Four

As promised, Brendan arrived right on time in the morning with Boffo in tow. Or was it himself that was in tow? He hadn’t quite figured that out.

He’d expected most of the dogs to behave badly at dog school last night. He just hadn’t expected to be the one with the worst-case scenario. His friend Jeff had used Boffo’s behavior as the bad example of what the other class participants were to avoid.

The gate had barely closed behind him when Shanna’s office door opened. Immediately, the movement caught Boffo’s eye. The dog lunged forward with all his strength. Since Brendan hadn’t expected the dog to bolt inside his own yard, the leash slipped out of his hand.

Fear clenched his gut. “Shanna!” he shouted, then started running, despite knowing he would never be able to catch Boffo. The image of Boffo jumping on her and slamming her into the metal frame of the doorway pierced through his mind. He now knew exactly how much the dog weighed and the result of being slammed with that weight, because he’d experienced it the hard way.

“Brace yourself!” Brendan shouted as he ran faster. “Boffo—”

Before he could finish yelling out his warning, Shanna dropped to her hands and knees. Boffo skidded to a halt in front of her and frantically began licking her face and dancing, his tail wagging so fast it was a blur. Shanna threw her arms around the dog, balanced herself on her knees, tilted her head back, and laughed.

“Yes! I missed you, too!” She giggled as Boffo sloppily licked her cheeks. Behind her, Ashley appeared in the doorway. At the sight of her mother and Boffo, Ashley called out Boffo’s name and clapped her hands.

Brendan stopped short, feeling like an idiot. He should have known that Shanna knew what to expect and what to do so that she wouldn’t get plowed down as he had. She was a smart woman.

He smiled at the whole happily-ever-after scene. A happy mom, a happy daughter, and an overly happy dog. He wished he were a part of it instead of an outsider looking in.

His smile faded. Being a part of this scene wasn’t part of his plan. He was only working here. Shanna didn’t want him involved in her personal affairs; she’d made that point more than clear. Everything she said and did indicated that this was supposed to be business only, which was how he wanted it, too. Yet he liked Shanna. She was resourceful, determined, loyal, an excellent parent, and a hard worker. In a few short weeks, he’d also come to like her kids. If he were forced to admit it, he would have to say that he was even getting attached to her nutty dog.

Normally a job was a job, but this time he knew that when this job was over, he would be asking Harry for updates on Shanna and her little family. He’d even been praying for Shanna to get the business she needed. He could see a good ending to the story except for Ray. That was what bothered him. He knew she hadn’t wanted him to witness anything about her personal life, but it had happened. He’d become involved whether he wanted to be or not. If anything happened to Shanna, now that he’d seen Ray in action, Brendan wouldn’t be able to live with himself. He didn’t think it was wrong to want her to be happy, just like she was now, playfully kissing her daffy dog. The only thing he would change in this picture was that instead of the dog kissing her, it would be himself, and he would be kissing her properly.

The realization of what he wanted to do made his breath catch. His life’s plans didn’t include a ready-made home and family. He wanted to start his own “happily-ever-after” without having to carry someone else’s baggage.

He cleared his throat, causing her to hold the dog still and look up at him.

“Jeff told me you need to work with Boffo every day until the next lesson, because we can’t have him just listening to me. He said Boffo’s already made good progress, just in the first two-hour class.”

Jeff had also said that Brendan, too, had to be diligent with the daily lesson plan, since he was the one taking Boffo to the dog school. Brendan didn’t mind that, though. He definitely wanted to change a few of Boffo’s habits, most important, his digging. Otherwise, the beauty of what he was doing would be spoiled and end up no different than before he started.

For now, except for the seams, the newly sodded lawn was rock solid against digging marauders. In a couple of months, though, when the roots took hold of the ground below and many waterings had loosened the original layer of soil, Boffo would be able to dislodge it enough to dig holes.

