Tara shrugged. “I know, but—”
“Sinda is kind, sensitive, and reserved.” Glen frowned. “And she doesn’t play with dolls; she repairs them.” His eyes quickly scanned the article about Sinda Shull who’d recently opened a doll hospital in the basement of her home. The story went on to say that almost any doll, no matter how old or badly damaged, could be repaired by an expert such as Doll Doctor Shull. There was a picture of Sinda sitting at her workbench, sanding a wooden doll head.
“She looks great,” Glen murmured.
Tara groaned. “Where’s Sinda been lately? I haven’t seen her since I finished my punishment in her creepy basement. She hasn’t been around making eyes at you, and it makes me wonder what’s up.”
Methodically, Glen pulled on his left earlobe. He knew exactly how long it had been since he’d last talked to Sinda. He’d seen her a few times out in the yard, but whenever he tried to make conversation, she always concocted some lame excuse to go back inside. Just when he and Sinda seemed to be getting closer, she’d pulled away. He didn’t like this hot and cold stuff. Well, maybe it’s for the best. Even though Sinda says she’s a Christian, she doesn’t want anything to do with church. It might be better for all concerned if I bow out graciously.
He shook his head, hoping to clear away the troubling thoughts. Who was he kidding? He didn’t want to let Sinda walk out of his life. She was afraid of something, and it was probably more than concern over Tara’s reaction to their relationship. Besides, he had to protect Sinda from his little brother. Phil might look like a teddy bear but he acted more like a grizzly bear.
“Dad, are you listening to me?”
Glen lifted both elbows and flexed his shoulders as he stretched, then dropped the newspaper to the table. “What were you saying?”
“I asked about Sinda. Why do you think she hasn’t been around lately?”
“I’m sure she’s been busy.” He pointed to the newspaper. “That article even says so.”
“I guess a lot of people have broken dolls, huh?”
Glen gave a noncommittal grunt, thinking of the doll he’d given Sinda to repair. He wondered if she would still make good on it, even though she’d changed her mind and wouldn’t allow him to do any more repairs on her house. If she did finish repairing it, he would gladly pay her whatever it cost.
“I’m sure happy I don’t have to help in that doll hospital anymore.” Tara looked at him pointedly. “It was awful!”
“I thought you liked fixing broken dolls.”
“It was okay at first, but that house is creepy and full of strange noises. Besides, I don’t like Sinda. She’s w—I mean, different.”
“God created each of us differently,” Glen said patiently. “The world would be a boring place if we were all alike.”
Tara scrunched up her nose. “Sinda is way different.”
“Are you sure you aren’t jealous?” Glen asked, taking a seat at the table.
“Why would I be?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Maybe you’re envious of the attention I’ve shown Sinda.”
“You can’t help yourself because she’s got you hypnotized with those green cat’s eyes.”
“Don’t start with that again.”
Tara held up both hands. “Okay, okay. I’m just glad Sinda hasn’t been hanging around. I’m happy you’re not going over there anymore, either.”
“It’s your fault I’m not,” Glen blurted without thinking.
Tara flinched, making him feel like a rotten father. “What do you mean, it’s my fault?”
“One of the reasons—probably the main one—Sinda won’t see me anymore, is because she thinks you don’t like her.”
“She’s right about that,” Tara muttered. “I’m glad she’s not around anymore.”
“Tara Mae Olsen, that’s an awful thing to say!” He leveled her with a look he hoped would make her realize the seriousness of the situation. “In the book of Proverbs we are told that he who despises his neighbor, sins.”
“I don’t despise Sinda, Dad. It’s just that I know she’s after you.” Tara grabbed hold of his shirtsleeve. “She’s trying to win you over with compliments and flirty looks.”
“Flirty looks? What would a little girl know about flirty looks?”
She grinned at him. “I’m not a baby, you know.”
Glen smiled, in spite of his irritation. “That’s right, you’re not.” He patted the top of her head. “So try not to act like one.”
