“There’s nothing for you to help with,” Alex said. “My guys have it under control.”
“I can’t expect you all to come in and help us and not even lend a hand.”
“That’s what we do,” Jason said with a happy go lucky shrug. “Listen to the boss man.” He patted Alex on his good shoulder. “Let us take care of this.”
Jason headed toward where the crew was mixing the solution to wash down the interior of the house.
Renee captured Alex’s hand and squeezed it. “Thank you,” she said. “When you said you would have a few of your workers come by to help out, I never expected this.” She didn’t let go of his hand, and Alex wasn’t sure he would be able to speak.
“I’ve got some good guys.” Good. His voice was still in operational mode. “They know how much work still needs to be done in the city. They’re happy to help.”
“They are very much needed, and appreciated. Thank you, Alex. If there’s anything you need, please let me know.”
If only this was a different time and he at a different place in his life, he would have had a very perverse answer to her offer.
“It’s our pleasure,” he said, and she granted him one of those smiles as she let his hand go and headed for the trailer.
It would be pathetic to smell his hand.
So he was pathetic, Alex thought as he discreetly brought his hand up to his nose and inhaled her scent deep into his lungs. God, she smelled good, even after running.
“Hey, boss, come take a look at this,” Jason called from the porch.
Alex looked over one last time as the door to the trailer closed behind Renee; then he headed over to hear what his foreman had to say.
A loud crash caused Renee to jerk up from the sofa. She checked the time on the DVD player, and realized she’d been asleep for nearly an hour and a half, still wearing the sticky clothes she’d worn rock climbing and on her run.
“That’ll teach you to push yourself to exhaustion,” she said.
As she waited for the propane that heated the water for the trailer’s shower to do its thing, Renee grabbed a handful of pistachios and settled in to watch the show taking place outside the small kitchen window. The construction crew worked with amazing precision. As two guys pulled insulation from the house, another waited with a wheelbarrow to haul it away. Another set of workers used those industrial size brooms to push debris from the house, onto the porch, and from the porch into plastic catch bins they had brought with them.
The crew Alex had provided had done more this morning than she and her aunt had been able to accomplish in months. The insistence that she not help didn’t sit well with Renee. The least she could do was offer them some water. But just as that thought occurred, the guy Alex had introduced as Jason wheeled a cooler to the edge of the porch and started passing out bottled water to the crew. She really didn’t have anything else she could do to offer help.
Renee capped the can of pistachios and returned it to the cabinet. She drew her shirt over her head, but a knock on the trailer’s door halted her progress. She pulled the shirt back on and opened the door.
“I knocked this time,” Alex said with a slight grin that bordered on adorable. This man was dangerous, especially since he seemed to have this sixth sense about when she was in a state of undress.
“Knocking is good,” she returned his grin. “Come in.” She stepped out of the doorway to make room for him, but he declined with a shake of his head.
“That’s okay. I just wanted to let you know the guys will be wrapping up in a few minutes. They’ll come back early tomorrow morning to finish up demo and start the wash down process.”
“Of course,” Renee answered. “You all are helping us out. Aunt Lorna and I will take whatever you’re willing to give. Will you still be able to meet with us to go over the plans, or do you want to wait until tomorrow?”
“We can still meet today. Jason gave me the price list from the last job we did, so as we go through what your aunt is looking to include in the house, we can come up with a rough estimate.”
“That sounds great,” Renee said. “She’s going to make herself sick worrying about what all of this is going to cost, but we both know it has to get done.”
“Don’t worry too much about the cost,” Alex said. “It won’t be as bad as you’re probably expecting. We have a good relationship with our supplier; they give us a decent discount.”
“Which you’re going to pass on to us?”
“Of course,” he answered.
Renee shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re doing all of this.”
“Look, Renee, I’ll be honest. Katrina has brought a lot of work to my company. I’m just giving back a little. Your aunt is just as worthy as any of the other families we’ve volunteered to help.” He gestured toward the house where the work crew was gathering up the array of tools they’d brought in for demolition. “I would have rather the guys finish up the scope of work we’d laid out for today, but they volunteer on their off time and there are some pretty big college football matchups on TV today.”
Renee pointed to the chips, dip, and the bag of oatmeal raisin cookies on the counter. “I’ve got my mini party ready for the Florida/Tennessee game.” Alex peered through the door, his big frame filling the entire space. “I’m a Gator,” Renee explained. “I’ve got my blue and orange face paint in the back.”
His grin widened and Renee’s breath hitched in her throat. Lord, this man was fine.
“Well, I’ll make sure I’m done before the game starts. I need to be home for kickoff, though I’m waiting for the LSU game myself.”
“That should be a good one.” Renee nodded. He continued smiling, and Renee decided to throw caution to the wind. The worst he could do was turn her down. “You know, if you want to join me, I’ve got enough snacks here for an entire army.”
A blanket of surprise crowded his face. He looked from the snacks, to her, and back to the snacks.
