Page 5 of Sweet Devotion

“Mom? Something wrong?” Preston’s voice dripped with concern.

“Not really. We have a small leak in the kitchen. Aiden’s fixing it now.”

“Aiden?” Concern shifted to surprise laced with a hint of shock. “Is he supposed to be fixing the house?”

“Probably not, but he’s stubborn, and more importantly, so far he seems to know what he’s doing.” She sighed. “Do you need anything, because I really should get back to him?”

“Fraid so. I have an important meeting this morning and the blasted papers I need are sitting on Dad’s desk. They’re in a red file folder. Should be right on top, but there’s a chance you’ll have to move a few things around if it got buried. Then, scan and email them to me, please.”

“Will do. But I need to hurry.” A simple conveyance of I love you back and forth and she hurried off, barely making it down the hall when the doorbell rang. Some days simply didn’t want to cut a gal a break.

Yanking the door open, she took a step back.

“Morning, Mrs. Sweet.” Colleen Gleeson stood in the doorway, smiling like a woman without a care in the world—and a working sink.

“Morning.” She took a step back. “I have to get some paperwork for Preston. Head into the kitchen. There’s a fresh pot of coffee.”

“Thank you.”

As Alice scurried toward her late husband’s office, Colleen’s footsteps could be heard casually making their way into the kitchen. For a foolish moment she wondered if Colleen might know anything about plumbing.

Colleen had barely made it into the kitchen when a voice called out, “Good, you’re back. I need a hammer and I can’t reach into the tool box.”

Glancing around the pristine floor, she spotted two denim clad legs sticking out from under the sink. Judging by the length of them, the man on the other hand had to be pretty tall. How he managed to fold himself under the sink was a wonder to her. Noticing the toolbox at his side, she lifted the top tray and pulled out the hammer, handing it to him.

“Thanks. I squared out the soggy sheetrock, but a hammer will make faster work of knocking it out. I could use a trash bag.”

Trash bag. Where might Alice keep those? The first drawer she opened beside the sink held all sorts of storage and trash bags. Her lucky day. A hand waved from under the sink and she placed the bag in the palm.

“Thanks.”

Before she could respond, the man made quick work of loudly banging at the wall and placing broken sheetrock inside. Neatest worker she’d ever seen.

“Here, take this.” That hand stuck out again, this time holding the partly filled trash bag.

She grabbed it quickly and set it aside.

“There’s a roll of white Teflon tape in the toolbox.”

Silently, she nodded and snatched the roll from the top tray, handing it over. Before he could ask for it, she grabbed the purple primer.

When the hand reached out again and bumped the jar she held, his fingers wrapped around it. “Wow. Just what I was going to ask you for. You’re not only a great hostess, you’re a fabulous assistant.”

Not till that second did she realize, whoever was under the sink must have thought she was Alice Sweet. She opened her mouth, ready to explain, when he let out a cuss followed by sucking sounds. That could only mean one thing. Glancing around the kitchen, she grabbed a sheet of paper towel and reaching under the sink, waved the paper towel at him.

“Okay, so you really are a mind reader. Thanks. I hate these stupid little cuts. Dumb things hurt more than a major gash.”

“Band-Aid?” she asked.

“Nah. I’ll tape this on. It’ll be fine.” Whoever was under the sink shifted back slightly, grunted, groaned, then muttered something under his breath she probably wasn’t supposed to hear. “This is only temporary. If I can get a ride to town, I’ll replace these copper lines with Pex and you’ll be good to go.”

Without thinking, she nodded as if this were her house and her sink.

“I couldn’t ask for a better assistant. Beautiful, smart, and quick thinking. If you weren’t already married I could kiss you.”

“Sorry that took so long.” Alice Sweet huffed as she hurried into the kitchen. “How are we doing? Need anything else?”

At the exact moment that Colleen responded “Looks like he’s almost finished for now,” something clanked on the wood cabinet floor along with the loud thud of human body part banging against the same cabinet.