Just a Love Story

by Sable Hunter

  After days of contemplation, weeks of solitary existence, she came to a conclusion. She would continue to write, continue to take care of her grandmother – at least monetarily – and she would have the house renovated in hopes Coretta would forgive her and improve enough to come home. If she couldn’t forgive her, or if the unthinkable happened and Coretta died, she could always sell the house and move away.

  Far away.

  Until then, she had work to do.

  Now, that she was receiving monthly deposits from Amazon, the time had come to hire someone to renovate the house. “This could be a problem.” Shae had no idea if anyone local would take on the job, considering who their client would be. “Anyway, I have to try.”

  Backing her ears, as Coretta always said, Shae decided to visit the local lumber and hardware store. They dealt with all the local carpenters and contractors, so they might be able to help. While she was there, she’d pick up a gallon or two of paint. There were some small tasks she could do herself.

  For some nameless reason, Shae took more pains with her appearance than usual. She didn’t want to look like she usually did. After all, she had no reason to be so conservative, not with a reputation like hers. She no longer represented the church, or anyone for that matter. Shae was pretty sure Coretta’s verbal disownment was common knowledge by now. With nothing in mind but showing people she didn’t give a flip at what they thought, she wore a lemon-yellow sundress, sandals, no hose, and a yellow ribbon woven through her hair. Shae might not spread sunshine wherever she went, but she was damn sure going to look like she thought she did.

  Once she was ready, she locked up the house, and drove the mile or so to the lumberyard. Upon her arrival, she saw several men stop and take note of her. Never before had she felt men’s eyes on her body, but now she did. “I guess I should’ve worn sackcloth and ashes,” she muttered as she left the car to make her way inside.

  As she pushed the glass door open, Shae felt her stomach lurch. Several men were standing about and they all quit speaking as soon as she stepped inside. Glancing around, she realized she knew most everyone by name. There was only one man standing near an interior paint display that she didn’t recognize. Shae couldn’t help but smile, he was really nice looking. He reminded her of Clint Eastwood’s son, she couldn’t remember his name. When he didn’t respond to her smile, she dropped her gaze and walked up beside him, picking up two gallons of flat white paint. “Excuse me,” she whispered, then moved to the counter, placing the merchandise next to the register. “This will be all, I think.”

  The man at the register crossed his arms over his chest. “Sorry, the register is busted.”

  “Okay.” Shae nodded, opening her purse. “I can give you a credit card or a check if you can’t take cash.”

  “Credit card machine is broken. I can’t help you today.”

  She looked at him, then stole a peek at Cyrus Pope who stood a few feet away. He carried a brown paper sack with a receipt stapled to the top. Clearly, he’d just made a purchase. “Can I just give you the money, then you can enter it later when you fix your machine? I don’t need any change.”

  The man exhaled loudly. “Look, Miss St. John, we don’t need your business here. Okay?”

  Shae didn’t flinch, even as she felt like someone punched her in the gut. “I see.” She opened her purse. “Could you at least put this ad on your bulletin board? I’m looking for someone to do renovations at my place.”

  She held the paper out, but the clerk didn’t take it. With a sigh, she placed the note on the counter. “I’ll leave it, just in case.”

  When no one else said anything, she backed away and fled to the door. The only pair of eyes she met were the ones belonging to the guy she’d dubbed Eastwood. His narrowed gaze seemed to take her measure and find it lacking.

  * * *

  Derek

  Once the door shut behind the lady, Derek was surprised to see the men begin to laugh.

  “Did you see what she was wearing? Man, she’s just asking for it now.” This comment came from the owner of the local nursery, Cyrus something, he couldn’t remember the man’s last name. He’d come into the store ahead of Derek to buy parts for his irrigation system.

  “Is there anything we can do about her living here?”

  “This is America, Mr. Reeves,” he addressed the off-duty cop. Attitudes like his made Derek nervous.

