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  Ida glanced at the slow cooker on the dining room table. “What are you making for lunch?”

  “I’m melting canned chili and a block of cheese together for a dip. I bought chips.”

  “I can do that for you. Dad can’t fuss about me messing that up.”

  Karli stared at her, surprised. “Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.”

  “Idle hands are the devil’s plaything. Besides, if it gets you out of here faster, I’m a volunteer.”

  Karli rolled her eyes. She should have known. While Ida fiddled with lunch, Karli got her wood block, wrapped in rough sandpaper, and got busy. By noon, she’d made a lot of headway.

  When they carried Axel’s lunch to him, he eyed it warily. “What the hell is it?”

  “A Mexican dip and chips,” Karli told him. “We have celery and carrot sticks, too.”

  He grunted, but managed to eat everything on his tray. “Are you making real food for supper, or will we get party food for that, too?”

  “Don’t push it, old man. I already told you we were having catfish.”

  His face brightened. “My mom always fixed grits with fish.”

  “Grits?” He was out of luck. “I’ve never made those.”

  Ida let out a long-suffering sigh and came to stand in the doorway. “I can make them if you’d eat them, Dad.”

  Axel struggled for a minute, then nodded. He must really love grits. “Enough for everybody?”

  Ida shook her head in disgust, but didn’t argue with him.

  By suppertime, Karli had finished sanding the cupboards and cleaning the kitchen. Then she cooked the fish while Ida stirred the grits. Axel was excited enough, she even wheeled him to the dining room for supper. When the five of them finished eating, he leaned back in his chair and grinned. “Just as good as my mom’s. This was a meal to remember.”

  Sylvie raised a warning eyebrow to her sister. “I’ll cook for Dad tomorrow night.” She glanced across the table at him. “What do you wanna eat on Saturday, old man?”

  “Why? Are you ready to kill me off?”

  Axel was back to normal form. Karli wasn’t completely comfortable with the happy man who lavished them with compliments. She looked at him. “What are some of your favorite meals?” She’d have never thought of grits. She wondered what his mom had cooked for him.

  “Sausages, potatoes, and green beans in a pot. Ham. Tuna casserole. Vegetable soup, fried chicken, and chicken à la king.”

  “I can make tuna casserole,” Sylvie said. “I’ll do that.”

  “Can you add grease to it somehow?”

  She scowled. “No, so you might survive.”

  He rubbed his forehead, and Karli realized he must be getting tired. “I’ll get you back to your bed, then you can relax.”

  Kurt stood. “That was a great meal. I can take him back and get him settled.”

  Karli stared. Had a fairy sprinkled Axel’s kids with nice dust tonight? “Thanks.”

  While Kurt wheeled Axel to the back room, Karli got busy with clean up. Ida stayed to pitch in, but Sylvie disappeared upstairs to her room and TV, as usual.

  “Did you bring a TV here, too?” Karli asked Ida as she washed the dishes and passed them to Ida to rinse and dry.

  Ida nodded. “You weren’t here when I carried everything in, but I brought lots of books, too. I don’t believe either my sister or Kurt read. I’d be lost without my daily devotionals.” She arched an eyebrow at Karli. “You read, but it’s all drivel.”

  “I read to relax and unwind.” Karli handed Ida the last plate.

  “Our minds need to be constantly challenged and improved upon. That doesn’t happen with mysteries and romances.” Ida quickly washed her hands and dried them, then gave the kitchen one more critical scan. “We’re finished. I’m going upstairs. I don’t like seeing your friend Keagan. He coddles Dad too much.”

  “Keagan’s the person who called to tell us that Axel needed help, that he couldn’t take care of himself anymore.”

  “He’s a mailman. That’s what they do.” Ida straightened the towel before she left the kitchen. Karli stared after her. Sometimes it felt as if there was a nice person buried in her somewhere, but Karli couldn’t be sure.

  Keagan knocked on the door a half hour later, and Karli pulled on her heavy jacket. They walked to the barn together, and Keagan showed her how to work the sander. He’d brought his dad’s with him, so they could both work at the same time.

