AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I would have bet my life he hadn’t mowed a lawn in a couple of decades, if ever. Hadn’t he just told me the night before how little time he’d spent with his family once he started at the soccer academy? Even then had he ever spent time doing housework when he was so busy being a childhood prodigy?
I was tempted to tell him I could do it all myself, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t.
He’d come to San Antonio with me because ‘he had nothing else to do.’ He’d offered to help me probably for the same reason. The poor guy was alone and bored. I had a feeling he didn’t have many friends, he’d admitted to not being close to his family, and all that together made me just sort of sad. It made me want to help him, to include him in things. I wanted him to get his feet wet with life.
What was the best thing to do?
“You mow, and I’ll take care of the edging and weeds,” I told him, making sure I wasn’t giving him a look of pity. “All right?”
His long fingers wrapped around the upper bar of the mower and he nodded.
I handed him a pair of disposable earplugs, safety glasses and a smile that was encouraging but not too encouraging. I said a prayer that we’d make it through this intact.
Reiner Kulti took almost an hour to cut my dad’s front and back lawn. He had to take two passes in the front to get the lines even, and he almost ruined the engine once when he didn’t empty out the bag. It was my fault, I hadn’t told him how. He did it without asking a single question, and I didn’t offer any advice either.
He looked so damn proud of himself, I almost cried. Honestly. I felt like a mom dropping off her baby boy at preschool.
I slapped him on the back and kept the ‘good job, buddy’ to myself before putting up the equipment.
He hadthat look in his eye again. The same one he’d had when he’d been looking at the lawn mower.
“Have you ever been to a mall before?” I asked him once we were through the glass doors.
Kulti had his attention on everything around us. His hair was concealed by the baggy beanie he had pulled low on his head, and he’d been thoughtful enough to wear a long-sleeved button-down chambray shirt that I had a feeling cost more than my entire outfit put together. With his hair and tattoo covered, we were pretty confident that he wouldn’t be recognized.
I hoped. I really, really hoped. The idea of a mob lusting after him was something out of my worst nightmares.
“Yes I have been to a mall before,” he muttered.
“The Galleria doesn’t count,” I told him, referring to the huge shopping center in Houston with all the designer stores.
He blinked those beautiful light eyes down at me. “I’ve been to several malls,” he insisted. “A long time ago.”
I groaned and shoved at the elbow he hadn’t gotten work done on, earning a small smile. “Well don’t steal anything because I won’t bail you out, okay?”
“Yes,schnecke.”
“Good.” I grabbed his wrist and gave him a tug in the direction of one of the stores I needed to visit.
The German looked at every store and booth we walked by until I found one of the businesses I was looking for. Right in the center of the aisle were the massage chairs and masseuses my dad loved coming to every time he went to the mall. “Let me get a gift certificate real quick,” I told him after I’d stopped right by the booth. He nodded and watched as one of the male masseuses rubbed down a woman’s shoulders.
“You want one?” I asked after paying for a gift certificate.
He shook his head.
“Sure?”
He nodded. “What’s next?”
“A new pair of tennis shoes.” I pointed at the store close by. “He never buys himself new shoes, so we all have to buy him some, otherwise he’ll wear the same pair until they’re taped together.”
I could have sworn he smiled as he walked alongside me into the shoe store. I knew exactly what I was getting, even though I wished Kulti wasn’t around to watch. He was busy looking at the rows on the walls when the store employee came over.
“Can I help you?” the young guy asked, eyeing me with a little too much interest considering I was probably almost ten years older than him.
I pointed at the pair I wanted, careful to keep my back to the German a few feet behind me and said, “Size nine and a half, please.”
The employee nodded in approval. “The RK 10s in black?”
