Page 16 of Love, Always and Forever
Chapter 6
The knock on the door Amy had been expecting since right after breakfast still hadn’t come. Maybe Mikhail had decided to sleep in this morning or else something had come up. She’d spent the time unpacking a few more boxes, but it was too nice outside to want to spend the day shelving books or trying to find the right spot to stow her yarn stash until next winter.
Maybe she’d start working on the new flower beds she wanted to create in the front yard. She planned to use wooden stakes and string to mark out the areas where she would need to start digging up the sod.
But when she opened the garage door, a noise caught her attention. What was that? She waited until she heard it again. Unless she was mistaken, someone was out back wielding the nail gun that Mikhail had borrowed from his brother. Had he started without her? A quick glance toward his house showed there was a strange truck out front, but no sign of his SUV.
How odd. She grabbed her gloves and headed around to the backyard to see what was going on. A man she’d never met before was just positioning a board in place. From what she could tell, he’d only just gotten started. Who the heck was this guy, and where was Mikhail? She waited until the stranger finished nailing the board before making her presence known.
When he set the nail gun down, she stepped into his line of sight. “Hi, I don’t believe we met before, but I’m Amy, Mikhail’s next-door neighbor.”
Despite her best efforts, she’d startled him. He’d been heading toward the pile of lumber next to the house, but her comment brought him to an abrupt halt. He stared at her for a second before his surprised expression changed into a friendly grin.
“Hi, Amy. I’m Jay Tobin, a friend of Mikhail’s.”
He started toward her, his gait a little uneven. She’d been too intent on why he was working on her fence to realize that he had a prosthetic left leg. He slowed when he noticed where she was looking.
“A little mishap in Afghanistan. Nothing that slows me down.”
She walked toward him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.”
He shrugged it off. “Happens all the time. It’s no big deal, so don’t sweat it.”
Clearly it was a big deal, but she didn’t call him on the small lie. It would only embarrass him further. Her, too, for that matter. Instead, curiosity had her asking, “Were you in the marines with Mikhail?”
Now he looked mildly insulted. “Heck, no. I was a Navy Seal. I met him through his older brother. Tino and I coach a kids’ basketball team together.”
At last some common ground. “I’ve met Tino. Jack and his son, too. They were the ones who put in all the fence posts. They’re quite a bunch.”
Jay’s smile looked far more genuine now. “That they are. I’m amazed they actually got that much work done considering how much time they spend screwing around and tossing insults at each other.”
“They do have a certain talent for it, don’t they?” She looked around with what she hoped came across as casual interest. “So where’s Mikhail this morning?”
And why hadn’t he told her that he was calling in reinforcements? It was unlikely Jay would know, and she didn’t want to make him feel unwelcome by asking.
“He made a run to the store for some supplies and refreshments. I doubt that’s a euphemism for a beer run since we’re operating power tools, and his nephew is coming. He’ll pick up Tino and the kid on his way back. Evidently Jack and Caitlyn are out of town for the weekend, so Ricky is staying with Tino.”
So Mikhail had rounded up most of the clan to come help again. Interesting. Maybe something had happened to make him want to finish up the fence faster than they’d originally planned. If he had let her know, she would’ve made arrangements to feed the crew like she had the last time. Any questions she had would have to wait until he returned. Until then, she might as well make herself useful.
Pulling on her work gloves, she asked, “Why don’t I bring you the boards as you need them? That’s how Mikhail and I do things, and it works pretty well.”
Jay looked a little hesitant, but then he nodded. “Sounds good.”
He headed back to where he’d left off and waited for her to bring him the first board. He didn’t work quite as efficiently as Mikhail did, but they soon fell into a steady rhythm. They’d been working for nearly an hour before a familiar SUV turned into the driveway. She would’ve kept right on working, but Jay immediately set down the nail gun and started around to the front of the house.
Rather than tag along, she carried another three boards over to where Jay had been working. By the time she set down the last one, the new arrivals were on their way toward the backyard. She headed back to the stack of lumber, mostly to give herself something to do until Mikhail explained the change in plans.
Ricky spotted her first. “Hey, Amy! How’s it going?”
“Just great. How about you?”
He glanced over his shoulder toward where his two uncles were. “I beat Uncle Tino like a drum on the new game he bought me. I left the poor man gushing blood in the dust.”
At the sound of his name, Tino started toward them. “Watch it, kid. You might want to tell her that we played three games, and I won two. Maybe I should demonstrate some of those moves here in person to remind you which one of us really does have skills.”
The teenager didn’t look the least bit worried. “Uncle Mikhail will protect me. We both know he’s bigger and meaner.”
The man in question loomed up behind his brother. “Only if you get busy and earn your keep. Tino, remember he won’t be much good to us bruised up and bleeding. Let me work him to death, and then you can have what’s left over to do with as you will.”
