Prejudice Meets Pride (5 page)

Emma’s brow furrowed in concern as she set her phone down with a frustrated clang. She’d spent the last two days calling all the schools in the area—high schools, junior highs, elementary schools, charter schools, even private schools—and, just like Becky had warned her, no positions were available for an art teacher. Emma was welcome to bring by a resume in case something opened up later on, or fill out an application to be a substitute teacher, but that was all the schools could offer. Becky didn’t have any luck either.

Dropping her head to her hands, she went over her options. She could always find a job working as a receptionist or a clerk in a store, but the thought of doing that made her stomach clench. Her entire life, she’d fought to take forward steps in her life, no matter how small they were, and now it felt like the only options available included a very large step back.

Emma loved art. She loved painting. She loved teaching. But now, here she was, in a strange state with two girls to look after, contemplating a job answering phones all day long. Or worse.

Giggles sounded from the open front window, and Emma went to investigate, leaning her shoulder against a pillar on the front porch. The girls had wandered from the enclosed backyard to the front, looking bored, and who could blame them? The hot, August heat and crusty grass wouldn’t appeal to anyone. Emma wouldn’t be surprised if they made a run for it and fled across the street to Becky’s beautiful yard instead.

Emma pushed away from the pillar with a purpose. Although there was nothing she could do to brighten her job prospects at the moment, there
was
something she could do to brighten the yard for the girls, and she’d do it right now. Then on Monday, she would resign herself to the clerical jobs listed in the classified ads.

Emma reminded the girls to stay in the yard and away from the street before she opened the garage and started looking around. After a few moments of searching, she finally found the control box for the sprinklers. Like the house, it looked old and tired, but once Emma wiped away the dust, she could still read the words written under each knob. An old and yellowed owner’s manual, encased in a sheet protector, hung from the box. Emma opened the pages carefully, and with one eye on the girls, scanned the directions. With a smile, she confidently turned the knob to manual, set the number of minutes for the first zone, then twisted it back to Run. She watched the yard, waiting anxiously for the sprinklers to pop out of the ground and give the girls a fun surprise. They would squeal in delight and probably race inside to put on their swimsuits.

The seconds ticked by with no sprinkler action, and Emma’s smile soon faltered. She bit her bottom lip and studied the box once again. Another perusal of the instructions, and she was sure she’d pressed the right buttons. So where was the water? Why weren’t the girls squealing? This was supposed to be the one thing that went right today.

Hmm… maybe it was an electrical problem. Although the box was plugged in, all the dials were manual, so it was impossible to tell if it was receiving power. Emma glanced around, wondering where the circuit breaker would be.

“You look a little lost. Can I help?” a deep, masculine voice sounded behind Emma, making her jump. She whirled around and barely refrained from rolling her eyes when she saw Kevin. She suddenly felt like a magnet who attracted knight-in-shining-armor wannabees. It would be one thing if the whole grocery incident had never happened, but it had, and Emma wasn’t about to play the needy role yet again.

“Aren’t you late for work?” Emma said, noticing that Kevin was dressed in nice slacks and a starched, button-down shirt.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced at the red sport convertible running in his driveway before returning his attention to Emma. “I don’t have appointments on Friday. It’s sort of a catch-up day, so I usually go in a little later. I saw you out here and figured I’d drop by to say hi really quick. We sort of started off on the wrong foot the other day, and well, since we are neighbors…”

“We’re good, Kevin,” said Emma. “No hard feelings on my side.”

“Nor mine.”

“Great.”

Instead of leaving, like she expected him to, he looked around the garage. “Everything okay?”

“Yep.” Emma smiled, a little too brightly. “Just looking for the circuit breaker.”

Kevin’s eyes quickly scanned the garage, finally coming to rest on the far corner. “I think that’s it over there. Did you trip a circuit or something?”

Emma started toward the box. “I just wanted to make sure the control box for the sprinklers is getting power.” She tried to sound confident, like she knew exactly what she was doing and didn’t need any help. But when she arrived at the circuit breaker box and pulled the door open, a bunch of switches stared back at her, like beady black eyes, challenging her to know what to do with them. Emma glanced over everything, searching for anything that looked out of place. But they all appeared to be perfectly lined up. Oh brother. Now what?

“This box is getting power, so it’s not a power issue.” Kevin was at the control box, checking it out. “Are you sure you programmed it right?”

“Yes,” Emma said crossly. Did she really not come across as someone with a brain? “I do know how to read instructions.”

A hint of a smile appeared on his face. “I’m sure you do.” He paused, as though trying to think of another reason her sprinklers weren’t working. “I’m assuming you turned on the stop and waste valve, right?”

Emma bit her lip. He’d assumed she’d done that, which meant any intelligent, logical person would understand what he was talking about. But Emma had no idea what a stop and waste valve was or why she’d need to turn it on. She’d never rented a house with a yard and didn’t know much about sprinklers. The house had water, why didn’t the yard? It didn’t make sense.

The corner of Kevin’s mouth pulled up, and he shook his head as though he couldn’t believe Emma was that clueless. He scanned the garage once more then strode forward and grabbed a rusted, metal T-shaped tool that hung between two nails. He carried it out into the front yard, squatted down, and pried off a green lid in the front corner of the grass. Then he plunged the end of the tool down, fiddled with it for a moment, and turned it slowly to the left.

