Construction Beauty Queen (15 page)

Paige dangled a set of keys in front of her. “The gold one opens his office. Go crazy with your calculator and wish me luck.”

…

Matt’s foul mood continued through Monday morning. When he pulled his truck in front of the convenience store, his gaze naturally shifted across the street to Veronica’s trailer. He hadn’t seen or heard from her since she’d gotten in the limo Saturday afternoon. He didn’t expect that he ever would. She might as well have shouted her choice from the rooftops for as clear as she’d made her intentions known.

Despite that, her trailer looked homey and inviting, as if she’d step out of it and walk toward him at any moment. Her small section of grass was trim, green, and weed-free. The planter of pink-and-white impatiens swung above the front window. Craft yard signs proclaiming
Welcome Friends
and
Home Sweet Home
camouflaged the concrete blocks.

The clock in his truck rolled to seven, and Matt took a final swig of coffee and got out of his truck.

“Hey, you can’t work here in the mornings. Did you forget about Barney’s doughnut business?” Veronica called cheerily as she crossed the street to him.

Matt froze, astonished she was there, let alone that she’d troubled herself with a trivial detail. And darn it, how dare she wear that Kortville baseball T-shirt with her jeans, picking up their flirting from the picnic as if she hadn’t run off for the weekend with her rich, successful fiancé? What kind of game was she playing with him? “I’m finishing the outside siding. Grab a hammer.”

“No thanks. I’m saving us both the misery of having me mess up another construction job.”

“What’d you come back for if you’re not working for me?” He tried to squash it, but hope swelled in his chest that maybe, just maybe, she’d come back because of him.

“Don’t worry. I told you I’d come, and I did. And I’m working for you, too. I’m picking up a doughnut, and Barney’s giving me a ride to the office.” She flashed him another smile and started for the store entrance.

Matt reached out and caught her arm. “Why did you wear that today?” She’d tied up the extra bagginess at her waist, turning the shirt into a fashion statement that was uniquely hers.

“It was supposed to make you happy. Honestly, Matt, I think it’s making you grumpy. Maybe we should try the kiss instead.”

He released her arm. “I’m trying to run a business.” And trying not to let her sweet-talk him into giving her a free ride. And trying not to get his heart broken. He hadn’t done a single one of those successfully since she’d blown into his life.

She patted his shoulder. “I’m doing everything I can to make sure you run that business as smoothly as possible. Your finances are going to be in tip-top shape at the end of the month.”

He didn’t care about his finances. He’d rather spend the day—the week, the month—being with her, even if she messed up every job and made more work for him. “Where were you all weekend?”

“If I told you I was working, would you believe me?”

“No,” he said flatly.

“All right, then. Have a great day, Matt.”

That was it? She wasn’t going to try to convince him? Wasn’t going to prove that she’d thought of him and only him all weekend while she’d been with her fiancé? And why should she? Veronica hadn’t lied to him before. She had no reason to attempt to soothe the jealous streak in his heart when he wouldn’t believe her anyway.

But he still wasn’t ready for her to walk away. “How’d you get Barney to give you a ride? Does he have a pile of rancid meat he’s going to unload on you?”

Her guileless blue eyes sparkled. “Now that we’ve settled on a date for my trailer to be taken away and work on the baseball field is set to begin, he’s offering me the fresh goods.”

“What? When?” Had she come back to clear out her stuff before she returned to her old, better life? And who was taking out the trailer if he hadn’t been told about it? Ron had hired him to clear out all the other trailers.

“Next week.”

One more week to put up with her before she went back to her old life. In fact, he didn’t even have to put up with her. He could simply ignore her while she passed the time in the office. Everyone won.

Veronica got back the lifestyle she was accustomed to.

The town got its promised funding from Ron’s sale of the distribution center.

Matt got his work done in peace and preserved his quality reputation.

So, why did he feel like he was losing everything?

Matt avoided the office and Veronica’s trailer for three straight days. In that time, he heard rumors about Ron charming society matrons and whacking his son-in-law in the shins with his cane. There were even whispers about Trevor Cunningham the Fourth calling Wilbur to personally assure him the funding for the community needs center was still on track and Agatha swearing that a woman named Paige had been in the background feeding him every word. There was not a single rumor about Veronica having a fiancé or even being present at the party where all these events had occurred.

