A Conard County Courtship by Rachel Lee

Author:Rachel Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

“Tomorrow’s a day off,” Tim announced as he returned. “Shall we go into the living room? Bring your coffee if you want.”

She left her coffee behind and went to sit on the couch with him. “Why tomorrow off?”

“Sunday. Today was long enough, and I happen to know for a fact that Matthew hasn’t even started his homework. So I’ll take him to the early church service tomorrow then bring him back to study. He always has more homework on weekends.”

She nodded, trying to remember how much homework she’d had at that age. Not much, if she remembered correctly.

“Want to come to church with us?”

Everything inside her froze. See all those people? “No. Thanks,” she added.

“I didn’t think so. Anyway, Matthew likes the kids’ service. And I don’t mind catching up with people I only get to see on weekends. Surprising how many there are. The working life,” he added on a chuckle. “I’ll bring home something for breakfast. Then... Monday. Once we get the air in that house tested, we might be able to get to work. When you said gut it, how much do you want to gut?”

Vanessa, however, was still hung up at her reaction to going to church with him. She went to church nearly every Sunday at home, so her reaction had to do with this being Conard County. Her father’s fears and hatreds riding her hard and strong.

She wished she had the courage to just go, but then couldn’t see any reason. Face the demons she’d never have to face again? It seemed like a waste of energy.

“Gutting the house?” Tim prompted gently.

“Oh. Yeah. I don’t know. I mean, I guess what I want to do is erase Bob. Paint, wallpaper. I don’t think I was talking about tearing out walls or anything.”

Still smiling, he nodded. “Got it. We can get the last of the furnishings out of there after the inspector comes. He said around ten o’clock.”

“Okay.” So much easier to talk about the house than going to church. Now wasn’t that weird?

“I hope we get good news,” Tim remarked. “The house isn’t that old. There might not be any lead at all. Although I had to remodel a house that had asbestos in the joint compound used on the drywall. Safe as long as it was coated with paint, but the family didn’t want it anyway. Removing it required hiring some skilled people who have all the protective gear. Just to be safe.”

“Are you trying to scare me?” she asked, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

He laughed. “Absolutely not. I’m expecting to be pleasantly surprised on Monday.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I usually am.” He winked. “I’ve remodeled a lot of houses around here. Very few problems, even on the older ones. It’s been a long time since people became aware of the dangers of lead and so on. Many took care of it before I came along. And like I said, if it’s sealed under paint, no real problem.

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