Brendan pulled the class instruction sheet from his back pocket. “Let’s go over this while it’s fresh in my mind. The first things we’re supposed to work on are sit, down, and heel.” He showed her how to prompt the dog to do everything he’d been shown in class, then released Boffo from the leash. “Jeff said the biggest motivation for the dog is praise. At first, give him treats; but later just a pat and a kind word will be all we need. Now I have to get to work. The materials for the playscape will be here in an hour, and I’ve got to get ready.”

For once it was Brendan, not Boffo, who did the digging. Using his power auger, after taking the measurements twice, he dug the holes he was going to need for the support posts. Next, he hauled the bags of cement and mixing tubs to where they would be needed. With perfect timing, the delivery truck arrived in front of the house when he was ready.

Moving the materials for the playscape was considerably less work than lugging 160 rolls of sod. By the time Shanna returned after picking up Matthew from kindergarten, Brendan had the frame in place. The children, and Boffo, too, sat still, fascinated, as he put the set together piece by piece. Their eyes lit up when the slide was in place. He warned them not to touch the pieces of the fort section that he’d laid out in the order he needed for assembly. Even though it nearly killed them, they obeyed.

For once, Boffo didn’t take off with any tools, allowing Brendan to finish the playscape in record time. He poured the cement around the posts, then helped Matthew and Ashley write their names. Brendan finished the job by writing the day’s date.

“That’s it,” he said as he swiped his hands down the sides of his jeans. “All I have left to do is put the swing up when the cement is set, paint it, and we’re done. So today, you can look at your new playscape, but don’t climb on it quite yet.”

While the kids squealed and ran around the playscape, snaking underneath the fort section and circling the support posts, Brendan looked at the faded fence.

His feelings of self-satisfaction faded.

When he’d first started this job, he’d mentally noted its poor condition. Shanna had asked him to repair a few sections that were at the point of falling down, but no more. Harry had been very clear not to mention any extra work that he thought should be done, because she simply couldn’t afford it. Fixing up the yard and making it presentable for her business clients was all he was to do. But now it wasn’t enough. After the new playscape was painted, the fence would look even worse by comparison.

He walked across the freshly laid lawn and poked at a section of the old fence. Many of the boards at the back were starting to rot because they’d only been painted on one side, which was the worst thing anyone could do. By next year, especially if they had another windstorm, a section or two would come down.

Just painting the fence wouldn’t be good enough. She needed a new one.

He turned to watch Shanna through the window, alternately hunched over her computer, then digging through the second box of his disorganized receipts and paperwork.

He knew that when he was done working in her yard, it would be at least another month before she was finished with his bookkeeping and tax returns. Of course, the deal for Shanna was the cost of her time, while he’d had to pay actual money for the materials. Still, this was more than a job or just a barter for services rendered. He wanted everything to be perfect for her, and the only thing in his power to change was her yard—it was his contribution to brighten her future.

Until the fence was as good as the rest, the project was incomplete, whether she agreed or not. But at the same time, he had other projects contracted—projects that paid the wage he needed to pay his rent, car payment, and groceries. Projects that he’d promised to have completed by specific dates.

He hated to, but he had no choice. He’d already crossed the line from business-only to personal. Now it was going to get even more personal.

Brendan pulled out his cell phone and typed out a text message. He cringed as he hit Send, telling himself he was only doing this because he had obligations to meet and promises to keep.

It was done.

❧

For the first time in months, Shanna was alone.

She’d taken both the children to visit friends for a few hours. Brendan was away on his lunch break.

The yard was deserted except for Boffo, who was lying in the cool, new grass, sleeping in the shade of the new playscape. Boffo let out a quiet “woof” in his sleep, his tail thumped, and he again quieted in his doggy dreamland. She wondered if he was dreaming of going to dog school with Brendan.

Brendan.

The dog liked him and the kids loved him.

Shanna didn’t know quite how to feel about him, except that he made her nervous.

