Page 17 of The Runaway Bride's Vow

She raised her hand and imagined she would sand the same way she would wipe a window. Her hand moved in a circular motion.

“Incorrect.” His response was clipped.

She didn’t like the you-know-nothing look upon his face. “Fine. How do you sand?”

“First, I don’t hand sand unless necessary.” His brows drew together. “Either way you sand in a straight line, and you move with the grain of the wood.”

“That sounds simple enough. I can help.”

He looked as though he wanted to roll his eyes. “I don’t have time for this. I only have the rest of this week and next week to get a large chunk of the project done before I return to work.”

Wait. What? “This isn’t your job?”

“It’s my side job. I’m a full-time firefighter in the city.”

This wasn’t good. How was he supposed to finish this big project if he was only doing it in his spare time? Her gaze moved to Kaylie. And when he wasn’t being an attentive parent. This definitely wasn’t good at all.

“Stop frowning. It will all get done on time.” He said it as though he could read her thoughts. “This isn’t my first big job. Relax.”

“Brooke!” Kaylie’s voice echoed throughout the chapel. “You came back.”

A smile lifted the corners of Brooke’s mouth. “I told you I would.” She glanced over at Logan. “I’m not giving up. I will find something special to do around here. I just need to give it some more thought.”

Logan sighed. “If you’re done now, I need to get back to work.”

“Go ahead. Kaylie and I have plans.” Then as an afterthought, she said, “If that’s all right with you.”

He hesitated. Then he gave a quick nod of his head.

As she walked away, she wondered if it was possible for her to break through his gruff exterior. She’d witnessed his warm interaction with his daughter. She’d like to share just a little of that with him.

He had a lot to do.

The next day, Logan had packed a lunch so he wouldn’t have to leave the chapel. He wanted to get a lot done. Today there will be no distractions.

His daughter had slept over at his mother’s last night so he could get an early start on the day. And hopefully, Brooke wouldn’t be stopping in. She’d seemed rather frustrated when she left the day before because he didn’t have a task for her to do. The truth of the matter was he didn’t have time to teach her. He’d be lucky to get everything done on time—not that he’d ever admit that to Brooke.

It was still dark out when he arrived at the chapel. His first priority would be to replace some of the trim work that had been damaged beyond repair. Henry pulled in next to him.

When they both got out, Logan asked, “What are you doing here so early?”

“Oh, you know me. I don’t sleep so good with my Mary gone. You mentioned you were getting an early start, so I decided to join you instead of watching the news. Besides, I have a lot of benches to sand and refinish. That’s going to take me some time.”

Logan worried about the man working too hard, but since his divorce, Logan understood needing work to distract from the pain. So, he wasn’t going to lecture the man. “Let’s get to work.”

Logan enjoyed working with Henry. The man knew when to talk and when to be quiet. This was one of those days when Logan chose the quiet. He’d had too much talking in the last couple of days between his daughter and Brooke.

The morning was full of replacing the trim around the front of the chapel. It was the part of the building that had taken the brunt of the storms. Small leaks here and there had caused some damage. Luckily, the bones of the building were solid.

As the morning moved along and there was no sign of Brooke, Logan found himself unwinding. With Henry taking care of the benches and the guys working on the roof, they were going to make good progress in the first week. He told himself they would meet the deadline. Once this project was complete, he’d have the money to square everything with his mortgage. The thought had him working even harder.

He took an early lunch break since his day had started at 5:00 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, he was back at work. This job was so different from his firefighting. Working with wood was calming, whereas his firefighter duties could be an adrenaline rush as well as being intense. Between the two, he had the best of both worlds.

“It’s looking good.”

The all-too familiar voice interrupted his thoughts. He pounded in a finishing nail and then stood. He turned to find Brooke standing only five feet away.

He turned back to his work. He positioned another piece of trim and started to nail it into place.

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