Page 13 of Bradley

I wasn’t sure what to think of that and realized that I needed to focus on the house and not on Brad. I was about to explain what I was thinking for the porch when I glanced at him and saw him staring out over my property. I had two acres, and it backed up to a hearty line of trees to divide the property from my rear neighbors.

“You have a great yard.”

“And a lot to mow,” I commented. “If you know anyone selling a good lawn tractor, let me know.”

He glanced my way. “I’ll keep my eye out. You like mowing?”

I shook my head. “No, I hate it.”

“I know a couple of younger guys who do lawn work. Won’t cost you an arm and a leg either. They do it to pay for college.”

“That would be helpful until I get all the rest of this under control.”

“You have any plans for the property?”

“Other than a garage? No, not yet. Although I’d love to make it comfy for friends to gather around, maybe add a firepit.”

He grew thoughtful. “You like to swing?”

I chuckled. “Who doesn’t like to swing?”

He grinned as he pulled out his phone and messed with it for a moment. “You have such a large backyard area that you should think about doing something like this. Of course, you don’t need as many swings, but it’s an idea.”

He flipped his phone around, and I stared at the image on his screen. “Oh, my god! I love that, Brad. That is so cool.” I laughed. “You just happened to have that on your phone?”

He smirked. “Actually, I had saved that because I had wanted to build one of those myself. I was thinking of doing it at my parents' house since we always seem to end up over there, and my backyard is not big enough for this.”

“That is very cool,” I said as I studied it again. “If you were going to build this, how many swings would you build?”

“Seven. One for each of my siblings and their family, and one for my parents in the middle.”

I sighed. I loved a man who thought of his family. “I love that idea. Would you help me design it for my backyard?” I hadn’t meant to ask him, but the words slipped out. I lifted my face to him, and he was staring down at me as if he were surprised I had asked him.

I laughed and handed him back his phone. “I’m sorry. You are probably so busy. The last thing you have time for is to work on a project like that for someone you don’t know.”

“No, I’d like to.” He seemed confused for a second and even shook his head as if to dislodge a thought, but then he grinned. “I’d like to.”

“That would be awesome, but of course, I need to get a few other things done first inside the house,” I told him as I shifted back around to the porch.

We discussed the back porch and my ideas for the garden and garage for the next few minutes. When we finished, we slipped back into the house and found Kayley on the phone in the kitchen. Maybe she did have to make a phone call and hadn’t been giving us time to talk alone. Once in a while, I could be wrong.

“Do you want to see what else I have planned for the house?” I asked him as we walked into the kitchen.

“Sure, if you want to share them with me.”

Ha! The man probably didn’t realize this, but I would probably share just about anything with him. I was crushing big-time on my bestie’s brother. I hadn’t done that since high school.

I walked Brad through the house, pointing out things that I wanted to change, talking about colors, lighting, textures, and materials. It didn’t take him long to start offering suggestions and ideas too, and I would seriously consider every one he made.

As we headed to my bedroom, he asked, “What brought you to Pennsylvania?”

“I hated the school I worked at and couldn’t coach anymore, and since my ex-husband moved away, I didn’t have any reason to hang in the area.”

“You’re divorced?”

“Yep, with two kids, what about you?” I knew that his wife was deceased, but I played it off like I didn’t.

“I have two kids too. My wife passed a few years ago.”

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