage, long before Jenna came into the family, but she’d never witnessed that. She did know, however, that they were both capable of a blazing row.
Followed by long disappearances into their bedroom, which mortified the children when they emerged with bright smiles and embarrassing displays of affection.
“Love takes work, Sunshine. What you see between Grace and me is years in the making. Happy marriages don’t spring into being fully formed.”
“So how do you know?” she asked him. “When so many marriages end in divorce, how can you ever be sure you’ve picked the right person?”
Now it was her father who was laughing. “You don’t, sweetheart. You listen to your heart, and you hope you’re right, but that’s where the work begins. You cling to that love and you don’t ever let it go. You stick, even when you want to cut and run. You don’t assume that every bad patch is a sign that you’re wrong for each other. Couples give up too easily these days. Love is hard, but nothing worthwhile ever just falls into your lap. Love takes a lot of pure-dee stubbornness, honey. And sometimes only one of you has that sort of faith at any given point, so that one has to hold on to it for both of you until the storm passes. You can’t throw in the towel, even when it seems everything’s coming apart.”
Wow. Her parents’ marriage seemed so ideal from the outside that she’d never seriously considered that they might have had more hurdles to deal with than simple spats. She didn’t want to discourage her father’s unusual candor, though, by probing, so she lightened the moment. “Well, I guess I’ve got the pure-dee stubbornness part down, at least.” Hearing him talk, however, only made her more aware that she’d never truly had her heart touched by a man. “Maybe one day I’ll meet someone worthy of that level of work.”
Again, maddeningly, her rescuer sprang to mind. If Roman Gallardo was indeed that man, he clearly had no interest in her, so why couldn’t she forget him?
“But that’s what I’m telling you, sweetheart. You don’t always know ahead of time. Love unfolds at its own pace. And often the best person for you isn’t the obvious choice. I’m speaking of your mother, of course,” he joked. “I was definitely already a prince when she met me— No, Grace, you can’t have the phone. I’m telling this story my way.”
&n
bsp; Jenna heard her mother’s laughter in the background, the affection in it. “Tell Mom I can’t wait to see her. I’m so glad you’re staying with me.”
“Well…Sophie gives better room service in that honeymoon cottage of hers, I have to say.”
Jenna grinned. “Yeah, but you love being my handyman, you know you do.”
A gusty sigh. “A man has to take care of his little girl, at least until some ruffian comes along and tries to say he’s worthy to take over.”
“I don’t need taking care of, Dad. I’m all grown-up now.”
“You will always be my little girl.”
And however much she balked at his overprotectiveness, she cherished her father’s love. “You’ll always be my hero, Dad.”
“Thank you, Sunshine.” Hal cleared his throat. “Your mother is reminding me that you’re at work, and I’d better let you go.”
“I put in plenty of extra hours, not to worry.”
“See, that’s the problem. All you do is work. You need to get out and play more—”
“Okay, bye, Dad. I hear my other line wanting to ring.”
He chuckled. “All right, all right. See you soon, sweetheart. Get that to-do list ready for me.”
“You’re the best, Dad. Love to Mom.”
“We love you, too.”
Jenna hung up reluctantly, feeling the stab of homesickness. She glanced out the window and tried to resettle herself in urban Austin instead of the big old house in La Paloma that, like the constant wind of West Texas, always called to her.
But when she still couldn’t resolve how to fix this section of the application, she closed the file on her laptop and began the process of closing the office. She’d work on this more tonight at home, but for now, she’d head over to the site. She had invoices to discuss with Teo. Sure, she could simply call him and relay the information, but she’d stayed away and been a good little office drone for as long as she could stand it.
* * *
THE STACCATO OF THE nail gun was under Roman’s control today, so the sharp pops reminiscent of small-arms fire could be anticipated. Around him, two volunteers conducted a desultory conversation while picking up trash and sweeping dust in compliance with Teo’s stricture that the premises be cleaned up at the end of every day, rather than leaving debris strewn everywhere until the end, which was true of some job sites.
Teo himself was outside, talking landscaping with Lucia’s father-in-law, Alfredo. The old man seemed to be discussing which neighbors were volunteering cuttings from their gardens, and how much his wife had loved her flowers, especially her irises.
Roman’s abuela had loved irises, too. She had masses of them in both her front and back yards.
“Fifty and a half, right?” Freddie asked as he held the measuring tape against the wall, starting at floor level.
“That’s right. How far is that from the ceiling? And don’t use the tape measure. Do the math.”
“Oh, maaan. Why you keep doing that?”
Roman stifled a grin. “Because you don’t think math matters.”
Freddie cast him a slant-eyed look of disapproval. “I know you gonna ask me why I ain’t in school,” he muttered. “I can see it comin’.”
“You’re reading my mind now?”
“Don’t know who could,” the boy muttered, then glared off into space, scowling ferociously, but it didn’t take him long. “Forty-five-and-a-half inches.”
The kid was smarter than he let on, Roman was convinced. Ahmed had been smart, too, despite the total lack of formal education.
But he didn’t want to think about Ahmed. He focused on Freddie. “That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”
Freddie marked the spot with the pencil he’d put behind his ear, imitating Roman. “See, I already know how to do that. Don’t need school. Can I use the nail gun again?” His eager gaze shifted when it caught on something outside. “Oh, shit.”