  They made small talk between working on the doors. She asked, “How’s your family? Did they get the fields plowed they wanted to?”

  He nodded. “Marcia’s twins got sick, and then Stuart caught it, so Dad had to do most of the work, but they finished them.”

  “The flu?” At the hospital, the patients usually swarmed in later than this—usually in late January and February. She’d worked with sick patients a long time, but if it was a new strain of flu, she still caught the damn stuff, and it made its way through the floor until most nurses had suffered through it.

  He nodded. “Mom always says kids are little germ breeders. When they get sick, their loved ones catch it. I’ve been staying away. I love them, but not enough to risk losing vacation days.”

  She laughed. There was a lot of truth to that. “How’s Brad?”

  Keagan grinned. “He went to Chase’s bar tonight to meet Kendall. We should double with them sometime. Kendall’s a nurse, too, in Bloomington. Works ER. She grew up in Mill Pond, but she was younger than us. Her parents live here.”

  Karli stopped sanding to glance up at him. He was studying her. “There’s a hospital in Bloomington?”

  “A small one, not as exciting as the patients you see in Indy.”

  He was throwing this out to gauge her reaction, but she didn’t know how she felt about it. She loved the rush of big hospitals. Would she be bored if she only had three patients with mundane health problems? She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know if I’d like working in a Band-Aid hospital.”

  “Band-Aid?”

  “You know, common ailments and health issues. On my floor, if a patient doesn’t have at least three tubes, he’s moved out.”

  Keagan nodded. “I get it. You like the adrenaline. I wondered about that.” He turned his attention back to sanding.

  She had the definite feeling he’d thrown her some bait, and he didn’t think she’d taken it. She hadn’t. She didn’t want to face this yet, didn’t know what she’d do when she had to make a decision.

  Chapter 36

  Keagan came early on Saturday morning, and as promised, he brought donuts—enough for everybody. Kurt grabbed three out of the box before anyone else even had a chance to pick one. Karli carried the box back to Axel, and he took a bear claw, looking happy with himself. She gave him a small carton of cottage cheese, too, in case the donut didn’t satisfy him very long.

  She and Keagan each drank a cup of coffee while they ate theirs, then they bundled up and headed to the barn. Karli had never used a spray gun before, and it took her a while to feel comfortable with it. Too much spray, and the paint ran. Too little, and the coverage was spotty. But once she got the hang of it, she was happy with the results. The doors were a gleaming white. Once they dried, she’d bought new hardware for them. Keagan volunteered to put them on later.

  “We can paint the cupboards indoors while these dry,” he told her.

  “Inside and out?”

  “It looks better if the interior and exterior match, but I vote we wait on that. It’s a serious undertaking.”

  They decided to stop for lunch. Karli gave Kurt the keys to her Dodge and enough money to buy pizza. Once again, they collected around the dining room table. Keagan got Axel into his wheelchair and brought him to join everyone else while Karli put out paper plates and napkins. Ida and Sylvie helped with drinks. When Kurt walked in the house
, carrying four stacked boxes, he looked happier than usual.

  “You even ordered bread sticks. Three large pizzas and bread sticks.”

  It didn’t take much to make Kurt happy.

  “I haven’t been out of this place since my car died. It felt good to go to town.”

  Karli stared at him. “Your car died? Like in dead?”

  He nodded. “I haven’t had the money to keep it up. It wasn’t great when I bought it, but it got me here.”

  Ida stared at him. “How are you going to get home?”

  “I’m not leaving till Dad dies. I’ll have money then.”

  Karli glanced at Axel, wondering how he’d take that, but he seemed fine.

  Keagan took a seat and sighed. He tossed a telling glance at Karli.

  Ida caught the look and her lip curled. “Don’t be so full of yourself. If you could collect on your parents’ cash, wouldn’t you?”

  Axel reached for a slice of pepperoni pizza and grimaced. “He just gave his parents all his savings. You’re preaching to the wrong person.”

  “How much?” Ida asked.

  “Fifty thousand.” Axel waited for her reaction.

