FIRST LOVE, SECOND CHANCE (Family Man) by Amanda Clark

Author:Amanda Clark [Clark, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-07-16T00:00:00+00:00

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THE FIRST TO ARRIVE the next morning were Van Lightner’s students, a young man and woman. They started scraping rough spots on the old house with putty knives and wire brushes before Julia had even made coffee. When she called to invite them in for some, they waved her away with thanks and said they’d just keep working—Professor Lightner wanted to be able to start painting early.

Van was the next to appear, and by then Rick was up and dressed. Julia introduced them and gave them coffee, and was pleased to see them hit it off at once. Rick repeated to Van his amazement over the changes in the house.

“All the good ideas were his,” Julia said with a grin at Van.

Gretchen arrived soon after, and the kitchen began to fill up with chatter and laughter as Julia went on pouring coffee and making toast. She was glad to be busy. Something inside her had been pounding with anticipation since she first opened her eyes this morning. She deliberately kept from looking out the window, but when the next knock came and she saw the door push open, she felt her pulse race.

“Hey, I didn’t think anybody heard me,” Tommy called out. His tall frame filled the doorway as he stood there in worn jeans and an old denim shirt. Chipper was holding his hand. She, too, was in jeans and a denim shirt. “I brought a helper,” he announced.

“Wonderful,” Julia said, trying to keep her voice normal. “Chipper, you and I’ll make a good team.”

“I’m going to do the low parts,” the little girl said.

“That’ll save the rest of us a lot of bending,” Van said.

“Tommy, you remember my brother, Rick? You were in high school together, weren’t you?”

“Were we!” Tommy crossed the room to Rick, who had risen to shake his hand. “We were on the track team together.”

“Only for a brief time.” Rick grinned. “Then Father Holtz got wind of it and my career as a quarter-miler was cut short.”

“But it was long enough for him to break the school record,” Tommy said to the others. “We ran against each other that day, remember? I suffered ignominious defeat.”

“But for good reason, as I recall. Wasn’t there something about eating a whole pizza before the meet?”

The laughter in the old kitchen bounced off the walls, and again Julia was struck with the strangeness of joy in a house that had never witnessed such a thing before.

Then Van pushed up his glasses with his finger and announced that it was time they all got to work. Everyone trooped outside, and supplies of paint and brushes were allotted. Julia watched as Tommy led Chipper to a quiet spot near the back of the house, handed her a brush and a little sand bucket into which he’d poured a small amount of paint.

“Let someone know when you need more,” he said. “Don’t put too much on your brush at once. Do it like this.” He let her hold the brush but covered it with his own hand as he showed her how to stroke it on.

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