Two

Shanna’s heart pumped with excitement. The work on her yard wasn’t nearly completed, but already she’d received a result from one of her queries. “Yes, I’m still taking new clients,” she said to the man on the phone.

She could hear the smile in the man’s voice. “Good. I’ve checked your references and gone over what you sent me. What you’re offering looks exactly like what I need. I know it’s short notice, but can we set up a meeting at your office in about an hour or so?”

The excitement turned into a lump of cardboard in her stomach. She needed the deposit on this contract or she couldn’t make her next mortgage payment. But she couldn’t afford for this new potential client to see the mess, or the same thing would happen as when the last potential clients went through.

Shanna stiffened in her chair. “I’m going to be honest with you, Bill. I’m in the middle of renovation to my office, which is in my home. The work on my office is complete, so it has a separate entrance from my residence, but I still have someone working on the outside. Things are still noisy and a bit distracting out there.”

She watched as Matthew threw Boffo’s ball into the air, then whacked it with the small shovel like a baseball bat, sending the ball flying across the yard with Boffo in pursuit.

“I wondered about that, from your address. That’s interesting. I also run my business out of my home. I started it with just me and my wife, and then we renovated, like you, so it was set apart from the rest of the house. We felt it was important to separate it at that point. Since then, we’ve grown so much that we’ve got ten employees now. We’ve expanded again and now need a real accountant instead of my wife doing the bookkeeping. She can’t keep up, and she doesn’t know how to do all the new government stuff. Also, since we incorporated, we need an accountant to do our corporate income tax returns.”

“That’s what I do. Perhaps I could come down to your office?” If she could find a sitter.

Shanna glanced into the backyard, where Brendan was lining up some bricks in the back corner. Since he’d started working for her, both Matthew and Ashley spent most of their time outside with him. Shanna was almost sure he wouldn’t mind if she had to run out for a few hours, although to leave him in charge of the children in her absence surely made him the highest-priced babysitter in Seattle. It wasn’t something she wanted to do, but she didn’t have any other options on short notice.

“I don’t think that will be necessary. You were highly recommended, and hearing that you’ve invested in your office the same way I did tells me that you plan to be around for a long time. How about if you e-mail me your rates and a proposal, and that will probably be enough to get started.”

“That would be great,” she said, trying to make it sound like she made this kind of agreement all the time. She was so excited she could barely keep from shouting for joy. The last few weeks she’d been so discouraged that she’d begun to wonder if she’d made a mistake—that Brendan’s work, and her investment, weren’t going to make a difference. Instead, God’s timing was perfect, and for the first time in a long time, she felt encouraged.

Shanna picked up a pen and paper. “Just let me write down your e-mail address, and I can have something prepared for you by the end of the day. When can you send your deposit?”

She held her breath. The cost to renovate the office to include installing the outside door had been more expensive than the estimate. But she couldn’t leave the project half finished or it meant nothing. In faith, she’d contracted Brendan’s services to do the yard when she really didn’t have the money. Pastor Harry had told her that she needed to trust in God, and that was exactly what she was doing.

Of course, it helped that Pastor Harry had promised that Brendan’s work was excellent, and his rates were more than reasonable.

“I just need a day to go over your proposal, but I’m pretty sure everything will be fine. Good day, Shanna.”

Shanna hung up the phone, barely able to restrain a squeal of excitement.

This was it—her largest corporate client so far. The kind she needed to make a success of her business and support her family without having to worry about where the next penny was coming from.

But before she could finish the proposal, she had a three o’clock deadline for another client’s project that she had to complete first. It wasn’t ethical to break a promise, no matter how important this was.

Shanna started to press the key to complete her current reconciliation when Ashley’s shriek sliced through the air.

Shanna fumbled her transaction on the keyboard.

She scrambled to her feet and leaned as far over her desk as she could, frantically searching out the window to see what was wrong.

In the back of the yard, beside what was left of Shanna’s fence, Ashley stood, pointing with her entire arm extended, screaming words that Shanna couldn’t understand. As Ashley’s arm moved, her gaze followed a moving target that Shanna couldn’t see.

Not far from Ashley, in the corner, Matthew stood facing the same moving target, his shovel frozen in midair. His mouth hung wide open, just like a character in a bad cartoon.

Shanna pressed her palms to the window, leaning so close that the tip of her nose brushed the cool glass.

Suddenly, a blur of red plaid and faded blue flashed past the window.

