Page 18 of The Matchmaker and the Marine

She put her hands on her hips. “Why didn’t they just put it all in the driveway?” She chewed on her thumb nail.

Adam stated, “It’s much easier for me to get things as I need them rather than to cart everything in from the front of the house.” He certainly couldn’t tell her why he needed the wood closer to the back. Heck, if he could, he would have had the material delivered next to where he would be working. As it was, hauling each load was going to give his leg grief.

Melinda glanced at the slim gold watch on her wrist. “I have to get into the office, but if you need something, let me know and help yourself to more coffee or water in the refrigerator. The back door is open.”

“Mel, you don’t need to keep me hydrated.” He said, “I’ve worked on jobsites and always bring a good-size cooler with plenty of supplies.”

She flipped her curls and drawled, “My momma always said, ‘Make sure to keep anyone who’s working at your house happy.’”

He chuckled. “So we don’t make mistakes?”

Mel clapped her hands together and grinned. Nodding she said, “Something like that.” With a quick wave she dashed up the front steps. Before she closed the screen door, she called over her shoulder, “I was serious about you helping yourself. There are even fresh-baked cookies in the jar.” Then she disappeared.

Adam couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. This is going to be a fun project.

Melinda got up from the computer and rolled her head from side to side. She had a wicked kink in her neck. She was stiff from sitting in one position too long.

The shrill hum of a saw caught her attention. She wandered to the back window and looked out. Walking barefoot out of her office, she stepped into flip-flops and scuffed her way to the back door, pausing to grab a glass of water on her way. Stopping in her tracks, she was dismayed to discover her backyard looked like a bomb had gone off. Short pieces of wood were in one pile and what looked to Melinda like a huge puzzle was arranged on the ground.

Thump. Pause. Thump.

Melinda gingerly stepped around pieces of lumber. “Adam.”

He didn’t look up.

“Adam!”

Thump. Another short piece of wood was tossed into a pile.

She waved her arms in the air and got his attention.

Pushing his sunglasses to sit on the top of his head, exposing his deep brown eyes, he pulled headphones from his ears. “Sorry, Mel. I didn’t hear you.”

Hoping to hide her dismay, she said, “You’ve got quite the…” She hesitated to use the word mess, so she opted to say, “…project going on here.”

Adam leaned against a sawhorse. Sweeping his arm in a circle, he said, “It’s controlled chaos. But I’m sure to you it looks like a huge mess.”

Rueful, she shrugged. “I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t expect my yard to look like this.”

“Until things start to take shape, it always looks awful.” He pointed to six round short tubes. “I need to get those sunk in the ground, mix some concrete, and they’ll support the overall structure. Then I can set the posts in place.”

She rolled her shoulders and told herself to relax. It was going to be fine. “I’m going to trust you on this one.” With a laugh she said, “How are you going to get those posts up? They’re like nine feet long, aren’t they?”

He tapped the top of his head. “I’ve got that all figured out. Will owes me a favor and I’ve already talked to him. He’s going to stop over on Wednesday or Thursday depending on my progress. Between the two of us, we’ll get them anchored in place.”

Adam took a step toward Melinda and seemed to stagger a little bit. She reached out a hand to steady him and was surprised to see an annoyed look flash across his face. Ignoring it, she asked, “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“I’m going to get you a glass of something cold to drink. You’ve been out here for hours.”

“Really, I’m fine. You don’t need to wait on me.”

Melinda wondered why he seemed irritated with her. “I was being nice.”

He gave her a whole-hearted smile. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’d love something, as long as you’ll sit with me for a few minutes.”

“That I can do. If for no other reason than to make sure you take a break.” She walked into the house and didn’t look back at Adam.

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