like this. She braced herself to apologize as the car door opened, and then went still.
“Julie? Is that you?”
Her apologetic smile froze in place as Blaine Purvis stared at her in horror.
“Blaine? What the heck are you doing here?”
* * *
Kaiden was whistling as he drew up outside the Garcia house. His dad had been more than amenable to his rebuilding the chicken house, and had even helped load the lumber into the back of Kaiden’s truck before sending him off with a hearty slap on the back. Sometimes, catching his dad in his mellow mood right after church worked out well.
Kaiden checked out the fancy silver Lexus parked up alongside Juan’s truck and wondered who on earth it belonged to. He’d sent Juan a couple of contractor names to consider bidding for the conversion, but neither of them were wealthy enough to own such a nice car. He surreptitiously peered inside and saw what looked like rental paperwork stuffed into the center console.
When no one answered his knock on the front door, he decided to walk around to the kitchen entrance, which came in through a mudroom. The door wasn’t locked, but he used his manners and knocked again before entering. The smell of coffee and the sound of voices wafted toward him.
“Hey, Julia, I’ve brought the chickens,” Kaiden called out as he came through the door. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t realize you had a visitor.”
The man sitting opposite Julia at the kitchen table wore a fancy suit, had spiked, gelled, blond hair, and the discontented expression of a baby stuck in a wet diaper.
Julia turned to greet him, her expression unreadable.
“Hey, Kaiden.” She nodded at the man sitting opposite her. “This is Blaine from work. He decided to just turn up here and surprise me.”
Blaine gave Kaiden the once-over and obviously dismissed him as unimportant. “Hi, now, as to what I was saying, Julie.”
Julia rose from her seat. “Excuse me, Blaine. I really need to speak to Kaiden. Help yourself to more coffee if you want some.”
“But—”
Julia maneuvered Kaiden out of the kitchen and into the yard. It occurred to him that he’d never seen her look so coldly furious before.
“He just turned up?” Kaiden asked.
“Yes.” She kicked a rock so hard it ricocheted against the side of the house. “Demanding that I go through the damn presentation with him.”
“Can you say no?”
“He says that seeing as he’s here now, and his flight doesn’t leave until six, I might as well capitulate and help him or he’ll give me the worst employee evaluation report ever seen.”
“Surely he can’t do that?”
“Oh, he can.” She made a face. “And I don’t have the ability to tell him to stuff his job just yet because I need the money to get Dad set up.”
Kaiden grimaced. “Jeez, I’m sorry, Julia. This sucks.”
She straightened up. “If you want to go, that’s fine. I’m sure you can sort the chickens out another day.”
He gave her a pitying look. “I’m staying. I’m not the kind of guy to run out on a friend. Is there anything I can do to help while you deal with that asshole?”
The relief on her face was brief but unmistakable, reminding him that she’d rarely had anyone to lean on her entire life, and had made the best of it.
“If you could keep an eye out for my dad, and maybe let the priest in if he turns up?”
“I can do that.” Kaiden nodded. “Have you eaten yet?”
She picked at her filthy clothes. “Nope. I haven’t even had a chance to take a shower. Blaine showed up just as I was coming back from cleaning out the tack room.”
He’d never seen her so out of sorts. Kaiden grabbed her hand. “Come with me.”
“What are you doing?” Julia asked as he towed her back through the kitchen door and faced the idiot at the table.
“Hey, Blaine, Julia’s going to take a shower while I make some lunch for her and her father. Do you want anything?” Kaiden gave Julia a gentle shove in the direction of the door.
“He’s right, Blaine. I can’t concentrate when I’m damp and smell like a barn.” Julia smiled sweetly at him and then looked back at Kaiden. “I won’t be long.”
“But—”
Blaine started to speak, but caught Kaiden’s eye and subsided into his seat.
“Would you like some lunch?” Kaiden channeled his best Jeff Miller voice. “We’ve got ham, potatoes, and fried tomatoes on the menu.”
“I don’t, I mean, I prefer to eat plant-based meals.”
“So eat the potato