Chase followed her to the front door. “Let me give you a ride back to your place.”
“Thanks, but I’m fine. I like walking, remember?” When she stepped out onto the porch, he was right behind her.
“It’s dark now. You shouldn’t be out walking alone after dark.”
She laughed. “I’m a police officer, Chase. I can handle it.”
He frowned, clearly not wanting to let the subject go. “It just doesn’t feel right. Let me walk you home, at least, so I know you got there safely.”
Being alone with Chase as close to her bed as her front door was a recipe for disaster, and she shook her head. “But then you’ll have to walk back alone, and it’s my job to protect and serve, you know.”
“I’m not going to win this argument, am I?”
She smiled up at him and was struck by the sudden realization she was standing on her dad’s front porch with Chase Sanders, probably looking for all the world like a woman who expected to be kissed good night.
“Nope.” Turning quickly, she almost ran down the steps, tossing him a wave over her shoulder. “Good night.”
The cool night air and the walk did her some good, but she still spent too much time thinking about kissing Chase under the porch light instead of sleeping.
06
Chase spent the next few days close to the McDonnell home, helping Coach’s wife with some projects around the house and yard. Not only did it give him something to do but, thanks to her busy schedule, it also kept him from crossing paths with the coach’s daughter too often.
On Sunday night, when Kelly had smiled up at him under the porch light, he’d wanted so badly to kiss her. He was pretty sure his hand even twitched, as if it was going to reach out for her waist to pull her close. With her hair loose, he could have slid the other hand up the base of her neck and into the soft strands.
“What do you think?”
Chase jerked himself back into the present, which didn’t include hot kisses and blond hair tangled in his fingers. Mrs. McDonnell was kneeling in front of the mulch she’d spread around the plants he’d been helping her put in the ground.
He cleared his throat. “It looks great.”
“I appreciate the help. I’ve been after Walter for a month to help me set the bench and put this flower bed in.”
It was jarring, hearing Coach’s name. As far as he knew, Mrs. McDonnell was the only person who used it at all. He sat on the granite bench he’d assembled for her from the pieces that had been stashed in the garage and admired the flowers she’d put in the holes he dug. They were cheerful looking and all different colors, which was pretty much all he knew about flowers.
“So, how’s work going for you?” she asked casually, turning her legs sideways so she was sitting in the grass.
Since she’d talked to his mother on the phone, he suspected Mrs. McDonnell already had a good idea of how work had been going. “I have a couple of jobs to do when I get back. Then we’ll see. I’ll either try to make a go of it on my own or I’ll go find work with a bigger outfit. I haven’t decided yet.”
“It’s hard to have a boss after working for yourself.”
“Yeah, but on the flip side, all the worrying belongs to the boss. It’d be nice to just show up, pound some nails and then go home for a change. Let some other guy worry about getting permits and dealing with homeowners and chasing money.”
It was something he’d been thinking a lot about. S & P Builders was dead. There was no doubt about that. Even if Seth was waiting when Chase got back to New Jersey, hat in one hand and their joint money in the other, that business relationship was over. But alone, he’d have to cut back on the size of the jobs he could take and some people, including financial institutions, didn’t take one-man operations as seriously.
“Walter’s been self-employed for decades,” Mrs. McDonnell reminded him unnecessarily. “And we’ve had our ups and downs. Some pretty scary downs a time or two, even. You know you can always go to him for advice.”
They’d already had a few conversations about Chase’s situation, but Coach wasn’t the kind of guy who had or gave the easy answers. He listened and asked questions and let a person work things out on his own. It was an invaluable quality, but not a fast process.
“We’ve been talking a bit,” he said. “I’m trying not to rush into a decision.”
“That’s always the best approach.” She stood and brushed off her jeans. “I’m going to go make some fresh lemonade because I think that’s about all I had left on my list.”
“I’m going to put the shovel and wheelbarrow and stuff back in the shed.”
Being in the McDonnells’ backyard, with its white fence and flower beds and big tool shed, made Chase wish he’d bought a house somewhere along the way. He could see the pride they took in their home, and he’d never felt that for any of the apartments he’d lived in. He wasn’t sure if it was the fact that they were apartments or that he hadn’t owned them, but he felt more of a connection to this place than he had to any of them.
“If it isn’t the first champion running back for the Stewart Mills Eagles.”
