As aggravating as it was to admit—the man had charm. And there was no way to deny that she needed help. She couldn’t go through life shunning all men. That was unrealistic. The fact he’d seen a portion of her scars ate into her confidence, and that was maddening. It did not matter what the cowboy thought of her.
It didn’t.
“Why not?” she heard herself saying. “It looks like you’re going to be over here every day bothering me anyway. But just for a few days. And I’ll pay you.” Lucy! What are you doing?
A slow smile spread across his face. “There you go. That wasn’t so hard after all, was it?” he said, reaching for her sledgehammer. “No pay needed for me, but if you want to pay the boys, that’s fine. I was going to pay them for today myself.”
“I’ll pay them for today.”
“No, I said I would—”
“Look, Rowdy,” Lucy said, in her sternest voice. “If they are going to be over here, then I’m paying them. It’s either that or this deal is off.” They stared at each other and she got the distinct impression that he didn’t “get” her in the same way that she didn’t get him. But she was taking back control of this situation, or she wasn’t having any part of it.
“Okay, have it your way.”
“Good.”
“All righty, then, stand back,” he warned.
Lucy felt her body automatically obey, and watched him swing the heavy sledgehammer as if it was a plastic toy. The muscles in his forearms strained with the strength he put behind the swing. The hammer met the same spot her swing had barely dented and instantly the wood cracked beneath it.
She brought her hand up and touched the base of her throat where her heartbeat raced.
After three more swings along the base of the studded wall, it broke free. It would have taken her all day to do that!
“I see what attracts you to this.” He looked over his shoulder at her with a teasing light in his eyes. “I kinda like it myself.”
“Yeah, it does kill a bad mood, doesn’t it?”
He laughed at that and they stared at each other. Tension radiated between them.
“Okay,” she said at last. “Thank you for helping me. I did need it.”
“No need to thank me.” His smile widened. “You’re the one helping me. Saving me from the wrath of Nana is a good thing. If there is one thing she prides above all else, it’s that her boys are gentlemen. And I have to admit I have sometimes been her wayward child.”
“Say it ain’t so,” Lucy mocked.
“Yeah, but I’m gonna make points when she finds out about this. So I guess that means I’m still the wayward child, since I’m really doing this for myself. Does that make you feel any better about letting me swing away?”
“Much better. I’d hate for you to actually admit that you’re doing it because you’re a nice guy.” And he might be, even if he was a little nosy. But that didn’t stop her from being wary...not so much of him, but of the way she reacted to him.
“Me, a nice guy.” He looked skeptical, and that grin played across his face. “I don’t know about that.”
The man’s personality sparkled and drew her like his eyes and his smile, stunning her once again.
Had she truly thought she was going to go the rest of her life not finding a man attractive?
Of course not.
That her neighbor just happened to have qualities that, regrettably, reminded her that she was still a woman, meant nothing. Absolutely nothing.
* * *
She was still telling herself that when Ruby Ann McDermott, Rowdy’s grandmother, showed up at her house midmorning bearing welcome-to-Dew-Drop gifts: a basket loaded with homemade fig and strawberry preserves and green tomato relish, along with several small loaves of banana-nut bread to freeze and take out as needed, she informed Lucy.
Ruby Ann had long silver hair pulled back in a ponytail and strong features like Rowdy, along with those deep blue eyes the color of a twilight sky. She held her tall frame ramrod straight, with an elegance about the way she moved.
Two friends came along with her. The first of them, Ms. Jo, owned the Spotted Cow Café in town. Lucy had met her the day she’d first arrived. She’d had supper at the cute café after spending the day unpacking. Ms. Jo’s piercing hazel eyes seemed to take everything in from behind her wire-rimmed glasses. She wore her slate-gray hair in a soft cap of curls. Lucy felt a kindred spirit, not just from the fact that they were close to the same height. She liked the older lady’s spunk and hoped her own personality would be similar when she was nearing seventy.
Ms. Jo brought along a coconut pie that looked so mouthwateringly delicious Lucy could barely keep from diving in the instant Ms. Jo placed it in her hands.
Mabel Tilsbee, the other member of the welcoming committee, owned the Dew Drop Inn. The towering, large-boned woman with shoulder-length black hair spiced with just a few strands of gray handed over a tray of cookies that were clearly overdone. “There’s no need in me even pretending to be the best in the kitchen when the county’s best are both standing here beside me. I gave it a whirl, though.” She winked. “I got distracted and baked these a little too long. But, if you like coffee, they’re real good dunkers.”
Lucy laughed and felt instantly at home with these ladies. “Thank you all so much for coming by,” she said, leading them into the kitchen. They eyed where a wall had obviously just been knocked out.
Ruby Ann’s hand fluttered at the construction area. “Rowdy told me at breakfast this morning that he helped you do this. And that he and some of the boys will be helping you out for a little while.”
“Yes, ma’am, he did.” It was all Lucy could do not to smile at the thought of Rowdy’s brownie points. She decided to help him out. “He’s doing a great job. I worked almost two days knocking a wall out of the hayloft and half the morning just getting this wall to budge. He had it down within an hour. It was quite humiliating.”
That got a chuckle from everyone.
“All my boys are strong and know how to work,” Ruby Ann said.
“That’s the truth.” Ms. Jo’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Handsome, too, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes, he is.” She couldn’t deny the obvious. “I was just about to have a coffee break when y’all drove up. Please join me. I suddenly have lots of great food to choose from.”
“You know, hon—” Mabel gave her a nudge with her elbow “—that’s a great idea. I’ll slice the pie.”
Lucy headed for the cups. This move was getting better by the day.
Mabel took the knife she handed her and sliced the pie and one of the loaves of banana-nut bread, instantly filling Lucy’s kitchen with mouthwatering aromas.
She filled four mugs with coffee and in a matter of minutes they were all gathered around her kitchen table laughing and talking between bites.
An hour later, with an official invitation to dinner the next evening, she waved goodbye and was smiling as she watched her new friends drive away.
Her mother called this Nowhere, U.S.A., but to Lucy, this small town felt like home.
Turning back, she surveyed the low-slung ranch house. Three days ago, overgrown shrubs had threatened to obscure it, and one of the shutters had needed to be straightened. Not so since Wes, Joseph and Rowdy had stepped in.
Ever since she’d awakened in the hospital to discover the truth about her life, she’d