Fourteen
As Glen knelt on the patio to begin scraping the rusted paint off his barbecue, he heard a noisy vehicle pull into Sinda’s driveway. He straightened, rubbed the kinks out of his back, and moved casually around the side of the house. He didn’t want to be seen or have anyone get the idea he was spying, so he crouched down by his front porch and peeked into Sinda’s yard. It was just as he feared. . .a truck bearing the name “Phil’s Hardware” was parked in her driveway, and Phil the Pill was climbing down from the driver’s seat. Glen watched as his brother went around to the back of the pickup and withdrew a screen door. He whistled as he walked toward Sinda’s front door, and it was all Glen could do to keep from jumping up, dashing through the gate, and grabbing Phil by the shirttail.
That would be ridiculous, Glen reprimanded himself. It’s a free country, and my brother’s only doing his job. If Sinda ordered the screen door, Phil has every right to deliver it.
“Why don’t you use my binoculars, Dad?”
Glen whirled around at the sound of his daughter’s voice. “Tara, you scared me! Why are you sneaking up on me like that?”
Tara snickered. “It looks like you were spying on someone.” She shook her head and clicked her tongue. “Is it Sinda?”
Glen stood up straight and faced his daughter. “I wasn’t spying on Sinda.”
“Who then?”
“Uncle Phil.”
Tara’s forehead wrinkled. “Huh?”
Glen took Tara by the arm and led her around back, so they wouldn’t be overheard. “I heard a vehicle pull into Sinda’s driveway, and I thought I recognized the sound of Uncle Phil’s truck. So, I went around front to check it out, and sure enough, he’s delivering a new screen door to Sinda.”
“That’s good. Her old one was about to fall.”
Glen opened his mouth to comment, but Tara cut him off. “Why don’t we go over and tell Uncle Phil hello? We haven’t seen him in ages.”
He smiled. For once Tara had a good idea, and since this was her idea, Glen had a legitimate excuse to see Sinda.
❧
Sinda came upstairs at the sound of a truck in her driveway, then peeked out the living room window. “Ah, my screen door has arrived.” She hurried to open the front door, and Phil from Phil’s Hardware met her on the porch. He leaned the screen door against the side of the house and grinned. “Where do you want this beauty?”
“Around back, please.”
Phil hoisted it again like it weighed no more than a feather and stepped off the porch. Sinda followed.
“You got anyone lined up to install this?” Phil asked when they reached the backyard.
Install it? Sinda hadn’t even thought about how she would replace her old screen with the new one. She gnawed on her lower lip as she contemplated the problem. “I guess I could try to put it up myself.” Even as the words slipped off her tongue, Sinda realized it was a bad idea. She knew as much about putting up a screen door as a child understood the mechanics of driving a car.
“I’d be happy to install it for you,” Phil offered as he set it down, leaning it against the porch railing. “In fact, I’ve got my helper working at the store all afternoon, so I could do it now if you like.”
“How much would you charge?”
Phil shrugged his broad shoulders and gave her a lopsided grin. “Tell you what, I’ll put up the door while I work up the nerve to ask you out to dinner.”
Sinda swallowed hard. “Dinner?”
“Yeah, m
aybe some beer and pizza. I know this great place—”
She held up her hand. “I don’t drink alcoholic beverages. I also don’t go out with men I hardly know.” Except Glen Olsen, her conscience reminded. You went out with Glen a few weeks after you met.
Phil took a step toward Sinda. “We introduced ourselves when you came into my store the other day, and sharing dinner would give us a chance to get better acquainted.” He winked at her, and she was about to reply when Glen and Tara came bounding into the yard.
“Hey, Brother, I heard the unmistakable rumble of your truck and thought I’d come over and say hi.” Glen gave Phil a hearty slap on the back, then he turned to face Sinda.
She eyed him curiously. “You and Phil are brothers?” Except for the dark hair and blue eyes, the two men didn’t look anything alike. Glen was slender and clean-shaven while Phil was stocky and sported a full beard. He also had a cocky attitude, which was the total opposite of Glen.
