She understood, but it still saddened her.
Now, the Friday after school started, she pulled into the Brambleberry House driveway to find his pickup truck parked just ahead of her SUV. Before she could contain the instinctive reaction, her stomach skittered with anticipation.
“Hey, I think that’s Mr. Garrett’s truck,” Simon exclaimed. “See, it says Garrett Construction on the side.”
“I think you must be right.” She was quite proud of herself for the calm reply.
“I wonder what’s he doing here.” Simon’s voice quivered with excitement and she sighed. Her son was so desperately eager for a man in his life. She couldn’t really blame him—except for Conan, who didn’t really count, Simon was surrounded by women in every direction.
“Do you think he’s working on something for Sage and Anna? Can I help him, do you think? I could hand him tools or something. I’m really good at that. Do you think he’ll let me?”
“I don’t know the answer to any of your questions, kiddo. You’ll have to ask him. Why don’t we go check it out?”
Both children jumped out of the vehicle the moment she put it in Park. She called to them to wait for her but either they didn’t hear her or they chose to ignore her as they rushed to the backyard, where the sound of some kind of power tool hummed through the afternoon.
She caught up with them before they made it all the way.
“I don’t want you bothering Will—Mr. Garrett—if he’s too busy to answer all your many questions. He has a job to do here and we need to let him.”
The rest of what she might have said died in her throat when they turned the corner and she spotted him.
Oh mercy. He wore a pair of disreputable-looking jeans, a forest green T-shirt that bulged with muscle in all the right places, and a leather carpenter’s belt slung low like a gunfighter’s holster. The afternoon sun picked up golden streaks in his brown hair and he had just a hint of afternoon stubble that made him look dangerous and delectable at the same time.
Oh mercy.
Conan was curled under the shade nearby and his bark of greeting alerted Will’s to their presence.
The dog lunged for Simon and Maddie as if he hadn’t seen them in months instead of only a few hours and Will even gifted them with a rare smile, there only for an instant before it flickered away.
He drew off his leather gloves and shoved them in the back pocket of his jeans. “School over already? Is it that late?”
“We have early dismissal on Fridays. It’s only three o’clock,” Julia answered.
“We’ve been out for a few hours already,” Maddie informed him. “Usually we get to stay at the after-school club until Mama finishes her work in her classroom.”
“Is that right?”
“It’s really fun,” Simon answered. “Sometimes we have to stay in Mom’s room with her and do our homework if we have a lot, but most of the time we go to extracurriculars. Today we played tetherball and made up a skit and played on the playground for a long time.”
“Sounds tiring.”
“Not for me,” Simon boasted. “Maybe for Maddie.”
“I’m not tired,” Maddie protested.
His gaze met Julia’s in shared acknowledgment that Maddie’s claim was obviously a lie.
“What’s the project today?” she asked.
“Last time I was here I noticed the back steps were splintering in a few places. I had a couple of hours this afternoon so I decided to get started on replacing them before somebody gets hurt.”
Simon looked enthralled. “Can we help you fix them? I could hand you tools and stuff.”
That subtle panic sparked in his eyes, the same uneasiness she saw the day they went for ice cream, whenever she or the children had pushed him for more than he was willing to offer.
She could see him trying to figure a way out of the situation without hurting Simon and she quickly stepped in.
“We promised Sage we would pick a bushel of apples and make our famous caramel apple pie, remember? You finally get to meet Chloe in a few hours when she and her father arrive.”
Simon scowled. “But you said in the car that if Mr. Garrett said it was okay, we could help him.”
She sent a quick look of apology to Will before turning back to her son. “I know, but I could really use your help with the pies.”
“Making pies is for girls. I’d rather work with tools and stuff,” Simon muttered.
Will raised an eyebrow at this blatantly chauvinistic attitude. “Not true, kid. I know lots of girls who are great at using tools and one of my good friends is a pastry chef at a restaurant down the coast. He makes the best brambleberry pie you’ll ever eat in your life.”
“Brambleberry, like our house?” Maddie asked.
“Just like.”
“Cool!” Simon said. “I want some.”
“No brambleberries today,” Julia answered. “We’re making apple, remember? Let’s go change our clothes and get started.”
Simon’s features drooped with disappointment. “So I don’t get to help Mr. Garrett?”
“Simon—”
“I don’t mind if he stays and helps,” Will said.
“Are you sure?”
He nodded, though she could still see a shadow of reluctance in his eyes. “Positive. I’ll enjoy the company. Conan’s a good listener but not much of a conversationalist.”
She smiled at the unexpected whimsy. “Conversing is one thing Simon does exceptionally well, don’t you, kiddo?”
Simon giggled. “Yep. My dad used to say I could talk for a day and a half without needing anybody to answer back.”
“I guess that means you probably talk in your sleep, right?”
Simon giggled. “I don’t, but Maddie does sometimes. It’s really funny. One time she sang the whole alphabet song in her sleep.”
“I was only five,” Maddie exclaimed to defend herself.
“And you’re going to be fifteen before we finish this pie if we don’t hurry. We all need to change out of school clothes and into apple-picking and porch-fixing clothes.”
Simon looked resigned, then his features brightened. “Race you!” he called to Maddie and took off for the house. She followed several paces behind with Conan barking at their heels, leaving Julia alone with Will.
“I hope he doesn’t get in your way or talk your ear off.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”
“Feel free to send him out to play if you need to.”
They lapsed into silence. She should go upstairs, she knew, but she had suddenly discovered she had missed him this last week, silly as that seemed after years when she hadn’t given the man a thought.
She couldn’t seem to force herself to leave. Finally she sighed, giving into the inevitable.
She took a step closer to him. “Hold still,” she murmured.
Wariness leapt into the depths of his blue eyes but he froze as if she had just cast his boots in concrete.
He