“Logan’s rubbing off on you,” Carter muttered. “And I don’t mean in a good way.” Despite the semiscowl he’d plastered on his face, it was good to hear his brother’s laughter. It had been a rare thing since losing Isabel, with the exception of when his brother was around Katie. His daughter always seemed to bring a smile to Nathan’s face.
“So what brings you out here this evening?” his brother asked. “Come to get more revenge? Because I’ll tell you, you had me sweating it when you had me thinking you’d put my keys in that bucket of primer.”
“Good. You deserved to sweat a little.”
“Hey, I wasn’t the lone man in that prank.”
“Don’t you worry. Logan’s gonna get his,” Carter said. “I’m just biding my time.”
Nathan walked down to the end of the truck bed and settled himself down onto the open tailgate, dangling his long legs over the edge. “Meaning you haven’t come up with something as good as the prank he had me pull on you?”
Carter grinned. “Exactly. Besides, I’d like to pay him back when he’s least expecting it. As for why I’m here, I need a door. Do you still have the ones we salvaged from the Parker renovation we did last fall?”
His brother nodded. “In the pole barn. Why?”
“There’s a lady in sore need of a halfway decent door. Figured I’d give her one of those since we don’t really have any plans for them.”
Nathan quirked a dark brow. “You’re doing a side job?”
He understood his brother’s curiosity. They were partners and always worked as a team. Even on the small jobs. “I wouldn’t exactly call it a job.” How did he explain it? That he met a woman, a pretty one at that, rescued her actually, and then offered his services, which she promptly turned down. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about her, and wanted to do something to help her out?
“Are you gonna make me drag it out of you?” his brother muttered impatiently.
“She’s new to Braxton,” he explained. “Just arrived yesterday, as a matter of fact.”
“So you’re giving her a used door as a housewarming gift?”
“I’m giving her the door because she can’t afford a new one,” Carter said with a frown. “Not with everything she has to do to the old Harris place.”
His brother threw up a hand. “Hold up. Did you just say the old Harris place?”
He nodded. “Bought it sight unseen from an online auction.”
The face Nathan made said it all. “I haven’t been by that place for a nearly a year, but last time I was the old house was practically begging someone to bring in a wrecking ball and put it out of its misery and put something new up in its place.”
“That’s the thing,” Carter said with a frown. “Audra has no intention of tearing the place down. She intends to live there.”
His brother’s dark brow lifted even farther. “Audra?”
“With her children,” he added, so his brother wouldn’t think this had anything to do with her being a prettier-than-most female.
“Grown-up children?” his brother persisted.
He shook his head. “I’d say they’re closer to Katie in age. And before you ask, she’s divorced. Her ex sounds like a real loser.”
“Are you passing judgment on someone you’ve never met? Not like you, little brother.”
“He chose to give up all rights to his children,” he said. “And they’re pretty hurt by it.”
Nathan looked aghast. “Those poor kids. So where are they staying while the house is being renovated?”
“I believe they’re gonna be staying in the house.”
His brother’s blue eyes widened. “That’s gonna make it a challenge for anyone she does bring in to help out with the bigger jobs.”
Carter’s frown deepened. “That’s not gonna be an issue. She’s got it in her pretty little head to do most of the repairs herself.”
“Pretty, huh?”
Carter groaned. “Did you hear what I just said? She’s gonna try and fix that old house up all by herself.”
“Heard that,” his brother replied. “But it’s the pretty part I’m latching on to. That’s gotta be the first female in a long while you’ve taken notice of.”
“Hard not to notice her when I had to rescue her from a roof.”
“You what?”
With a sigh, he went on to explain what he’d stumbled upon the previous afternoon. “She’s in over her head.”
“And you’re gonna come to her rescue again?” his brother said, studying him closely.
“I’d do the same if it were an old woman,” Carter said, feeling the need to defend himself. But he doubted an older woman would have plagued his thoughts the way Audra Marshall and her children had since he’d left their place. “So about that door...”
Nathan motioned toward the pole barn. “Have at it. Just watch you’re not the one who ends up in over your head. And I’m not referring to the renovations to her house.”
“No worry there,” Carter called back over his shoulder as he started for the entry door to the pole barn. “I like my life just the way it is.” No family of his own to worry about losing far too soon, like Nathan had. He’d seen what his brother went through, was still going through, and he never wanted to stand in his shoes. So while he dated on occasion, he made sure the women he went out with knew he wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship. Just someone to grab dinner with or see a movie.
Nothing more.
* * *
“What in the world?” For the second time in two days, Carter found himself barreling up Audra Marshall’s driveway in his truck.
Lodged within the frame of the open front door was what looked to be a box spring. Behind it, attempting to push it into the house, were Audra and her young son. Lily stood off to the side, happily cheering them on.
Carter threw the truck into Park and leaped out.
“It’s the Lone Ranger!” Lily exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement.
Audra paused to look back over her shoulder. “Mr. Cooper,” she greeted between the labored pants of her determined efforts.
“Looks like I got here just in time,” he said as he stepped up onto the porch.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded as she reached up to push a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail away from her face. She looked oddly adorable in her rumpled, oversize #1 MOM T-shirt that practically swallowed up her petite form, knee-length leggings and hot-pink tennis shoes. Not that he ought to be noticing those things.
“I came to do my Christian duty,” he said, reaching past her to grab hold of the box spring.
“We don’t—”
“Need my help?” he said, arching a challenging brow.
She bit at her bottom lip.
“Now that we got that settled, let’s get this thing through the doorway.”
“It won’t fit,” Lily told him.
“Sure it will, little darlin’, but not at this angle.” He looked to Audra. “I’ll need to shift it