On Wednesday afternoon a water emergency at Mrs. Parker’s farmhouse sent him scrambling to do repairs, even though he’d already promised Glenda he could be off work early so she’d be free for one of her athletic manager commitments.

He needed to find a back-up sitter before Jenny got out of school. Heidi was working, and she’d been counting on him to take care of Stephanie. The grocery store was short-staffed, so Becca couldn’t take the afternoon off. Pauline couldn’t leave a diner full of customers. In desperation, he called Ron, who didn’t answer his phone.

So, Matt swallowed his pride—and his resolve not to have any contact with Veronica—and called her. “What are you doing right now?”

“Your computer was low on memory so I added another gig. I also downloaded the latest update to your financial software.”

Whatever he’d expected her to say, it certainly wasn’t geek-speak. Naturally, coming from her mouth, she managed to make it sound sexy, too. “Where did you go to get that?”

“Online computer store, next-day shipping. You only like to
think
you’re out of touch with civilization,” she teased. “You’re really just a mouse click away.”

Matt grunted. “How much did that set me back?”

“Not as much as you think.”

Right.
He’d called for a reason. It took him a beat to remember what that reason was. “I have a huge favor to ask you.”

“I’m all yours.”

Talk about a fantasy image. Matt cleared his throat and focused on the chaos around him. “I’m at Mrs. Parker’s—the farmhouse where we fixed the gate.”

“
You
fixed the gate,” she corrected. “I passed out and slept the rest of the day on your couch.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t need the reminder of how sweet and peaceful she’d looked or how she’d snuggled under the blanket as he covered her or how shaken he’d been for the rest of the day knowing she’d made herself at home in his house. “I’m trying to fix a broken water pipe. Glenda would normally be on her way to school to pick up Jenny and Stephanie, but she had another commitment this afternoon, and Mrs. Parker is standing ankle-deep in water trying to salvage a bunch of pictures and stuff before they get wet.”

“So, you want me to pick up the girls?”

Add “reading his mind” to the list of her attributes. A woman simply could not come packaged more perfectly. “Please. I’m trying to find someone else to watch them because they can’t come here. The farmhouse is a lake, and there’s no running water. But so far, I haven’t had any luck finding anyone who’s available.”

“How about I take them to your house? We’ll play dress-up and braid hair.”

There it was, Matt’s terrifying fear that Veronica’s influence would turn his niece into a girl who expected weekly manicures and jetted off to the city for expensive shopping trips. “I don’t like to encourage that kind of thing.”

“You’re morally opposed to braids?”

She made him sound like a fool. “No, of course not.” The wrench slipped as he worked to unscrew the old pipe from the fitting. He needed to get off the phone, so he didn’t have his head and arms tipped at odd angles. “It would be a godsend if you could watch the girls. Just don’t let Jenny dress up like any of those pop stars in the magazines that Stephanie’s always showing her.”

“You got it.”

He didn’t trust Veronica not to run off with a rich city man. He didn’t trust her not to ruin his town. But he had no choice but to trust her with the most valuable thing in his life—his niece. “Thanks, I owe you.”

“I think I can come up with a good way for you to show your appreciation.”

So could he. A little whipped cream. A lot of tongue. Matt clicked off the phone and slipped it into his tool belt. It stopped him from flirting back. It didn’t stop the fantasy.

…

After a quick confirmation call to Matt and another one to Stephanie’s mom, Heidi, the teachers released the smiling girls into Veronica’s care. She didn’t take offense to the calls. No one was out to get her. They were following protocol to keep the children safe and accounted for.

She contemplated if she’d taken a step up or down by trading in her construction hardhat to become a daycare provider, as the three of them walked along the sidewalk to Matt’s house. Jenny and Stephanie chattered about their day at school, their classmates, and their plans for the afternoon.

Veronica could see why Matt’s world revolved around his niece. Knowing that he’d trusted Veronica—even if she was a last resort—with the most important person in his life was a step in the right direction. She needed his trust. She’d lost it the moment she’d entered the limousine with Trevor. So, she’d start over, and she’d show him she was on his side in every way that mattered.

