LITMIR.BIZ

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suddenly become informative, not just helpful.

      “Am I coming home with a better lawn mower because you helped me and Al knows you, or because you helped me and you’re a man?”

      Levi’s lips twitched, but he didn’t turn his head to look at her. An annoying habit of his, and one that added to her sense that she didn’t have a good read on him. Grumpy loner? Stoic, independent-minded Westerner? Helpful neighbor? All of the above? None of the above?

      “Probably both. Al’s of the generation that thinks you should be inside making pie while your husband is outside pushing the mower. And you’re a city girl, so he’s doubtful that you’ll mow your lawn, so why sell you a nice product when you’re only going to hire someone anyway. But had you come into the store with a different man, Al might have flat-out given you a lawn service recommendation.”

      She grunted. His response wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but at least it was honest. And it was along the lines of what she’d expected. Al had looked like a modern mountain hermit, with a grizzled face and coarse white hairs that stuck out of his face and head like electrical wires. “What about you?”

      Levi flipped on his blinker and turned down the street leading to their neighborhood. “What about me?”

      “What generation are you of?”

      “One older than you.” He must have noticed her roll her eyes because his lips curled in what was clearly a hidden smile.

      “Do you think I should be inside making a pie while my nonexistent husband is outside mowing the lawn?”

      “Does my opinion matter?”

      Did it? She hadn’t started teaching yet and was slowly making friends with her colleagues. So right now, Levi was as close to a friend as anyone else in Montana. “I guess I still don’t understand why you’re helping me.”

      “Huh,” he said, and Mina realized he didn’t understand why he was helping her, either. He probably saw himself as the cranky loner she had understood him to be during their first meeting. “I guess you should make a pie if you want to make a pie and mow your lawn if you want to mow your lawn. I won’t be surprised if you end up hiring someone, but that’s because mowing your lawn is a pain in the ass, not because you’re a woman.”

      She laughed. “Will you come with me next time I need to buy an expensive piece of home equipment from Al?”

      “Nah. You won’t need me. Al may be from an older generation than both of us, but he’s not so stupid as to drive a customer to one of those giant home-improvement stores more than once.”

      * * *

      AFTER THAT TRIP to the hardware store, where Levi had caught himself watching Mina’s hand instead of the road while he was driving—hoping her palm would suddenly rest on his thigh—he shoved his curiosity about her art and her cheer out of his mind and renewed his plan to avoid all thoughts of her. But catching glimpses of her outside had him reconsidering his stance on avoiding relationships because he was too old to risk heartache again. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be shaving every morning just in case she touched his cheek—and double-checking his throat for patches of missed stubble.

      But his resolve must have worked, because he didn’t run into her again until Thursday, at the hardware store. She was in earnest discussion with Al over a cordless drill, asking him questions, and—as far as Levi could tell—Al was giving her good advice, rather than simply trying to sell her something.

      Mina gave him a wave, and Levi raised his brows in return. When Al noticed, he looked over his shoulder and nodded. Levi nodded back, then caught Mina’s secret smile at their shared joke.

      Once Levi got home, he made sure all the blinds were shut on Mina’s side of the house. He’d played friendly neighbor long enough and would have no part of whatever she was planning with her new cordless drill.

       CHAPTER FOUR

      THE PROBLEM, LEVI realized Sunday morning when he woke up and automatically started opening his blinds, was dark rooms and closed blinds reminded him too much of when Kimmie was feeling at her worst. She would close out the world and couldn’t bear even the little bit of it that Levi would bring home every day when he got back from work. For weeks after her funeral, he’d kept the curtains open 24/7—the neighbors be damned if they saw him drinking coffee naked in the kitchen.

      He picked up his pajama bottoms from the floor and pulled them on before padding out to the front door to get his paper. He’d mellowed a bit since Kimmie’s death.

      Once back inside, he tossed the paper onto his kitchen table and made himself some coffee before sitting down to the horoscopes. Sometimes he read the rest of the paper, but he always read the horoscopes. Not that the horoscopes ever said anything useful. Once a week—and today was the day—his horoscope told him to embrace a new future. Sometimes he wondered if the astrologer who wrote these simply had a list of generic recommendations for each sign that he or she rotated through.

      Kimmie’s horoscope recommended that she go outside and work in the garden. “Start early preparing the beds for your life for the winter,” it said. “The warmth of Mother Nature will provide reassurance in changing times.”

      Clearly the writer didn’t know that Kimmie had had a black thumb.

      Levi looked up from his paper to the window, noticing that he’d sat facing Mina’s house this morning, not with his back to it like normal. With his blinds open he could see the burst of fall colors her mums provided. Mina, crouched in her front yard, a drill next to her in the grass, was also in full view. She was holding two boards together and screwing down a clamp. When she finished, she picked up a level, held it against the join and shook her head.

      He took several sips of his coffee while he watched her undo the work she’d just done and try again. Unsurprisingly, given the uneven surface she was working on, she had to take it apart once more.

      He guessed she was making a raised garden bed. The task would be a lot easier if she had some help.

      He flipped through the rest of the paper, idly reading the comics—even the terrible soap opera–like ones he should have given up on years ago—and checking the ads. There was nothing worth reading in the rest of the paper, but he skimmed the headlines anyway. For completion’s sake.

      Only when he’d finished the paper and his last bit of now cold coffee did he look up again. Mina had apparently gotten the two boards clamped together like she wanted. Now she struggled with holding the boards and predrilling holes for her screws.

      Levi sighed. He wasn’t the type of neighbor who liked to do more than wave from his truck when he passed someone on the street. He didn’t want someone interpreting a friendly smile as an invitation to drop by and say hi.

      Of course, Mina had already dropped by to introduce herself and before he’d worked himself up to even waving at her from his truck. And, despite helping her with Al, she hadn’t invited herself over for dinner. She’d been friendly but not intrusive.

      He sighed again, then stood and put his coffee cup in the sink.

      With one last look at his neighbor’s battle against the raised bed, Levi ran his hand through his hair and went upstairs to change into jeans.

      She was too young. His heart was still too tender, his memories of Kimmie too fresh. But with no one there to help her, Mina would spend the entire day struggling to produce a garden bed with lopsided joins that would set his teeth on edge every time he stepped out of his front door.

      After buttoning his jeans, he dug a work T-shirt out of his drawer. In the long run, going over to help her was a bigger benefit to him than it was to her. Not only did she need the assistance and he had the skills to provide it, but that house had been sitting empty for two years. Helping her fix it up would improve his own house’s value, not to mention what he had to see every time he looked out his windows.

      He

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