Shanna lurched backward. Before she could catch herself, she tripped on the wheeled leg of her office chair. She felt herself falling backward, but instead of landing on the hard floor, she fell into the seat and rolled backward a few inches.

Not caring that she would knock over her client’s papers, Shanna launched herself out of the chair and scrambled up onto the desktop on her hands and knees to watch yet another fiasco unfurling.

This time, something green and pink hung from Boffo’s mouth as Brendan chased Boffo in a circle around the backyard. Still in the corner, Matthew snapped his mouth shut and threw down the shovel. He ran into Boffo’s path, extending his arms fully on both sides to block the dog.

Boffo could have dodged the child, with or without Brendan closing in from behind. Instead, Boffo dropped his prize at Matthew’s feet.

His chest heaving, Brendan skidded to a halt behind the dog, nearly falling in the loose dirt. All was silent as he stared down at the soggy green and pink lump at Boffo’s feet. Shanna recognized it as one of the miniature carnations Brendan had given Matthew to plant in the flower bed under construction in the corner of the backyard.

Brendan squatted to scoop up the bedraggled plant, saying something she couldn’t hear to the dog as he picked it up. In response, Boffo lunged forward, thrusting his large, muddy paws onto Brendan’s shoulders.

Brendan tumbled backward. His arms flailed, but he couldn’t regain his balance with Boffo’s weight pressing into him. Brendan’s legs shot out from under him, and down he went, along with Boffo. The plant flew up out of his hand and landed on Matthew’s head at the same time Brendan’s back thumped to the ground. He exhaled with an “oof” as Boffo bounced on his chest.

Brendan struggled for breath with the huge dog sprawled on top of him. Brendan was trapped. Nothing would move Boffo if Boffo didn’t want to be moved.

Ashley squealed with glee, then giggled. The shrill sound prompted Boffo into high gear. His tongue flashed out toward Brendan’s face.

“No!” Brendan gasped, calling out as he raised his arms, but he was too late to protect himself from the onslaught of Boffo’s sloppy doggy kisses.

Ashley appeared beside them. “Him loves you!” she sang as she danced in a circle, waving her arms above her head and spinning around on her toes.

Still atop the desk, with her elbows fixed on the hard surface, Shanna leaned forward and buried her face in her palms.

The man was never going to get her landscaping done. Either that or he was going to quit, and it would be all her fault.

She didn’t want him to leave. Not just for the job he was doing, and not for herself. Despite the havoc, her children hadn’t had such fun with a man since. . .Shanna couldn’t remember.

An ache formed in the depths of her soul. When their father was alive, the children hadn’t had as much fun with him as they did with this patient stranger. Roger had refused to have anything to do with his children—something Shanna hadn’t seen coming in their marriage. Roger had promised that he’d wanted to have children, yet he’d probably changed only one diaper in all the time he was a father. That was when Shanna had the flu and had locked herself in the bathroom, throwing up. Roger never played with the children, claiming he didn’t know what to do with them. Actually, Roger simply couldn’t be bothered. He made no effort to hide it when either she or the children annoyed him, which was most of the time.

Brendan Gafferty, a stranger, had spent more time with Matthew and Ashley in the last week than their father had in the whole year prior to his death. He was also being a good sport about their antics and Boffo’s behavior, something Roger never would have been.

However, as beneficial as it was for her children to have a good relationship with a male figure, she couldn’t allow the hired help to do anything more than the job he was hired for. There was still too much to do. She didn’t know if it was just luck or the grace of God that she got a new client before everything was finished. She certainly wouldn’t test God to provide more before everything was ready.

Shanna slowly lowered her feet to the floor and walked outside. She couldn’t afford the distraction, but she had to take Boffo and the children into the house and let Brendan get back to his work. Maybe, since the children had been so busy with him, they might go to bed early tonight. Then she could get some work done in peace and quiet and still get a few hours of sleep before she had to wake Matthew for school the next day.

By the time she reached them, Brendan had the situation back under control. Matthew recovered the plant Boffo had stolen and was diligently patting the dirt down around it, even though it looked rather bedraggled compared to the rest. Ashley sang to herself, completely off-key, as she picked rocks out of the mud and piled them into Brendan’s wheelbarrow. Even Boffo was doing something constructive. Shanna didn’t know how he did it, but somehow Brendan had manipulated the dog into digging a hole where she knew he planned to plant an apple tree when the other yard work was completed.

She cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Matthew, Ashley, how would you like to come into the house for some cookies and juice? Mr. Gafferty, could I offer you a cup of coffee?” Shanna knew she could certainly use a good cup of strong coffee. Maybe even a whole pot.

“Does we have to go into the house?” Ashley muttered. “I was having fun helping Mr. Brendan.”

“Coffee?” Brendan’s eyebrows arched. “Uh. . . Actually, if you still have some of that iced tea you gave me earlier, that would be real nice of you.”

“Certainly.” Shanna reached down to take Ashley’s hand. “Come on, Ashley. We have to let—” She stopped moving and looked up. “Mr. Brendan?”

Brendan shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not used to all this Mr. and Mrs. stuff all the time. But if that’s what you want the kids to do, I’m okay with that. I just thought this would be a good compromise. Besides, my father was Mr. Gafferty. I’m just Brendan.”

Shanna stared at him. Part of her reason for the way both she and the children addressed him was a sign of respect, because he deserved it. Brendan Gafferty was a hard worker and kept his word, unlike their father. But there was another reason she addressed him so formally. She wanted to keep a professional distance. She knew she should have trusted him; after all, he was a close friend of her pastor. Yet she didn’t feel comfortable with him. If she kept their relationship formal, she felt safe. Being his employer—and only his employer—was the way to accomplish that.

However, she had to consider her children first. Brendan Gafferty was setting a good example for them, acting the way a good man should behave toward children, the way their father should have behaved.

She cleared her throat and stiffened her posture, but he still towered over her, negating her efforts to look like an authority figure. “Fine, then. Come on, Matthew, Ashley. We should let Mr. Brendan get back to his work. He has a lot to do. Boffo, come.”

“You really don’t have to take the kids; they were okay. Of course, I don’t mind you taking the dog.”

Shanna sighed. “I’m so sorry about Boffo. I know he’s not very well behaved, but he’s very friendly, and we love him a lot.” He was also big. Even though he didn’t have a vicious bone in his body, Boffo at least had the potential to look like a watchdog to those who didn’t know him.

Ashley nodded so fast her bangs bounced on her forehead. “And him loves us lots, too.”

Brendan crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m sure he does.”

Shanna glanced back and forth between her children and the dog, then at her wristwatch. Maybe Boffo would sleep. . . .

She bent down to talk to the children at eye level. “Matthew, you can stay out here only if you promise to be good. But it’s time for Ashley to have a nap. I think Boffo could use a nap, too. Ashley, you can come back out later, after you have a little rest.” Shanna hoped this would give her enough time to accomplish something constructive.

Because of all the excitement, Ashley fell asleep quickly, and fortunately so did Boffo. Having him sleep beside Shanna’s desk was perfect, because she knew where he was and what he was doing.

Shanna resumed her work.

Except she couldn’t concentrate.

Pastor Harry had been right. Brendan was a good man and a hard worker. Without distraction, he accomplished a lot. He’d shown Matthew how to stuff dirt into the crevices in a pile of rocks that was to become a rock garden. At first, when he’d explained the cheapest way to cover the unsightly boulders that couldn’t be moved, she’d had doubts. But now, as the pile was beginning to rise, she could see and appreciate the potential.

She continued to watch Brendan as he worked. He rammed a crowbar beneath a rock with such brute force, she flinched at the contact, even though he was across the yard and she was inside her office.

The phone rang. The caller ID showed her brother-in-law’s number. Just seeing the number made her hand shake as she picked up the handset.

“We have to talk,” Ray barked.

Her hand shook even worse.

She sucked in a deep breath and stiffened, trying to give herself strength through an unrelenting posture. “I told you not to use my business number.”

“I want you to come here tomorrow.”

She gritted her teeth. “No. I have work to do. Besides, we have nothing to talk about. I told you that before. Leave me alone.”

The bang of Ray slamming the phone down echoed in her ear.

Shanna slouched and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want to deal with Ray in person. It was bad enough over the phone, with the safety of the distance between them. Her life was hard enough with the everyday struggles of trying to earn enough money to pay the bills while looking after Ashley and Matthew. With the added problems between the landscaper and her dog, she couldn’t handle anything more right now.

“Excuse me? Shanna?”

Shanna opened her eyes and straightened in the chair, quickly dropping her hands into her lap and twining her fingers together tightly.

Brendan stood in the doorway. At the sound of his arrival, Boffo stood and sprinted the few yards to close the distance, then sat in front of Brendan, his unruly tail swooshing on the ground while he looked up.

