Prejudice Meets Pride Read online

  The corner of Kevin’s mouth pulled up, and he shook his head as though he couldn’t believe Emma was that clueless. He scanned the garage once more then strode forward and grabbed a rusted, metal T-shaped tool that hung between two nails. He carried it out into the front yard, squatted down, and pried off a green lid in the front corner of the grass. Then he plunged the end of the tool down, fiddled with it for a moment, and turned it slowly to the left.

  Emma watched in fascination. So that was the stop and waste valve. Huh.

  A spurting noise sounded, and little black tubes popped up all over the front yard, spraying a small amount of water only a foot or two in diameter. The girls squealed in delight, but Emma frowned. That wasn’t right.

  “What the—” Kevin spluttered, jumping off the grass and onto the driveway. His hair and shirt were drenched, and no wonder. A tall fountain of water shot from the ground in the far corner, landing in the place where he’d just stood. Ah, so that explained the pathetic pressure. One of the sprinklers was broken.

  As the girls rushed inside to get their suits, completely oblivious to Kevin’s sacrifice for them, Emma clasped her fingers over her mouth to muffle her laughter. For whatever reason, it was hilarious to see her dignified neighbor standing there, fully clothed and dripping wet.

  “You’re laughing because…?” He didn’t sound nearly as amused as Emma felt.

  Emma shook her head, trying to imply she wasn’t laughing, but a snicker sounded through her fingers, giving her away. She finally dropped her hand and let the giggles come. “Sorry, really, but—” Seriously, how could he not find this funny at all? Maybe if he saw himself in a mirror.

  “But what?”

  She shrugged. “I told you I knew how to read instructions.”

  His fingers raked through his hair, combing out some of the excess water. “And that’s the thanks I get for helping you out,” he muttered.

  “Hey, I told you I didn’t need your help, but you went ahead and gave it anyway, just like the other day,” Emma said. Maybe now he’d learn to listen to her.

  He took a few steps closer and pointed a finger in her direction. “You didn’t even know what the stop and waste valve was.”

  “I would have figured it out. Eventually.” After she’d figured out that it wasn’t the circuit breaker and made a call to the utility company. Maybe.

  Okay, fine, so she did owe him a thank you, but knowing that didn’t make it easy to say. What was it about him that made thank yous and sorrys so hard?

  “You’re right,” Emma finally said, forcing the words out. “I’m sorry.”

  Happy shouts sounded as Kajsa and Adelynn ran from the house and tossed dry towels on wet concrete. Emma couldn’t help but smile at their exuberance. It made her want to don her own swimsuit, toss her worries aside, and run through the sprinklers with them. Maybe Kevin was tempted to do the same. He watched the girls with amusement in his eyes as though he found them charming. It softened Emma’s heart.

  “Thank you,” she said to Kevin then gestured to the girls. “For this. You made their day—and mine.”

  Kevin’s deep brown eyes flashed to hers. “You’re welcome. And don’t worry about the broken sprinkler head. I can pick up a new one on my way home from work and fix it tonight.”

  He strode away, leaving Emma to gape after him. Would he never learn? The last thing she wanted was for him to buy something else and place her even deeper in his debt. “I don’t need your help!” she wanted to yell after him, but he was already climbing in his car.

  Her steps purposeful, Emma spun around and walked toward the garage. If anyone was going to fix that sprinkler head, it would be her. She had nothing better to do anyway.

  The afternoon sun warmed Kevin’s back as he carried a trowel and a bag containing a new sprinkler head over to Emma’s house. After spending the past six hours shut away in his office, going over numbers and managerial issues with Janice, being outside was a welcome change. He actually looked forward to getting his hands dirty and fixing that sprinkler head. For once, Emma hadn’t argued with him or turned down his offer to help. That had to be a good sign.

  What wasn’t a good sign were the filthy towels resting in heaps on her front porch, the toys that were scattered around the yard, and the driveway that had been graffitied with sidewalk chalk. Kevin sighed. He used to think having a dead yard next door had been lousy. Now he had a rotting car parked on the street and clutter everywhere else. Even pink flamingos couldn’t be worse than this.

