Page 81 of His Wounded Heart

Harvey steals another unicorn cupcake off of Bella’s tray and she beams. “Reynolds is up their ass, overseeing everything and countermanding everything the guy named Renzo has to say. He’s going to make it so all the volunteers leave, and that will be a big loss. I can’t bear to watch it. That’s why I’m working on the other side. If he tried to direct me, I’d tell him where he could go.”

I wince. Arthur Reynolds has been a pain in my side ever since I joined the rec center’s Board of Directors. The man is short on brains and long on opinions. Because he was on the Board before me, and his father owns a car dealership in Knoxville that sponsors many of our youth team sports, he feels he has us over a barrel and can have more of a say on how the rec center should be run than any of the rest of us. Half of my job as board secretary is keeping him away from the other members who are ready to kill him.

“You said two people who were new. Besides Renzo, who else?” I know it’s stupid, but I hope he’s going to say Simon.

“That hermit guy, Simon Clark. Turns out he used to be an officer in the Navy, so he’s directing traffic. Dave is laughing up his sleeve because normally he has to go head-to-head with Arthur, but instead it’s this guy. I think we finally have someone who’ll make Arthur actually shut up.”

“What are you and your men doing?”

“While they’re doing the framing on that side of the gymnasium, we’re still cleaning out some of the debris from the storm that hit the classrooms and auditorium. When we’re done with that Dave and his team can come over here and do the framing, then my guys can move over to the already framed side and start doing the mechanical rough-ins.”

“Sounds like you have it handled.” I turn to my daughter. “You ready to go see Mr. Draper?”

“Do you think Ronnie and Jeff are with him?”

“I don’t know, let’s go find out.”

“Trenda, do you need help juggling that box and two trays?”

My arms are getting tired, but I open my mouth to say no. Harvey raises one eyebrow and I roll my eyes. “You know me so well.”

“Yes, I do. You never could ask for help.” Harvey shakes his head.

“All right, if you could carry the box, then I can handle the kitty tray with the unicorn cupcakes and the two bags of brownies.”

“I could get the bag of brownies,” Bella pipes up.

“And I get to keep everything else, right?” Harvey teases.

“No, silly. You have to share,” Bella tells him seriously.

“All right. If you say so,” Harvey says as he takes the box from me, and I laugh. We start trudging through the mushy, muddy snow. I don’t worry about my girl; she is as nimble as a goat. Meanwhile, I am known to fall on my butt if one strand of carpet is higher than another. My reputation must precede me, because Harvey keeps things nice and slow as we round the building. I cringe as I hear Arthur’s grating voice spurting out orders. But when I really take a moment to look I see that nobody is doing what he’s saying. Arthur is standing on the one remaining bleacher, so he’s higher than everybody else and he’s sputtering and vainly waving his arms, trying to make his wishes known and followed. It isn’t working.

I look at the crew of six men and watch the dynamics. Harvey is right. Dave is calmly doing as directed, and his area is taking shape. I see Aaron from the local nursery; he’s humming right along—not as fast as Dave, but getting there. There are the twins who work at their father’s garage. Those boys are great, except when Joey had tried to date Piper when he was nineteen and she was sixteen. Not cool.

“Mama, why did you stop?”

“Hold on a minute, Sweet Pea. I want to watch.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “Okay.”

I can see why Dave is laughing up his sleeve. I see him talking to a man with close-cropped black hair. He’s not as tall as Simon, but he’s broader in the shoulders. I can’t make out his face from where I’m standing, but he looks serious. He must be Renzo. Anyway, as soon as they’re done talking, Simon moves to the middle of the site.

“Huddle up,” he calls out. Then he notices Bella, Harvey, and me.

“I have cookies!” Bella yells out, waving the bag over her head.

“Guys, we’re taking a break,” Simon hollers to everyone. I watch as tools are put down and everybody starts to amble our way.

“You can’t leave. Get back to work,” Arthur yells.

Harvey laughs, and I giggle. I can’t help it, Harvey started it. Thank God Bella is hopping up and down shouting about unicorn cupcakes, brownies, and cookies, otherwise Arthur would see I was laughing at him.

“Heya, Mizz Trenda,” one of the teenagers yells out from behind the two new men. “You baked?”

“Bella did most of the work,” I respond.

“Harvey, let me take that off your hands. Unless of course you want to mingle with all of us and Arthur,” Simon says softly as he slips between Harvey and me. How did I miss him coming up on me?