Annie's Neighborhood (Harlequin Heartwarming) (19 page)

“Daddy, can I paint?” Zack tugged at Sky’s hand.

“We just stopped to see how everything’s going. We’re on our way to lunch, remember?”

“I’m going out to pick up grilled chicken or beef tacos, chips and drinks,” Annie said. “I don’t mind adding your order to mine.”

“I want chicken and to paint.” Zack flashed Annie a smile. “You’re the nice lady who gave me orange soda. It was yummy, but I want a chocolate milk shake.”

“Zachary,” Sky chided. “Ms. Emerson buys lunch for her helpers.”

“But I wanna help.”

“I thought you wanted me to take you to Louisville to eat so you could spend time in the restaurant’s playland.”

The boy looked torn. Finally he said, “I get to go to the playland a lot. Mama never lets me paint.”

Sky’s expression was equally torn. “Okay. But we need to run over to my house to grab one of my old T-shirts so you don’t get paint on your clothes.” His eyes sought Annie’s. “Do you mind bringing us back some food?” Sky pulled out his wallet.

“I’ve got you covered,” Annie told him. “Do you want beef or chicken tacos, and do you also want a chocolate shake?”

“No shake. A beef taco and sweet iced tea if they have it. Since moving here I’ve become addicted to it.”

“I’ll be back in a jiffy.” With that she tossed a box from another food run into the passenger seat, and started the Ram. She’d been shocked to see Sky, even though he’d joked about checking up on her. If she plied him with enough sweet tea, maybe she could talk him into taking her message to Aaron Loomis....

It took longer than she expected to fill the order. She usually tried to get in ahead of the regular lunch crowd but today she’d painted until the workers complained about hunger.

Driving back to the Culvers’ with the food, she spotted Sky and Zack painting boards set across a pair of sawhorses. Her heart seized. Zack looked sweet covered from neck to toe in one of Sky’s oversize T-shirts. Every so often, the boy adjusted the shirt, using the hand that held his paintbrush, and navy paint dripped on him. Annie wondered if Sky didn’t realize paint would bleed through the soft cotton.

Between painting and hitching up his shirt, Zack’s mouth appeared to be going a mile a minute, and his dad answered periodically. Annie had to force back a sudden yearning to be part of a family. A family like theirs...

She got out of her pickup and called for the nearest worker to carry the heavy box of drinks. Charlie Fitzgerald ran to her aid.

“Every day we get more people showing up on these jobs, Ms. Emerson. If you don’t start turning some of them away, you’ll go broke paying for lunches and giving out gift cards.”

“The way I look at it is the more worker bees, the faster houses get painted, and the better our town looks to visitors or to anyone who might consider opening a business here.” She grinned. “Guess what? Sadie Talmage volunteered to coordinate work on our new teen center. I want her to hire you and Roger to assemble interior walls. They’ll be steel-banded prefab, bolted to steel runners.”

“I know how those go together. The glove factory offices were partitioned using something similar. Roger and I did the initial work.”

“Great. That’s great. Hey,” she called, “chow’s here. Come and get it.”

Painters set aside their cans and brushes. Annie handed around tacos based on the list of orders she’d taken. Charlie let everyone pick up their own drinks.

Sky and Zack were last in line. “I couldn’t get him to quit painting,” Sky said.

“His cheeks are pink, Sky. If you guys paint after lunch, find a shady spot.”

“I found a shade tree where we can sit to eat. Join us?” he invited Annie as he juggled his and Zack’s food and drinks.

“Don’t mind if I do. Here, let me carry your tea.”

“Can I carry my milk shake?” Zack stretched up both hands.

“Yes, but one sip now and the rest after you eat your taco,” Sky said.

“Okay. I’m hungry.” The boy rubbed his stomach.

“Painting works up an appetite,” Annie said, smiling down at him.

“Yeah, and we painted lots and lots, didn’t we, Daddy?”

“Indeed we did. Rita Gonzales mentioned that you’d just come back from a trip with Sadie. I didn’t know she was out and about yet.”

“She is.” Annie sank cross-legged on the cool grass once Sky had settled Zack with his food. “I paid the foreclosure amount on the building, and had it deeded to the city. Sadie and I went to see it so she could take a look inside. The best news is that she wants to serve as design master and general contractor. All I have to do is interview and hire staff.”

