“Maybe not. But Mom wants us to go over there and see if we can talk Lucky into selling before making the improvements. She said she can’t spend Christmas knowing that Red’s daughter is living in the house.”
“Christmas is in less than three weeks.”
“I know. To be honest, I’d rather ignore the fact that Lucky’s even around. Grandpa gave her the house and there’s nothing we can do about it. But Mom can’t see it that way.”
“Josh…”
“What?”
“I don’t want you going over there.”
“Why?”
“Just leave her alone, okay?”
“Why?” he said again.
“Because I said so.”
Mike’s words resulted in a strained pause.
“What’s going on?” Josh asked at last.
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit. I know you too well to believe that.”
Dropping his head in his hands, Mike began kneading his forehead. “Where’s Rebecca?”
“She’s in the other room, watching TV and feeding the baby. Why?”
“Because I’m going to tell you something that stays between us.”
“What’s that?” Josh said, sounding hesitant.
“I slept with Lucky last night.”
Shocked silence. Finally, “What do you mean, you slept with her?”
“What do you think I mean?”
“I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true.”
Josh cursed softly under his breath. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Of the regret he felt for bungling the night before. Of allowing himself one night to satisfy them both. Of the water pounding down on Lucky’s naked body…“It just…happened, okay?”
“Were you drunk? I hope to hell you were drunk, Mike. At least then you might have an excuse.”
“I wasn’t drunk.”
“Isn’t she young? Really young? Like…twenty? And if I remember right, she’s none too pretty.”
She was beautiful now, but Mike wasn’t about to say so. He knew sharing that information would make him sound more affected than he wanted to appear—than he really was. “Would you quit it?” he snapped. “She’s twenty-four. Twenty-four is old enough.”
“You’re nearly forty!”
“Lower your voice before Rebecca hears you. You’re not helping the situation.”
Josh blew out an audible sigh. “I’m trying. I’m focusing on the age difference and her less-than-pleasing appearance because, the way I see it, those are the least of your worries. Just wait until Lucky starts talking. Word’ll spread like wildfire that you jumped into the sack with her, and Mom will feel like the brunt of the biggest joke ever to hit town. She’ll be crushed.”
“What happened between Lucky and me doesn’t have anything to do with Mom,” Mike growled.
“But she’ll take it as a personal betrayal. You know that, don’t you?”
Mike shoved away from his desk so he could stand up and pace. “Lucky’s not going to say anything to anyone.”
“How do you know?”
He didn’t. He knew neither one of them had planned on what had happened. But whether or not she’d use recent events to her advantage, he couldn’t say. Considering how people in this town were treating her, like some kind of leper, she might be tempted to strike back.
In any case, it probably wouldn’t be long before he found out.
WITH ONLY THREE WEEKS before Christmas, Lucky knew she had to get busy if she wanted to make any progress on the house. First she needed to have the windows fixed. Next she had to meet with a loan officer at the bank to arrange an equity line of credit so she could finance the improvements, which would cost at least thirty thousand dollars. Then she had to rent some basic furniture, solicit estimates on the rehab and hire a contractor.
As soon as she could dig her car out of the snow, which was slowly melting beneath a much warmer sun now that the storm had passed, she drove to the bank. Fortunately, she had no problem borrowing against the value of the house. She got approval on her loan the very next day. It was her first call after receiving telephone service.
She didn’t have any difficulty getting the windows fixed or renting some furniture, either, but it wasn’t easy to find a contractor. There wasn’t much building going on in this part of Idaho during the winter, so there weren’t many people engaged in that line of work.
By the end of the week, she’d found a man by the name of Fredrick Sharp, who seemed capable and was willing to start on December seventeenth. But he refused to stay on the job any later than the twentieth because he had family coming from out of town.
“That means you’ll be pulling off the job after only four days,” Lucky said, unable to conceal her disappointment when she met him at the diner on Saturday morning.
He gave her a copy of the contract they’d just signed and put the other in his shirt pocket. “I can start again after the first.”
January first! At this rate she’d never get the house done. After that night with Mike, she felt as if she needed to finish her plans and leave as soon as possible—before she was reduced to sitting at the window, hoping to see him drive by. Or sneaking out to his barn to watch him work, the way she used to as a child.
“What about quitting the twenty-second? Two more days would make a big difference. Christmas Eve isn’t until the twenty-fourth.”
He finished his coffee and pushed his cup off to the side. “Sorry, my wife would hang me by my toenails,” he said with a lopsided grin. “It’s my family who’s coming.” Tossing a five-dollar bill onto the table to pay for their coffee, he got up as though no was his last word on the subject, and Lucky realized this barrel-chested, ruddy father of five wouldn’t budge on his work schedule.
“Okay.” They shook hands to finalize their deal and walked across the street to pick out the paint. But they hadn’t been in the hardware store more than five minutes when she heard a familiar voice coming from the next aisle over.
“So now you’re thinking about replacing the whole roof?”
It was Mike. She knew because her knees went weak and she immediately recalled that same voice whispering to her, coaxing her to relax in the steamy shower.
“That roof’s twenty years old,” someone else, an older man, replied.
“But it’s winter.” Mike again. “No one replaces a roof midwinter unless he’s crazy or has no choice.”