Jenna Mindel - Mending Fences

“Just the two of us.”

“No brothers or sisters in the area?”

“Nope.” After setting down her tray, she moved toward a dusty radio perched on an even dustier shelf. “Do you mind?”

“Go ahead.”

She turned the knob with sounds of static blips until she settled on a station. “Do you like jazz?”

“Not really. But it’s coming in clearly.” Jack stood and stretched his back. He fumbled through his box for a can of foaming bathroom cleaner. He sprayed the sink and the tiled walls.

“Let me guess, you like country.” She’d parked herself on a nearby stool, sweating glass of lemonade in hand.

“What’s wrong with country?” He’d grown to love country music since it was often played in the horse barns where he’d made house calls.

Her expression clearly showed that he’d dropped a tick or two on her impressed scale. “Nothing. It’s just so typical up here.”

Why’d he care what she thought? “My parents used to summer near here when I was a kid.”

“Is that what made you choose this area?”

“That and the chance to buy out Dr. Walter’s practice.” He emptied his glass with a rattle of ice. “My daughter and I need a change in scenery and my son’s college is nearby. The location seemed perfect.”

“You know, you’re sticking her in the middle of nowhere. Thirteen’s a tough age.”

What could she possibly know about it? “Do you have kids?”

Her expression took on a strained, almost haunted look. “No. I’ve never been married, but I got close once.”

“What happened?” He shouldn’t have asked, but the words slipped out. He could have kicked himself for caring about the answer. He didn’t want to care about what Laura might have been through. He didn’t want to care. Period.

She shrugged. “He had a young daughter who didn’t want me for a stepmother.”

Jack could tell the admission hurt. He wondered why she hadn’t gotten along with this guy’s kid. Probably too busy with her job. Kids knew that stuff. They picked up on priorities.

“What about you?”

Jack hesitated. “Widowed.”

Her expression changed to pity. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

He let out a sigh. “It’s been two years this past June.”

She sipped her lemonade, looking more composed. “That must be hard on your kids.”

You have no idea.

He wiped down the wall with a rag, keeping busy, but he suddenly found himself wanting to unload, and Laura was surprisingly easy to talk to. It wasn’t as if she’d stick around, so what harm was it to confess a few insecurities? “Sometimes, I feel like a blind man searching for a book in the braille section of a library. Only, I don’t know the title.”

“I’m sure you’ll find it, just like you found this property when you needed it most.”

She couldn’t possibly know how God had answered his prayer. He needed to trust God to lead him to the book—to lead him through this. Good things took time and commitment. He had plenty of both to make this place a real home. A place where Angie could grow out of her grief. A place where he could release his regrets. “Thanks.”

“I hope this property proves to be a blessing for you and your daughter, like it was for my dad. I think he’d approve of your plans if he were here.”

Jack stopped cleaning and turned to look at her. She didn’t strike him as having a rock-solid faith, but then he didn’t know what was in Laura’s heart when it came to God. “I take it your father’s dead.”

“When I was your daughter’s age my dad died at work from a chemical leak.” Her voice lowered.

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “The worst part was never saying goodbye, you know?”

Jack looked away. “Yeah, I know.”

After a few moments of silence, she popped off the stool and changed the subject. “Want more to drink?”

“No, but thank you.”

“Before I sort through the stuff in the barn, was there anything that caught your eye?”

What a loaded question. He followed her, though, noticing her height. He was pushing six-four and the top of her head would graze his nose if they stood close. But he didn’t want to consider standing close to Laura.

“I’d love to buy that old tractor and the lawn mower. How much do you want for them?”

“How much are you willing to pay?” she asked.

He’d already offered her two thousand for the lot, but he’d play her game. It was more fun than cleaning. “What kind of sales do you do?”

“Business solutions.”

“No wonder,” he said with a smile.

“What?”

“Answer a question with a question, is that your motto?”

She gave him a cheeky grin. “The client should always give me the number and I’ll work it from there.”

Jack put his hands in the pockets of his worn jeans. He liked her. She was edgy, maybe even a little cocky, but he liked her. “Well, Ms. Toivo, name your price and I’ll count it as fair.”

“Just Laura. And if you show me what tools are worth keeping, then the tractor is yours for eight hundred. I have to keep the lawnmower until I find a reasonable landscaper.”

“You give me the mower, and I’ll make sure your mother’s lawn is kept neat as a pin.”

She smiled and extended her hand. “You’ve got yourself a deal. And you’re good. You never gave anything away. Shall we shake on it?”

He grasped her hand firmly and then noticed a dusty spider’s web clinging to her head. “Seems you’ve got a cobweb in your hair.”

He felt her hand tremble and her eyes widened in fear. “Get it off, please, get it off.”

Without letting go, he stepped closer. He swiped his fingers through her silky hair, taking the sticky fibers with him. He wiped his hand on the back of his jeans. “It’s gone.”

She pulled back and frantically turned around. “Are there any more? Please don’t tell me if anything is crawling anywhere, just brush it off.”

“Nothing. You’re fine.”

She faced him, her cheeks pink. “Thanks.”

The space between them suddenly shrunk, so Jack backed up.

Laura must have felt it too, because she shifted from one foot to the other looking confused. “So, your movers are coming this weekend?”

Jack cleared his throat. “We should be here by late afternoon or early evening on Saturday. Like I said last night, I want to get my daughter settled before school starts. Are you sure that won’t cause a problem?”

“Not at all.” She threw her arms wide. “I’ll get this stuff out of here as soon as possible and the place is yours.”

“Perfect. Now, how about a look at those tools.”

Jack didn’t need another complication in his life, especially an attractive neighbor. He needed to concentrate on Angie. He wanted to prove that he could be the kind of father his daughter needed. Involved and attentive, not distracted by a beautiful blonde.

Later that day, Laura straightened her shoulders and entered her mother’s hospital room. The nurses had her mom sitting in a chair looking nearly normal except for the droop on the left side of her face. A bouquet of balloons rested in the far corner—no doubt from cousin Nancy and her kids. She noticed a small arrangement perched on the bedside table. “Where’d you get the flowers?”

“Maddie Smith, from the real estate office.”

Laura’s heart sank. She’d struggled with how to break the news to her mother that she’d sold the property. Even though her mom had agreed to list the barn, Laura knew her mother would blame her for having to sell it. Seemed like ever since Laura was a kid, she couldn’t do anything right in her mother’s eyes.

Laura had been a daddy’s girl. She’d felt like her birth had come between her parents. That her mother had resented her for creating some rift between them. She remembered overhearing her mom tell her dad that he was spoiling his daughter rotten.