A Family for Luke

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Todd, who was hanging over the fence, watching Cooper, reluctantly pulled away and trudged across the yard. He picked up his book, then held out his hand to his sister. “C’mon Autumn. What do you want to play?” he asked as he led her up the porch steps and into the house.

Janie turned back to Luke and gave him a smile that he could only describe as insincerely sweet. “If I could borrow a ladder from you, then I can finish the job and you can get back to your work.”

How convenient. She could borrow his tools, but he couldn’t set foot in her yard.

“I’d hate to disappoint you,” he said, his voice growing chilly, “but you’re not going to finish the job. I’m going to finish the job. Using my ladder.”

“I’m perfectly capable,” she protested, her blue eyes snapping. “I’ve done it before. You don’t need to be here.”

The remnants of the fear he’d experienced when he saw her near miss pushed his guard down.

He took a step closer, his voice growing quiet so the kids couldn’t hear.

“You just about killed yourself in front of your children just a few moments ago.” His anger was building as her eyes narrowed. “If you’re the responsible and concerned mother that you seem to be, then you won’t go anywhere near those gutters.”

Janie’s mouth opened then shut again. She looked like she was on the verge of a coronary, but Luke didn’t care.

“So why don’t you go inside where you’ll be safe from me and my dog,” he continued, pressing his momentary advantage, “and I’ll get the proper tools to do this job.”

Janie opened her mouth once more, but Luke didn’t stick around to hear her tell him again how she could do it herself.

He was halfway across the yard when a thought hit him. Following this hunch, he turned around and walked back to the wooden ladder she was struggling to pick up. Without a word, he took it from her as easily as he would a toy and carried it back to the fence.

“That’s mine,” she called out as he tossed it into his yard. “I got that ladder from my dad. It’s an heirloom.”

He didn’t acknowledge her comments as he hopped the fence but had to laugh at her last comment. Heirloom indeed. Fossil would be more apt.

He strapped on his pouch, grabbed a cordless drill and screws, slipped on his gloves and picked up an aluminum ladder on his way back to Janie’s yard.

He put the ladder over the fence and hopped over again, knowing that this route would give Janie less time to come up with some kind of alternate scheme to keep him away from her precious gutters.

By the time he got back to the house, Janie seemed to have calmed down. She even gave him a smile when he opened up the ladder.

“You know I can—”

“Forget it,” Luke said as he scrambled up the ladder.

The gutter was plugged solid, and it took him a few minutes to pull out all the leaves and mud. They musn’t have been cleaned for years.

While he worked, Janie stayed at the bottom of the ladder, watching. He felt like telling her there was nothing worth stealing up here, not with the shape her roof was in, but he kept his smart comment to himself.

When he was done with this part of the gutters, he fitted the screws to the dilapidated metal and spun them in with the drill.

“You’re going to have to replace these in the next year or so.” He tightened the last of the screws.

“I’m not surprised,” she answered. “How do the shingles look, or do I not want to ask?”

Luke tested the gutter. When he was satisfied, he gave the roof a quick glance. About one-fourth of the shingles were lifting off and curling up. “Bad news there, too.”

“Again. Not surprised.”

What did surprise him was the faint smile curving her lips as he came down the ladder.

He liked the smile better than the glower she had given him a few moments ago.

“I’m sorry about snapping at you before,” she said as he folded up the ladder. “It’s just I think I got a bit of a scare myself when I almost fell.” She sighed as she rubbed her arms, “Anyway, thanks.”

He waved her comment away. “I’m not done yet,” he said picking up the ladder and moving it a few feet over. “There’s a few more yards of gutter to clean.”

“You don’t have to do all that,” she began. Then stopped when he held up his gloved hand yet again. “Okay. Okay. But let me get you something to drink when you’re done. Iced tea okay?”

“Iced tea would be great.”

She nodded and went back into the house. While he worked, he could hear her talking to Todd and Autumn. He heard the refrigerator door open, then the hum of voices and the scent of food, which made his mouth water and made him think of the cold pizza he was going to heat up for supper. A minute later, Janie poked her head out the door. “You still doing okay?”

“Still doing just fine,” he replied.

He felt a moment’s nostalgia as he scraped and cleaned. In the kitchen he could hear Janie talking to the kids, and he wondered about her husband. Did he come home looking forward to being with them? Did the kids run to greet him?

Would he ever experience that?

Now would be a good time to get off the self-pity express. Sure he wanted a family some day. Sure he’d been waiting for that to happen. But it would in time and with the right woman, if he ever settled in one place long enough.

An hour later, he was folding up the ladder when the porch door opened and Janie came out carrying a frosted glass of the promised iced tea.

He stripped off his gloves and as he took the glass, the ice cubes clinked against the side.

“Are you done?” Janie asked, hugging herself against the evening chill settling into the yard.

“Yep. I tightened the hangers on the other side of the house. They should be good for awhile yet.” Luke took a sip of his iced tea then pointed his glass at the swing set. “I think you might want to look at replacing that too.”

