Harlequin Love Inspired November 2016, Box Set 2 of 2 by Marta Perry

Author:Marta Perry
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488025990
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Garrett secured a new smoke detector in the ceiling of the second bedroom, thankful he’d thought to check them out earlier. Timing this chore with the chimney sweep’s visit had worked out well.

“How’s it going?”

He glanced down at Jodi standing in the doorway, and his heart did a betraying tap dance. In a pair of fitted bib overalls and a long-sleeved emerald T-shirt, her hair pulled back in a long braid, she looked bright and perky this afternoon. She’d made herself scarce since his arrival. Whether avoiding him or attending to other more pressing matters, he couldn’t be sure. If it was the former, though, he had only himself to blame for that near-miss kiss. No wonder she seemed skittish around him.

He descended the ladder. “Just about done.”

“Kriss is coming along with the chimney, too. It’s taking longer than she thought it would. I guess it’s been quite a few years since the folks had it cleaned out.”

“Good to get it attended to, then. All safe for your family’s arrival.”

She nodded, then started to turn away.

“Jodi?”

She paused. “Yeah?”

What could he say to her that would ease the awkwardness between them? He sure couldn’t tell her how he felt about her. How he’d felt about her since he was eighteen. Not a cool confession coming from someone she thought of as a big brother. Blurting that out would only further distance her.

“Um, never mind.”

Something akin to disappointment flickered through her eyes. What had she hoped he’d say? That he valued her in the same way he did his younger sister? That everything was exactly as it had been between them as kids?

But he wasn’t about to lie.

Which left him with nothing to say.

She nodded, then disappeared down the hallway to return to the main rooms. He carefully folded the stepladder, gathered up his tools and tossed the decrepit smoke alarm into the box with the others. When he’d made a few trips out to his SUV to secure his equipment, he returned to the cabin where Jodi was sorting through items she’d pulled from the cabinets and drawers and spread out on the kitchen counter.

Her nose wrinkling, she held up one item and waved it at him. A blue plastic device with a handle on one end and an oval-shaped opening on the other. “I don’t even know what this is.”

He approached to take it from her, unable to suppress a smile as he turned it over in his hands. Then he reached for an unopened glass container of jelly. “This, my dear girl, is a jar opener. You place the little lip under the rim of the lid like this, then lift it up like that and—” A soft popping sound confirmed the seal had been broken. “Voilà!”

He easily unscrewed and lifted the lid.

Her expression brightened. “Grandma was a sucker for those gizmo catalogs and kitchen shops.”

He surveyed the items on the countertop. “It does seem she has a showroom’s worth of gadgets right here.”

“You’re getting ready to leave?”

“Need to be on my way.

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