Pastor thumped the roll of clear packing tape against Levi’s chest. “Tape the whole thing up on both sides so that when we take the glass out, we don’t have a big mess of shards everywhere.”
What a good idea. Why hadn’t they ever thought of that in the numerous times they’d broken windows before?
Giving a wave over one shoulder, Pastor headed back into the house. “I’m heading to bed. See you guys in the morning.”
Levi tossed the roll of tape back and forth from one hand to the other. “Smart guy, that Pastor Chad. Just think of all the hours we could have saved ourselves that time we broke the stained glass window at the Catholic church with that volleyball.”
Havyn snorted. “That time was definitely your fault. I specifically told you to stop spiking it so hard at me.”
He laid a hand over his heart and winced with great fervor. “All these years you’ve been harboring that animosity?”
Chuckling, she held out one hand. “For sure. Now give me a strip of that tape.”
It took them a good thirty minutes, but when they were done the window was covered in packing tape, both inside and out.
Now in the living room, they stepped back to admire their handiwork. The window was a labyrinth of cracks and fissures. And they’d crisscrossed the tape every which way to best hold the cracks together. It was a mess.
“Good as new,” Levi quipped.
Behind them Rayne snorted. “If you are going for an art deco, obscure-glass look to the gorgeous view, mission accomplished.”
Havyn winced and handed Levi the nearly empty roll of tape. “I’m going to go do something safe like read for a bit.”
He fell into step beside her. “What are you reading?”
She tilted her head, assessing his true interest. But when he glanced over and raised his brows to indicate he was waiting for an answer, she gave in. “I’m reading this fun Christian romance by an author who lives in Seattle named Lesley Ann McDaniel. It’s called Saving Grace and is about an opera singer from New York who flees from a stalker and winds up in a tiny town in Montana. I’m loving it.” She pushed open her bedroom door and stepped inside.
He rested his arms on the lintel above his head. “Romance, huh?” He pinned her with a look. “You yearning for some of your own? ’Cause I know just where you can find some.”
Her face heated despite the fact that she’d have liked to hide how his words affected her. “Goodnight, Levi.”
He scrunched his lips into a thoughtful twist. “Well, at least I didn’t get a flat-out no, this time.” He winked. “’Night, My Blue Havyn.”
The words were so low she almost didn’t hear them, but hear them she did, and the minute he pulled her door closed she sank onto the nearest surface, which happened to be the floor. Those had been his parting words to her on every date they’d ever had since tenth grade.
Over the next few days Havyn did her best to avoid being alone with Levi. If she was going to keep herself from free-falling for the man again, she had to avoid him.
The team got the brick walls mortared together and most of the roofing completed. Each day Levi somehow managed to bring enough candy for all of the children to have one piece, and the line was getting longer and longer as children from nearby villages heard about the azungu who gave out sweet treats each morning.
Since no more mines had been found, yesterday, after they had knocked off for the day, he and Cannon had risked the drive into the small town of Dedza, which lay ten miles to the southeast, so Levi could replenish his candy supply.
Despite her repeated self-admonishment to keep her feelings for Levi bottled up tight, and despite the fact that Cannon had assured them the road was as safe as it ever would be, she hadn’t been able to relax until Cannon’s rusty pickup truck pulled back into the mission station with both men safely on board.
And it hadn’t been Cannon who’d made her heart do a little flip when he exited the truck.
Levi had been quite proud of the twenty-five pounds of hard candy he’d purchased, and the smile he’d rained on her as he held the bags aloft had nearly been her undoing.
No matter that she’d been doing her best to keep her distance from him, he could always seem to catch her when her resistance was low and wheedle some time together.
Like today, for instance.
From noon to two thirty each day, they knocked off work to rest during the hottest part of the day. But today, Levi had somehow convinced her to join a rousing game of soccer with the village’s children. So many of them had lost all their family to the AIDS epidemic and had no one, other than the frazzled, overworked orphanage staff, to take time to do anything with them.