“And our city manager is on board?”

“Uh, not exactly.” Annie bit off a chunk of her pork sandwich. “If I give you the deed and a rough-out of our plans, will you deliver it to him?” she mumbled.

Reality registered slowly because Nina Morino, Davena’s friend, had cranked up hard rock on a portable iPod speaker. The noise cloaked Sky’s resounding
no,
but Annie read his lips.

“I thought it was worth a try,” she said with a shrug. “Okay, on a different subject, last night I hit on another fantastic idea to help people in the neighborhood.”

Sky held up a hand. “You’re dancing on two hot skillets and you want to jump on a third? Before you lay it on me, just answer this―will it give me heartburn?”

“No. I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Daddy, I ate the meat out of my taco. Can I drink my milk shake now?”

Sky’s eyes tilted toward Zack. “You don’t like the shell?”

“It’s got red stuff on it.”

Reaching over, Sky inspected the taco shell. “Salsa. Sorry, I forgot to tell Annie you don’t like salsa.”

“It’s okay. When Jenny takes me for tacos she forgets, too.”

Turning back to her after handing Zack his shake, Sky explained, “Jenny is Zack’s stepsister.”

“She’s sixteen,” Zack said around a loud slurp. “She doesn’t like taking me and Hayley places, ’cause Jenny thinks we’re little brats.”

“Uh, how old is Hayley?” Annie asked the boy.

“Eleven, but she’s gonna be twelve before I’m six. Then she says I’ll be the onliest little brat.”

“Zack, there’s no such word as
onliest,
” Sky said. “And the girls shouldn’t be calling anyone a brat. I’ll mention that to your mother.”

“Don’t, Daddy! Mama says I’m not s’posed to tell you anything about them or her, or the farm.”

Sky shut his eyes briefly, then rubbed the back of his neck. “Gotcha. But you have my permission to tell them I don’t want them calling you anything but Zachary or Zack. Now, where were we?” he asked, returning his gaze to Annie.

“It wasn’t important.”

“You sounded excited about a new idea. What is it?”

“I was thinking about the factory. It’s sitting empty. I was told the corporation that bought it eventually used the operation as a tax write-off. When they passed the time frame during which they could legally write it off, my guess is that they fired the workers and walked away. I know they quit paying property taxes, no doubt hoping it’d go unnoticed since so many buildings are in foreclosure.”

“I don’t even want to know where this is leading. You want to buy it and turn it into a skating rink, a bowling alley or both?”

“No. But former employees who lost good-paying jobs could form a co-op and make gloves again. Our city manager would be within his rights to reclaim the property for Briar Run under a federal imminent domain law. If it’s turned into a co-op, workers can earn decent wages again. I ran some hypothetical figures the other night, and set up a spreadsheet. Most former employees can walk to work or ride bikes, keeping some of their costs down. The upshot is they won’t spend hours a day on a bus getting to low-paying jobs in Louisville or working two or three different jobs. No one I talked to said they hated making gloves. I bet if they could go back they’d leap on the chance.”

“Imminent domain law?” Sky smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. “And a social worker is an authority on this how?”

“I’m not an authority, but I researched it. Because folks like Roger, Charlie, Davena and Homer Gonzales, whose job pays half of what he made before, are good people. They lost their livelihoods and their personal dignity. Reopening is a win-win, Sky.”

“Who’ll buy the gloves if they make them?”

“Argentina,” she said, peering at him over her straw as she drank her cola.

His eyes didn’t shift to meet hers, but lingered on her lips still curved around the straw until, flustered, she glanced away. Annie felt his wanting as surely as if he’d kissed her. “Neither of us needs an entanglement,” she blurted.

“I know. Believe me, I know.” Sky shook his head. “Daddy, the people all went back to work. Can I paint with Annie?”

Zack’s observation and his question brought both Sky and Annie back to normalcy. She gathered up their garbage, leaped nimbly to her feet and left Sky to deal with his son’s request.

“Zack wants to stay,” Sky said, coming up behind Annie as she poured paint into a cardboard container. “But his mother asked me to have him back at the farm by three. They’ve got people coming to look at a horse. I guess it’s important they all be home for a presentation or something, and I’m trying not to rock the boat. You said he’s already had too much sun, so next time I’ll be sure he has a hat.”

