“Would that happen to be Cooper Construction?”
“You’ve already hired them on,” the girl replied, sounding almost relieved. “Smart move. They’re the best there is in these parts when it comes to renovations.”
Audra knew she should have cleared things up as far as her hiring Carter’s company was concerned, but she didn’t want to explain that she couldn’t afford to have her house renovated by professionals.
The front door opened at that moment, saving Audra from having to say anything more. She did a double take, thinking the man who had just stepped into the restaurant was none other than Carter Cooper. But on closer inspection, this man was even taller than the cowboy who had come to her rescue that afternoon, and slightly leaner. Carter Cooper was more broad-shouldered and had the extra bulk of muscle on his frame that had most likely come from all the physical labor involved in working construction.
“Hey, Lizzie,” the man said in greeting to the waitress.
“Hey, Logan.”
His gaze shifted to the booth where Audra and her children sat. Tipping his cowboy hat with a polite smile, he said, “Ma’am.” A smile that was an exact replica of Carter Cooper’s unarguably handsome, slightly crooked grin. Only instead of sporting a mask of black around his eyes, he had smudges of dirt all over his face and clothes.
“How’s come I had to wash my face before we came here?” Lily said, her words echoing loudly in the empty room. “He didn’t.”
Audra wanted to sink down into the booth and hide. Make that two bad first impressions with someone from Braxton in just one day.
The man chuckled. “Your momma has the right of it,” he told Lily. “I’m just stopping by on my way home from work to pick up my dinner order. Unfortunately, my job requires me to play in dirt so this is how I usually look at the end of the day.”
“I want to do that when I grow up,” Mason announced.
“Me, too!” Lily squealed.
The man seemed thoroughly entertained by their reaction. “It’s hard work,” he said, his attention focused solely on her children.
“We’re hard workers,” Lily stated. “Aren’t we, Mommy?”
“Very,” she agreed with a nod.
“Your brothers are gonna be helping her with her new place.”
His brothers? That explained the resemblance.
He looked Audra’s way. “That so? Where’s that?”
“The old Harris place,” Lizzie answered for her.
His dark brows lifted in undeniable surprise.
“I know,” Audra said before he could voice his thoughts. “It’s a big job, but with a little tender loving care the house will be a home in no time.” She had to wonder who she was truly trying to convince. Him or herself.
“If you all will excuse me,” Lizzie said, “I’m gonna go grab Logan’s order.” Then she scurried off into the kitchen.
He looked to Audra. “If you need any help with the landscaping out there, just give me a shout. I own a landscaping business and join forces with my brothers on a lot of their jobs.”
“How many Cooper brothers are there?” she said.
“Only three,” he said, his grin widening. “I’m the youngest. Although I’m not so sure Carter’s laying claim to me right now.”
“Are you the one who painted his face?” Mason asked.
“Saw that, did you?” he said.
Her children nodded.
“Actually, it was our older brother, Nathan, who did the painting. But it was sort of my idea,” he admitted. “Mind you, it wasn’t a very nice thing for us to do to him and it’s not something either of you should ever do to anyone.”
She was grateful that he didn’t boast about the prank they’d pulled on their brother and had, instead, stressed to her highly impressionable young children that it was something that should never be repeated.
Lizzie returned, carrying a white paper bag, and walked over to the cash register. “You’re all set,” she told Logan.
“Pleasure to meet you,” he said, tipping his hat once more before going over to pay for his order.
“How’s come he wears that hat if it’s too big?” Mason said in an attempted whisper. However, voices carried in the empty room and she was certain she heard Logan Cooper’s muffled chuckle from across the room.
Keeping her own voice low, Audra explained, “It’s not too big,”
“Then why does he keep pushing it up like that?” her son persisted.
“Because that’s what cowboys do down here in Texas. It’s how they show ladies respect.”
“Then I need one, too,” he said as he watched Logan leave with his order. “Just like his, so I can be a real cowboy.”
Audra couldn’t help but smile as she added a cowboy hat to her lists of things they needed for their new life in Braxton. Because more than anything she wanted to make certain her children were happy here and felt like they fit in.
Logan glanced up from the hole he was digging and smiled. “What brings you out here?”
“The need to work,” Carter answered honestly as he crossed the newly laid sod in front of Braxton’s only bank, where his brother had been hired to do a complete external face-lift to the property. He’d spent most of the night tossing and turning, his thoughts filled with Audra Cooper and her two young children and that eyesore of a house they were going to be living in. Leaving them to handle things alone the afternoon before had really eaten at him. But what choice did he have? Audra had made it clear she didn’t need his help. No, she definitely needed his help. It was that she didn’t want his help. Even when it was freely offered.
“I would think you’d be enjoying your time off between jobs. Maybe doing a multiday hike up into the hills,” his brother said as he went back to digging a hole for the ornamental tree he had sitting next to the spot.
Carter frowned. If only he could be enjoying his day off. And while hiking was a favorite pastime for him whenever he had the time, he knew if he’d gone up into the hills, relaxation was the last thing he’d find there. He would have spent all his time worrying over Braxton’s newest residents. “Do you need any help here or not?” he asked in a rare show of impatience.
Logan simply laughed. “If you’re that fired up to work, you could lend me a hand with the mulching.”
“Fine,” Carter grumbled.
“There’s a wheelbarrow full of mulch around back,” his brother told him. “You can start filling in around the trees and plants I’ve already put in.”
With a nod, Carter set off around the building, his mouth in a grim line. While he’d come there hoping to distract himself from thoughts of Audra Marshall and her kids the exact opposite was happening. Looking at the newly laid lawn made him think about the jungle of grass and weeds surrounding the old Harris place. Did she have a mower? And if she did, would it be powerful enough to get through the deep grass? And what about that overgrown hedgerow? Did she have the tools needed to bring that out-of-control shrubbery into some semblance of order?
Spying the wheelbarrow, which had been heaped high with a deep red mulch, he walked over to it and proceeded