She’s strong and capable. She just needs a little bit of help and someone to show her and teach her how to do a few things. There’s a reason no one else could find this homestead but you could, Brandon.
Lenore didn’t move toward him at all, and in fact, she folded her arms and her jaw jumped as he stalked toward her.
And finally, as he came to a stop an arm’s length away, God said,I will be there for both of you.
He opened his mouth, not sure what to say. “Are you married?” came out of his mouth.
Lenore blinked rapidly and actually fell back a step. “Am I married?”
“I—” Brandon wasn’t sure where that question had come from, because the thought hadn’t even been in his head. “Am I the only one here to help?” He glanced toward the cabin. “No boyfriend who’ll come on the weekends who knows how to use a hammer? No fiancé hiding in the barn who is an expert at fencing? No husband who can lend a hand?”
He folded his arms too, because two could play her game.
“No,” she bit out. “No boyfriend, no fiancé, no husband.”
“So it’s really just the two of us.”
“Yes.”
“For three months.”
“Yes.”
Another sigh flapped past his lips. “I gotta be real honest, Lenore.” He liked saying her name, and so many things were making him hot right now. “I don’t think the two of us can get this place up to speed in only three months.”
“It’s all I can pay you,” she said, finally releasing her clenched arms. “If you can teach me, and we can get the most critical things done, I can take it from there.” She wore such hope in her face, and for a moment, Brandon had the distinct feeling he could see her the way the Lord did.
She did need help, and Brandon could offer it. He’d like a job off the family ranch too, and he looked past her to the cabin one more time. That could be his cabin. All his.
“I can do this job,” he said. “Do you have a contract for me to sign?”
Lenore did the fast blinking again. “Yes,” she said, though Brandon smelled a little white lie. “I can get you one.”
“It’s for the best,” Brandon said. “It would be nice to have Sunday morning off, so I can go to church.”
More blinking. “Okay,” she said.
“I don’t mind working six days a week, but we always did the bare essentials on Sundays, and I’m not an early riser. I’d prefer to work say, nine-thirty to whenever I’m done than have to get up early. If things are talked out first, then you’re not mad, and I’m not mad, and nobody is disappointed.”
A wonderful, terrifying thought entered his mind. “Perhaps I could take you to breakfast one day for us to get to know each other better, so we can then hammer out how we’ll work together.”
“Breakfast? You just said you’re not an early riser.”
“Lunch, then,” he said. “Or dinner. Or just for cheesecake. They have that new cheesecake place in town, and my sister-in-law can’t stop talking about it.” He gave her half a smile, hoping she’d soften up a little.
Especially because now he knew she didn’t have a boyfriend or anyone else in her life.
But you’re not dating right now.
He pushed that reminder out of his head as Lenore pulled out her phone and started swiping. “What about on Sunday after church? What time is that?”
“Ten,” he said. “We could do lunch after church, sure. That should give you some time to fix up your contract.” Or get one together at all. “I can send you my personal information, so you’ll have it for that.”
“So eleven-thirty?”
“Sure,” he said. “I can be out here by eleven-thirty.”
She typed something into her phone and then raised her eyes to his. “Why would you come out here?”