Janie frowned as she glanced at the dilapidated set. “It’s okay. I got it from a neighbor.”

“For now. But one of these days Autumn or Todd will fall on their behind when they sit down on it.”

“Well, I don’t think they need another one.”

“Don’t you want to do what’s best for the kids?”

Janie gave him a knowing look. “What’s best for my kids is always first and foremost on my mind. And right now, that swing set is perfectly fine. I wouldn’t have it in my yard if it wasn’t safe.”

Luke merely arched his eyebrows and glanced over at the spot in the fence where he had dumped the ladder.

Janie seemed to know exactly where his mind went. “And I never let the kids on the ladder, in case you must know.”

“I don’t need to know, but it is good to know.”

He gave her a quick smile, pleased to see a glimmer of a smile.

He took another sip of iced tea as he stood on her porch, wondering what she had made for supper that smelled so good. He liked cooking, when he had the time. He just never had much of it—time that was.

Asking would put her in an awkward position. She would never ask him in for supper, and nor should she, so he didn’t broach the subject.

He took another sip of the cool drink, suddenly loath to leave Janie and the house with the kids inside and the sounds and smells of a home surrounding him like a tantalizing dream.

Somewhere down the street someone was barbecuing, and beyond that he heard the muffled buzz of a lawn mower. His thoughts cast back to the precious years he had with Al, the closest he had ever come to real family life.

Cooper’s bark brought him back to the here and now.

He should get going. He looked over at Janie, who was watching him. Then, to his surprise and, he had to admit, pleasure, a flush crept up her neck and she looked down. She pushed a wave of hair back from her face, then reached into the back pocket of her worn jeans. “Thanks again for all your work,” she said, pulling out a handful of bills.

Luke felt as chilled as the ice in his drink. “I don’t want your money.”

“You don’t have to sound so angry. It’s perfectly legitimate to pay someone for doing work.”

“I did it because I wanted to help you out.”

“I don’t want to be in your debt,” she said, pushing the money at him. “This way we’re even.”

Luke knew all he had to do was walk away without taking the money. But he gave that another thought. Janie was an independent sort, that much he’d surmised from the few times he’d spoken to her.

A single mother, beholden, so to speak, to a single man.

Maybe it would be better if he took the money and swallowed his own pride for the sake of hers.

He downed the last of his iced tea and handed her the glass. “I usually charge about thirty bucks an hour for custom work. I put in an hour.”

“That’s too cheap.”

“So now you’re going to dicker over the cost?” He laughed in spite of his frustration with her.

“I just want to be fair.” Her quick smile made him realize he had done the right thing in taking her money. Boundaries and all that.

And he especially appreciated the smile.

“Thirty bucks is more than fair.”

Janie counted out one twenty and two fives.

As Luke pocketed the money, he looked down at the deck. “You might want to have this looked at as well,” he said, pointing with the toe of his heavy work boot at a rotting board.

“I look at it enough,” Janie said, with a feeble laugh. “But thanks again for your help.”

“No problem.” He gathered his tools and walked back toward the fence.

When he was on the other side, he looked back at the house, but she was already inside her house. Safe and cozy with her family.

At least he had Cooper, he thought, bringing the ladder back to the house. The dog was a poor conversationalist but a faithful friend.

He untied Cooper and the dog ran back to the fence as if hoping to find the kids. Once again, he planted his paws on the fence, and Luke watched with a sense of inevitability as the fence gave way and Cooper fell with it.

“Cooper. Come here,” he called, running over to catch the dog before he jumped into Janie’s yard.

He’d just earned some major brownie points with his neighbor. He certainly didn’t want the dog to jeopardize that.

Cooper ran back to him and danced around him, eager to play. Luke felt bad because the poor dog had been tied up again.

Luke picked up a wooden stake and tossed it across the yard. Cooper launched himself after it, his long legs scrabbling for purchase on the ground. He picked it up and ran back dropping it at Luke’s feet.

They kept it up for a few minutes; though Cooper could have gone on until he dropped, Luke was hungry.

He straightened and sent one last look toward the house. He saw two faces looking out from one of the windows of the house. Todd and Autumn.

Todd was smiling, and to Luke’s surprise, Autumn was as well.

He waved and the kids waved back. When Cooper came back to him with the stick, he saw Autumn point at them both, then laugh.

It bothered him that this little girl appeared so afraid of his dog. Cooper had such a good heart and he sensed, given the chance, she might appreciate him as well.

And then he had an idea.

Chapter Four

Carry the two and add four and no matter how she worked it, her amazing plan would require a lot of work. And cash input.

Janie pushed her hands through her hair, wishing away the number on the computer screen of her laptop. She had to have punched something in wrong.

With a sigh, she started checking her figures, fully aware of the ticking clock. She only had a few more minutes before she had to take Suzie to dance practice. But she had to get this right before she brought it to Mr. Chernowyk. She was counting on this audacious plan to shift her financial circumstances.