Brendan was a laborer. Everything he did required physical force and strength. She’d never seen such muscles except on bodybuilders on television infomercials, which probably weren’t even real. But Brendan’s strength and power were very real. The speed at which Ray had retreated when Brendan confronted him was proof of that—and her best incentive never to be on the wrong side of Brendan’s fury. It was a lesson she’d taken too long to learn with Roger, and it was a mistake she’d never repeat.

Shanna had tried to act like the good wife she should have been, but she didn’t know how. Most of her friends were also newlyweds, and they were too starry-eyed from being recently married to give her any practical advice. The only example of a long-term marriage she had to follow was that of her parents, but Shanna didn’t want her marriage to be like that. Her mother couldn’t do anything to make her father happy. Shanna had countless memories of her parents fighting, with her mother always coming out the loser. As a child, she had rationalized what she’d seen, likening such scenarios to a parent punishing a bad child. As an adult, she now knew how wrong that was. She’d never seen her father hit her mother, but that didn’t mean it didn’t happen. Her mother spent a lot of time crying. She seemed to live her life for the sole purpose of not making her husband angry.

Shanna didn’t want her marriage to be the same, so she made sure she’d married a man who wasn’t a perfectionist like her father—she didn’t want to be partnered with someone who would think nothing she did was good enough. Instead, Roger became bored with her, then frustrated. Then he began pushing her around, and the cycle continued. In the end, she’d married a man not much different than her father. Roger’s death hadn’t relieved her of being victimized. Roger’s whole family was the same, including his parents, and his brother was the same way to his wife that Roger had been to her. Bigger, stronger, smarter, and everyone had to know it.

She’d easily fallen in love with Roger. He oozed power and masculinity. He made her feel safe, because no one would dare confront him. But then she’d learned the hard way that she couldn’t confront Roger, either. To him, confrontation meant disagreeing with him. She would never again be so blind or so gullible. She would never let herself fall into that trap again. When she began dating again, she would seek out a man who was quiet, understated, and gentle, whose biggest strength was his faith, not his might.

The chime on her wristwatch sounded, signaling it was 1:00, the official end of Brendan’s lunch break. Right on time, his pickup pulled up to the front of the house.

The sound roused Boffo from his sleep. The dog bounded to the gate, then sat waiting. His only movement was his tail swooshing behind him.

Shanna could barely believe Boffo’s good behavior. Brendan was doing wonders with the dog in a remarkably short amount of time.

He was also doing wonders with her children. She’d bartered good behavior from them, and even a few household chores, for the privilege of spending time with Brendan in the yard. Even better, by taking the children into the yard while he worked, Brendan was helping her get more done by keeping them busy. He was teaching Boffo to be not only a good pet, but a potential watchdog, as well. And if it wasn’t her imagination, the playscape was much larger than what she thought he’d originally described. A truckload of wood had arrived this morning, which meant Brendan wasn’t just replacing the one section that was ready to fall down; she was getting a whole new fence.

She didn’t know how she could ever pay him back. The only thing she could do was to do more work for him, which meant spending more time with him. And that was exactly what she didn’t want. She’d fallen for his type before; only this time she knew the risks and her own mistakes, and especially her weaknesses.

This time, Shanna was going to put a stop to it while she could. Already she regretted that he’d seen her vulnerability with Ray. She didn’t want to seem ungrateful for everything extra that Brendan was doing, but it was time to stop him from becoming any more involved with her personal life. She would thank him for his help with the dog, but she would take Boffo to dog school herself and pay for babysitting. She would find something else for her children to do instead of letting them pretend to help him work. The second he came into the yard, she would also tell him that while she appreciated his offer, she really didn’t need a new fence and that their business together was nearly complete.

The gate opened and Brendan stepped inside, but before she could speak, a second person walked in behind him. A woman was with him. Both Brendan and the woman stopped. He rested one hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Shanna, I’d like you to meet my mother.”