She had only agreed for the sake of the children.
Yeah, right. She eased out a breath as Levi swung a little guy of about five onto his shoulders and headed toward the other end of the more-dirt-than-grass field.
Levi set up a “goal” of two rocks at his end while she did the same on hers. The children quite happily produced a “ball” created from a thick padding of plastic grocery sacks tied around a medium-sized stone.
A knot formed in Havyn’s stomach as she studied that ball. Such a small thing. Just a soccer ball. Something that back home would be taken for granted and maybe even left lying around in the elements when not being used. These children didn’t have one.
She met Levi’s gaze. His focus shifted to the ball and back to her, and she could tell that he felt the same.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and vowed that she would send a box of all kinds of balls to the orphanage when she got home, even if she had to eat canned tuna and cheap bread for a couple weeks to make it happen.
The two teams formed, with Levi on one end of the field and Havyn making sure she ended up on the other.
Levi raised his eyebrows and pegged her with a look. “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh? Well, we’ll just see whose team wins this, Miss Jessup.”
For an hour and a half they’d run and played, and she’d had more fun than she’d had in just about forever. Somewhere in the middle of the game they’d lost track of the score because one little boy kept picking the ball up with his hands and running circles through whichever goal he happened to be nearest while he proudly counted to five in stilted English. Havyn had laughed till tears formed in her eyes.
Finally, with reluctance, they’d had to call the game to a close. The rest of the team was already back to work on the building.
Levi had given each of the children a high five, guzzled down some water, and offered her a wink as he headed toward the work site with a low “See you over there, My Blue Havyn.”
She couldn’t quash the thrill that somersaulted through her stomach. This was twice now he’d let her know he considered their time together a date.
Now, as she stood in the shade of the jacaranda drinking from her water bottle, Havyn shook her head. How was it three little words could melt her into such a puddle of sentimentality? She pinched her lips together. So much for her staunch resistance to Levi’s charm.
She swallowed another mouthful of the tepid water and dug her toe into the dirt at her feet. This trip would be over in a week and a few days, and then he would be busy seeing his family and old friends in Seattle before he returned to California. She’d be left in Seattle and everything would go back to the way it had been, and it was best she remembered that.
With a sigh, she thunked the water bottle onto the wooden bench in the shade of the tree and snatched up her tool belt. No matter how badly she needed to avoid him, it was time to get back to the job.
She stomped back to the work site and paused to decide which group she should join. Cannon and Chelsea were nailing together the last two trusses. The Portmans, Pastor Chad, and Rayne were each holding a portion of a truss as Jeremy and Grady screwed it in place from the roof side. Levi was doing something over at the generator.
The roof would get her the farthest from Levi, so she’d go there. She trompe
d to the ladder leaning against the side of the building. Her hand had just settled on a rung when Levi spoke from behind her.
“Joining us on the roof? That was quite the game, huh?”
Her eyes dropped closed. “I thought you were working on the generator?” Drat the warble in her voice!
“Just adding some fuel.” Humor danced at the edges of his tone as he reached—quite purposely, she felt sure—around her to grasp the ladder.
He knew she’d been trying to avoid him. She’d made sure to make it obvious for the past few days, and he’d bided his time, not pushing her—other than with little things like the soccer game—something that had at once tantalized and frustrated her.
Now, even though he kept his arms locked and left distance between them, she could feel the warmth of him as he waited for her to precede him up the ladder. The tremor racing through her made her question the reliability of her legs. She swallowed at the lump suddenly pulsing in her throat and glanced to the side. Cannon and Chelsea could surely use a hand with those last couple of trusses. “Maybe I’ll—” She spun around to leave, but her mistake was immediately obvious, and the words died in her throat as her fingers fluttered toward Chelsea.
With both of Levi’s hands already on the framework of the ladder, combined with the fact that he didn’t budge as she turned, her face was now only inches away from his.