“Hey—watch your mouth.” Roman turned and saw Jenna emerge from her car.
“Look, I gotta go.” Freddie wheeled for the back door.
Roman snagged his shoulder. “We’re not done here.”
“But—”
“You said you liked her.”
The boy stared at the ground and all but shuffled his feet. “I do, but—” A twitch of his shoulder. “She got hurt ’cause I left.”
“So you’re going to run away again? A man faces the consequences of his decisions.”
The boy’s face was a study in misery.
“You don’t believe she’ll forgive you?” Roman didn’t know her at all, but a blind man could see what she was like. The boy had little positive experience with adults, however, from what few details Roman had unearthed about the harsh reality of Freddie’s life. “C’mon, you know she will.” But that wasn’t the point, was it? “Man up and tell her.”
Freddie’s head rose. “Tell her what?”
“Whatever you’re feeling.”
A small snort. “That’s girl talk.”
It really was. Or worse, shrink talk. “Look, you don’t have to cry or get all flowery. Just…hell…say you’re sorry for what Mako did or… Screw it.” He returned to the work. “Measure the cut for the stringer so we can get done.” He hadn’t signed on to be a counselor. Some days he only talked to the cat, if he spoke at all.
The boy walked to the pile of one-by-twos, shoulders stiff with hurt.
Damn it. Now he’d really screwed up. Roman shut his eyes and grasped for one more shred of patience at the end of a long day filled with way too much human contact.
Once he’d been good at this. Hadn’t Abuela called him her Pied Piper because of the way kids had flocked to him?
“Hi, Freddie.”
Roman whirled, braced to defend. He, who’d once had the best ears on his team, hadn’t even heard her approach.
“I’m sorry,” she said, startled. “I didn’t mean…”
Their eyes met, hers a sweetly concerned blue that crept in under his guard. He tore his gaze away. “Freddie. Someone’s here to talk to you.”
The boy approached them, lumber in hand, and laid the piece on top of the base cabinet they’d already installed. “Hey,” he greeted Jenna. “I’m measuring this before we cut it.” He held up the tape in his other hand.
“I see that.” She flicked her eyes to Roman, then returned her attention to the boy, noticing his bandages. “What happened to you, Freddie? Who hurt you?”
“Nobody.” A little shrug. “Just a fight.”
She hesitated. “Ah. I have four brothers. I don’t get why guys fight, but I know it happens.” Freddie seemed as surprised at her acceptance as Roman was. She grinned. “How does the other guy look?”
Freddie wilted a little, exchanged a quick glance with Roman, then found his bravado. “I did me some damage.”
“Fighting’s no solution, you get that, right?”
Ah, here was the do-gooder he’d expected.
Freddie’s eyes darted again over to Roman. Roman shrugged. Play it however you want was his message.
“Yeah—uh, yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Are you okay to be working?”
Yep. Do-gooder.
The kid was clearly affronted. “I’m fine.”
“All right.”
Roman wasn’t sure he believed her acceptance, but it was none of his business. Best thing that could happen to him was for Jenna to take the boy under her wing. The system failed a lot of people, but it didn’t fail everyone. Maybe Freddie would be the exception.
“Is Beto here, too?” she asked.
“Uh-uh…” His gaze slid to Roman. “I mean, no, ma’am.”
“I see. So you’re helping Mr. Gallardo?” Her glance at Roman held speculation before she fo
cused again on the boy. “Freddie?”
“Yeah—uh, yes, ma’am. That is, he’s teaching me about carpentry and stuff.” His face screwed up in a frown, and he spoke in a rush. “Um, I’m sorry. Mako, he one bad motherf—uh, dude. I shoulda stayed with you,” he mumbled, eyes locked on the wood clenched in his hand.
“Oh, Freddie,” she said, moving to place a hand on his shoulder. Roman waited for her to gush or something, but she didn’t. “I’m glad that you left. Everything turned out okay. I’m really happy you’re safe. Thank you for coming to help out today. Does Beto know you were there with Mako?”
“You didn’t tell Ms. Marin?”
“Of course not.” She glanced over at Roman. “You told Mr. Gallardo about it?”
“He guessed. I came back the next night to see if the place was okay now. He, uh, he caught me and we, um, we talked.”
Her look at Roman was difficult to decipher. “You were here the night after?”
Just as you were, Roman almost said. And shouldn’t have been. He only shrugged. “I was out running.”
Her eyes caught on his, and she worried at that plump lower lip for a second before turning back to the boy.
He was not at all pleased to find himself reacting to the sight of her teeth pressing against a far too lush mouth, the unwelcome images that her actions stirred.
Crap. Why did this fierce, nosy little blonde, of all people, manage to remind him for the first time since he’d come home that he was male and had once had a very strong sexual appetite?
“So you came here after school today?” she asked Freddie.
A panicked look sprang into the boy’s eyes.
Apparently she saw it, too. “Freddie, you know we appreciate your help, and I’m happy that you’re learning from Mr. Gallardo, but we don’t want the truant officer coming down on us—or other authorities, as a matter of fact. You aren’t old enough to quit school, and you’re too smart to do that, anyway, right?”
Roman could feel as well as see the boy’s fear. “We’re working on it,” he said. Now why the hell had he stepped in?
Her head rose, her chin jutting out as she cut her eyes to him. “Mr. Gallardo—”
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