“That’s, um, good.” Turning away from Sky, Annie said, “Zachary, thank you for the painting you did. Every bit helps. We have a lot of houses to paint.”

“Will you paint fast and get to Daddy’s place? I helped him pick colors. I wanted red,” the boy said, but then wrinkled his nose. “He picked gold. I guess I like gold. Annie, do you think it’ll look cool with this color?” He pulled out his T-shirt, directing Annie’s attention to a big navy splotch.

“Well, you can paint a bit of each color on a leftover board and see if you both like how they look side by side before we paint your dad’s trim.”

“Yeah, Daddy, that’s what I wanna do next time I come.” The boy ran over and hugged Annie, then ran back and slipped his hand in Sky’s. She and Sky smiled at each other. Gone was any sign of their earlier strain.

“Bye, you guys,” Annie said. “Zack, you’re welcome anytime. You’re a hard worker.” She waved as he hopped backward to keep her in sight.

Feeling at loose ends after Sky had driven off, Annie wished she hadn’t said something so dumb—so final―about not getting entangled when it wasn’t how she felt at all. But his searing look had seemed so blatantly hungry, she’d let panic control her words. Once his car was out of sight, she returned to painting with vigor, all the while chastising herself for acting like a coward when she wasn’t one in any other aspect of her life.

It was late but not yet dark when work wound to a close for the day. They’d made good progress on altering the appearance of the Culvers’ home.

Annie, who’d once again bought grocery gift cards in lieu of cash, passed them around to everyone who’d worked that day. “I wish it could be more. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get cards from one of the discount stores.”

Peggy Gilroy, the eldest of the group, tucked the card in her pocket. “I think I speak for everyone, Annie. We’ve been in the dumps for so long that getting out in the sun, socializing with neighbors we’d lost touch with, is like a shot in the arm.”

Roger McBride shuffled his feet. “I’ll admit that when Loretta said you planned a meeting at the library to drum up interest in spiffing up the neighborhood, I laughed. Now I want more people to join us. I wish the rest of us had money to help buy paint.” His speech drew mumbles of agreement from the others.

“Thanks, guys, but I feel guilty letting you give me all the credit. You know the expression
paying it forward?
That’s what I’m doing. My grandmother gave me opportunities, and I’m trying to give opportunities to others. She wanted Briar Run to survive and thrive. So, same place, same time tomorrow?”

Annie heard Davena and her friends talking about the teen center as she threw a tarp over the paint cans in her pickup bed. What they’d done to date was a source of pride, she thought, driving home. Man, but she was beat. And before talk of the teen center reached the ears of Aaron Loomis, Annie needed to plan her speech.

* * *

I
T
WAS
DARK
. Way too late for a decent man to call on a woman. In fact, Annie’s home was the only one on her block with lights ablaze. Neighbors on both sides of the street had obviously retired. It was close to midnight, and Sky sat in his car outside Annie’s home, debating whether to leave.

He beat his thumbs rhythmically on his steering wheel, stopping when he recognized it for the nervous habit it was.

There was something he wanted to say to Annie. Something he’d chewed on all afternoon.
No guts, no glory
. The old military saying popped into his head.

He got out, shut his car door and strode up Annie’s walkway. Memories of the last time he’d been here, also in the dark, loomed in his mind. He remembered how well he and Annie had operated as a team, taking down those kids sent to do her harm—sent by men who were content to hide behind children.

Tonight no one lurked on her porch. Still his heart sped up as he rapped at her door. He heard rustling inside, then Annie tentatively called, “Who’s there?”

“Sky.”

The door opened. She turned on her porch light and opened the security door with its wrought-iron scrolls. “This is a surprise. Have you apprehended more gang members?” She peered beyond him to the porch and then the street.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said while we were having lunch.”

She refocused on him. “About the factory?”

“I dropped Zack off at Corrine’s on the dot of three. She yelled at me for letting him get sunburned and getting paint on his shirt. I gave him my T-shirt,” he said wryly, “but it wasn’t too effective as a cover-up.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“I was proud of Zack. He told his mom he’d had fun painting, and that next time he’s going to help you paint my house.”

“I’m afraid I can’t give you a firm date on when that will be.”

“That’s not why I’m here.” Sky tilted his head to one side and scratched his neck. “I, uh, came to clarify what you said about not getting entangled.”