Warm amusement crinkled the corners of his eyes. He tipped his head, his gaze flickering across her face and snagging on her lips before rebounding to her eyes. “Maybe you’ll…?”
Her heart thundered as if to challenge the sound of the hammers and power tools all around them. The air suddenly seemed very thin and inadequate. A smudge of dirt from the soccer field marred his cheek, and her fingers itched to brush it away. But it was the look in his eyes that stayed her hand—a hunger that she’d seen on more than one occasion just before he kissed her.
She swallowed hard to suppress the groan that threatened to unveil her dilemma.
Definitely no strength in her legs now. She collapsed against the ladder and tucked her hands behind herself, where she could ensure they wouldn’t betray her.
He took in the action and leaned closer, his cheek hovering just a few inches from hers as he spoke directly into her ear. “You used to do that when…things…were getting a little hot and heavy and we needed to slow down.” Amusement hung thick in the low growl of his words. He lowered his chin and grinned at her from beneath raised brows.
“Gah!” She yanked her hands out and jabbed her fingertips into his chest. “Back up!”
With a low chuckle that said he knew he’d caught her, he raised his hands lackadaisically and took a leisurely step back.
She spun and scampered up the ladder like a moth that had just been singed by a flame.
Three hours later, Levi was the last one still up on the roof. They’d finished the trusses, laid all the plywood, and had all but the last sheet of roofing screwed into place. He tucked his cordless drill into the loop on his tool belt and scooted a little further along the ridgeline. He glanced down the slope to where Havyn stood at the top of a ladder, just her head and torso visible above the roofline. Cannon handed her the last narrow piece of tin roofing to finish out this side, and Levi couldn’t help but admire one more time the firm play of muscles in her toned arms as she slid the corrugated sheet of metal towards him.
She’d obviously made a decision to treat him like she did any of the other guys after he’d teased her earlier. All afternoon she hadn’t avoided him, but she hadn’t been friendly either. She’d just dug in and worked hard, setting herself to do what needed to be done. Even now her gaze was fixed solely on lining up the sheet to overlap the previous one and overhang the roof edge just a little.
He sighed, wondering if he’d be able to handle it if she really did want nothing to do with him anymore. But after the way her father had left when they were kids, he should have known that she wouldn’t take him back so easily.
His thoughts turned to LA and his career. Would Havyn consider moving there? He shook his head and studied her again. No. Seattle was their spot. Relief eased through him to have that decision made. He hadn’t even known it was weighing on him. But he suddenly knew that if Havyn would agree to see him again, he would be selling his beach house and moving back to Seattle. He could fly to any auditions and shoots. Of course, that would mean time apart. How would she handle that? He bit the inside of his lip. He was getting ahead of himself. First she had to agree to see him again. Another huff of impatience escaped.
How long would she keep him in suspense?
Below them, Cannon and the rest of the crew were putting away their tools for the day. The sun was sinking rapidly toward the horizon. They had about an hour and a half of daylight left. As he lifted the metal ridgecap so the sheet of roofing could slide beneath it, a breeze puffed against his face. He glanced down the valley. Dark, ominous clouds loomed above the mountains on the horizon.
He looked at Cannon and gestured to the clouds with his drill. “Storm’s coming. I better stay up here and screw down this ridgecap before knocking off for the night. Y’all go on ahead, though.”
Cannon shook his head. “Can’t leave you here alone. Someone needs to stay with you just in case something happens.”
Chelsea spoke up. “I’m sure Havyn wouldn’t mind staying with him. She’s already up on the ladder anyhow.”
The look Havyn leveled at Chelsea could have scorched all the hair off a gorilla.
Levi bit back a grin and offered Chelsea a look of sympathy. She’d be lucky to live to see tomorrow.
But Havyn didn’t refuse like he thought she might. “Yeah. I can stay.”
Levi blinked and tried to ignore the little bolt of elation. He reminded himself they were two adults working on a roof, not adolescents out on a first date.
