Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
“Is this the Ryan’s House project?”
I nodded. “It is. How can I help you?”
The man extended his hand. “Charlie Nolan. I’m volunteering.”
I set down the box of tile and shook. “Good to meet you, Charlie.”
He gestured to the tile and then my car, which was parked out front. “You got more of those in there?”
“About a dozen.”
Charlie nodded. “Let me put my bag down, and I’ll give you a hand.”
“Thanks.”
The new volunteer and I carried in the rest of the tile. When we were done, I smacked dirt from my hands. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”
“Were you at the last project?” he asked. “The one in Jersey?”
“I wasn’t. Did you volunteer for that one, too?”
Charlie nodded. “I live in New Brunswick. Well, I used to anyway.”
“Do you live here now? Upstate New York?”
He shook his head. “Not really. I’m sort of floating these days. A couple days here, a couple days there…”
It hit me where I’d seen Charlie before. Yesterday when I’d arrived, I’d parked my Porsche in a remote area of the parking lot—so it wouldn’t get dinged by a big truck opening its doors. There had been a homeless guy setting up a cardboard shanty in the grassy area right behind me. I’d waved, but kept going.
“Well, we’re glad to have you here. Do you mind if I ask what brought you to volunteer at Ryan’s House?” It was a question I asked everyone. Some people just looked for a project to help out with, but the majority of our volunteers had a story—a reason they donated their time to a cancer-related charity. And those people liked to share what had brought them.
“My wife had cancer. Bone,” he said. “She passed a year ago. While she was sick, we spent a lot of time in Texas, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, so Arlene could get some experimental treatments. Traveling, living expenses, and the cost of the uncovered medical bills wiped us out. I had to sell our little house in Jersey to keep up. Lost my job as an accountant after my family leave time was over. Not long after my Arlene died, I read an article about Ryan’s House. I don’t have a single regret about going through our savings and losing our house and my job. I’d do it all over again to have that time with her. But…if someone else doesn’t have to go through what I did? That’s a cause I can get behind.”
“Wow. I’m very sorry for your loss. It sounds like you’ve been through a lot.”
Charlie nodded. “It was a rough few years, but things are starting to look up. And I owe a lot of that to Ryan’s House. For a while after my wife died, I’d sort of given up. No wife, no home, no job…it’s easier to succumb to self-pity than to fight your way through the losses. Building the last project made me feel useful again. Made me remember, I might be sixty-one, but I’ve got a lot to offer still. Even have a job interview lined up for next week.”
“Good for you.”
Our conversation was interrupted when Alex and Chad came back in. I introduced everyone and told Charlie to stick with Alex. Something told me she’d be good for him. Then the appliance delivery came, and before I knew it, most of the morning was gone. I wasn’t sure if it was Charlie’s positive attitude that had brightened my day or the coffee, but I felt like less of a curmudgeon by the time I found Alex alone in the hall bathroom taking measurements.
She scribbled a number on her notepad and stuck the pencil behind her ear with a smile. “Hey. Feeling better than this morning?”
“I am now.” I closed the bathroom door behind me. The room grew smaller.
“You look tired.” She tilted her head. “Did you really not sleep well?”
“Nope. Slept like shit. You said you slept like a baby though, huh?”
Alex’s cheeks heated. “I did.”
I took a step closer. “Oh yeah? Anything you did before you fell asleep that helped?”
“Nope,” she answered, waay too quickly.
I leaned so we were nose to nose. “Liar.”
Her pink cheeks bloomed into a full face of crimson.
“Tell me what you did, Alexandria.”
She bit her lip. “You know what I did.”
“Maybe. But I want to hear you say it anyway.”
“Because you’re an egomaniac?”
“Because I had to go to bed alone after you got me all worked up. Give me at least this little satisfaction.”
“Fine. I touched myself. Are you happy?”
I smiled from ear to ear. “Ecstatic.”
A knock at the door behind me interrupted our conversation. I opened it to find Chad. He tried to look around me to talk to Alex, but I wouldn’t move. Except to broaden my shoulders. Too bad I wasn’t a peacock, because I could’ve blocked his view entirely with my feathers.