My Twist of Fortune by Rayne, Piper (little red riding hood read aloud txt) 📗

Hank brings over a stool and swipes off any dirt on it. “Sit down. You deserve it.”

“Thanks.” I sit, still holding his light, and he goes back to work on the water heater. “I’m sorry about Jed. Up there. Unfortunately he has his dad’s ego.”

Hank doesn’t say anything for a moment. “I think all seventeen-year-old boys should be cocky right before the real world drags them down a level or two.” Another chuckle leaks out of him.

I sigh in relief. “True. Although I’m not sure Jeff ever got dragged down.”

He stops working and looks over. “He lost you, right?”

Something flutters in my stomach. “Technically he gave me up.”

“One day he’ll realize how stupid he was.”

“You’re still as sweet as ever.”

“And you’re still easy to be sweet to.”

All I can do is smile and hope he doesn’t see the flush I feel heat up my cheeks.

I watch him work for a while, the quiet of the room a nice change from my everyday life with a house full of kids.

“Ever wake up and think how did I get here?” I ask in a soft voice. I’ve envisioned what my life could’ve been without Jeff in the picture. I’d never take away the four blessings upstairs, but what would’ve happened if I’d never agreed to move to Arizona? If we would’ve raised our kids in the same small town where we grew up?

“After Laurie’s death, I’d be up late after the kids went to bed and think ‘How did I become a widower in my thirties?’ But usually a kid would wake up with a nightmare. I really just got Chevelle to sleep in her own bed this past year since the incident.” He doesn’t look as though he’s on the verge of tears.

“Where did you meet her?” I never really knew Laurie since she wasn’t from Sunrise Bay.

A smile comes to his lips. “She was from up north. Came here for school. We met in Psych 101.”

“And that was it, huh? You two were inseparable?”

He closes his toolbox, locks it, and faces me, crouching. “No. I wasn’t ready for a long time. We were study partners, turned friends, turned more. It was a slow process.”

I wonder what might have caused him to go so slow.

He shrugs and answers my thoughts. “I was kind of hung up on someone.”

“Oh.”

He raises his eyebrows at me, and I nod, remembering how close we became our senior year. Jeff was at college and had asked Hank to look after me. He did, but neither of us expected that feelings could develop between us. I denied them, but Hank wore them out in the open. In the end, I broke his heart by leaving for Arizona shortly after graduation.

I say nothing because sorry seems stupid. It’s been over twenty years and he’s had a happy marriage and a family in the time since then.

“When I found out you were returning, Laurie’s reaction flickered through my mind. What would she think if she was still alive? In a small way, I think she was jealous of you.”

I scoff. “As you clearly saw this morning, there’s nothing to be jealous of.”

He nods and stands to his full height, taking the light from my hands. The dim light coming from the bottom of the stairs becomes our only light source after he turns off the construction light.

“I should go,” he says. Something in his voice makes me think it’s like torture for him to be here with me.

“Okay.” I struggle for breath. Having him so near feels overwhelming in this moment.

Then he steps closer. Visions of his heated gaze this morning flicker to mind and I meet him halfway. His hand touches my hip and I turn into him, my face tilting up to meet his.

He bends down and my tongue slides out to wet my lips, preparing for him to kiss me. Just as my eyes are about to fall closed, he presses his lips to my cheek.

“I’m glad you’re back, Marla,” he whispers before stepping back and bending to retrieve his toolbox and light.

Then he’s waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me to go up first, and embarrassment floods my body that I actually thought he was going to kiss me. How stupid can I be? More than twenty years, a deceased wife, a divorce, and nine kids between us does not make for a romance.

We reach the top of the stairs and find Adam, Posey, and Mandi at the kitchen table playing Uno while Jed and Nikki are nowhere to be found.

“Would you like some pizza?” I ask.

“No, thank you. I have my chili waiting at home.” He lifts his toolbox. “I’m going to put this in the truck and then grab the old water heater. Do you think Jed could help me?”

“Oh, definitely. Yeah.” I walk away from him to the bottom of the stairs. “Jed!”

“What?” he calls down.

“Mist… Hank needs your help.” I look back. “Is that okay if he calls you by your first name?”

He chuckles, glancing up from the table. “Yeah. I guess we’re in uncharted territory here. I’ll be right back.”

Jed comes down the stairs and, surprisingly, helps Hank get the old rusty water heater out from the basement without offending anyone. Maybe because football wasn’t part of the conversation. Jed really is a good kid, but his arrogance at his athletic ability is grating, even to me. It’s all thanks to his father putting his only son up on a pedestal his entire life.

“Thanks, Jed,” Hank says after they come back in.

“Sure thing.” Jed runs up the stairs.

Since the kids are almost done with their current hand, Hank and I stand uncomfortably in the kitchen, waiting, cloaked in awkwardness.

“I see you got the concession stand volunteer form.” Hank points at the papers on the fridge.

“Yeah. I’m dreading it.”

He nods. “How do you think I feel? I’m the only dad who does it, and I always get stuck with Donna Sullivan.”

“At least it’s not Donna Demonte. I ran