LITMIR.BIZ

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“Absolutely. We need to get started on that list if you want everything shipshape before Mrs. Reagan comes home.”

      “I’ll just get Dillon’s things together, then.”

      When her daddy was out of earshot, Abby turned to Guy, no longer putting on a happy face.

      “You can drop the helpful hardware man act. I’m on to you.”

      “Meaning?” He leveled wide, innocent eyes on her that she bet worked like a charm with the adoring females in his life.

      “Meaning, I know you’re not just an H&H employee, you’re the owner. And you’re not just worried about my family, you’re covering for your own.”

      “Guilty as charged on all counts.” He nodded.

      The speech she’d practiced on the drive home flew out the window on the breeze from the new fan.

      “That’s right. My family owns the stores and it’s my job to protect our investment.”

      “So you admit all this help you’ve been offering is just an act.”

      “No way.”

      “Then why didn’t you tell me who you were when we first met?”

      “I didn’t really think it was important to give you my résumé when your mother was lying on the floor of my store.”

      Ouch, he had her there.

      “Besides my parents have raised us to keep our personal business private, so it’s not like I have OWNER on the license plate of my company car. The employees know who I am, it’s not necessary for every customer to know, too.”

      She still had reason for her righteous indignation. Didn’t she?

      “But your customers should know your promise to take care of my mother’s medical needs was just PR. She believed you when you said everything would be covered by Hearth and Home or she’d never have agreed to that expensive private ambulance service.”

      “Abby.” He lowered his chin; his shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry I’ve given you the impression that I’m a dishonest person, but I assure you I didn’t lie about the medical coverage. You don’t need to worry about the bills. I give you my word on that.” He held his hand out as he’d done with her father a couple of minutes earlier.

      She felt like a day-old balloon with a pinprick, as all the air seeped out of her argument that he was up to no good. She accepted his hand. A man’s grip, warm and solid and strong. A very different touch than she’d ever felt holding hands with Phillip.

      “I apologize,” she said simply, lost for the proper words after impugning his integrity.

      “Apology accepted.” He let her off the hook but held on to her hand. “And please accept mine for not introducing myself properly. Dad’s taught us to keep a low profile with customers, but it was never my intention to hide my identity.”

      “I see.” She nodded and eased her hand out of his warm grip. “Now what’s all this about a list?” She changed the subject.

      He fished an index card covered in her father’s handwriting from his back pocket.

      “Shorty and I wrote up a list of all the repairs you two have been planning to make. I really need to get out of the new store manager’s way and let her run things on her own, so I have some time on my hands before I have to turn over the quality phase of the project to my kid sister, Casey. Believe it or not I really enjoy your dad’s company. He reminds me a lot of one of my uncles and I’d like to help take care of these repairs, if you don’t disapprove.”

      Abby glanced at the list, all things she had good intentions of doing one day. Her heart sank just a bit at the thought of missing out on spending this time with her father. The MS was so unpredictable. He could be able one day and bedridden the next. She’d already found out what it was to forever lose precious time with a man she’d loved. She didn’t want to waste a single day of the allotment she had left with her father.

      God was unpredictable. She never knew when He would strike.

      “These are all things my daddy and I wanted to do together.” She pouted, knowing she probably sounded like a brat.

      “Even better. If you have any free time to join us, just grab a hammer and help out.”

      Now that things were going his way again, his engaging blue eyes sparkled with mischief, and Abby began to understand why the women in his family had spoiled this guy rotten.

      Chapter Four

      “So, I can have everything wrapped up and be in Austin next week. It’s almost time to start the handoff, you know.” Casey’s voice buzzed across the phone line reminding Guy of their time line.

      Not that he needed reminding.

      He looked at the calendar above his desk. As usual, the Warden, as the Hardy clan called Casey, was in control and ahead of schedule. She couldn’t let a deadline slip. Ooooh noooo. How was it possible that the baby sister he loved more than life could leave him warmhearted and clenched-fisted at the same time? She’d been breathing down his neck since they were kids, competing with him at every turn, determined to best him at his own game.

      His parents had never had to challenge their only son. That was Casey’s personal mission.

      He’d joined the swim team and she’d taken up high diving. He’d gotten voted most likely to succeed; she’d been elected class president. He’d gotten some assistance at the local community college; she’d earned a full scholarship to the University of Iowa. The board had offered him an executive position after seven years; she’d won her title after five.

      But he had the plum, the job she’d wanted. When the board had voted on expansion, Guy’s business degrees and years of experience had made him their first choice. Casey had taken it remarkably well, then had promptly set a course to study world-class quality processes. He knew it was just a matter of time before she proposed a new security structure that would shake up the way they did business. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it would be as much to nip at Guy’s heels and impress their father as it was to improve corporate work processes.

      His youngest sister thrived on competition. Guy sympathized for any man who fell for her quick wit and easy smile. The combination masked the sharpshooter nature and workaholic tendency that would undoubtedly intimidate the poor guy who found himself in love with Rebecca Thelma Casey Hardy one day.

      He picked up his cup of ice, rattled a cube into his mouth and chewed with gusto.

      “Alexander Theodore Guy Hardy, stop crunching ice in my ear. Are you even listening to me?”

      “You’ve given me this lecture so many times I can recite it in my sleep. Gimme a second here, I’m looking at my schedule.”

      Scanning the calendar, he grabbed an orange marker off his desk and drew a dotted line through the next four weeks and circled Mother’s Day. At best Sarah Reagan would be out of rehab by that time. He and Shorty had crossed a small project off their list every few days. Now it was time to tackle the big stuff that would make the decades-old, drab little home more accessible for Shorty’s old wheelchair and the walker Sarah would undoubtedly need for a while.

      “Thanks for being ready to move things up but I don’t need you that soon,” he muttered into the handset cradled between his ear and shoulder. “In fact, I’m thinking of pushing my departure date out a bit.”

      Casey was silent. A bad sign. Guy hurried on.

      “I’m enjoying the weather here. I might take a few days off and do some fishing.”

      “Where?” She snorted, an unflattering sound that had always annoyed their mother. “Since when does any game fish besides a trout or a red appeal to a salt-water snob like you? Aren’t you all hot to get to Galveston to try out the new waders I gave you for your

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