  “Exactly, she doesn’t represent our family values. Shae St. John has been living a lie for years, she’s a hypocrite. There’s no telling what she’s capable of, I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her.”

  Derek shrugged. He didn’t know the woman and he knew nothing of her sin. The only thing he knew was that she needed help and he needed work. Before he could say anything, the store clerk, Jake Haldeman, crushed the paper in his fist and tossed it across the room where it rolled underneath the bottom edge of a shelf full of tools. “Hey, what did you do that for?”

  Jake shrugged. “Nobody I know will help her.”

  “Whoever does, best be careful. Getting tangled up with someone like her could only lead to one thing – trouble,” Cyrus said, pulling the sweat-stained baseball cap he wore lower over his eyes.

  “How about you, Alden? You’re a carpenter,” Don Reeves suggested with a smirk.

  “Yea, maybe you’re craving a little heat?” Cyrus snickered at the thought. “From what I’ve heard, she’s…”

  Derek’s voice cut the other man’s lewd musings short. “I’m not interested in anything but the parts I ordered.” He looked at Haldeman. “If you’ll call me when they come in, I’d appreciate it.” Nevertheless, as he moved down the aisle, when the others weren’t looking, he stooped down and grabbed the small wadded up ball. “Thanks.” With that brief dismissal he left the store, mentally shaking off the unpleasant conversation. He’d been on the wrong end of Blair’s sharp, lying tongue enough to have developed a distaste for such lambasting. According to everything he’d heard, the woman had some serious problems, but he needed the job to help make his alimony payments. Derek was sure he could work something out with the woman if he insisted on ground rules and clear boundaries.

  * * *

  Blair

  “Derek has hired a different lawyer,” Blair announced to Max, who sat at his dining table with some type of a map or blueprint spread out in front of him.

  “Hmmm, smarter than I gave him credit for being. What’s his name?”

  “Zane Saucier.”

  Blair watched Maximillian visibly bristle.

  “Fuck.”

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “We’ve known Zane for years. He’s fairly mild-mannered.”

  “Obviously you’ve never seen him in court. He’s brilliant, thorough, and juries love him.”

  She gave Max a big smile. “Well, good thing we won’t be debating the issue in front of a jury. Will we, my love?” She came to him and caressed his neck. “What are you working on?”

  “Details. The devil’s in the details.” He lovingly caressed the papers. “I’ve been collecting weapons and ammo for years. I’m known as a serious collector. In fact, they have no idea how serious I am,” he told her with a cold smile. “I’ve also studied SWAT tactics and the works of my heroes. Now, I just need to study this layout of downtown Austin so I can pull off the single greatest act in human history.”

  Blair felt a thrill run through her body. “I want to be by your side when you do it.”

  He covered her hand with his own. “We’ll see. We’ll see.”

  * * *

  Shae

  Shae stormed into her house and threw her purse on the couch. She wanted to scream. Only the small wiener dog’s welcome whine managed to draw her attention away from the despair trying to tear her in half. “Hey, boy, it’s good to see you.” Kneeling down, she took the dog in her arms and gave him a hug. “Are you hungry?” She gave Mojo a pat and he followed her to the kitchen where she filled the silver bowl with food. “There yo
u go.”

  Glancing around, she wondered what she could do about the renovations. When or if she decided to sell, a little fixing up would mean she could almost double the asking price.

  Knock! Knock!

  She jumped at the unexpected noise. No one had darkened her door in six months. “Who in the world? Has to be a salesman, has to be.” To Shae’s surprise, it was the nice-looking guy from the lumberyard. “May I help you?” He took a second to look back over his shoulder, as if to make sure no one saw him. “Would you like to come in?” She stood back, making room for his big body to come through her door. Her heart was doing a gymnastic routine of flip-flops in her chest.

  “Thanks.”

  “Did you walk?” She didn’t see a car outside.

  “No, I parked…”

  “Down the street.”

  “Right.”

