Shaking her head, she turned away from the staircase, determined she would not let Zane disrupt her life. He was her past, and she’d declared tonight that she was going to move forward and look toward the future. That future did not include Zane.
Chapter Four
As Zane climbed down the extension ladder from the roof, Kim shielded her eyes and looked up. She finally had to glance away. Heights bothered her, and Zane was descending almost forty feet. “What’s the verdict?”
“Most of the plywood has to be removed. It’s old and rotten in a lot of places. I have to do that first before putting down the roofing felt and shingles.”
“Mr. Henderson thought the plywood was fine except for a section over my bedroom where the tarp is.”
With a few rungs remaining, Zane jumped to the ground and landed in front of Kim. “He was wrong. That would have been a shortcut you would have noticed later when the roof started leaking. Sorry, but it will take longer than I thought before I inspected the roof more closely. I’m gonna need help to get this done before that storm system headed this way dumps a lot of rain on Hope.”
Kim stepped back a couple of paces and looked all the way to the top of the house. “I can help you if you tell me what to do.” Her words came out on a shaky thread that petered out at the end.
“I know a lot of things have changed over the past fifteen years, but I don’t think your fear of heights is one of them.”
She looked him square in the eye and straightened her posture. “I listened to the long-range forecast, and it is worse than I thought. They’re predicting that big storm system moving through by Wednesday with gale-force winds. I can’t afford not to help.”
“I’ve got an idea of how to do it. Thankfully your roof isn’t too steep. That makes it safer for the ones on it. I’m calling in a few favors and should be able to get some help over the next couple of days.”
“Who?”
“Gideon, when his schedule permits. The same with Ian. How about your cousin, Colt?”
“Maybe. I can call him.”
“I can also pull a couple of my men from the school if it looks like the storm will develop and hit us. That’s still three days away. What the weatherman predicts doesn’t always happen.”
“What can I do?”
“Nothing right now. I’m gonna make some calls, get the supplies I need so I’ll be ready to start first thing Monday morning.”
“What about you working only in the afternoon? What about your other projects?” She didn’t want to be beholden to him, but she needed the help.
“Can’t a man change his mind?”
“Yes, but the school is supposed to open in three weeks.”
“It will. I’ll make it work.”
Left unsaid but clear to Kim was the word somehow. She swallowed the tightness in her throat and said, “I need your help. I can’t deny that. But maybe you need my help. If you’re pulling men from the school project, let me do what I can there. I may not be able to do wiring, plumbing or a lot of the things you need done, but I can paint and do other types of finishing work.”
“That’s all right—”
“I insist you accept my help, and I’m sure Maggie will volunteer, too. She’s taking Monday off because Brady will be home. If on that TV show they use volunteers to help build a house in a week, I’m sure you can find a need for both of us when it gets down to the wire with the school.”
The smile—the one with his two dimples showing—lit his face, his eyes twinkling. “You haven’t changed totally. You’re still determined and persistent.”
“I’ve had to be,” she said then regretted it immediately. She didn’t want to admit to him the past years had been hard for her after her husband walked out on her and Anna and almost totally ruined her family financially. It wasn’t her way to air her dirty laundry for all to see. “So will you accept my help?”
He nodded. “If I need it.” He started toward his truck. “I’ve got a lot to do if I’m going to get everything in place to start at first light Monday.”
As he walked to his truck, Kim watched him, unable to take her eyes off him. This was not the person she had once known. What had changed him?
Anna ran around the side of the house. “Where’s he going? I finished helping Maggie. I told him I could help him then.”
“He’s left for the day. He’ll be back Monday morning.”
“I wanted to help Zane.”
“Zane?”
“He told me to call him that. Is that okay?”
“If he said so.” She’d seen Anna talking with Zane when he’d come an hour ago, before he’d gone up on the roof. They had laughed about something then her daughter had raced around to the back where Maggie was finishing preparing the ground for the garden. For some reason, seeing Anna with Zane made Kim think of Scott. Her child had never really known her dad, and Kim had said little to her about him. But surely Anna wondered about the man who was her biological father. That was exactly how Kim had come to think of him— a biological father. About all he had contributed was his DNA.
She’d had such dreams of having a large family… .
Releasing a long breath, Kim headed into the house to finish cleaning the rooms they lived in upstairs.
* * *
“Dad, I’m home,” Zane called out as he entered his house later that day after securing the supplies and a couple of guys to help him Monday with Kim’s roof.
“I’m in here.”
Zane followed the sound of his dad’s voice over the noise from the TV in the den. He found him out on the back deck, sitting in a lounge chair, smoking a cigarette in the dim light streaming from the bay window in the kitchen. Zane leaned against the wooden railing away from the drifting smoke. “How did your day go?”
“I finished working on the guest bathroom. Everything is back to the way it was before the hurricane.”
“I appreciate it. I haven’t had time to do anything on my own house.”
His dad took a final puff on the cigarette and ground it into the coffee can he had on the deck. “I’m going to quit one day. Nasty habit.”
