Hometown Sweetheart. Lenora Worth

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СКАЧАТЬ brought in with her weekly supply of groceries earlier in the week and sat down to watch an old western on the cable channel.

      The phone rang right on time. “Goof grief, Mama, why can’t you ever just let a man be?” He said this out loud before he actually answered the phone. “Hello, Ma.”

      “Did you eat?”

      “I’m eating right now.”

      “It’s a little late for supper, Simon.”

      “I worked late.”

      “You always work late.”

      “I have orders.”

      She skipped a beat then asked, “So, what do you think about your new neighbors?”

      Simon frowned then did a shoulder roll. Taking a deep breath, he thanked God for his mother even when he wished she wasn’t so nosy. “I can tell you, there’s about seven too many of them over there.”

      “Now Simon, be nice. Shanna is a good friend of Cari’s. She’s a teacher and she moved here from Savannah last fall to take a job at Knotwood High. She’s very good at counseling troubled teens—”

      “What?” Simon dropped his spoon. “You mean to tell me my brother rented that place to a bunch of hoodlums?”

      “I didn’t say that,” Gayle replied. “First of all, your brother is letting them stay there free for a week. And second, they aren’t exactly hoodlums. They’re just kids from church who’ve been through some rough stuff—some of it just minor trouble at school. She signed up to work with our youth and after hearing some of their stories, Shanna volunteered to take them on a retreat during the school break. I plan on coming out during the week to help her with meals and crowd control.”

      His appetite gone, Simon groaned. “Well, that’s mighty nice of her—and you, Ma—but couldn’t she take them to Gatlinburg or Stone Mountain, anywhere besides right next door to me?”

      “You don’t own the entire mountain, son.”

      “No, but I do have work to do. How am I supposed to get through my summer orders with all that noise going on? And I’m telling you right now if one of them breaks in here—”

      “Simon, have a little faith. These children need guidance and attention. They didn’t break out of prison. They just took a few wrong turns or had a bit of trouble in school. Katie McPherson is the youngest and probably the most sensitive. Her grandparents have custody of her now. Be nice to that little girl. And Brady Stillman is one of the older ones. You might remember he did some vandalism to Cari’s place when she first moved back last summer.”

      “Exactly,” Simon replied, glaring at Shiloh. “I can’t have kids like that snooping around the place.” Except maybe that cute little redheaded Katie. She wasn’t so bad. She giggled a lot.

      “They won’t bother you,” Gayle said in a mother-tone. “Shanna will make sure they stay on their side of the fence.”

      “Well, she’d better. I don’t like this one bit and I don’t like Rick doing this without warning me.”

      “It’s his property to do with as he sees fit,” Gayle retorted. “You should be glad he bought it before it went into foreclosure. We need those tourist dollars around here.”

      “No dollars, Ma, if he’s renting the thing for free.”

      “That’s for a good cause.”

      “I didn’t want him buying the property in the first place.”

      “You wanted it to stay deserted and rundown then?”

      “Well, yeah. I liked it way better that way.”

      “You really are hopeless, you know that?”

      “Yes, I am,” Simon replied, his blood pressure buzzing. “You’d think my own family would realize that by now.”

      “We aren’t going to give up on you, son,” Gayle said, her tone gentle now. “We love you and we’d like you to become a part of the human race again.”

      “I’m fine with things the way they are.”

      “Sure you are. Why, anybody could see that.”

      “I’m going to finish my cold soup now.”

      “I love you.”

      Simon let out a sigh. “I love you, too.”

      He put down the phone and stared into the fire.

      He did love his family. But he didn’t have anymore love to give to anyone else. He didn’t like people around and barely tolerated his brother and his mother. But then, they both knew to leave Simon to his own devices. And they were family. Family understood about things. Strangers didn’t.

      But in spite of Simon’s aversion to strangers, he couldn’t help but be drawn to the woman in charge of the kids gathered at the cabin next door. And he couldn’t help the sweetly hidden thoughts that emerged in his mind like a ray of spring sunshine melting winter snow. Thoughts of a woman and children laughing as they frolicked in the blossoming woods.

      Simon got up to stare out the kitchen window.

      And then he heard voices lifting out in song.

      Shanna had them singing.

      Simon listened to the gentle music of a guitar, listened to the old familiar campfire songs he’d learned from his own days at church. The songs were soothing, the voices echoing out over the woods in a time-honored melody.

      It was peaceful and pretty, but Simon didn’t know how to deal with a woman and seven annoying young people. So he’d do what he’d been doing.

      He’d just ignore them. That seemed to work in his dealings with everyone else. And since he’d buried Marcy a few miles away in the old church cemetery, it seemed to be the best solution for him. He wasn’t ready to rejoin the human race.

      Even on a mild spring night when he was forced to eat cold canned soup and stare at a dog that didn’t belong to him, while he secretly eavesdropped on his singing neighbors.

      Chapter Three

      Shanna petted the golden retriever then offered him the last bite of her hotdog. “I’m not supposed to feed you scraps, I don’t think. So let’s keep this between the two of us, okay?”

      The big dog woofed a reply then looked back up at her with expectant brown eyes.

      “No more,” Shanna said, her hand on his shaggy back. “I’m in enough trouble with your keeper as it is.”

      At least today, the group had eaten their hotdogs and chips and they’d even managed to cook their s’mores without anymore mishaps. If she didn’t count the boys picking on the girls, Katie falling down and scraping her hand and knee and Brady turning surly at the drop of a hat.

      Glancing СКАЧАТЬ