Christmas on My Mind by Janet Dailey

Author:Janet Dailey [Dailey, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-08-11T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Jess finished cutting down the weeds, cleaned up and drove back to Hank’s Hardware to buy paint. The store, which had been crowded earlier, was cleared of customers. She found Hank in the plumbing aisle, scanning the shelves with a clipboard in his hand.

“Back so soon, young lady?” He appeared to be in his early fifties with graying hair, a nice smile and a few extra pounds around the middle.

Jess returned the smile. “I’m afraid you’re going to see a lot of me. This time it’s paint. I’ve got a sample of the interior semi-gloss I want. Then I’ll need some color suggestions for the shutters and front door—and of course I’ll need the brushes and things for the job.” She could imagine what all this would cost. Her poor Visa card would be taking some heavy hits by the time the house was ready to open. She could only hope she’d have enough money in her account to pay off all the charges.

He took the Peachy Pink paint chip Francine had chosen. “I can mix this for you while you look at exterior colors. For an average bedroom, one gallon will do a single coat. I’d recommend two.”

“Fine. Two, then.” Maybe she’d have enough left over to do the bathroom. The color would be nice in there too.

He carried two gallons of color base over to the paint mixer. “I hear tell you’re Francine’s daughter,” he said.

“That’s right.” No use asking who’d told him. By now the news would be all over town. “Do you know her very well?”

“I’ve known Francine most of my life,” he said. “She broke my heart when she ran off with that redheaded cowboy. From the looks of you, I reckon he was your dad.” He pried open the first paint can and squirted jets of red and yellow into the pale base, then replaced the lid, attached the can to the mixer and turned it on. “At the time, I wanted to marry the girl—I was older than she was and ready to settle down. But she wanted bright lights and thrills. I guess that’s what she got. I married another gal who left me a few years later, after I lost my leg in a farm machine. Took our boy with her.” Hank added color to the second paint can while he waited for the first to finish mixing. “I’m sorry, girl. You came to buy paint. You didn’t come to hear an old duffer tell you his sad story.”

“No, this is something I need to hear,” Jess said. “So you never got together with Francine.”

“Nope. I was already married when she came back to Branding Iron. Then, by the time my wife left, Francine was hitting the bottle pretty hard. I figured that even if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t want to be stuck with a one-legged man. What woman would?”

Jess left the store twenty minutes later with the Pontiac’s trunk full of paint, brushes, rollers, masking tape and plastic drop cloths for the floors.

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