Joanna Sims – The Sergeant's Christmas Mission (страница 8)

“I’ve never heard anyone play a guitar like that before.”

It had been sad and haunting and passionate. Shane played the guitar with all the emotion he couldn’t seem to express in his expression or in his words. In so many ways, perhaps too many ways, Shane reminded her of her beloved father.

“Then I’ll keep on playing for you.”

She tucked her hands into her back pocket and shifted her weight onto one hip. “I wanted to talk to you about the new lease.”

Shane crumpled the paper towel in his hand and she reached out to take it from him instinctively, as she would with Carson or Caleb.

“I like you, Shane. You seem like good people. You know the house, you take care of the yard and I could really use the extra income right now while I’m settling in and looking for work. So, if you want to stay on, I’ll have the attorney send over the lease.”

“I want to stay.”

“Good. Then it’s settled.”

“Same rent?”

“Same rent.”

He stood up, crossed the short distance to her and held out his hand. “I appreciate this, Rebecca.”

“Of course, the old lease only accommodated for one pet. We’ll have to change that to account for Top.”

“I’ll pay an additional pet deposit, if you’d like.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m just grateful that you saved her. Any news when she can come home?”

“Tomorrow.”

“That soon?”

He nodded.

“That’s wonderful, Shane. Caleb is going to be over the moon when he hears. I’m going to warn you now, he’s going to beg you to see her.”

“He can come see her.”

“Well, if either of my boys start to wear out their welcome with you, don’t be shy, just tell them the truth and they’ll respect it.”

He gave her another nod.

“Well, I’d better get back to work. Those boxes aren’t going to unpack themselves.”

The last time, she had something to add to the conversation—this time, it was Shane who stopped her from leaving.

“I forgot the thank you. For the lunch.”

It wasn’t his words that made her pulse quicken; it was the way he looked at her, like he really saw her. When Shane looked at her, it felt as if he was able to read all of the secrets of her soul. It was unnerving and, if she was being honest with herself, exciting.

“It was my pleasure, Shane.”

Chapter Four

Rebecca was just breaking down the last box in the living room when an unexpected knock on the door made her jump. She dropped the box and walked over to the front door; she looked through the peephole and saw her sister, Kelly, standing on her front porch. They hadn’t spoken to each other for weeks, and they hadn’t seen each other in person since she moved to Bozeman. It was a fact of their strained relationship that just because they lived in the same town didn’t mean that they would spend time together.

“Hi, Kell.”

“I called. And sent a slew of texts.”

Rebecca slipped her phone out of her back pocket and saw that there was a missed call and several text messages from Kelly. “I probably didn’t hear it over the vacuum.”

Kelly handed her a manila envelope. “Aunt Ginny’s attorney accidentally sent this to me instead of you.”

Rebecca took the envelope, which had been opened and then resealed with scotch tape. She stepped back, opening the door wider.

“Do you want to come in?”

Her sister hesitated, looking at the interior of the house, before she stepped across the threshold. Rebecca shut the door and opened the envelope while she followed her sister into the living room. Copies of Shane’s new lease, with revised stipulations, were inside.

“Thank you for bringing these over.” She set the envelope of the counter. “Do you want to sit down?”

Kelly was standing in the living room area, looking around with a disdainful look on her attractive face. Her sister, in her opinion, had managed to snag all of the good genes in the family. She was tall and slender; her hair was thick and wavy and shiny, while Rebecca was in a constant battle with frizz. Their mother, who hadn’t been inclined to get her braces on her teeth, changed her mind with Kelly, and now her sister had perfect straight white teeth. And Kelly always had a sense of style; she always looked put together even if she was wearing jeans. It was the way Kelly wore the clothes, the way she carried herself, that set her apart from most women, especially her older sister.

“Talk about a time warp.” Kelly didn’t sit down. She held her designer bag, which was hooked on to her arm, next to her body as if she was afraid that something living in the purple shag carpet would grab it and take it back to the abyss.

