The Best Is Yet to Come (38)

“No need.” Cade was quick to brush aside the offer. He wasn’t doing this for the money. He’d been looking forward to the project. From the time he could remember, he’d loved taking things apart and learning how they worked and then reassembling them. He was good with his hands and figuring out problems. His father had never understood that part of Cade. In fact, Cade felt his father had never understood him at all.

Preston wasn’t hearing it. “I’ll give you what I feel your time is worth and I won’t accept an argument. Fair is fair.”

“Okay, fine,” Cade reluctantly agreed, “but you aren’t paying me for putting in the door for the dog.”

“Agreed.” Preston nodded, accepting the deal.

They chatted for a few minutes longer before Preston returned to the house.

Cade had removed the rotted railing when he noticed Shadow quickly coming to his feet. “What is it, boy?” Cade asked.

The words had barely left his mouth when Hope’s car turned the corner and parked in her spot beside the cottage. He wondered where she’d gone and been disappointed when he arrived to find she wasn’t home. She knew he was coming, and he was a bit annoyed that she’d left.

Hope was all smiles as she climbed out of the vehicle. Cade noticed a Bible in her hand, which gave him the answer. She’d been to church. It’d been a good many years since his figure had darkened a church door. As a kid, his mother had faithfully attended and dragged him along to Sunday school class. He remembered he’d been awarded a Bible for memorizing the names of all sixty-six books that made up the Bible. He had no idea where that was now and guessed it was stored somewhere in his old bedroom closet. His father had never been interested in faith or religion, so it came as no surprise that his mother attended alone.

“Cade,” Hope said, “I wanted to be back before you returned. I didn’t keep you waiting long, did I?”

“Not long at all.” His slight irritation immediately evaporated. “Preston got me started and I have everything I need.”

She lingered outside for a few minutes, petting Shadow’s head as he came to stand at her side. “Do you need me to do anything?” she asked.

“Nope,” he said with an easy smile. “Got it under control.”

“Okay. I’ll change clothes and put something on for lunch.” She bounded up the few stairs and ever-faithful Shadow followed behind her. It came to him that the shelter had aptly named him. Hope’s pet had become her shadow, following her wherever she went.

Now that he had everything gathered, Cade went to work. Just as he finished measuring and cutting the two-by-four to nail into place, he felt the first drops of rain. He didn’t let that deter him, as he continued pounding the new railing into place.

A couple minutes later, Hope appeared in the doorway in jeans and a plaid shirt with a red sweater vest. She’d changed out of black slacks and a wool blazer. The easy transformation from a fashionable sophisticated woman to a down-home country girl got his attention. He liked both versions.

“Get out of the rain, soldier boy, lunch is ready.”

Cade grinned and joined Hope and Shadow inside the cottage. The table was already set. She had toasted cheese sandwiches on a plate and was dishing up steaming bowls of tomato soup.

Cade washed his hands and sat down. Already his mouth was watering. He was hungrier than he realized. All too often he subsisted on take-out or something prepackaged. He had to admit his diet wasn’t the best.

“I could hear you whistling,” she said, as she carried the first bowl to the table.

Hearing that was news to him. “I was whistling?”

She paused before placing the bowl down. “It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place the tune.”

Cade didn’t remember doing that. He hadn’t whistled since he was a teenager. Talk about childhood regression. Then he remembered he was always happy when he whistled, and there was a song he’d always loved.

“It might have been an old Roger Whittaker tune. I used to whistle ‘The Last Farewell,’ but that was ages ago.”

“That’s the song! I’ve always loved that one. It’s so romantic, the sailor going off to war.”

“Trust me, there’s nothing romantic about war,” he felt obliged to remind her.

She sat down across from him. “I realize that more than you know.”

He wasn’t sure what she meant, and while momentarily tempted, he didn’t question her. It seemed they each had their secrets. She didn’t pry into his, and he refused to pry into hers. With a brother who was currently serving in the military, she was of course well aware of the ugliness of war.

His phone rang just as they were finishing lunch. Checking, he saw that it was Silas from his therapy group.

“Cade here,” he answered.

“Hey,” Silas said, sounding upbeat and cheerful. “You get things squared away with that woman you mentioned?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Silas didn’t stop to question his response. “I met someone myself.”

“Good going, man.”

“We’re going to meet later at The Logger around five. I wanted to know if you and your lady friend would like to join us.”

Cade didn’t correct him by explaining that Hope wasn’t officially his girl. But he realized he quite liked the idea of being linked with her. At this point they’d been together only a few times, yet he was more at ease with her than he had been with anyone in a long time.