Emma watched in fascination. So that was the stop and waste valve. Huh.

A spurting noise sounded, and little black tubes popped up all over the front yard, spraying a small amount of water only a foot or two in diameter. The girls squealed in delight, but Emma frowned. That wasn’t right.

“What the—” Kevin spluttered, jumping off the grass and onto the driveway. His hair and shirt were drenched, and no wonder. A tall fountain of water shot from the ground in the far corner, landing in the place where he’d just stood. Ah, so that explained the pathetic pressure. One of the sprinklers was broken.

As the girls rushed inside to get their suits, completely oblivious to Kevin’s sacrifice for them, Emma clasped her fingers over her mouth to muffle her laughter. For whatever reason, it was hilarious to see her dignified neighbor standing there, fully clothed and dripping wet.

“You’re laughing because…?” He didn’t sound nearly as amused as Emma felt.

Emma shook her head, trying to imply she wasn’t laughing, but a snicker sounded through her fingers, giving her away. She finally dropped her hand and let the giggles come. “Sorry, really, but—” Seriously, how could he not find this funny at all? Maybe if he saw himself in a mirror.

“But what?”

She shrugged. “I told you I knew how to read instructions.”

His fingers raked through his hair, combing out some of the excess water. “And that’s the thanks I get for helping you out,” he muttered.

“Hey, I told you I didn’t need your help, but you went ahead and gave it anyway, just like the other day,” Emma said. Maybe now he’d learn to listen to her.

He took a few steps closer and pointed a finger in her direction. “You didn’t even know what the stop and waste valve was.”

“I would have figured it out. Eventually.” After she’d figured out that it wasn’t the circuit breaker and made a call to the utility company. Maybe.

Okay, fine, so she did owe him a thank you, but knowing that didn’t make it easy to say. What was it about him that made thank yous and sorrys so hard?

“You’re right,” Emma finally said, forcing the words out. “I’m sorry.”

Happy shouts sounded as Kajsa and Adelynn ran from the house and tossed dry towels on wet concrete. Emma couldn’t help but smile at their exuberance. It made her want to don her own swimsuit, toss her worries aside, and run through the sprinklers with them. Maybe Kevin was tempted to do the same. He watched the girls with amusement in his eyes as though he found them charming. It softened Emma’s heart.

“Thank you,” she said to Kevin then gestured to the girls. “For this. You made their day—and mine.”

Kevin’s deep brown eyes flashed to hers. “You’re welcome. And don’t worry about the broken sprinkler head. I can pick up a new one on my way home from work and fix it tonight.”

He strode away, leaving Emma to gape after him. Would he never learn? The last thing she wanted was for him to buy something else and place her even deeper in his debt. “I don’t need your help!” she wanted to yell after him, but he was already climbing in his car.

Her steps purposeful, Emma spun around and walked toward the garage. If anyone was going to fix that sprinkler head, it would be her. She had nothing better to do anyway.

The afternoon sun warmed Kevin’s back as he carried a trowel and a bag containing a new sprinkler head over to Emma’s house. After spending the past six hours shut away in his office, going over numbers and managerial issues with Janice, being outside was a welcome change. He actually looked forward to getting his hands dirty and fixing that sprinkler head. For once, Emma hadn’t argued with him or turned down his offer to help. That had to be a good sign.

What wasn’t a good sign were the filthy towels resting in heaps on her front porch, the toys that were scattered around the yard, and the driveway that had been graffitied with sidewalk chalk. Kevin sighed. He used to think having a dead yard next door had been lousy. Now he had a rotting car parked on the street and clutter everywhere else. Even pink flamingos couldn’t be worse than this.

Kevin understood that kids could make a mess—his waiting room was a testament to that—but why didn’t Emma clean it up? Or, better yet, why didn’t she get the girls to do it? Instead, she’d left the mess for anyone to see.

He crouched next to the broken sprinkler head, ready to start digging, only to realize that the earth around it had already been dug up and replaced. It wasn’t broken any longer. He frowned, feeling a prickle of annoyance. Why did she fix it when he had told her he’d do it? First the groceries, then the episode this morning, and now this. Kevin didn’t know what to think. He’d tried to be nice, tried to help her out, and had even gone out of his way to stop by Home Depot—for no reason. If she’d planned to switch it out herself, she could have at least told him so. He could be at the gym right now instead of staring at a yard that looked as though it was covered with the contents of a junk drawer.

“Something wrong, Kevin?” Becky’s voice sounded from across the street.

Kevin rose and turned, shaking his head as he crossed the street. “Just trying to make sense of our new neighbor.”

Becky picked up her daughter’s bike and started wheeling it toward the garage. “What do you mean?”

He lifted the Home Depot sack. “Do you happen to need a new sprinkler head? Because Emma doesn’t anymore.”

“That was nice of you to go to the trouble.”

“At least someone thinks so,” he muttered.

A blond eyebrow quirked up. “Emma doesn’t?”

“I told her I’d fix it after work, but when I got there, it was already done. I swear she did it to annoy me.”

Becky chuckled as she pushed the bike into her garage.

“And what’s the deal with the mess in her yard?” Kevin continued to vent. “How can she stand to leave all that stuff out there like that?”

She waved off his concern. “I’m sure she’ll clean it later. She’s probably trying to get the girls cleaned up and in bed, and she’s got to be exhausted. She’s been hard at work all day.”