Something Old by Ev Bishop

Author:Ev Bishop
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781772650518
Publisher: Winding Path Books
Published: 2021-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

The place was definitely looking better, Madeline thought as she cruised the long driveway into Grant’s dad’s place. Although she missed helping Grant and seeing him every night, there was one upside to only coming to his dad’s every two or three days: the progress was so noticeable. It was also true, of course, that a person could get used to anything, and part of her didn’t take in the whole mess in detail anymore. Just as she made that observation, the sight of a heavily burdened flat-deck trailer made her laugh out loud. Good grief! How many old washers and dryers could one man get his hands on? There had to be thirty on the trailer, at least. That would clear up a chunk of yard space, for sure. Grant had been busy.

And think of the devil, there he was by the shop, his back to her, a pair of big headphones on, explaining why he hadn’t heard her drive up.

Madeline parked and climbed out of her van, smiling.

Sneaking up behind him, she tapped his shoulder—and was rewarded to see him jump almost out of his skin.

“Oh, it’s you,” he said as he turned around.

“Of course! Who else would it be?”

Grant shook his head. “No one—but I wasn’t expecting you either. I thought you couldn’t come until tomorrow.”

“It’s my day off.”

“Well, I know that.” A trace of Grant’s old testiness reared. She hadn’t heard it for so long that she’d almost forgotten about his bite-your-head-off tendency. “I meant, I thought you had shop stuff you needed to do today.”

“I do,” Madeline admitted, but then she motioned wildly around herself, smiling broadly. “What do you see?”

Grant slowly followed her gaze, then grumpily scrubbed at his face. “A total dump and fool’s mission?”

“Wow, someone’s in a mood today.”

He didn’t deny it, but his grouchiness only reminded her of the little gift she’d brought for him, and mirth, not annoyance, buzzed through her.

“Anyway, Mr. Sunshine—I wasn’t talking about what you see in the yard here, which I think is really coming along, by the way. I mean the weather. It’s glorious!”

Grant looked up at the brilliant, cloudless sky as if he’d never seen it before. Then he glanced back at Madeline, his expression softening and his eyes warming as the latest thing stuck in his craw finally fell away. “Finally, yes, some weather worthy of the name summer.”

“Exactly! And nights are getting chillier. We won’t have much time.”

“For what?”

“All work, no play makes Jack a dull boy!”

Grant was full-on smiling now. “Is that so?”

“That is so.” Madeline nodded somberly. “And just for the record, you’re the boy named Jack in this scenario.”

“Yeah, I figured—so, what exactly are you proposing?”

Madeline grabbed his hand and tugged him toward her van. “I’m kidnapping you and taking you to the lake.”

“To the lake? Really?”

“Yep. Look.”

Grant obediently looked into the backseat of the van, then grinned even more broadly.

“Yes,” Madeline confirmed in a jokingly gloating tone. “That big ol’ basket does hold the best picnic you’ll

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