Hadley watched as he carried the ladder and bucket up the stairs.She listened as he apparently set up the ladder in the bedroom and then moved into the hallway to pull down the folding attic stairs.She tracked his movements through the house with every noise and tried to imagine the cause.
Nervous because she dreaded the outcome and what he might find, she hurried back to the kitchen and took another sip from her glass.Cooking had never been her favorite thing to do, though she had a few go-to meals she could whip up that seemed to easily impress.
Hadley put the pasta on to boil and found a small pot for the peas and a large pan to make the Alfredo sauce.The chicken came last, and she spied a dusty indoor grill on Nan’s pantry shelves and decided to resurrect it, liking the balance of grilled chicken on something so delicious but unhealthy.
She was lost in the process of carefully stirring in the fresh grated cheese when Bryson cleared his throat behind her and she whirled.“Oh!Oh, my… I didn’t hear you come downstairs.”
After a while, she’d started to tune out the bangs and thumps because there were so many of them.
“Sorry.Didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, flashing her a handsome smile.
She blinked at the thought.Handsome?“I-It’s fine.I was lost in my own little world.So?Your expression doesn’t look promising,” she said, studying him.“How bad is it?”
He grimaced a bit.
“It could be worse,” he said as though trying to appease her.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I’d say you’re looking at a minimum of a few thousand dollars or so in repairs, but it doesn’t look like it’s been leaking long.We had some storms roll through a couple of weeks ago with some wind, and I’d say that’s when it happened.I didn’t see any signs of infestation, but the area definitely needs fixed as soon as possible to prevent it from happening.”
A few thousand.Just the beginning of more?“How soon can you fix it?I mean, you’ll fix it.Right?”
Maybe it was presumptuous of her to assume but…
Once again Bryson flashed her the slow, handsome smile she’d come to know as his.
“You don’t want to get a couple of estimates?Do some comparison shopping?”
She knew she should but her gut told her she could trust him.The fact that Nan had trusted him gave her the added confidence she needed to move forward.“No.If you rip me off, you’re the one who has to live with yourself.”
Bryson chuckled at her statement.“Okay, then.I’ll, uh, have to get some materials and order the metal to match, but…I can do the repairs once all the supplies are in.”
Relief poured through her.The man seemed legitimate, and while she still planned to check with her neighbor regarding his work, only because she knew she’d be stupid not to, she felt as though a weight had been lifted from her.“Thank you.Really, thank you so much.Oh!Have you had dinner?I’m not really hungry but I was nervous at what you’d find, so I cooked.You’re more than welcome to stay and have some.It’s the least I can do for you coming over here like this.”
He looked surprised by the offer but readily nodded.“Ah, yeah.That smells great, actually.If you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.It’s a Nan recipe.She taught me to make it when I was a kid.”
“Sure beats grabbing another cold sandwich before going home.”
“The, uh, powder room is just through there if you want to wash up while I finish things,” she said, turning toward the cabinets to get plates and glasses and utensils.
The sauce was perfect, so she turned it off after another thorough stir and pulled the garlic toast from the oven, then set about filling plates.Bryson reentered the room just as she carried them to the table.
“That looks amazing.”
“Thanks.What would you like to drink?”
“Whatever you’re having is fine.”
She poured another glass of wine and carried his glass and the almost empty bottle to the table, going back once more for the small basket of bread she’d covered with a towel to keep warm.
Bryson waited for her to sit before taking his seat and lifting his glass.
“To Georgia.”
Her heart squeezed as she clinked her glass to his.“To Nan.”