Brendan reached forward and gave the dog a short pat, then tilted his head and narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Shanna. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” And it would stay nothing, because she refused to go to her brother-in-law’s house. She wasn’t going to get involved in another confrontation. Her number one priority was her children, not trying to placate Ray. “Is there something you need?”

“I’m going to have Matthew water down the mud in the rocks, but he says he doesn’t know where his rubber boots are kept.”

Shanna felt her cheeks turn warm. “That’s because he doesn’t have rubber boots. He only has one pair of boots—winter boots—if they still fit. I hate buying boots for the kids when they grow out of them in a year. I never know if it’s going to snow from one winter to the next. You know this Seattle weather.”

Brendan nodded. “Yes. When I was growing up, most years my mother didn’t buy me boots for exactly those reasons. I did just fine, going to school in my sneakers. All of my friends did that when we were kids.” He paused and smiled broadly. “In fact, I remember when we all thought we were way too cool to wear boots. But on this job, good rubber boots are a must.”

Shanna nodded. As an accountant, she didn’t need rubber boots, although she did own one pair of good leather boots. But like Brendan, she remembered many years as a child when she didn’t have winter boots because it generally didn’t get too cold most winters along the coast in Washington State. Thinking of weather, she wondered what landscapers did when the growing season was over. Seattle didn’t get snow most winters, but it was still cold enough not to want to work outside.

Shanna mentally shook her head to clear her thoughts. What he did in his off-seasons was none of her business. He was there to transform her lot of mismatched grass and stray boulders into a presentable and professionally landscaped yard, which hopefully wouldn’t take too much longer. Then Brendan and his rubber boots would be long gone.

She looked up to see him checking out her desk. He’d been working for her for a week, and this was the first time he’d been inside.

“So this is where you run your accounting business,” he said. “Harry told me about how you’re trying to expand.”

She nodded. “I’m already doing bookkeeping for a few home-based businesses, but I need some larger corporate clients.”

Brendan glanced at a stack of files on top of one of the cabinets. “Does that bookkeeping for home-based businesses include self-employed individuals?”

“Yes. That’s what most home-based businesses are.”

“Does your work include preparing self-employed income tax returns?”

“It sure does.”

“I’ve been really busy, and I just got a second notice to file taxes from the year before last. If you’ve got the time, maybe we could make a deal. If you could get my taxes done before I have to pay a penalty, I could do something extra for you. Your kids are pretty active. How about if I build them a playscape in the yard here, where you can keep an eye on them? I can build it so it looks like one you see in a playground, not one of those typical backyard types.”

Shanna gasped. “I can’t afford that!” She could barely make ends meet as it was. But a good play center would be the perfect solution. It would keep Matthew and Ashley from being bored, especially since soon Matthew would be out of school for the summer. And if it was set in the right location, she could watch the children playing without leaving her desk.

“Maybe you didn’t understand what I was saying. I didn’t mean for you to pay for it. I could build it for you and provide the materials. After all, I get everything wholesale. I’ll even do it to match the fence. After I fix the fence, of course. That would be in exchange for doing my bookkeeping.”

Shanna narrowed her eyes. “That’s a very large project. Just exactly how do you do your bookkeeping if you think this is going to be an even exchange?”

His ears reddened. “Usually I file late when I get caught up in the winter, but this year I took on a few additional contract projects for the municipality, and I didn’t have any spare time. And then the new landscaping season started early, and, well. . .I never did get a chance to catch up.”

“Exactly how far behind are you?”

The shade of his ears deepened. “I’m usually pretty good about entering everything into my program; I just have a hard time balancing it. But since last April, I’ve kind of been throwing everything in a box. Well, actually two boxes. And I just started a third one.”

“April? This is nearly the end of June. You’re not talking months; you’re talking two years of back taxes, plus whatever has transpired this fiscal year, aren’t you?”

“Uh. . .yeah.”

From his sudden silence, Shanna had the feeling they weren’t talking about mere shoe-box-sized boxes—despite the size of his feet, which looked to be about a size 13, to support his height. “What kind of boxes are we dealing with?”

“The kind I get from my supplier where I order my gardening stuff.”

Her head spun at the potential volume.

Yet Brendan’s offer would provide the perfect solution to watch her children in the yard while she worked. This way, they wouldn’t beg her to take them to the park, where there was no computer.

“I think you’ve got yourself a deal.”