last step, she put her hand in his. “You’ve got calluses.”
“Does that surprise you?” he asked.
“A little bit.” Even when they were making out on the church pew, she hadn’t noticed that his hands were rough. Working with computers all day should have made them soft.
“This week while you’ve been in your work cave, I’ve cut down several trees so Carmen will have something to work out her frustrations on, and I’ve done a lot of repairs around here. Got to admit, though, this is the first time I’ve had calluses since I was a teenager and helped Uncle Smokey build the wood shack just off the back porch,” he said.
“No wonder you’ve gone to the motor home right after supper.” Comparing Gerald and Luke was like comparing jalapeño peppers to grapes, but she couldn’t help it. Gerald had never been one to do much around the house except keep the lawn mowed when he was home. Other than that, he was all for paying someone to take care of it. And here was Luke, whose usual job was sitting in front of a computer all day, and yet he could repair a roof, build a shed, and cut down trees.
He dropped her hand when they’d walked across the living room. “Got to get washed up for supper.”
“Me, too,” she said. “I’ll take the kitchen sink. You can have the bathroom.”
With a brief nod, he went ahead of her. As he walked away, a streak of jealousy shot through her. Someday he was going to make someone a wonderful husband, and even though the relationship would be childless, they’d be so much in love, just like Smokey and Tootsie had been.
“Have you got all your work done for the week?” Carmen pulled off her apron and hung it on a hook beside the stove.
“Yep. Finished the last entry, so I’m free now.” Diana soaped up her hands and then rinsed them. “Need some help chopping wood?”
“You ever done that before?” Carmen asked.
“No, but I reckon you could teach me,” she said.
“Not tomorrow.” Tootsie came in from the dining room. “You’re going with Luke to Clarksville in the truck to get some more shingles, and while you’re there, y’all can go to the grocery store and fill the weekly list. Luke wants to finish up the roof on Monday since we change the time in another week. He wants to get it done before it starts getting dark earlier.”
“And I’ve filled the woodshed—there’s enough there to last through several more years when we come back here for the fall,” Carmen said.
“So this is going to be a yearly thing?” Diana asked.
“I’d love it if it were.” Tootsie beamed. “Maybe we could get Joanie to come down from Arlington for a few days while we’re here, and it could be like our own little family reunion.”
“Sounds great to me.” Joanie shoved her hands into a couple of oven mitts and took a bowl of macaroni and cheese to the table. “Maybe I can even bring Brett if he can get time off.”
“That would be even better,” Tootsie said. “These past weeks have been just what I needed to get through some of this grief. Y’all will never know how much all y’all being here has helped.”
Carmen raised her hand. “You can double the amount that it’s helped you. There wasn’t an ax at home or a huge pile of wood that needed to be split. Eli has no idea how lucky he is. I might have used the ax on his head instead of a stick of wood.”
“So you’re feelin’ better?” Luke asked as he entered the room.
“Oh, yeah.” She smiled.
Diana reached out and took a leaf from his hair. “You missed one.”
“Thanks. Guess the damsel in distress is helping out the knight this evening,” he said.
“What’s that all about?” Joanie motioned them into the dining room.
“I’m the knight who’ll save Diana from tornadoes. She’s the damsel in distress,” Luke explained.
“Yeah, right. I’m not a little wisp of a girl you can scoop up and put on the back of a white horse.” Diana took her seat at the table.
“I beg to disagree,” Luke argued. “If I remember right, I saved you from being beaten to death by hailstones when you fell after that last storm. I might not have put you on the back of a white horse, but I got you inside the house.”
“Seems like I recollect that.” Tootsie winked.
“A damsel can be any size and have any color hair.