AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hello there.” Sandra came walking out of the house toward them. The sunlight shined from behind her like a halo. Dang she had been a cute kid, but now, she was one heck of a beautiful woman.
“Hi.” He turned to David. “That’ll be it for today’s lesson. I need to talk to your mom for a bit.”
David frowned and Paxton wished he could keep at it a little longer, then the boy handed him the hammer. “Are you going to come back?”
“I said I would.”
“And you’re really going to help me build my fort?”
Paxton flashed a smile, hoping it would help ease the concerned frown on the little boy’s face. “Absolutely.”
“Really?” His frown was still in place.
A sudden pang of distaste pinched in his chest. What had this young child learned from adults that he didn’t believe Paxton. “Really.” With his pointer finger, he drew an x across his chest. “Cross my heart or hope to die.”
That brought a huge grin to the boy’s face. “Mommy.” David spun around and ran up to his mom. “Paxton is going to help me build a fort.”
“Is he?” She glanced over her son’s head at Paxton.
“He promised.” David’s smile was infectious.
“Then I guess he’s going to help you build a fort.” Again, she looked over her son’s head and leveled her gaze with his.
Paxton had no idea what was running through her head, but he quickly concluded that mom needed as much reassurance as her son had. With an easy smile, he nodded at her and just the way he’d done for David, drew an x over his heart.
“I smelled something delicious when I came home. Why don’t you go see what Grandma has baking?”
“Sweet.” Throwing a fist in the air, David did a little boy jig and sprinted into the house, the screen door slamming shut behind him.
“No pun intended,” Paxton chuckled, stepping closer to Sandra.
“Not sure what happened here, but thank you.”
“Honestly,” he shrugged a shoulder, “I’m not sure what happened either, but I came by to talk to you about something, and David peppered me with questions about what I did and did I use tools and do I know how to use a hammer and does my mommy let me use a saw.”
Sandra lifted her hand to her mouth and bit back a laugh. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. They were safer there. “I grabbed my tool belt and showed him a thing or two. It was fun.”
“He’s told me before that he wants a tree fort when we get a house. I didn’t realize he hadn’t let go of the idea.”
“Building club houses, and forts, and tree houses in our backyard is how my brothers and I got started in construction. We had a great time. Even if the first few efforts fell apart too easily.”
Sandra’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that. None of you fell out of a tree, did you?”
“No bones were broken in our learning experience.”
“I can’t help but worry about falling from a tree house. I wish we could build a ground-level fort instead.”
“We can build whatever you want.” Which reminded him why he was actually here. “Speaking of build, you mentioned you liked the house that we’re building for charity.”
She sat on the back stoop. “Who wouldn’t? The place is going to be perfect.”
“I don’t mean to get personal. Your mom told me you’re only working part time at the Cut n’ Curl?”
“That’s right. I was a manicurist in Chicago, but it’s taking longer than I wanted to get my license in Texas.”
Just what he and his brothers had thought. From what he’d seen Sandra Lynn fretting about paying for a minor car repair and what his aunt had shared over dinner, he suspected she and David could probably fit the charity’s criteria. “We all had a chat after you left about the problems with bringing outsiders into a small town. First thing this morning, we had a long meeting with the network and then the charity. We insisted one condition to the network funding this project is that we have a local family move in. Both the network and the charity loved the idea of a single mom.”
