Page 40 of The Corner of Heartbreak and Forever
He hooked his arm around her neck and laughed. “You’re really hot when you’re trying to prove a point.” He gave her a chaste kiss and noticed a note taped to the door and snagged it. “Is this for me?” He read it aloud. “Hey, big boy, come on in. I’m ready and waiting.Man. I wish I hadn’t stopped to see Roy—”
She ripped the note from his hands and scanned it. She gritted her teeth, fire in her eyes, as giggles floated out the kitchen window, where Brindle and Morgyn were cracking up.
“I’m going to kill them,” Grace seethed, crumpling the note in her fist as her sisters came out the kitchen door, laughing hysterically, with Reba and Dolly on their heels.
She shoved the note in his hands and bolted off the porch toward them. Brindle and Morgyn screamed and ran into the yard. Reba and Dolly chased after them, barking up a storm.
“I’m going to kill you!” Grace hollered.
“Not if you can’t catch us!” Morgyn yelled back as she raced, full speed, toward the barn.
“Don’t get me dirty!” Brindle screamed as Grace grabbed her. “I have to go to work!”
Grace’s bedroom door opened, and Sable walked sleepily out. “What’s going on?”
Reed watched Grace tackle Morgyn to the ground, both of them laughing. “I think Gracie is finding her way back to her roots.”
Chapter Thirteen
AFTER THE MORNING chase, Grace’s sisters left for work, and Grace changed into a pair of the sexy cutoffs Reed loved, and then they went to work on the porch. She worked through the morning like she’d been building porches her whole life. She was as meticulous as Reed was, and he got a kick out of her refusing to let him carry the planks or do much of anythingforher.With her, however, was another story. Reed taught her how to use the chop saw and nail gun, gave her a lesson in leveling and shaping, and she listened so intently, he knew she didn’t miss a word. Together they measured, cut, and hammered. He had a field day making sexy comments about herscrewingthe boards, which earned a few blushes and a lot of laughter.
“You’re going to owe me a full-body massage after this,” Grace said as they lined up a plank.
“If you think that’s a threat, you’re sorely mistaken.” He swept her into his arms and kissed her, with an accompanying “Mwah!” earning another heart-melting laugh.
“It looks like you two make a great team,” Cade said as he came around the side of the house with Dolly and two glasses. He handed them each a drink. “I thought you could use some iced tea. With Axsel gone, it’s nice to have a man around again. I’m a bit outnumbered in the estrogen castle.”
Reed laughed. “You are a bit outnumbered.” He took a drink and knelt to love up Dolly.
“I don’t know, Dad,” Grace said as Dolly wound around her legs. “Sable’s kind of like a guy sometimes.”
“Sable’s a tough cookie,” Cade agreed. “But beneath that tough exterior, she’s a real sweetheart. She’s got a softer side. Always has. She just needs a man who’s strong enough, and patient enough, to find it.”
“Good luck with that.” Grace tipped her face up to the sun, eyes closed, looking like a goddess despite the sweat she’d earned and the dirt she’d acquired. How many women would spend hours doing manual labor in the hot sun when they could be doing any number of other things? Not to mention doing it with a sense of humor. But Grace had never been afraid of hard work.
Reed had always thought she was more afraid of not standing out as her own person than of the work it might take to get there. He didn’t know for sure, but he thought that might have something to do with having grown up with so many siblings. The reason didn’t matter. He loved Grace for her determination and her insecurities. She was as real as a woman could be, and he knew he was one lucky man.
“You raised strong daughters,” Reed said. “Sable’s no stronger than Grace. They just show it in different ways.”
“I’d agree with you there,” Cade said.
Marilynn and Reba came out of the barn, and the minute Reba saw them, she bounded across the grass and joined Dolly. The two pups smothered Reed with kisses. Grace took Reed’s glass and set it on the deck beside hers, then sank down to the grass with them. Reba immediately crawled up her body and licked her cheek.
“This is their playtime,” Marilynn said as she came to Cade’s side. “But I can call them off with one command if you’d like.”
“I love dogs.” Reed grabbed Reba’s head and pressed a kiss to the end of her snout. “Won’t you be sad when you’ve trained them and you have to give them up?”
Marilynn and Cade exchanged a knowing smile.
“We miss them all, but if we kept them we’d have to buy a bigger house,” Marilynn explained.
“It’s hard to let them go, no doubt. But we raise them to be independent and to make a difference in other people’s lives, just like our children,” Cade said as Grace pushed to her feet beside him. He put his arm around her, love brimming in his eyes. “It’s nice to see you doing something other than working, darlin’. I made lunch for you and Reed. It’s in the fridge.”
“You didn’t have to go to all that trouble,” Reed said as he rose to his feet.
“No trouble at all. I threw together a few sandwiches and cut up some fruit. No great shakes. It’s the least I can do, considering you’ve got my girl sticking around without her nose in a script.”
“Dad.” Grace rolled her eyes. “What would you have me do? Be barefoot and pregnant?”