“I know.” Rebecca smiled. “When I was a kid, I thought Aunt Ginny’s purple shag carpet was the coolest thing I’d ever seen in my life.”

“I never thought that.” Kelly checked her phone.

There was a tense pause between them and then her sister turned toward her, and Rebecca, just by the pinched, superior look on Kelly’s face, braced herself for a sisterly lecture.

“I assume that those leases mean that you are going to keep Shane as a tenant?”

It wasn’t a secret that Kelly had been lobbying Aunt Ginny to find a new tenant, and once her sister knew that she was going to live in the house instead of sell, Kelly’s desire to have Shane find a new place to live had transferred to her.

“What is your beef with Shane?” Rebecca crossed her arms in front of her body. “He was good to Aunt Ginny and, so far, he’s been good to me and the boys.”

“I don’t have a beef with Shane,” Kelly retorted. “I’ve known him for years. He’s a nice guy.”

“So? What’s the problem?”

Kelly sighed in irritation. “You know I don’t like to gossip.”

Sure you do.

“But I know for a fact that Shane has brought drugs onto the premises.”

The way her sister said the word drugs, with a dramatic flair, made it sound as if Shane was operating a drug ring out of the garage apartment. Kelly had, as far as she knew, never experimented with drugs and didn’t drink. But Rebecca had experimented in her youth. And even though drugs weren’t a part of her life anymore, she certainly didn’t sit in judgment of those who did use them, for whatever reason.

“I’ve already handled that, Kell. As far as I’m concerned, he’s welcome to stay as long as he follows the stipulations of the new lease. He’s a veteran and that matters to me.”

Kelly rolled her eyes in annoyance. “It’s always about Dad with you.”

They had both been close with their father, but Kelly was still bitter about his behavior after he came home from war. He could be mean at times, especially when he drank. And he would disappear for days sometimes, only to come back as if nothing had happened. Rebecca forgave her father years before he passed away, and she was glad now that she had.

“I’ve got to go.” Her sister checked her phone again. She paused at the door. “I know you don’t think this is true, Becca, but I worry about you and my nephews. You’ve already put them through so much with this ridiculous move. You wanted to fix Tim, and look where that got you. A divorce. Let’s face it. You’ve always been attracted to broken people.”

* * *

“Hi.”

Shane was in the middle of a sneezing fit when Rebecca showed up at his door. Top had been home for a couple of weeks and one of her favorite places to sleep was curled up in the space between his shoulder and neck. He tried many different sleeping configurations—Recon and the kitten in the living room and him in the bed, or Recon with him in the bed—but nothing worked. Someone was unhappy unless they were all together. So Shane had given up and given in, and the kitten got to sleep where she wished. And he just dealt with the sneezing and swollen, itchy eyes. It wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever dealt with in his life.

“Hi.” He sneezed again.

“Bless you.”

“Thank you.”

“Kitten?”

He nodded as he blew his nose.

Rebecca showed him a pile of papers in her hand. “I have the new lease for you to review and sign.”

He nodded. “Come on in. I’ll look it over and sign it now.”

Shane was proud of the fact that, in a short amount of time, he had turned his environment around. He didn’t have a moment of hesitation inviting Rebecca into the garage apartment. It was clean and organized and, currently, full of balls and stuffed mice for a crazy kitten named Top. But the change wasn’t just about Rebecca and the kitten. It was about Rebecca’s boys. Carson and Caleb both wanted to regularly visit with Top and it was important to Shane that the boys had a clean place to spend time with the kitten they had a hand in saving. It was unexpected how quickly Rebecca and her sons had breathed new life into the old house. Ginny had been great, and he missed her, but she had left him alone to his own devices. She had rarely visited the courtyard and never entered his apartment. And he had appreciated the privacy and the quiet. Now he looked forward to hearing the sound of Carson’s and Caleb’s voices as they got off the school bus. Every weekday, he listened for them. And every weekday, they stopped by to see what he was doing before they headed inside. It was true—in a short period of time, they had changed his life. For the better.