Cannon only took a moment to assess Havyn’s offer before he nodded his agreement. “Alright. Don’t worry about making it totally perfect. We can add more screws tomorrow; just get it to where it’s not going to blow away. I want you guys right behind us and off that roof before lightning comes.”
Levi gave him a thumbs-up.
Standing behind Cannon, Rayne shifted her feet, but one glance over her shoulder at the coming storm and she spun and headed for her bike.
He almost laughed out loud. Rayne had been pretending she was really hurt over his proclamation that there was nothing between them, but the truth was, she’d pick a dry, warm house over him in a rainstorm any day of the week without batting one of those long fake eyelashes of hers. After her cruel treatment of Havyn the other night, he’d laid into her pretty good. And it appeared she was at least attempting to take some of his words to heart. She’d been trying to be nice to Havyn for the past couple days. In fact, if he didn’t miss his guess, she was downright sorry for what she’d done. He just hoped she’d get up the nerve to apologize like she should.
As the crew all rode off on their bikes, he returned to securing the last sheet of tin. It took them about fifteen minutes to finish the roofing and another five to lock away their tools in the little shed Cannon had had specially built for that purpose, and then they were on their way down the path toward the mission station. The whole time Havyn held her silence, and he didn’t push her to converse, figuring he’d done enough pushing for the day.
They both pedaled as fast as the trail would allow, but one glance down the valley at the approaching curtain of rain and he knew they weren’t going to make it to the house without getting drenched. He’d never seen rain like that: marching toward him like an army and coming down so heavy that it blocked out the visibility of everything behind it. Lightning forked out in a wicked shard, and he started searching for cover. The problem was, there was hardly any cover between here and the house. A few scraggly trees and grasslands was all. But they were both the tallest objects on a wide, flat plain. Jagged light arced from the clouds to the ground again.
He could he
ar the pounding of the rain now and knew there was no way for them to avoid getting wet even as the first fat drops began to splat against them.
Havyn looked around, a bit of panic in her humor-filled eyes. “We’re in for it now, Mr. ‘I’d-better-stay-and-get-this-ridgecap-on.’”
“Hey! We’re heroes! The plywood on that roof is going to stay nice and dry!”
“Unlike us!” She pedaled faster, her head darting this way and that in a vain search for shelter.
He had a sudden thought and yelled above the wind. “Remember the old shack at the edge of the station property? We head for there.”
Havyn didn’t wait for him to say more, but simply took off.
That guard shack was not much bigger than an outhouse, but it was the closest shelter they would find. The torrential downpour hit them when they were still pedaling through the narrow trail in the shoulder-high grass in the marshlands a hundred yards from the shack.
Havyn squealed out a laugh and cast him a can-you-believe-this look over her shoulder.
By the time they both dumped their bikes on the ground and burst through the opening into the tiny thatch-roofed building, they were soaked to the bone.
Havyn’s long, dark hair hung in stringy strands that drizzled rivulets of water. Her face glistened with droplets. She pulled her shirt away from her stomach and wrung a handful of water from it. And, to his surprise, she was laughing!
He grinned and swiped a hand down his face and then back through his hair.
They both turned to survey their surroundings then.
Most of the front wall and all of the back wall of the little shack had collapsed years ago. Four posts, one at each corner of the three-foot-square foundation, supported the scraggly roof that swayed above their heads. Water sluiced off the thatch in sheets. The only way for them to totally escape the rain, which slashed practically sideways in the wind, was a corner section of wall that still remained intact.
They both crowded into the meager shelter, and Levi was thankful the roof at least didn’t seem to be leaking…yet.
Havyn curled her arms in front of herself and breathed warmth against her clenched fists as she stared in awe at the downpour only a foot away. “I have never seen it rain this hard before, ever.”
My Blue Havyn (Hearts of Hollywood - Christian Romance Novellas) Page 7