Patti Standard - His Perfect Family

She marched over to the pantry and planted herself in the doorway. This was her house, after all, and no—no hunk with a hammer was going to intimidate her. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.

He tore a two-by-four loose from the wall before he turned his head to consider her over his thick shoulder, the board in his hand studded with twisted nails like some medieval weapon. “Are you planning to be home all day today, Mrs. Rhodes?”

“It’s Adrianne, please.” She smiled.

He didn’t.

“I’m on vacation. I thought as long as the house would be a mess with the remodeling, it would be a good time to repaint the upstairs and do my spring-cleaning. The place hasn’t been painted since we bought it....” He watched her, unblinking, as she wound down. “So, uh, if you need me to run errands or anything, just let me know.”

His dark eyes were as unsettling now as before. She found herself studying his face as intently as he had hers. His dark hair was cut short, military short, and shot through with gray. The cut made his disturbing hooded eyes and heavy brows stand out and threw his straight nose into prominence. Extras in Mafia movies had faces like his. His jaw was determinedly square and drew attention to his lips, lips that curved in a smile that wasn’t really a smile. More like a mocking arc, but whether he laughed at her, himself or the world in general, she couldn’t tell. Whichever, it wasn’t very pleasant

Well, she was more than used to dealing with unpleasant people. As a loan officer, she dealt with them all the time. All you had to do was smile — always. The more unpleasant they became, the more pleasant you became. And you always, always, smiled.

She’d seen her mother do it every night of her childhood, those hot summer nights in Atlanta when the air was so wet and muggy you had to force it into your lungs. The more her father drank, the more Blanche would smile, the more gaily she would laugh as she’d take Adrianne into another room and shut the door tight and play dolls or dress-up or fairy princess.

So now she smiled politely at the man in her kitchen until he finally said, “I’D let you know if I need anything.”

“All right.”

He lifted the crowbar once again. Obviously, the conversation was over as far as he was concerned. And she felt nothing but relief. Ignoring him as best she could, she gathered her cleaning supplies and prepared to tackle the living room. She stood in the doorway, bucket in one hand, rag in the other, and took a deep breath. A strange sense of anticipation grew within her. As the weather had warmed, she’d felt an increasing need to — purge. She wanted everything around her clean and fresh and...hers. Just hers.

She wanted to wash away every fingerprint Harvey had ever put on the woodwork, pick up every piece of lint that had ever dropped from his pockets. She wanted to vacuum away the indentation of the policemen sitting on her sofa and that odious man from the insurance company, badgering her, looking at her with suspicious, disbelieving eyes while she insisted she didn’t know what they were talking about. She didn’t know anything about any twenty-five thousand dollars. Harvey hadn’t come home from the office that day. She’d never seen the money, never heard of the money; she had no idea what they were talking about.

She wanted it all gone.

So she started on the baseboards, wiping them clean. Next, she moved every piece of furniture and vacuumed underneath, took down the drapes, removed pictures from the walls, dusted the leaves of live plants and silk plants alike. Nothing was spared.

For three hours, she cleaned and scrubbed and polished until the living room shone in the sun that came through the curtainless, sparkling windows. And while she cleaned, she was aware of Cutter Matchett in the next room tearing her pantry apart.

She’d just decided to take a break for a cup of coffee when the vibrating sound of something being applied to what sounded like an essential part of her house had her edging toward the kitchen. She peered around the pantry door to find all the shelves gone, revealing a larger than expected room, and her carpenter using what looked like a giant jigsaw to cut a hole in the floor.

The vinyl shook under her feet until he finally removed his finger from the trigger. It took another moment for the noise to finish echoing in the enclosed room. He pulled his hammer from a loop on his tool belt and gave one quick, sharp blow to the floor. A neat square fell into the crawl space below.

“Mr. Matchett, would you like some coffee?”

He looked up at her, and she knew with a sudden certainty that he wanted to say no. He didn’t like her. He didn’t want coffee. He wanted nothing to do with her. But then his face closed, his dark eyes became even more shuttered and he nodded his head. “Thanks, that would be nice. And the name’s Cutter.”

She busied herself pouring coffee while he crossed the floor and settled himself at the table. She pulled out a chair and sat across from him, noting how unnaturally still he sat, his wide-palmed hands unmoving on the table. Now she regretted her impulsive decision to ask him to join her and his inexplicable change of mind. What kind of small talk could they possibly make for the next ten minutes?

Cutter took the matter out of her hands when he asked, “Was your husband Harvey Rhodes by any chance — the accountant?”

“Why, yes. Yes, he was.”

“A friend of mine recommended him at tax time last year. I was sorry to hear about the accident.”

“Thank you.”

“Must be tough. Had a friend whose husband died. No insurance. She’s still trying to recover.” He paused. “You must be doing okay, though. Able to do a little remodeling with the insurance money?”

Adrianne felt her lips compress and she took a quick sip of coffee. Harvey had canceled his life-insurance policy without consulting her. She’d had no idea until after his death that she’d have to handle the mortgage, Lisa’s college, everything from now on with just her salary and what they had in savings. She’d returned Cutter’s contract in the mail last week with a lump in her throat at the number on the bottom line. It would put a major dent in her savings account.

“We’re fine,” she said, not about to discuss her financial situation with this man. Instead, she said with all the politeness she could muster, “It’s almost lunchtime. Can I fix you something? A sandwich?”

So she wasn’t going to get cozy over a cup of coffee, Cutter thought, not really surprised. There were many women who, given the opening he’d given her, would have cussed their husband up one side and down the other for leaving no insurance. Told him all about it, with crocodile tears in their eyes, hoping to get him to cut his bill a little in sympathy.

But not our Southern beauty here. He was still trying to get used to the little jolt he felt each time those amber eyes lifted to his. He reminded himself of Marcia’s baby-blues. They’d cooed that same innocence — while she’d hidden a bottle under her pillow and a lover under her bed. Adrianne Rhodes had a honeyed drawl, honey hair, honey eyes, but underneath all that gold could easily beat a larcenous little heart.

“No, thanks,” he said to her offer of lunch, remembering the key he still had in his pocket. “I’ll —”

The front door burst open, and a teenager in black came into the kitchen, followed by an older woman.

“I’m starved. Lunch ready?”

“In a minute,” Adrianne replied. “Lisa, I want you to meet Cutter. Cutter, this is my daughter, Lisa, and my mother, Blanche Munro.”

He stood up to shake hands with the girl, noting her strawberry blond hair, freckles and stocky build. She took after her father, he decided.