Read Prejudice Meets Pride Online

Authors: Rachael Anderson

Tags: #Romantic Comedy, #Romance, #clean, #bargain, #clean romance, #sweet romance, #Humor, #inspirational, #love, #dating, #relationships

Prejudice Meets Pride (6 page)

BOOK: Prejudice Meets Pride
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“Doing what? Drawing stick figures on the sidewalk?”

“No,” Becky said. “Weeding. Didn’t you notice the nice, clean flowerbeds or the bare patches in the grass where she dug up all the dandelions?”

Kevin glanced back at the house, noting the absence of weeds. He suddenly felt like his mother’s son—a person who constantly zeroed in on faults and overlooked the good. It wasn’t a fun feeling, not when he’d spent his entire adult life trying to be the apple that didn’t land anywhere near his parents’ tree.

“She’s been dealt a tough hand,” Becky went on. “You really should cut her some slack.”

Kevin couldn’t help but wonder if the
tough hand
Becky referred to had been given to Emma or created
by
her. But he kept that thought to himself. He’d already come across as the insensitive neighbor, and he wasn’t about to worsen the image. He let out a breath. “You’re right. I didn’t mean to sound like a jerk. I’m just a little frustrated.”

Becky smiled and rested her hand on his arm in a motherly way. “You might be able to help her out, you know.”

Kevin scoffed. Help Emma out? Was she kidding? Wasn’t that what he’d been trying to do ever since he “met” her in the grocery store? Becky made it sound so easy, as though he could simply waltz right over and make it happen. But trying to lift one of Emma’s burdens was more like having to wrestle them away. She seemed to like them where they were.

“Do you happen to have any openings at your office?” Becky asked. “I know she’s into art and wants to teach, but all the calls I’ve made have come up empty, and she can really use a job.”

So Emma was into art, huh. It made sense. Actually, that career choice fit her to a T. Kevin pictured her doodling away while the phone went unanswered or leaving his patients’ files strewn all over like the toys that now covered her lawn. Emma didn’t strike him as the responsible type, and Kevin wasn’t about to unleash someone like that on his practice. Besides, they were already fully staffed. “We don’t need anyone at the moment, but I’ll keep my eyes and ears open if I hear of someone who does.”

“That would be great,” said Becky. “Thanks, Kevin.”

She sounded as though she thought his offer had been sincere, which it hadn’t. Although Kevin felt bad for Emma’s plight, he could never, in good conscience, recommend her as a potential employee to anyone.

Across the street, Emma’s front door opened. She emerged, looking beyond haggard. Her hair—or at least most of it—was held back in a messy bun, and her clothes looked rumpled and dirty. She glanced around her messy yard with a face that didn’t look the least bit excited to clean it up. Then she plopped down on the top step and dropped her chin to her hands. Becky nudged Kevin and nodded toward Emma, as though expecting him to do or say something to make her feel better.

Ha. As if that would ever happen.

Becky’s door opened behind them, and her husband called out, “Hey Beck, you’re missing the game of the century. Get in here. The Buffalos just scored their second touchdown.” He squinted past the porch lights at Kevin. “Oh, hi, Kev. Sorry, didn’t see you there for a second. Want to join us?”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass. Sorry to keep your wife. She was just answering a few questions for me.”

“I’ll be right in,” said Becky. “I need to close the garage, so I’ll come in through that door.”

“Sounds good. Have a good night, Kev.”

“You too.” The door shut.

Becky offered Kevin a smile, then raised her voice to call across the street. “Night, Emma.”

“Night,” came an automated response. Although Emma glanced their way, she looked lost in thought. Troubled.

Becky disappeared inside, and as her garage door lowered to the ground, Kevin made his way across the street, still holding the trowel and the Home Depot bag. “I see you fixed your sprinkler,” he said when he reached Emma’s driveway.

Emma startled and looked his way. Her body stiffened. “Oh, um, yeah. I found an extra one in the garage and figured I might as well learn how to fix it myself since it’s probably not the last time one of them will break.” She paused. “I watched a YouTube video.”

Kevin held up the bag as he walked toward her. “I might as well give this to you anyway. My sprinklers are a different brand, and I’ll probably never get around to returning it.”

Emma clasped her fingers together, looking uncomfortable. “I’m sorry you went to all that trouble, but please just take it back. I would have called you, but I didn’t have your number. And I figured you’d need to dig it up to see what type it was before you went to the store.”

Kevin dropped down next to Emma and set the bag on the step between his knees. “I didn’t have to dig it up. They’re four-inch Rainbirds, right?”

“How—”

He gave her a sideways look. “Maude, the woman who lived here before you, didn’t mind accepting my help.”

“Oh.” She dropped her gaze to the ground and nudged a piece of sidewalk chalk. “She was my great aunt, although I don’t remember her at all. But she left this house to my mom, who turned it over to me.”

So Emma was here to stay for a while. Kevin wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “She was a wonderful lady who loved to garden. It’s crazy what a year of neglect will do to a yard.”

“It’s only been a year?” Emma asked.

“Her funeral was last fall. It was a sad day.”

“I wish I could have known her. Even though we were related, I feel like I’m living in a house that doesn’t belong to me.”

“You just need to make it yours. That’s what everyone does when they move into a house that used to belong to someone else. It’s what I did.” Kevin glanced at the lawn, with all the muddy holes from where she’d dug up dandelion roots. It looked worse than before, but the flower beds looked tidy, and with a decent cut and some edging, the lawn would be on its way to recovery as well. “I know the grass is dead, but you should still mow it,” Kevin said. “It’ll grow back more even and healthier if you do.”