Renee knew she was taking a risk extending the invitation, but something about this just felt right. Alex was attracted to her. He was trying hard not to show it, but he’d done a poor job of hiding his interest, especially after he’d walked in on her yesterday. Still, there was no mistaking his discomfort at her suggestion.
To set his mind at ease, Renee added, “Penelope, the teacher who rescued you from the copy machine the other day, will be here in a few. She’s a Georgia Bulldog fan, but I try not to hold that against her.”
Alex’s face visibly relaxed. “Well, I’ll be here meeting with your aunt, anyway, right?” he said with a smidge of reluctance.
“That’s right.” Renee nodded, fighting the urge to smile. “Aunt Lorna will be here, too.” Maybe it was better they have a chaperone.
“Okay, then, let me get things straight with the guys,” Alex said.
Renee stood at the door, watching him walk toward his crew. They would have to take things slowly, but for the chance to know Alex better, Renee was willing to slow things down a bit.
Chapter Nine
Margo heard the rhythmic thumping coming from the living room, but it took several minutes for it to register that the sound was of someone knocking.
It must be a solicitor trying to sell something if they were knocking at the front door. If it was anyone she knew, they would have known to go around to the back door. Whoever was out there would eventually get the picture and leave.
But they didn’t. The knocking continued.
Margo groaned. If her mother hadn’t instilled the principles of being a good, southern Christian woman in her, she would curse whoever had interrupted her morning and slam the door in their face. Margo rolled over in the bed and stared at the ceiling for a moment, willing her legs to work. Only marginally confident they would keep her upright, she planted her feet on the floor and felt around for her slippers.
“Margo!” The call came from just outside her window.
Gerald?
Margo jumped from her perch on the bed, sl
ipping on the floor in her dash for the window. She caught her toe on the edge of the nightstand and one of those unladylike words slipped from her mouth, anyway. Margo hobbled the rest of the way to the window and spread the curtains wide. Gerald stood right below, crushing her begonias.
“Gerald, what are you doing here?” Margo choked out.
“Checking on you,” he yelled. “Let me in.”
What on earth was he thinking, showing up here?
“Go around the back,” she yelled at him through the pane of glass. Margo winced at the pounding in her head, courtesy of the hangover and the thumping of her own heart.
She snatched her robe from where it draped over the back of the rocking chair and stuffed her arms through the sleeves as she made her way from her room to the kitchen. She opened the kitchen door, and jumped when she saw Gerald standing right in front of her.
“You should keep that porch door locked,” he said. “Any old crazy from the street can get in here.” He leaned over and touched his lips to hers. Margo took a millisecond to savor it. She loved his kisses. She stepped onto the porch and closed the kitchen door behind her.
Gerald’s brow rose. “You’re not going to invite me into your house?”
“Gerald,” Margo sighed. “We talked about this. I told you we had to follow certain rules if we were going to see each other, and you said you understood them.”
“I said I would follow them, I never said I understood them.” He took both her hands in his. “I was worried about you. I called to check on you, but you wouldn’t answer your cell phone. I wanted to make sure you were okay after last night.”
“I’m sorry.” She felt like an ungrateful witch for biting his head off after he was only calling to check on her. “I thought it was Eli calling my cell phone.”
“You’re avoiding your sons now?”
Margo nodded. “With the way he and Alex have been hounding me today, I’m starting to suspect they know about you.”
“You make it seem as if I’m this terrible disease you’re trying to keep the world from knowing you’ve caught, Margo.”
She looked up at the hurt she heard in his voice, and saw it in his eyes as well. “Oh, Gerald.” Margo brought her hand up to his face and rubbed his cheek. “I’m sorry.”
He covered her hand and pressed his cheek more firmly against it. “There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing.”
“I know,” she whispered.
He didn’t deserve this. He treated her as if she was the most precious human being on the face of the earth. And she treated him as if she was ashamed of him.
He took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing each finger. “Margo, I wasn’t sure if I should say this yet, but I need you to know something.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “I’m falling in love with you.”
Margo’s stomach dropped. Her heart clenched in her chest.
“I am,” he said. “I think about you every minute of every day.”
“Gerald,” she whispered.
“You don’t have to love me. Not yet. I know you’re still unsure about me for some reason.”
“It’s not you, it’s—”
It’s that she had worn the mantle of the respectable widow for so long it had come to define her. What would her boys think of her being someone’s girlfriend? She’d been loyal to their father’s memory all these years. She knew her boys well enough to know the thought of another man in her life would not go over well.
And what about the ladies at the church? She herself had been guilty of joining in the gossip when Josephine Johnson brought her gentleman friend to church last year. Would her friends say the same things about her if they found out about Gerald? The image she’d built and protected for all these years was in jeopardy of crumbling around her. Was it worth it?
Margo looked into Gerald’s handsome, understanding face and a fervent yes soared through her blood.
He was worth it. She just had to figure out a way to introduce him to the other people in her life.