  Kevin understood that kids could make a mess—his waiting room was a testament to that—but why didn’t Emma clean it up? Or, better yet, why didn’t she get the girls to do it? Instead, she’d left the mess for anyone to see.

  He crouched next to the broken sprinkler head, ready to start digging, only to realize that the earth around it had already been dug up and replaced. It wasn’t broken any longer. He frowned, feeling a prickle of annoyance. Why did she fix it when he had told her he’d do it? First the groceries, then the episode this morning, and now this. Kevin didn’t know what to think. He’d tried to be nice, tried to help her out, and had even gone out of his way to stop by Home Depot—for no reason. If she’d planned to switch it out herself, she could have at least told him so. He could be at the gym right now instead of staring at a yard that looked as though it was covered with the contents of a junk drawer.

  “Something wrong, Kevin?” Becky’s voice sounded from across the street.

  Kevin rose and turned, shaking his head as he crossed the street. “Just trying to make sense of our new neighbor.”

  Becky picked up her daughter’s bike and started wheeling it toward the garage. “What do you mean?”

  He lifted the Home Depot sack. “Do you happen to need a new sprinkler head? Because Emma doesn’t anymore.”

  “That was nice of you to go to the trouble.”

  “At least someone thinks so,” he muttered.

  A blond eyebrow quirked up. “Emma doesn’t?”

  “I told her I’d fix it after work, but when I got there, it was already done. I swear she did it to annoy me.”

  Becky chuckled as she pushed the bike into her garage.

  “And what’s the deal with the mess in her yard?” Kevin continued to vent. “How can she stand to leave all that stuff out there like that?”

  She waved off his concern. “I’m sure she’ll clean it later. She’s probably trying to get the girls cleaned up and in bed, and she’s got to be exhausted. She’s been hard at work all day.”

  “Doing what? Drawing stick figures on the sidewalk?”

  “No,” Becky said. “Weeding. Didn’t you notice the nice, clean flowerbeds or the bare patches in the grass where she dug up all the dandelions?”

  Kevin glanced back at the house, noting the absence of weeds. He suddenly felt like his mother’s son—a person who constantly zeroed in on faults and overlooked the good. It wasn’t a fun feeling, not when he’d spent his entire adult life trying to be the apple that didn’t land anywhere near his parents’ tree.

  “She’s been dealt a tough hand,” Becky went on. “You really should cut her some slack.”

  Kevin couldn’t help but wonder if the tough hand Becky referred to had been given to Emma or created by her. But he kept that thought to himself. He’d already come across as the insensitive neighbor, and he wasn’t about to worsen the image. He let out a breath. “You’re right. I didn’t mean to sound like a jerk. I’m just a little frustrated.”

  Becky smiled and rested her hand on his arm in a motherly way. “You might be able to help her out, you know.”

  Kevin scoffed. Help Emma out? Was she kidding? Wasn’t that what he’d been trying to do ever since he “met” her in the grocery store? Becky made it sound so easy, as though he could simply waltz right over and make it happen. But trying to lift one of Emma’s burdens was more like having to wrestle them away. She seemed to like them where they were.

  “Do you happen to have any
openings at your office?” Becky asked. “I know she’s into art and wants to teach, but all the calls I’ve made have come up empty, and she can really use a job.”

  So Emma was into art, huh. It made sense. Actually, that career choice fit her to a T. Kevin pictured her doodling away while the phone went unanswered or leaving his patients’ files strewn all over like the toys that now covered her lawn. Emma didn’t strike him as the responsible type, and Kevin wasn’t about to unleash someone like that on his practice. Besides, they were already fully staffed. “We don’t need anyone at the moment, but I’ll keep my eyes and ears open if I hear of someone who does.”

  “That would be great,” said Becky. “Thanks, Kevin.”

  She sounded as though she thought his offer had been sincere, which it hadn’t. Although Kevin felt bad for Emma’s plight, he could never, in good conscience, recommend her as a potential employee to anyone.

