“Wait till my younger sisters and brothers hear where I get to work,” Tyrone said, looking out to the lake, blue-green today, waves swelling and rushing in to shore with a lick of foam.
“How many siblings do you have?” Amber asked as she dumped another plant into the wheelbarrow.
“Three of each.”
Heather started. “Seven kids?” She had her hands full with two. “Your poor mother.”
“Me and my seventeen-year-old sister, Chantel, help her take care of the younger ones.”
“You?” Amber said, sounding disbelieving.
“Hey, I like kids, especially after they get past that crazy stage.”
“When is that?” Whenever it was, Heather wasn’t looking forward to it.
“Actually, there’s two crazy stages,” Tyrone said with authority. “Everyone knows about the terrible twos. But it’s the psycho sixes that get to me. That’s when they become jugheads, think they know everything and get into trouble. Darnell decided to investigate a boarded-up house for ghosts and ended up with a broken arm. And LaVonda tangled with a hornets’ nest. Man, was she ever a mess. I’m glad we’re on our last six-year-old. That would be Vaughn.”
Heather could hear the affection in Tyrone’s voice when he talked about his younger siblings and thought it was both sweet and unexpected.
“So what about you?” he asked Amber.
“Two older brothers. Big lugs. Always trying to take care of me whether I want them to or not.”
“That’s what big brothers are supposed to do,” Tyrone said, then turned his attention to Heather. “Your turn, boss.”
“Younger brother, older sister. And I have twin six-year-old girls.”
“Twins!” Tyrone puffed himself up and swaggered a little. “You need advice on how to handle them little girls, you can come to me.”
Heather laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind next time they make me want to scream.”
They all laughed together, a good sound. Heather decided that, despite the shaky start, they would make a compatible team.
Noting they were almost finished with this section, she stepped back. “I’m going to get the sod cutter from the coach house so we can start clearing our rain garden areas next.”
Tyrone saluted her. “By the time you get the equipment, we’ll be ready to go.”
“If you see The Terminator,” Amber added, “say hi for us.”
The Terminator. Right. Not having heard the lawnmower for quite some time now, Heather found herself looking to see what he was up to. And then she remembered being pinned under that big, muscular body. Heat crept up the back of her neck. Rick Slater, she told herself. His name was Rick Slater. Thinking of him as The Terminator was bound to get her in trouble.
She headed for the coach house, a miniature version of the mansion. Same gray stone, same windows, same small details. Her team had put most of their equipment in a storage room with plenty of shelving. But the sod cutter was bulky and weighed more than three hundred pounds, so they’d left it near the lawnmower and other large equipment. Of course, The Termin...Rick...had removed the mower earlier.
So when she turned on the light and approached the sod cutter, she noticed it was sitting at an odd angle. The first thing she thought was that Rick must have whacked it getting the lawnmower out of the coach house. She tried straightening it so she could turn it on and back it out but had no success. It was definitely wonky. A closer look showed her the rear pivot wheel was out of alignment.
How had the sod cutter been damaged?
Heather tried not to panic, but the breath caught in her throat as she realized the implications. She was in charge of this contract, which meant she was in charge of the equipment. Any damage was her responsibility.
If the sod cutter was inoperable...how bad was it? Her hand shook as she pressed it to her chest. Oh, please, I hope I don’t have to replace it.
“Hey, what’s going on? Is something wrong?”
She whipped around to find Rick coming into the coach house. She could see that he’d left the lawnmower directly outside. He was still wearing his sunglasses, so she couldn’t read his expression.
“Yes, unfortunately there is. The sod cutter wasn’t like this when we delivered it last Friday.”
“Like what?”
“Broken.”
“And you haven’t used it yet?”
“No. It’s the pivot...” She indicated the damaged wheel. “You didn’t bang into it or anything when you moved the lawnmower, did you?”
“Hey, I didn’t touch it, honest.” He crouched down to inspect the damage. “It looks like it can be fixed.”
“I sure hope so. A new sod cutter would cost thousands of dollars. I don’t know how I would pay for it. I don’t even know how I can pay for the repair.”
She was still managing website orders for Sew Fine, mostly at home, but she might have to arrange more hours at the store to make extra money.
Rick straightened. “Hey, it’s going to be all right. Calm down.”
“I-I’m sorry.” Now that he was closer, she could see the part of his face not hidden by the sunglasses. He appeared concerned. “I’m a little strapped for cash lately, and I’m a single mother, so I have to worry about how I’m going to feed my kids.” Though she didn’t want to rely on anyone else, her family would come through for her if she ran into a financial problem. She took a deep, calming breath. It would all work out somehow.
“You have kids?” He sounded a little surprised. “Plural?”
She nodded. “Two. Twin girls. Addison and Taylor. They were six last month.”
“Six-year-olds?” Now he sounded amazed. “How old are you?”
Remembering he’d called her that community college girl, she asked, “How old did you think I was?”
“I don’t know. Nineteen. Maybe twenty.”
She smiled despite herself. “Thanks, but I’ll be twenty-five in a few months.”
“You could have fooled me. You did fool me.” He reached out and gently touched her shoulder. “I can see why you’re worried with kids and all. But relax already. Your company must have insurance on its equipment.”
“I—I guess.” Appreciative of his sympathy, she said, “I hate even telling them something’s gone wrong on the first day. I was hoping this would turn into a full-time job after we finished this project.”
“Maybe you won’t have to tell them anything,” Rick said. “I probably can fix the wheel.”
Thinking of the way he’d wrestled with the lawnmower, she asked, “Seriously?”
“Just because I don’t know my way around a lawn doesn’t mean I don’t have other talents. I used to take cars apart and put them back together for fun. Yes, seriously, leave this to me. I’ll take care of it.”
Starting to like Rick more than she thought she would, Heather let out a relieved sigh. “If you can do that, I’ll...well, you deserve some kind of reward. I’ll owe you.”
His mouth curved slightly in a ghost of a smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
She blinked at him and swallowed hard. “Um, when do you think you might be able to get around to fixing it?”
“I have a couple of things to take care of first that won’t take long. If