Before Glen could answer Sinda’s question, Tara spoke up. “Uncle Phil’s Dad’s little brother.” She looked up at her uncle and gave his loose shirttail a good yank. “How come you haven’t been over to see us in such a long time?”
“Guess I’ve been too busy to socialize,” Phil said, tugging on Tara’s ponytail in response. His gaze swung back to Sinda, and he gave her another flirtatious wink. “I’m hoping to remedy that now that I’ve met your beautiful new neighbor.” He glanced at his brother, and Sinda noticed that Glen wasn’t smiling. In fact, he looked downright irritated.
“I plan to install Sinda’s new screen door, then she’s going out to dinner with me,” Phil remarked with a smirk.
Sinda opened her mouth, but she never got a word out. “Is that so?” Glen interrupted. “Don’t you have a store to run?”
Phil tucked his thumbs inside his jeans pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. “Gabe’s workin’ for me all day, so I can spare a few minutes to put up Sinda’s door.” He reached out and grabbed hold of the screen, still leaning against the porch railing.
Before he could take a step, Glen seized the door and jerked it right out of Phil’s hands. “Sinda hired me to do some repairs on her house in exchange for—” Glen paused and glanced down at his daughter. “Uh, I mean—I agreed to help her out, so putting up the screen door is my job.”
Phil looked at Sinda, then back at Glen. “She said she had nobody to install the screen, and I volunteered.”
“Is that a fact?”
Phil nodded and reached for the screen door.
Sinda wasn’t sure what she should do or say. Glen and Phil were arguing over who would complete the task, but she had a feeling the tug-of-war had more to do with her than it did the door. She’d never had two men fight for her attention before, and it was a bit unnerving.
“I’ve got an idea,” Tara interjected. “Dad, why don’t you and Uncle Phil both put Sinda’s screen door up? That way the job will get done twice as fast.”
Glen shrugged. “I guess we could do that.”
Phil nodded. “You know what they say—four hands are better than two.”
“I think that’s ‘two heads are better than one,’ Uncle Phil.” Tara giggled and jabbed her uncle in the ribs.
He chortled. “Yeah, whatever.”
A thought popped into Sinda’s head, and she wondered why the idea hadn’t come to her sooner. “I’ll appreciate the help no matter who sets the screen door in place, but I won’t be going out with anyone. I’ve got some work to do. So if you men will excuse me, I’m going downstairs to my workshop.” With that, she stepped into the house and closed the door.
❧
It was another warm Saturday, and Glen was outside mowing his lawn. He waved at Tara, who was across the street visiting her friend Penny, then he stopped to fill the mower with gas. A bloodcurdling scream, which sounded like it had come from Sinda’s house, halted his actions.
Sinda’s terrier, Sparky, was yapping through the fence, and Glen turned his head in that direction. Maybe Sinda had come face-to-face with an intruder. She might be hurt and in need of his help. Maybe that goofy brother of mine is back, and he’s bugging Sinda to go out with him again.
With no further thought, Glen tore open the gate and raced into Sinda’s backyard, nearly tripping over the black dog. There was another shrill scream, and Glen was sure it was coming from Sinda’s basement. He made a dash for the door and gave the handle a firm yank. It didn’t budge. “Must be locked,” he muttered. He pounded on the door, calling out Sinda’s name.
The door flew open, and Sinda threw herself into his arms. Glen felt like his heart had jumped right into his throat. Something was terribly wrong. “What is it? What happened down here?”
“I think Tara may be right about this spooky old house being haunted,” she said with a deep moan.
Glen held her at arm’s length as he studied her tear-streaked face. Sinda’s deadpan expression and quivering lower lip told him how serious she was. At least my bear of a brother wasn’t the reason for her panic. “Tell me what happened,” he said as he took hold of her trembling hand.
She hiccuped. “A doll head. I saw a doll head.”
“You screamed loud enough to wake a sleeping hound dog, and you’re telling me it was just a doll head that scared you?” Glen knew women were prone to hysterics, but this was ridiculous.
“It was in my freezer,” Sinda whimpered. “I found a vinyl doll head in the freezer.”