  Across the street, Emma’s front door opened. She emerged, looking beyond haggard. Her hair—or at least most of it—was held back in a messy bun, and her clothes looked rumpled and dirty. She glanced around her messy yard with a face that didn’t look the least bit excited to clean it up. Then she plopped down on the top step and dropped her chin to her hands. Becky nudged Kevin and nodded toward Emma, as though expecting him to do or say something to make her feel better.

  Ha. As if that would ever happen.

  Becky’s door opened behind them, and her husband called out, “Hey Beck, you’re missing the game of the century. Get in here. The Buffalos just scored their second touchdown.” He squinted past the porch lights at Kevin. “Oh, hi, Kev. Sorry, didn’t see you there for a second. Want to join us?”

  “Thanks, but I’ll pass. Sorry to keep your wife. She was just answering a few questions for me.”

  “I’ll be right in,” said Becky. “I need to close the garage, so I’ll come in through that door.”

  “Sounds good. Have a good night, Kev.”

  “You too.” The door shut.

  Becky offered Kevin a smile, then raised her voice to call across the street. “Night, Emma.”

  “Night,” came an automated response. Although Emma glanced their way, she looked lost in thought. Troubled.

  Becky disappeared inside, and as her garage door lowered to the ground, Kevin made his way across the street, still holding the trowel and the Home Depot bag. “I see you fixed your sprinkler,” he said when he reached Emma’s driveway.

  Emma startled and looked his way. Her body stiffened. “Oh, um, yeah. I found an extra one in the garage and figured I might as well learn how to fix it myself since it’s probably not the last time one of them will break.” She paused. “I watched a YouTube video.”

  Kevin held up the bag as he walked toward her. “I might as well give this to you anyway. My sprinklers are a different brand, and I’ll probably never get around to returning it.”

  Emma clasped her fingers together, looking uncomfortable. “I’m sorry you went to all that trouble, but please just take it back. I would have called you, but I didn’t have your number. And I figured you’d need to dig it up to see what type it was before you went to the store.”

  Kevin dropped down next to Emma and set the bag on the step between his knees. “I didn’t have to dig it up. They’re four-inch Rainbirds, right?”

  “How—”

  He gave her a sideways look. “Maude, the woman who lived here before you, didn’t mind accepting my help.”

  “Oh.” She dropped her gaze to the ground and nudged a piece of sidewalk chalk. “She was my great aunt, although I don’t remember her at all. But she left this house to my mom, who turned it over to me.”

  So Emma was here to stay for a while. Kevin wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “She was a wonderful lady who loved to garden. It’s crazy what a year of neglect will do to a yard.”

  “It’s only been a year?” Emma asked.

  “Her funeral was last fall. It was a sad day.”

  “I wish I could have known her. Even though we were related, I feel like I’m living in a house that doesn’t belong to me.”

  “You just need to make it yours. That’s what everyone does when they move into a house that used to belong to someone else. It’s what I did.” Kevin glanced at the lawn, with all the muddy holes from where she’d dug up dandelion roots. It looked worse than before, but the flower beds looked tidy, and with a decent cut and some edging, the lawn would be on its way to recovery as well. “I know the grass is dead, but you should still mow it,” Kevin said. “It’ll grow back more even and healthier if you do.”

  “I know,” said Emma. “I tried to do it today, but I couldn’t get the mower started. It probably needs a tune up.” She paused, her words sounding hesitant. “You don’t happen to have one I could borrow, do you? I’ll pay for the gas.”

  Did she really just ask him for a favor? Kevin suddenly felt like he’d won some sort of victory—albeit a short-lived one. “Sorry, no,” he said with regret. “I have a lawn service that comes every week.”

  Her eyebrow lifted, and a small smile touched her lips. “A lawn service, huh? Yeah, I can totally see why. Your lawn would take forever to mow.”

  Kevin cocked his head at her. “Did you just call me lazy?”

  “Who, me? Never.” She gestured toward her unkempt yard. “As you can see, I’m not in a position to accuse anyone of that, especially not someone who keeps going out of his way for me.”