“Dad, one step at a time. How was your AA meeting this afternoon?”
“Today is six months. As you said, one step at a time.”
“I could use someone to help me with the Sommerfield house. Do you think you can for the next couple of days?”
His father shot forward in the chair, all relaxation gone. “How can you work for that man?”
“I’m not. I’m working for Kim. She asked me to help her.”
Both of his eyebrows rose. “She did? I’m sure her dad didn’t send her.”
“Nope.”
“And you’re going to work at his house?”
“Yup. When I left Hope years ago, I didn’t do it the right way. I should have told Kim I was leaving. I owe her.”
His dad bolted to his feet. “You don’t owe that family nothing. Keith Sommerfield always felt he was better than everyone else.”
“Dad, that’s in the past.”
“Is it?” He rotated toward the back door. “I have a feeling he didn’t open his arms and welcome you to the family.”
“Kim and I are in the past.”
Going inside, his father muttered, “Are you?”
“Yes,” Zane answered above the slamming door. Gripping the railing, he dropped his head and closed his eyes. The sound of a dog barking cut through the usual quiet on his piece of land outside of town in the middle of a pine forest, the scent of the trees wafting to him, carrying not one clue his home was only a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico.
In the past three months, he hadn’t been at his house much except to sleep, making a mockery of why he liv
ed on the outskirts of Hope. When he’d bought this acreage not long after he decided to stay in his hometown, he’d needed a place to escape from his memories of growing up in Hope. It hadn’t been much of a haven lately.
He shoved away from the railing and covered the distance to the back door. In the kitchen, his dad was sticking a frozen dinner into the microwave.
“Want me to put one in for you?”
“No, I had dinner already. I thought you would have eaten by now.”
“Wasn’t hungry, but I’ve got to eat. You would think I’d throw myself into gaining weight. Food just doesn’t interest me.”
“There are a lot of people who would love to have that problem.” His father’s lanky body had taken a lot of abuse over the years he’d been drinking, to the point that it had begun to fail him. Going to his first AA meeting had been his dad’s desperate attempt to do something about his health. “Do you want some company?”
“Only if you’ll promise me you’ll be careful at your new job. The Sommerfields treated you lousy years ago. Don’t let them use you now.”
When he’d returned home after being gone for a year, Zane had heard from his father nothing but how bad Keith Sommerfield, and for that matter Kim, had been to him. He’d stayed not quite a day and most of the time he’d spent fighting with his dad. Maybe it was better his father didn’t help at the Sommerfield home. “On second thought I’m tired, and I have to get up early. See you tomorrow. I’ll be gone before you get up and probably won’t come back until late.”
Zane moved toward the hallway, but his dad stepped into his path before leaving the kitchen. “Son, you have been here for me when I needed someone to force me to get sober. I want you to know I’m here for you. Protect yourself.”
“Sure.” Zane skirted around him and quickened his pace out of the room.
Now his father was trying to be a parent—now when he didn’t need him to be. He knew the turnaround was because his dad wasn’t drinking. He’d finally sought help when the doctor told him he would die in under a year if he didn’t do something about his lifestyle. Too much alcohol and unhealthy eating had taken their toll on his father’s thin, frail body.
The man he’d finally persuaded to live with him six months ago had been a shell of a man. At least lately he was beginning to put some meat on his bones and regain his strength and stamina.
But that didn’t change the fact Zane was waiting for his father to slip and dive back into a bottle, leaving him to pick up the pieces…again.
* * *
“He’s here.”
Anna’s declaration wrenched Kim from a deep sleep, and she bolted up in bed. She spied Anna by the window overlooking the front of the house, dressed as though she’d been up for hours. Kim glanced at the clock on the bedside table.
7:00 a.m.!
“I set the alarm for six. What happened?”
“You slept through it. We didn’t wake you ’cuz Maggie thought you should get some more rest.” Anna turned from the window with her hand on her waist. “Maggie’s right. You haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
Her mind still fuzzy with sleep, Kim threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. She needed at least two or three cups of coffee before she faced Zane or for that matter dealt with her daughter, who had decided to switch roles and try her hand at parenting. “I’m fine. I got nine hours of sleep last night.”
“Exactly. I’ll let Maggie know you’re up. She’s making cinnamon rolls before I go over to Polly’s.” At the door, Anna peered over her shoulder. “I think I should stay and help you this morning.”
“I saw you eyeing that ladder Saturday. You are not getting up on that roof or the ladder. I’ll save the mess for you and Brady to clean up later. How about that?”
“Mom, you’re always thinking of me.”
“Young lady, sarcasm isn’t becoming on you.” But Anna was gone. Kim let out a huff and closed the door.
Several male voices drifted to her from the game room. Who else did Zane get to help? Her cousin hadn’t been able to come today because he’d left to pick up a boat yesterday in Florida and bring it back to Hope.