Glen stood there several seconds, trying to digest this strange piece of information. He could understand what a shock it would be to open the freezer, fully intending to retrieve a package of meat, and discover a doll head staring back at him instead. “Someone’s probably playing a trick on you.” Glen’s thoughts went immediately to his daughter, even though Tara hadn’t been working in Sinda’s doll hospital for several weeks. Unless she planted it there on her last day. “How long has it been since you opened the freezer?”
She shrugged. “A week—maybe two.”
“Are you sure? It hasn’t been any longer?”
“I think I took some ice cream out last Saturday.” She nodded and swiped her hand across her chin. “Yes, that’s the last time I opened it.”
“And there was no doll head then?”
“I’m sure there wasn’t.”
A feeling of relief washed over Glen. He didn’t see how it could have been Tara. He led Sinda into the basement. “Is the doll head still in the freezer?”
“Yes. When I first saw it, I screamed and slammed the door. Then I thought I must have been seeing things, so I opened the freezer again, but it was still there.” She leaned heavily against him and drew in a shuddering breath. “I heard someone pounding on the basement door, and when I opened it and saw you, I kind of fell apart.”
And right into my arms, Glen thought with a wry smile. At least something good came out of this whole weird experience. “Why don’t you show me the doll?” he suggested.
Sinda gripped Glen’s hand tightly as she led the way to the utility room. “Would you mind opening the freezer? I don’t think I have the strength.”
Glen grasped the handle and jerked the freezer door open. A round head with brown painted hair and bright blue eyes stared back at him. It was so creepy he almost let out a yelp himself. He reached inside to remove the icy-cold doll head. “Looks a little chilly, doesn’t it?”
“I’ve been looking everywhere for that!” Sinda exclaimed. “It and several other doll parts have been missing for a few weeks.”
Glen scratched the back of his head. “Hmm. . .sounds like a bit of a mystery to me. Maybe we should put Detective Tara Mae Olsen on the case. She’d love something as weird as this to sink her teeth into.”
Sinda was obviously not amused by his comment. She was scared to death, and it showed clearly on her ashen face. Glen placed the doll head on top of the dryer and drew her into his arms. It felt so right to hold her like this. Too bad she didn’t realize how good they could be f
or each other.
“Glen—”
“Sinda—”
Glen chuckled. “Go ahead.”
“No, you first.”
“I know there has to be a simple answer to this whole thing.”
She looked up at him expectantly. “What could it be?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you think you could have accidentally put the head into the freezer? I’ve done some pretty strange things when I’m preoccupied.” He grinned. “Like putting dishwasher soap in the refrigerator instead of the cupboard.”
She gave him a weak smile. “I know everyone is absentminded at times, but I don’t even remember picking the doll head up, much less putting it in the freezer. Besides, what about the other missing doll parts?”
Glen frowned. “Maybe you misplaced them. I do that with my car keys a lot.”
“You think I’m getting forgetful in my old age?”
“Hardly,” he said with a wink. “Seriously, though, even if I’m not sure what’s going on with the doll parts, I don’t want anything to happen to our friendship.” He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. “I know you said you didn’t want to see me anymore, but I’m hoping you’ll reconsider. Please don’t let Tara’s resistance be a deciding factor.”
Sinda licked her lips. “I want to see you, Glen, but it’s not a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“There are things in my past that prevent me from making a commitment to you—or any other man.”
His eyebrows arched. “Are you trying to tell me that you lied about not being married?”
“No, of course not! I’m as single as any woman could be.”
“And you’re a Christian?”
Sinda nodded. “I am, but—”
“Then what’s the problem?” Glen’s finger curved under her trembling chin, and she met his gaze with a look that went straight to his heart. He felt as if her pain was his, and he wondered what he could do to help ease her discomfort. Instinctively, he bent his head to kiss her. When they broke away, he whispered, “I don’t care about your past, Sinda. If you’re a Christian, and you care for me, that’s all that counts. We can work through any problems you have from your past.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “No matter what you say, I’m not giving up on you. So there!”
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