  She remembered Cathy’s move to throw any curious passersby off the scent. “What can I do for you?” Shae couldn’t imagine. Maybe she’d offended the guy somehow.

  Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the ad she’d left at the lumber yard. The fact that it was badly wrinkled didn’t escape her attention.

  “I’m here about the job.”

  “You are?” Shae was pleasantly surprised. “Great! Uh…uh…I guess you’ve done this type of thing before.” She supposed she should ask for credentials, even though beggars couldn’t be too choosy.

  “I have.” He pulled out a list of references. “I’d prefer you didn’t call anyone in the immediate area.”

  “Why?” She met his gaze, wondering what he might be hiding. When he met her gaze with a knowing look, and considering he’d parked down the street, she realized what he was trying to hide – was her. “Oh, of course.”

  “You check these out and if you want to hire me, my number is on the bottom of the page.”

  “Okay.” She gave him a smile. “Do you want to see what the job would entail? The scope is quite extensive. I want to either ready the home for my grandmother to move in or to sell it if she’s not interested…or able,” she finished softly.

  “Sure, show me around.”

  Shae gestured for him to move further into the room. She couldn’t help but notice the hesitation in his movements. “I won’t bite, I promise.”

  Wrong thing to say.

  He cleared his throat. “Look, I don’t know you.” When she opened her mouth to say something, he held up his hand. “And I don’t want to know you. If I work for you, I want to make some things perfectly clear.”

  “Oh, what would that be?” She felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Here, we go again, she thought.

  “I’ll want to be paid in cash, every Monday, for the week ahead. We can plan out my hours and what’s expected. If there’s a difference, I’ll return the money to you.”

  Okay, so he didn’t trust her. Considering what he’d probably heard about her – she guessed that was fair. “What else?” As uncomfortable as this made her feel, she needed to know all his concerns up front – and he needed to hear hers.

  “I assume you have a job.”

  She wrinkled her brow, trying to figure out what he knew and what he didn’t – not that she planned on volunteering any incriminating information on herself.

  “Yes, I have a job.”

  “Good. I’d prefer you not be here while I work. We can arrange check in times periodically for you to examine the progress and give any further instructions needed.”

  “So, you don’t want to be alone with me.”

  The woman was remaining incredibly calm. Derek could imagine how most would react to his unusual terms. “No, I’d rather not.”

  Shae nodded her head. “If you park down the street and I put my car in the garage, so there’s no immediate evidence either one of us were here, would you have a problem with my working in the storage shed out back?” She could easily set up a desk and there was electricity available.

  He frowned and crossed his arms over his massive chest. Shae tried to ignore how seeing his strong forearms folded beneath his pecs made her feel.

  “What kind of work do you do?” He kept picturing a summerhouse scene with a draped welcoming bed waiting, a ceiling fan turning overhead. “No.” He held up his hand. “No, I don’t want to know.”

  So, he didn’t know her full story. Interesting. She tried to imagine what he really knew about her for certain and what he just assumed. Placing her tongue in her cheek, Shae was a bit amused by how this was unfolding. “Or, we could put up cameras in all the rooms with a time stamp, that way you could prove I didn’t try to pull any hanky-panky.” She pressed her lips together to keep from letting a wild giggle escape. Writing about hanky-panky was one thing, actually pulling it off was way out of her comfort zone.

  “This isn’t anything to joke about. I’m about to be in the midst of a nasty custody suit and I can’t let anything, or anyone, jeopardize the outcome.”

  Sympathy flooded Shae’s soul. “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you think working for the likes of me is the smart thing to do?”

  He looked embarrassed. “I need the money. If I miss child support payments, that would just be something else my ex can hold against me.”

  A thought entered Shae’s head, she wouldn’t mention it now, not until she checked his references – but maybe there was something she could do to help him. “Of course, I understand completely. If we come to an agreement, I won’t do anything to jeopardize your case.”

