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“Good thing it’s a volunteer position.”
ChapterEight
“I’mglad you talked Erin into going to dinner with us,” Pawpaw said, shoving his arms into his coat. “We certainly owe her an apology after the way Sissy behaved.”
Brock followed his pawpaw down the driveway and swallowed the nasty aftertaste of his mother’s latest antics. He desperately hoped they’d bypass that discussion and have a pleasant night out. “I already apologized.”
Pawpaw looked at Brock over the hood of the car. “And you were a little rude.”
“I wasn’t rude.”
Pawpaw gave him the don’t-lie-to-me-boy stare he’d mastered over the years. “You want to amend that statement?”
Brock unlocked his SUV and opened the driver’s side door. “Okay, fine. Maybe I was a little rude.” He got behind the wheel and started the engine. “But you weren’t here when she first stopped by. She wasn’t exactly friendly—and I’d never even met her.”
“Erin doesn’t strike me as the mean-spirited kind.”
“Apparently I exceeded the speed limit on my first trip through the neighborhood. But I was trying to catch up with the movers. They’d been on the road for an hour before they bothered to call and tell me they were on their way.”
“I see.”
“Trust me, Erin will spell out all the neighborhood rules.” He shouldn’t be looking forward to spending time with her. Not after their rocky start and his continued suspicions about her reasons for living in the neighborhood. But that didn’t stop him from anticipating a night in her company. “I’m not convinced she’s not the neighborhood mooch looking for her next mark.”
Ben scowled at him, deepening the notch between his brows. “Not every woman is like your mother, Brock.”
“I know that. I just need to make sure.” He hated the way Pawpaw frowned at him, a world of disapproval in his silent stare. “Besides, I figured you’d rather hear the neighborhood rules straight from the horse’s mouth than log onto some silly website.”
“Did you get my computer working?” Pawpaw asked.
“I did. I also printed out your passwords and put the list in your safe, along with the rest of your important documents.”
“I’ve got a safe?”
“In the guest room closet. I’ll show you when we get home.” Brock pulled into Erin’s driveway and put the car into park. Her house looked like all the others in the cookie cutter neighborhood with its two-car garage and faux stone facade. “I’ll be right back.”
Erin beat him to the punch. The whimsical wreath on her front door shimmied as she locked up the house. “Hi there,” she said, wearing a bright smile and the same long white coat zipped up to her neck.
“How’s it going?” Brock asked. Maybe, once he got a look at Erin’s body, he would stop obsessing. With her taking up too much space in his head over the past few days, Brock realized he needed to get back on the dating train as soon as he returned to Nashville. He’d obviously neglected his love life for far too long.
He led her down the walkway with a hand on her back. “It’s nice the way the neighborhood clears the driveways and the sidewalks.”
“It is,” she said. “I don’t mind walking dogs and watering plants, but I draw the line at shoveling snow.”
Brock opened the door behind Pawpaw and Erin climbed inside.
“Hi, Ben.”
“It’s good to see you, Erin. We really enjoyed your soup last night.”
Brock closed her door and walked behind the car. His shoulders eased at hearing Pawpaw talk to Erin with excitement in his voice. He hoped he was wrong about her because it would be a lot easier to leave him in Cherry Creek, knowing someone was looking out for him.
After the short drive into town past the cherry grove with a large, decorated Christmas tree, Brock parked along East Main Street, just down from Sal’s Pizza.
“I can’t believe how much Cherry Creek has changed since the last time I was here,” Pawpaw said.
“When was that?” Erin asked.
Pawpaw pursed his lips and peered at Gifts & Bits’ colorful Christmas display. “Before you were born, I’d imagine.”
