The Sergeant's Christmas Mission. Joanna Sims

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      She could have sworn that she had.

      She turned on the dryer again and then went inside to begin tackling the boxes. With the trip to the veterinarian with the kitten, and her strategic avoidance, the day was frittering away. As she started opening the boxes labeled “Kitchen,” Rebecca rehashed her interactions with Shane Brand. He was a bit of an enigma; his look was rough, with the beard and hair down to his shoulders, but there was something so soft and honest about his aqua-blue eyes. When they weren’t red from lack of sleep and too much alcohol, she imagined that those eyes could make any woman take a second and third look.

      For her, when she looked into his eyes, there had been a spark of familiarity somewhere deep inside of her that had flickered. She recognized him even though she had never met him before. Every now and again, she met a new person and it felt as if they connected on a soul level, as if they had known each other all their lives. That’s what it felt like with Shane; it felt as if she had known him all her life. And the way he took charge in the vet’s office and the mercy he showed that poor kitten put two additional points in the “plus” column to keep Shane on as a tenant. She had been so relieved when he stepped forward to help Top; now she didn’t have to worry about breaking terrible news to Carson and Caleb when they got home from school. Now she could tell them that, because of Shane, Top had a fighting chance to survive.

      Rebecca spent several hours unpacking the kitchen boxes, and when she was done, her back aching from bending over and her legs tired from climbing up on the footstool to reach the higher cabinets, she felt proud of herself. For the moment, she was just finding spots in the kitchen to blend her items with Aunt Ginny’s. Eventually, she would have to thin out the stuff jammed into the drawers and cabinets. There had been many moments when Rebecca came across a favored bowl of her aunt’s, something that stirred a childhood memory. It was in those times that she missed her dear aunt the most.

      With two more hours of work time left before she had to leave to pick up Carson and Caleb, Rebecca grabbed a piece of cheese and an apple from the refrigerator and downed a bottle of water before she headed out to the back porch. She was feeling good as she stepped outside; the sun was shining and it took the chill off the early-Spring temperature.

      “What in the world?”

      The clothes in the dryer were still in a damp ball and were starting to have a faint odor of mildew. This time, she knew that she had turned on the dryer. The darn thing was broken.

      She threw her hands up in the air. “Doesn’t anything in this stupid house work?”

      She fiddled with the dryer, pushing buttons, and then turned it back on. It sounded like it was working, but it wasn’t. Frustrated, Rebecca kicked the dryer, but instead of hurting the dryer, she hurt her foot. In response to the injury to her foot, she began shaking the dryer in frustration. Slightly out of breath from the exertion of fighting with the household appliance, Rebecca stood quietly, hands on hips, feeling better for having told the dryer a thing or two. This day had been a mixed bag, and it was only half over.

      “Lord.” Rebecca pulled the ball of damp clothes out of the dryer and dumped them into the laundry basket. “I deserve a glass of wine. I really do.”

      * * *

      After the trip to the vet, Shane and Recon took a nap together on the bed. It had taken some doing to get the dog to leave the kitten; he’d never seen Recon behave this way before, but there was no accounting for love, he supposed. Recon loved that kitten and that was the end of the discussion.

      “Let’s go outside, buddy.” Shane grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator, feeling like his daily routine, which had been disrupted by Rebecca with the pretty eyes, was back on track. It was after noon and he was heading outside with a beer in one hand and the keys to his Indian Motorcycle in the other. He played music at night, slept the morning away and then worked on restoring his motorcycle in the late afternoon. That had been his routine for years, and that was how he liked it.

      On his way to the detached garage, Shane heard Rebecca’s voice drifting his way from the back porch. He didn’t pay it any mind, determined not to get sidetracked, but a loud banging sound, as if she were getting in a fight with something, made him change directions, with a sigh, and head toward the back porch.

      “You okay?”

      Rebecca spun around at the sound of his voice. “The dryer isn’t drying. I cleaned the vent. That didn’t help.”

       Damn. So much for getting back to my routine.

      He only used to see Ginny about once a week; he could tell that Rebecca was going to command much more of his attention and his time than her aunt had.

      “Aunt Ginny always used to have a clothesline in the backyard,” she said to him after she started the washing machine. “Any luck it’s still around?”

      “Let me take a look at it before you go to all that trouble.”

      Her pretty eyes widened in surprise at his offer and then she smiled at him. “Thank you.”

      Shane went to get his tools so he could open up the back of the dryer. On his way to the porch, he checked the air vent to make sure it wasn’t blocked or an animal hadn’t made a nest in it. Once he confirmed that the outside air vent was clear, he rejoined Rebecca on the porch.

      “I really appreciate you trying to fix this for me,” she said. “My sons make a ton of laundry.”

      “Boys tend to do that.” Shane pulled the dryer from the wall.

      “Yes, they do.”

      Before he opened the back of the dryer, Shane pulled the discharge line—the large silver tube hooking the dryer to the vent—out of the wall. “Well, here’s some of the problem.”

      “Oh, my gosh.” Rebecca peeked over his shoulder. “Is that all lint in there?”

      “It’s packed.” Shane began to pull the tightly packed lint out of the line.

      “You know, I had a brand-new front-loading washer and dryer, but I sold them because there was a washer and dryer listed in the will. I had no idea that they were the same washer and dryer that Aunt Ginny had when I was a kid.”

      “Your aunt liked to hang on to things, that’s for sure.” The memory of Ginny brought a brief smile to his face.

      Shane sneezed several times, and once the discharge line was unclogged, he pulled some tissues out of his pants pocket and blew his nose. He was still sneezing from Top and his eyes were driving him nuts because they were so itchy.

      “Is that from the lint or the kitten?”

      He sneezed again. “I’ve never been allergic to lint.”

      “Shane.”

      “Yeah?”

      “Have you seen your eyes?”

      “No.” He blew his nose again. “But they itch like crazy.”

      “They are swollen. And red.”

      “That explains it, then.” Shane pushed the dryer sideways so he could remove the back.

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