Kim moved to the front window and peeked out at a Jeep, Zane’s black truck and a white pickup. She hurried and dressed, pausing a moment in front of the mirror to look at her wild curls. Searching through her dresser, she finally found a ponytail holder to bring some kind of order to the mess. High humidity always did this to her hair. She wouldn’t be surprised if it rained tomorrow instead of Wednesday as they predicted.
Then she made the mistake of looking down at her attire and winced. She’d dressed as if she was going to work as a teacher at school, forgetting that this Monday school wasn’t in session. She quickly changed her nice slacks for jeans and donned tennis shoes instead of flats. Why was the prospect of spending the whole day with Zane muddling her brain?
Opening the door into the hallway, she inhaled a composing breath. She had to get used to the fact he would be in her life at least for a while. But the mere thought of that caused her heart to flutter, and all the composure she’d mustered vanished.
Until she entered the game room and saw Tom Davidson, Zane’s father, standing next to his son. The memory of pleading with the man to tell her where Zane was the day after prom flashed before her. It kept her rooted in the entrance to the room.
Zane saw her and smiled a greeting. “Maggie insisted we come in for some breakfast and coffee. I couldn’t say no after I got a whiff of the cinnamon rolls she baked.”
The scent of them saturated the air, enticing people to forget their diet and taste one of them. “I keep telling her to quit her job for the mayor and open a bakery.”
Maggie removed the baking sheet from the oven. “How about a bakery and a nursery? People could come for some goodies and buy a plant at the same time.”
“That sounds like a plan. I’ll be there.” Zane picked up a mug, filled it and passed it to his dad. Then he repeated it until Gideon and Ian had theirs. His gaze skimmed to her. “Do you want any?”
The question she should have been asking everyone forced from her mind the surprise of seeing Zane’s dad in her home. “Yes, please.” She crossed to the counter to help Maggie set the rest of the food out—slices of pineapple, melon and oranges, as well as bagels with cream cheese.
Zane slid the mug toward Kim. “Here. We can’t stay long. We have a lot to do today. I want to replace all the rotten plywood and put the roofing felt down. Then tomorrow and the next day I can get the shingles on before the storm hits Wednesday night. And who knows, it might not happen.”
“You’re going to shingle by yourself?”
“Dad is gonna help me. He used to work as a roofer.”
Kim stepped closer and lowered her voice. “I’m surprised he’s here.”
“Frankly, I am, too. When I first said something, he told me no, but this morning he was up before me, ready to come help. Lots of stuff has been happening with him since he started AA.” He cocked a grin. “I’m afraid to say too much about it. I don’t want to jinx it.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” she murmured, trying to mean that. But she was still bothered by the fact that he had known where Zane was all those years ago and lied to her.
“I’m hoping this works out. I’ve been thinking lately about getting my dad involved in my business. Give him something to do. He lost his job at the fishery when the hurricane hit and destroyed the place. He’s been helping some of his friends with their houses and businesses, but he needs something steady and permanent to keep him…” Zane peered over his shoulder.
Kim leaned toward him. “Sober?”
Zane nodded.
“Hey, you two, we’re starved and you’re standing in front of the food,” Gideon said behind Kim and Zane.
Kim spun toward Gideon, who was holding a plate in his hand, tapping his foot with a huge grin on his face. “Where’s Kathleen? Did she finally come to her senses and flee Hope before the big day?”
“Funny, I keep wondering that myself. But she and her mother are gonna be over later.”
“They are?”
“Yes, they’re bringing lunch for all of us.” Gideon snatched a cinnamon roll and put it on his plate.
“They don’t have to do that. Maggie and I were going to make some sandwiches.”
“They wanted to help, but I forbade Kathleen getting up on the roof to help. She’s afraid of heights and had a tough time shutting the second-story shutters when the hurricane hit.”
“I know the feeling.” Kim sidled down the counter to give everyone room to get to the dishes.
“O’Brien, move along before you hog all the food.” Ian McShane, the local police chief, edged his way in beside Gideon. “I require a lot of carbs to work.”
Kim stepped toward Maggie while the men filled their plates. “Where’s Brady and Anna?”
“Gone to Polly’s. They grabbed a bagel and rushed out of here. I’m glad they’re going over there. Too many people underfoot might be too much for your dad.”
“Yeah, I wish he’d come out, but I couldn’t talk him into it, just like you couldn’t yesterday for church. He’ll probably stay in his room all day. I don’t like that, but it would be better than him in the middle of everything.”
“Your dad hasn’t gone to church since your mom died.” Maggie turned her back on the men and ushered Kim a few feet away. “For that matter, your attendance has dropped off, especially since the hurricane. You used to be so involved. What’s going on?”
“Do I really have to tell you that? What has been going right lately? Nothing. I’m worried about Dad. I’m worried about our house. I’m worried about money and—”
“Kim, give your worry to the Lord. He can handle it. Worry pulls us down until we become ineffective.”
“How do you stop worrying when everything is literally falling apart around us?”
A Love Rekindled Page 5