  He leaned back against the step, resting his elbows behind him. “If you saw my backyard, you’d understand why I have a service. It’s huge, and I have better things to do than spend my entire Saturday morning taking care of it.”

  “Or are you just afraid of getting a little dirty?”

  Kevin pointed to the bag between his legs. “I’m sorry, but who was just about to dig up your sprinkler head?”

  “Touché,” she conceded. A hint of a smile crossed her face before she stood and started collecting sidewalk chalk. Kevin moved to pick up the pieces nearest him.

  “Oh, don’t worry about those,” she said. “I’m sure you’re as tired as I am.”

  “I can handle a few pieces of sidewalk chalk.” For some reason he couldn’t explain, Kevin was reluctant to leave. It didn’t make sense. In fact, nothing involving Emma seemed to make much sense.

  As Kevin tossed the last of the chalk in the small box she held, she caught his eye. “Listen, I know I might come across as a needy person, but I’m really not.”

  “I never said you were.”

  Her eyes took on a teasing quality that Kevin was beginning to like. “Actions speak louder than words.”

  “I’m just trying to be neighborly.”

  “And I appreciate it, I do,” she said. “But there’s nothing worse for me than being in someone’s debt, and I already owe you more than I can pay back at the moment, so no more groceries and no more sprinkler heads, okay?”

  In the light of the front porch, Emma looked so small, so vulnerable, so alone. Something tugged at his heartstrings, and before he could stop himself, he blurted, “What about a job offer?” He immediately bit his tongue, regretting the words. What was he thinking? Hadn’t he already decided that Emma would make a lousy employee?

  “What?”

  Kevin forced himself to continue. He couldn’t exactly take the offer off the table at this point. “I’m a pediatric dentist with an office not too far from here. We’ve been on the lookout for someone who can… uh… help us with some filing and phones and… other stuff.” The way the words came out made them sound made up, which they were.

  A spark of something resembling frustration lit up her eyes, making them look eerie in the twilight—another reason Kevin didn’t care for this time of day. “I thought I just told you that I don’t need your help.”

  “It’s a job offer, not a handout.”

  “Yeah right,” she muttered, her voice so quiet that Kevin could barely hear it. She glanced down and kicked a pebble with h
er shoe. “Thanks, but no thanks. Filing and phones aren’t really my thing.”

  Even though he could tell he’d offended her in some way, something akin to relief spread though Kevin as he took a step back, ready to get away from this crazy girl who made him do crazy things. At least now he could tell Becky he’d tried. He’d offered her a job, and she’d turned it down. That was that. “Okay, but if you change your mind, let me know.”

  “Will do.” Emma scooped up the dirty towels, and with the chalk in one hand and the towels in the other, she walked inside without a backward glance, not bothering to pick up the rest of the toys.

  Kevin sighed. Maybe he should offer to buy Emma’s house. Not only would that give her some much needed cash, but it would allow Kevin to pick his own neighbors from here on out.

  Emma leaned against the door as she tried to get her emotions under control. He’s just trying to be nice, that’s all, she tried to tell herself. But if that were true, why did she feel more pathetic than ever? The impromptu job offer had been extended out of pity and not for any other reason. The relief in his eyes after she’d turned it down was enough to make her stomach turn over.

  As tempting as it was to accept the job, Emma couldn’t. If she had to take a mundane job answering phones and filing paperwork, she would do it for a company who hired her based on her qualifications—not because someone felt sorry for her.

  Pushing away from the door, Emma tightened her fingers around the dirty towels as she headed for the laundry room. On Monday, she’d start the search for her own job—regardless of what it was—and prove to Kevin, the girls, her brother, and everyone else that she really could handle things on her own.

  Emma awoke to the sounds of a lawnmower and trimmer going to work on someone’s lawn—probably Kevin’s. She sat up and glanced at the clock then jumped out of bed and rushed down the hall to check on the girls. She hadn’t meant to sleep in, but she’d been up half the night tossing and turning, worrying about her ever increasing credit card balance.