  Derek was a bit confused. This woman was nothing like he’d expected. She had an almost innocent air about her, which was impossible considering her reputation. There was no combative air about her, she acted as if she expected this treatment. Hell, if he didn’t know anything about her, he’d think she was adorable. In some ways, she reminded him of the woman who used to play in that old show Ghost Whisperer, Jennifer something. All long dark hair, big navy-blue eyes, and a smile warm as a ray of sunshine.

  Stop it! He jerked his thoughts to a standstill.

  “Do you want to tell me what the job entails?”

  “Yes, sorry. You distracted me.”

  He distracted her. Damn, he liked that idea. Jamming his hands in his pockets to keep from touching her, he moved the few steps over to the kitchen.

  “Throughout the house, I’d like to make everything handicap accessible without having it be useless to regular people. Does that make sense?”

  “You want the house to appeal to anyone, wheelchair bound or not.”

  “Right.” She beamed at him. “Is that possible?”

  “Possibly,” he countered with a grin, then quickly let it fade. No need to get friendly.

  “Good.” She walked behind the small breakfast bar. “I’d like to have the cabinets redone, granite countertops, and new tile on the floor.”

  “Granite countertops are expensive,” he warned her.

  “I’m making pretty good money right now and I want this done right. When I sell the house, I’m putting the proceeds aside for my grandmother’s health care.”

  “If she chooses not to move in.” He didn’t want to think how she might be making the money. “So, basically, you want to gut the kitchen and rebuild. New appliances?”

  “Yea, I think so. Stainless steel. Farmhouse sink.”

  “Going all out.” He nodded. “What else?”

  She led him through the house, pointing out the bathrooms and what they needed. “I’d love to hear any suggestions you might have.”

  He took out his phone. “Can I take some pictures?”

  “Sure.” She backed up out of the way, so as not to be in the photos.

  After he’d gotten what he needed, he started back toward the kitchen and took a few there. “Got it. Okay.” He nodded at her. “If you’ll let me know something in the next two days, I can get started on Monday.”

  Shae noticed he avoided meeting her gaze. Maybe he thought she was like Medusa or something, as if he might turn to stone if he looked directly at her
. She reached up to straighten the snakes in her hair, then amused herself and a giggle slipped from her lips.

  The sweet sound took Derek by surprise. “What are you laughing at?” His question came out a little more harshly than he intended.

  Shae blushed. “Nothing.” She wasn’t about to tell him about her Medusa reference. “You make me nervous, I guess.”

  Derek barked a laugh. “I make you nervous?” Hell, the opposite was true.

  “Silly, I know.” She pushed her hair behind her ear with a trembling hand.

  Silly? For a few seconds, he let himself look at her without the preconceived notions he’d garnered from others. She was just a little bit of a thing. A woman. Alone. And he was a big guy. If he were a mind to, he could overpower her easily enough. “No, it’s not silly. Just know you’re safe with me.”

  She didn’t feel safe. This man was the embodiment of her fantasies. He could break her so easy – spirit, heart, and soul.

  “Okay.” Knowing this was the end of the visit, she hurried to open the door for him. “If you go out the kitchen door, you can follow the creek to where you’re parked. That way, no one will see you leave.”

  “Good idea.” He marveled at her attitude concerning her sorry predicament.

  “And thanks so much for coming.” As he was about to leave, she thought of something. “Oh, what’s your name? I can’t keep thinking of you as Mr. Eastwood.”

  “What?” Derek laughed.

  “Oh, when I noticed you in the lumber store, you made me think of Clint Eastwood’s son, the one who acts.”

  “Huh, I think I’d rather I reminded you of Eastwood himself.” He scrunched up his face. “Get off my lawn! Is that a good impression?”

  Shae giggled. “I must have missed that one.”

  “My name’s Derek Alden.”

  She didn’t offer her hand, she didn’t figure he’d want to take it. “Shae St. John…but I guess you knew that.”

  “Right. Well, I look forward to hearing from you, Miss St. John.”

  “You will. Soon.”