  Her eyes went wide. She looked at Keagan as if he were an alien life-form. “You gave your parents your money?”

  “They’ll pay me back.” He chose a slice of chicken club.

  She shook her head.

  Axel tried to look innocent, but failed, when he asked her, “You spend a lot of time with the scriptures. Isn’t it better to give than to receive?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Didn’t know you’d ever cracked open a Bible.”

  “There’s lots that you don’t know, and let’s keep it that way.”

  Her glare turned frosty, but Sylvie shook her head, bored by the whole conversation. “Quit with the drama already. I got my tuna casserole done this morning like you asked me to, so you can have the kitchen now.”

  Karli jumped on that, anxious to move to a new topic. “No one will want to be in there while we paint. I’ll crack a window so the smell isn’t so bad. We’ll wait till you put the casserole in the oven to put the doors back up.”

  Ida snorted. “Why not wait till Sunday?”

  “Keagan’s going to take me out tomorrow, show me more of Mill Pond.”

  “Lucky you. It’s one boring, little town.” Ida’s tone was flat, unimpressed. “Do we have plans for Thanksgiving? Are you cooking it all?”

  “Keagan’s family invited me to their place. I was going to make a small turkey and buy a box of Stove Top stuffing mix for you guys. Nothing fancy.”

  “How thoughtful.” Ida looked at her dad. “Sylvie and I are here. Want a traditional meal?”

  “Are you paying?”

  Ida shrugged. “If Karli’s buying a turkey, she won’t mind tossing in a few more things.”

  “This was your idea. You can fork out money for the extras.” What was it with this family? No one wanted to spend a penny on the person sitting next to him.

  Axel surprised her by saying, “I’ll pay if you cook.”

  Karli stared. “Should I faint now or later?”

  Axel laughed. “I have a little money tucked away. Tell me how much you need, and I’ll get it to you.”

  Ida and Sylvie tossed ideas around until Kurt said, “We have to have pumpkin pie. Mom always made that.”

  Axel looked at him. “You remember that?”

  Kurt nodded. “Mom was no great cook, but she always went all out for the holidays.”

  Ida gave a derisive sniff. “I wouldn’t call it all out, but she at least made a real meal.”

  They made a menu while they talked.

  By the time Keagan got Axel back to his bed, the three siblings were writing out a grocery list. Karli left them to it and went to the kitchen to start painting. She and Keagan worked on the upper cupboards together, then he left to put the hardware on the doors while she finished painting the base units.

  Sylvie stepped into the kitchen at five. “It’s my turn. I need to cook.”

  “Be careful. The paint’s still wet.”

  Keagan helped her grab their gear and carted it to the barn to clean. Karli shot Keagan an enticing smile. “Sylvie’s making tuna casserole for supper. Want to stay?”

  He blanched. “That’s the one thing my mom makes that I avoid. It got too late to hang the doors tonight, so I think I’ll go home for a shower and change. How about you? Do want to stay for the casserole, or would you like to eat with me?”

  More time with Keagan? “Where are you taking me?”

  He caught her gaze and held it. “Name it, and we’ll go, but Brad’s meeting Kendall again tonight. I thought maybe I’d cook for you and we could stay in.”

  They’d have some alone time? Close to a bed? “When do you want me? Give me your address and I’ll be there.”

  “Brad leaves the house at seven. Does that work? I’m great at steaks.”

  “Steaks?” came a voice from the back room. Did Axel listen to everything they said? The old man sure hadn’t lost his hearing, even with a TV blaring in front of him.

  Keagan chuckled and called, “Can you even chew steaks?”

  “I’d gum them to death if I had to.”

  Karli shook her head. “Maybe I’ll make those the last night I’m here—a going away present.”

  “I’m an old man,” he told her. “Who knows how much longer I’ll be here?”

  “Good try.” But she’d already decided to buy the old fart some rib eyes, and he knew it.

  Keagan left, and while the others ate Sylvie’s casserole, Karli took a shower and dressed in clean jeans and a low-cut top. She took special care to wear a matching bra and panties, then applied makeup, but subtly.