They rounded a corner to the next block as Ron took a step up his driveway from the mailbox at the end of the street. “Hi, Mr. Walker,” the girls chorused, skipping ahead to greet him.

Ron leaned on his cane and greeted them with a smile. His eyes narrowed as he looked beyond them to Veronica. “Where are you all going?”

“We’re having a girls’ afternoon,” Jenny said.

His eyes widened. “You’re babysitting? You could be in Chicago having a spa day with your mother.”

Veronica smiled at the girls bouncing around at her side. “I’d rather be babysitting,” she said honestly.

“Mr. Walker, can Stephanie and I see your new gazebo?” Jenny asked.

“There’s not much to see yet, but you can look.” Ron waved them toward the backyard and then rubbed his fist against his chest as he turned back to her. “I thought you were going to be at the dinner Saturday night, but you never showed up.”

She resisted pointing out that she’d been there, however briefly. He’d just been too preoccupied to notice. “I had some things I needed to do in order to prove to certain people that marrying me is a bad idea.”

He leaned heavily on his cane, his other hand still pressed to his chest. “When you sent me that e-mail about how you were going to leave your family, it wasn’t supposed to play out like this. I didn’t want Angela to go through the pain of losing you like I went through when she left home. I made you a horrible deal, so you’d see how awful life was here in comparison to what you had.”

“Life in Kortville is not awful. I love it so much better than a high-society city life.”

“Then when Angela came to pick you up, you’d be so grateful for the life she’d given you
and
I’d be reunited with my daughter again,” Ron continued. “My half worked out, but Angela is heartsick that you don’t want to come home, and she’s worried about the future of her husband’s business.”

His twisted logic made her head hurt. “So what’s your solution this time? Do you have a gravel truck ready to unload on me to humiliate me into returning home?”

His mouth twisted with regret. “I’m sorry about the cement and the gazebo. I was desperate, and everything got out of hand. If you’re free tomorrow, I can take you to the distribution center and get you acquainted with the people you’ll be working with.”

She would have given up her last pair of shoes for him to extend this offer when she first knocked on his door, but since then she’d discovered taking what others handed out was much less rewarding than what she could create on her own. “Thank you, but your company is being well managed. The financials are in good shape. You have a lot of interested buyers, so you can get a fair price. You don’t want me coming in and messing all that up.”

“Then what should I do with it?” he asked as Jenny and Stephanie returned, running down the driveway, their schoolbags bouncing against their backs.

“Sell it and give the profit to the town’s causes like you planned.”

His gaze narrowed in on her. “Maybe if I sell it, the proceeds should go to you. You seem like you could use some help getting started—enough money to buy a place of your own, a little cushion until you have a steady paycheck.”

She shook her head. “I’m working on the steady paycheck thing. I have some plans.”

“Come on, Miss Veronica, let’s go. I really, really want to try on lipstick,” Jenny begged.

“And I want a braid that swirls around my head,” Stephanie added.

Ron sighed. “Go have fun, but I expect to hear all about these plans of yours as soon as you have a free minute.”

“’Bye, Mr. Walker,” the girls called, immediately skipping down the sidewalk.

Yes, she had plans. For this afternoon, they were all about two little girls who had wormed their way into her heart. But for her own life, her options were not narrowed to only what her father and grandfather offered to her.

She’d started taking control of her life on Saturday in the back of the limousine. Now it was time for her parents to see her as a competent adult and a business equal. She pulled out her phone and dialed. “Mother, it’s Veronica. I need to schedule a meeting with you and Dad, nine a.m. tomorrow. Just the two of you. You’ll find out what it’s about when you get here.”

She slapped her phone closed and quickened her pace to catch up to Matt’s niece.

…

Matt peeled off his work boots and left them by the door. The pipe job had required more extensive repairs than he’d anticipated. The farmhouse was falling apart, and Mrs. Parker couldn’t afford to put more than a Band-Aid on the problem. Which meant he’d likely be called out there again soon, but not to gut it and transform it back to its former glory, like it deserved.