“Whatever your reason is for resisting me,” Gerald was saying, “it’s not going to keep me away. I will not let anything, including your sons, come between me and the most special person I’ve found in a long time.”
Margo couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat.
“I haven’t felt this way about someone since my wife. When she died, I thought that was it, Margo. I’d had my one true love. But God has brought me another one, and I’m not letting you go. We’ll keep up this pretense for now if you’re still not ready to tell your boys about us, but the time will come when you’ll have to shatter this illusion they have of you. They need to accept that you are still a healthy, sexy, vibrant woman, with the needs of a healthy, sexy, vibrant woman.”
She gave him a wry grin. “You don’t know my sons.”
“And whose fault is that?” he asked with a grin of his own.
“They’re so overprotective. I’m not sure how to even broach the subject with them.”
“You’re a smart lady,” Gerald said. “You’ll figure it out.” He gave her another slight peck, this time on the tip of her nose. Then he turned and headed for the screen door, but before he walked through it, he turned around. “And don’t think I’m letting you off the hook. I’m eventually going to see the inside of that house.” He winked, and walked out the door.
Margo clutched her hand to her chest, slumping against the door with a wistful sigh. The past six months with Gerald had been incredible. She’d had more fun last night than she’d had in years. Even though she was paying for it this morning, she thought with a wince as pain sliced behind her eye.
How freeing it would be not to worry about the boys’ reaction to her newfound relationship, or what the deaconess board would have to say if they saw her walking hand in hand with Gerald.
Margo leaned her head back against the door with a sigh.
“One day,” she whispered. “One day.”
Alex stuffed the envelope containing the bid for a project Holmes Construction was vying for in the glove compartment of his truck. He grabbed the price list Jason had left for him to use as a guide in estimating what the materials for Lorna Davis’s renovations would cost.
Alex looked over at the FEMA trailer and his breathing escalated.
When Renee had extended the offer to watch football with her, Alex’s first instinct had been to decline. Over these past couple of years, he’d been attracted to his fair share of beautiful women, but he’d always been able to rationalize his way out of feeling anything more than a slight attraction.
Not with this woman. When he tried to counter his reaction to Renee with his usual refusal tactics, his mind had a rebuttal each and every time.
He told himself he was too busy with work to be concerned with a woman, but over the past couple of weeks, Alex had come to the harsh reality that he really wasn’t as essential to the running of Holmes Construction as he wanted to believe. The place had not imploded upon itself just because he wasn’t in the office or with his men on the construction site every day. In fact, just before he’d left to catch the games with some of the plumbers, Jason had fed Alex a pill he was still having difficulty swallowing. Turned out his guys were working even more efficiently without him. According to his lead foreman, most of the workers had admitted to being more comfortable over the past couple of weeks without Alex around. Apparently, they thought he was intimidating.
Even if the work excuse was shot to hell, Alex could always count on Jasmine to be his shield against diving back into the dating pool and opening himself up to all the potential crap that could come out of it. But Jasmine loved Renee. This morning, when Alex told her over breakfast that he would be helping Ms. Moore rebuild her house, Jazzy couldn’t have been more excited. She’d gone on and on about how much she loved her Accelerated Reader class, and how she wished she could go more than two days a week because Ms. Moore was her favorite teacher.
He was out of excuses.
Well, except for the fact that Renee had a boyfriend.
Yet, she’d said it was the other female teacher coming over to watch the game, not Richards. Maybe they’d had a fight last night, and she’d kicked Richards’s butt to the curb. Alex figured since he was fantasizing, he might as well add that scenario to the mix.
He knocked on the trailer door and a second later, it opened. Renee had changed into a blue University of Florida T-shirt and a pair of well worn jeans. She was still sporting the ponytail. Give her a backpack and she could be a student walking the quad. She said she’d taught at the community college level, which meant she had to at least have some graduate work under her belt. If she was in her thirties, she wore it well.
“You can have a seat on the couch,” Renee said. “We only have a nineteen inch TV but this place is so small, it’s really all we need.”
“This is fine,” Alex said, taking the time to survey the small trailer. He’d been in a few and still wasn’t sure how families had been able to survive in such close quarters. The living room, kitchen, and dining areas were no more than six by ten feet, and some families were living five and six to a trailer. It was better than nothing, but Alex said another quick prayer of thanks that his home had been spared during Katrina.
“Can I get you a drink?” Renee asked. “I’ve got Coke, Sprite, and iced tea. Sorry I don’t have anything stronger, but I’m not too big on alcohol.”
“Neither am I,” Alex said. “Iced tea is fine.”
She poured a glass and took the seat next to him on the sofa, popping the top on a can of Sprite for herself.
“Have I thanked you for all that you and your guys are doing?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah, about a hundred times,” Alex said. Dang, she smelled good, like City Park when the flowers were in bloom. She must use one of those fancy women soaps you could buy only in a department store.
“I’ve apologized for walking in on you yesterday, right?” Alex asked.
“About a hundred times,” she laughed. “And I swear, if you do it again, I’m going to be deeply offended.”
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