  When she went to say her goodbyes, Ida was upstairs reading her devotionals and Sylvie was watching TV with Axel.

  “Where’s Kurt?” Had he decided to take a shower, too? Miracles did happen.

  Sylvie nodded toward the barn. Its double doors stood open. “He took Dad’s pickup to drive to town for beer. He’s getting me some, too.”

  Karli turned to Axel. “When did you stop driving?”

  “When they took away my damn license. That truck was six years old when I bought it, hardly any miles on it. Had a stroke five months after I got it.”

  A stroke. New information. “Have you had any more strokes?”

  “A few small ones, but I take my meds. Get poked for lab draws when the guy shows up. I’m doing better, but I have a bad ticker. The doc still won’t let me drive.”

  “Then it’s probably good somebody’s using the truck. It’s not good for a car to sit too long.” She frowned. “I’m surprised Keagan didn’t tell me you’d had strokes.”

  “Boy doesn’t know. Never told him. He’d have fussed at me more. Don’t need that.”

  “Everyone knows everything in Mill Pond.”

  He grinned. “I told him the doc wanted to check me out because I was losing weight and couldn’t keep food down. I was doing okay back then. That satisfied him.”

  Karli frowned. “I called your doctor and asked about your meds and health, and he didn’t say anything.”

  “Can’t. Health records are private, and I signed that I wanted complete privacy.”

  He would. Could there be a worse patient than Axel? Karli sighed. “Well, I’m glad Kurt’s driving your truck for now. It’ll be good for both of them.”

  Axel snorted. “Like he cares about that.”

  Okay, he had her there. She’d guess Kurt was just overjoyed to find a vehicle he could use. She frowned. The last she’d known he was broke. He must have scraped up enough money for beer, or maybe Sylvie had pitched in.

  “You’d better get movin’ if you’re goin’ to have a hot steak,” Sylvie said. “But I make a mean tu
na casserole. You’d have liked it.”

  Maybe. Karli reached for her jacket and started to the door. “I’ll be home at a decent time.”

  On the drive to Keagan’s, she replayed their conversation. Sylvie had been anxious to get rid of her. Was she missing something? Was something going on Sylvie didn’t want her to know about? She shrugged. She wasn’t a caregiver for any of them. Not even Axel, really. He wouldn’t listen to her.

  It was ten after seven when she knocked on Keagan’s door. He lived in a nondescript, tall, narrow two-story. When he called for her to come in, she opened the door and followed his voice to the kitchen. Finally. Some time alone with him. Her stomach fluttered.

  A round, wooden table was set with dishes from his winter collection. A tossed salad sat in the center of the table in a beautiful bowl embossed with snowmen. She looked around, frowning. Where was Keagan?

  Her body quivered in anticipation.

  And then he stepped out of the pantry, wearing nothing but a long chef’s apron. His gorgeous, tight ass came in full view when he turned to open a can of black olives.

  She whooped out a laugh. “Aren’t you chilly?”

  “Thoughts of you kept me warm.” Thoughts of him sent heat through her veins. He put the olives on the table and stepped toward her. “Which do you want first? Steak or me?”

  She snorted. “Hard choice. You.” The way his apron was poking out in a certain spot made it easy to decide.

  His crooked smile made her heart lurch. Taking her hand, he led her upstairs and turned into the bedroom on the left. It was tidy. Period. She’d expected pictures on the wall, artistic touches. Nothing.

  He went to pull the blinds, and she stared at his perfect fanny. The man’s body was a thing of beauty. He came to her and pulled her close. He bent his head and his lips brushed hers. “You’re overdressed. Here. Let me help you out of those.”

  His fingers gripped the bottom of her knit top and lifted it over her head. His lips skimmed her neck, the hollow at the base of her throat, and lowered to sprinkle kisses above her bra. Pricks of pleasure burst through her, and he pushed her against the wall. He reached to unhook her bra and drop it to the floor, then his mouth took her breast so his tongue could play with her nipple. She couldn’t breathe.