“I know,” said Emma. “I tried to do it today, but I couldn’t get the mower started. It probably needs a tune up.” She paused, her words sounding hesitant. “You don’t happen to have one I could borrow, do you? I’ll pay for the gas.”

Did she really just ask him for a favor? Kevin suddenly felt like he’d won some sort of victory—albeit a short-lived one. “Sorry, no,” he said with regret. “I have a lawn service that comes every week.”

Her eyebrow lifted, and a small smile touched her lips. “A lawn service, huh? Yeah, I can totally see why. Your lawn would take forever to mow.”

Kevin cocked his head at her. “Did you just call me lazy?”

“Who, me? Never.” She gestured toward her unkempt yard. “As you can see, I’m not in a position to accuse anyone of that, especially not someone who keeps going out of his way for me.”

He leaned back against the step, resting his elbows behind him. “If you saw my backyard, you’d understand why I have a service. It’s huge, and I have better things to do than spend my entire Saturday morning taking care of it.”

“Or are you just afraid of getting a little dirty?”

Kevin pointed to the bag between his legs. “I’m sorry, but who was just about to dig up your sprinkler head?”

“Touché,” she conceded. A hint of a smile crossed her face before she stood and started collecting sidewalk chalk. Kevin moved to pick up the pieces nearest him.

“Oh, don’t worry about those,” she said. “I’m sure you’re as tired as I am.”

“I can handle a few pieces of sidewalk chalk.” For some reason he couldn’t explain, Kevin was reluctant to leave. It didn’t make sense. In fact, nothing involving Emma seemed to make much sense.

As Kevin tossed the last of the chalk in the small box she held, she caught his eye. “Listen, I know I might come across as a needy person, but I’m really not.”

“I never said you were.”

Her eyes took on a teasing quality that Kevin was beginning to like. “Actions speak louder than words.”

“I’m just trying to be neighborly.”

“And I appreciate it, I do,” she said. “But there’s nothing worse for me than being in someone’s debt, and I already owe you more than I can pay back at the moment, so no more groceries and no more sprinkler heads, okay?”

In the light of the front porch, Emma looked so small, so vulnerable, so alone. Something tugged at his heartstrings, and before he could stop himself, he blurted, “What about a job offer?” He immediately bit his tongue, regretting the words. What was he thinking? Hadn’t he already decided that Emma would make a lousy employee?

“What?”

Kevin forced himself to continue. He couldn’t exactly take the offer off the table at this point. “I’m a pediatric dentist with an office not too far from here. We’ve been on the lookout for someone who can… uh… help us with some filing and phones and… other stuff.” The way the words came out made them sound made up, which they were.

A spark of something resembling frustration lit up her eyes, making them look eerie in the twilight—another reason Kevin didn’t care for this time of day. “I thought I just told you that I don’t need your help.”

“It’s a job offer, not a handout.”

“Yeah right,” she muttered, her voice so quiet that Kevin could barely hear it. She glanced down and kicked a pebble with her shoe. “Thanks, but no thanks. Filing and phones aren’t really my thing.”

Even though he could tell he’d offended her in some way, something akin to relief spread though Kevin as he took a step back, ready to get away from this crazy girl who made him do crazy things. At least now he could tell Becky he’d tried. He’d offered her a job, and she’d turned it down. That was that. “Okay, but if you change your mind, let me know.”

“Will do.” Emma scooped up the dirty towels, and with the chalk in one hand and the towels in the other, she walked inside without a backward glance, not bothering to pick up the rest of the toys.

Kevin sighed. Maybe he should offer to buy Emma’s house. Not only would that give her some much needed cash, but it would allow Kevin to pick his own neighbors from here on out.

Emma leaned against the door as she tried to get her emotions under control.
He’s just trying to be nice, that’s all
, she tried to tell herself. But if that were true, why did she feel more pathetic than ever? The impromptu job offer had been extended out of pity and not for any other reason. The relief in his eyes after she’d turned it down was enough to make her stomach turn over.

As tempting as it was to accept the job, Emma couldn’t. If she had to take a mundane job answering phones and filing paperwork, she would do it for a company who hired her based on her qualifications—not because someone felt sorry for her.

Pushing away from the door, Emma tightened her fingers around the dirty towels as she headed for the laundry room. On Monday, she’d start the search for her own job—regardless of what it was—and prove to Kevin, the girls, her brother, and everyone else that she really could handle things on her own.

 

Emma awoke to the sounds of a lawnmower and trimmer going to work on someone’s lawn—probably Kevin’s. She sat up and glanced at the clock then jumped out of bed and rushed down the hall to check on the girls. She hadn’t meant to sleep in, but she’d been up half the night tossing and turning, worrying about her ever increasing credit card balance.

A kid’s show blared from the TV, and the girls sat on the couch, staring at it with two discarded cereal bowls resting at their feet. Emma smiled at the sight and leaned down to kiss them both on the forehead. “Look at you two, getting your own breakfast. I’m so impressed.”

“You were sleeping,” Adelynn said matter-of-factly.

“Yes, I was,” said Emma. “But you could have woken me up.”

“We know,” said Kajsa, her large blue eyes glued to the TV.

Emma patted them on the head, picked up the bowls, and left them to their show so she could make her own breakfast. She paused when she walked into the kitchen, taking in the mess that met her eyes. A box of Cheerios was tipped on its side, surrounded by scattered and smashed cereal. A puddle of milk lay next to the cereal, having already bled down the side of one of the cabinets. The toast crumbs and blobs of jelly completed the picture.

BOOK: Prejudice Meets Pride
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