Special Delivery. Judi Lynn

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      “His choice.” Tyne obviously didn’t mince words. “If he wants to stay here and stink and let the house fall around his ears, it’s his own fault.”

      “I heard that!” Axel called.

      “Good, but I bet you don’t waste time thinking about it.” Tyne must know Axel better than Karli realized. “Keagan tried to get you help, too, but you’re too damn stubborn.”

      “Hmmph!”

      The TV volume got louder, and Tyne shook his head. “Stubborn, old man.”

      “There’s more food in the kitchen,” Karli said. “I made plenty if you want seconds.”

      That must have been the invitation they were waiting for. They all went to fill their plates again. Karli noticed that Keagan took seconds of everything. When he sat down, she saw that his golden-brown hair had sawdust in it. Her fingers itched to brush it out, to touch him. His worn jeans showed off his muscular thighs. She bet he’d be great in bed.

      “Everything’s delicious,” Brad told her, capturing her attention.

      “Thanks.” Her gaze returned to Keagan. He was so not her type. She usually fell for guys like Brad. But there was something about her friendly mailman, something self-contained.

      Tyne finished his food and pushed to his feet. “I’d better get started again. I can only stay till two. I work tonight.”

      She stared at him, surprised. “You work tonight and you’re working here all day?”

      “So does Harley, but we’re so happy someone’s making this old place look better, we were thinking of sneaking out here at night to fix it up in the dark.”

      She laughed. “That’s pretty desperate.”

      Harley stood with Tyne. “Old Mill is trying to make itself into a tourist town. We’re doing a good job, but this place is an eyesore. At least, it looks like it might not collapse now.”

      Tyne turned to Keagan. “I’d love to get rid of the peeling paint. Bare wood would look better than that.”

      Harley nodded. “Most of the paint’s gone anyway. If we had a full crew, it wouldn’t take long if we had two men per side. Would Axel let us scrape it?”

      “Knock yourselves out!”

      “How in the hell do you hear everything we say back there?” Keagan called.

      Axel chuckled. “I know when to turn the TV down.”

      “I’m game,” Keagan said. “Are you going to set this one up, Harley?”

      “I’ll put my old man on it. He’ll offer everyone a free bottle of wine for a full day of work.”

      Karli blinked, surprised. “You guys are serious about this house.”

      “We have to strike while the old man’s in a good mood.” Tyne stood. “But right now, I have to get back to the porch, or I’ll have to leave you guys to it without me.”

      Keagan finished the last bite on his plate, and he and Brad rose, too. “Let’s do it,” he said.

      While the men went back to work, Karli cleaned up after their meal. Only two steaks remained, enough for a quick lunch someday, then she returned upstairs. She was finishing the fourth bedroom when the doorbell rang. She ran down to greet the visiting nurse. “Thanks so much for coming. Axel’s in the three-season room at the back of the house. He doesn’t want to see you, but he needs some kind of in-home care.”

      The woman, in her late fifties, smiled. “No one wants to admit they can’t care for themselves, but once he hears the benefits we can offer, he’ll change his mind.”

      Karli wasn’t so sure but guided the woman back to him.

      Axel’s expression went sour. “Go away. I don’t want another damn nurse bothering me.”

      The woman gave a pleasant smile. “I didn’t come to bother you, Mr. Crupe. I’m an RN. If you need medicine or equipment, I can help you with that.” She took out her stethoscope. “Let’s listen to your heart for starters, okay?”

      He pinched her. Hard.

      She jerked back. “Now, now, we can’t have that. I’m only here to help you.”

      He turned his back on her.

      “There’s no reason for that.”

      He turned to glare at her and raised his middle finger. “This is my house. I don’t want you here. Go away.”

      Her expression hard, she gathered up her things and started to leave. “I can’t help him.”

      “Wait!” Karli jumped up to follow her. “He needs in-home assistance.”

      “He needs to learn manners. I don’t have to deal with him.” The nurse stomped from the house.

      Karli crossed her arms over her breasts and returned to Axel. “You think you’re pretty damned clever, don’t you? Well, you just blew that.”

      He crossed his arms, too. “You’re bad enough, but I told you. No more people. I don’t want any little Nurse Nancy traipsing in and out of my house.”

      “Fine! What are you going to do when I leave?”

      “Throw myself a party.”

      She wanted to throttle him. That would look bad on her nursing record, though, so she stalked out of the room instead. She worked upstairs until she finished the last bedroom, then came down to start a batch of ham sandwiches, the kind her dad made for football Sundays, on Hawaiian buns with Swiss cheese, ham, and a seasoned butter coating.

      She took two sandwiches in for Axel and plopped them on his TV tray. “Enjoy real food before you’re scraping applesauce out of plastic containers again.”

      “Wait till my kids get here. They’ll compete to make me happy, hoping I’ll leave everything to them.”

      She snorted. “Good luck with that. When I talked to Mom, they didn’t sound like the type.”

      She left him to carry the food out to the men on the almost-finished porch. Tyne and Harley had already left, but Keagan and Brad climbed down their ladders to join her.

      “The porch is about done,” Keagan said. “It should last another fifty years.” He sounded awfully happy with himself.

      Brad dipped right into the sandwiches. “Damn, these are good.”

      Keagan ate half of his in one bite and gave her a nod of approval.

      She smiled. “My dad makes them for football Sundays СКАЧАТЬ