Hey Gang! First off, my apologies for all the extra alerts for those of you who are getting them, my computer wasn't cooperating with the system yesterday, kept deleting the the changes that I made (more than likely operator error). Anyway, thanks for all the kind words and I hope that you enjoy chapter 3!Beauty is Only Skin Deep

Chapter 3

The following morning, Bo got up early and did his chores as fast as he could. After eating breakfast, he asked his uncle if he could borrow the truck once again, not knowing what Maddie would need to pick up at the store. He was just headed out the door when Luke caught him.

"Hey Bo, where ya headed off ta?" Luke asked, hoping to get his cousin to go fishing with him this afternoon.

"I'm goin' back over ta Maddie Weiss' house and help her fix her place up."

"You're gonna help her?" Luke asked with a skeptical look on his face.

Luke's look only caused Bo to laugh. "Well yeah," Bo answered knowing what his cousin was thinking. "Actually, I'll more than likely just be assisting her since she seems ta know what she's doin'. Do ya know that she's not only building a china cabinet, which is sure something ta see by the way, but she's also fixin' her house up too?"

"What's she doin'? Puttin' on a new addition?" Luke joked.

"Not quite, but she sure knows her way around patchin' up the walls, fixin' up the trim, paintin', the whole works."

"You sound impressed," Daisy laughed as she walked up behind them, overhearing their conversation as she got closer.

"I am," Bo smiled back. "Ya should see some of the stuff she's made. That girl has some talent."

"Well I'm glad that ya two are hittin' it off. Why don't ya invite her ta dinner tonight, that way she won't have ta worry about cookin' anythin' after workin' hard all day," Daisy ordered the younger man.

"I'll do that," Bo grinned. "Hey Luke, why don't ya come with me. She's a real nice girl and I'm sure you'll be impressed with what she can do."

Luke looked at Bo for a moment, seeing how excited he was about helping his new friend, and then nodded. "Alright, let's go," he smiled, anxious to meet the latest girl that caught his cousin's attention.

The two of them jumped into the truck and took off down the road. Five minutes later, they arrived and Bo got out of the truck and ran up to the door. He just barely finished knocking when the door opened. "Hey Bo!" Maddie smiled at her new friend.

"Hey Maddie!" he beamed back and saw that she was slightly out of breath and had a flustered look on her face. He also saw that she noticed that someone else was standing behind him. "Maddie, I'd like ya ta meet my cousin Luke. Luke this is Maddie Weiss."

"Nice ta meet ya, Maddie," Luke said as he held out his hand.

"Maddie grinned, wiped her hand on her pant leg, and then shook his hand. "Good to meet you too, Luke. Why don't you guys come on in for a moment? I could use your help with something."

"Usin' us already?" Bo quipped as they followed her into her house.

"Yep. Need some strong muscles to help loosen a stubborn bolt for me," she chuckled as she led them to a small bathroom. "There," she said as she pointed to the pedestal sink. "I've been trying since this morning to loosen it but it won't budge for me."

"What are ya tryin' ta do?" Bo asked as she handed the wrench to him, understanding now why she looked that way.

"Need to get the sink out of the bathroom for a few days while I work on the walls. It's a lot easier when everything is not in the way."

"I thought…ya said that…ya didn't do…plumbing?" Bo grunted as he tried to loosen the stubborn bolt.

"This is just sprucing up the place. Plumbing is running new pipe, connections, and soldering copper tubing together."

"Oh," Bo said as he stopped to take a breath. "Boy, you're right. This thing is on tight."

"Let me take a stab at it, Bo," Luke smiled as he grabbed the wrench from his cousin's hand.

"Sure Luke, let's see what ya got," Bo laughed as he watched Luke strain as he took his turn.

"Give me…a hand here, Bo," Luke yelled out, shifting his stance so that Bo could get his hands on the wrench. Together, the two of them finally managed to loosen the stubborn bolt.

"You two are miracle workers," Maddie cried out as she smiled back at them.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Luke panted out due to the workout but still blushed at the compliment.

"Believe me, you are. I didn't think that I would ever get that loosened. I was getting ready to hacksaw the thing off."

With a quick tug, the sink was pulled away from the wall and the two men carried it out to the other room. "Where would you like this thing?" Luke asked as he looked around at all the stuff lying about.

"Just put it here for now," Maddie replied as she placed an old towel down onto the floor for protection.

Once the sink was on the floor, Luke turned around and saw all the work that Maddie had done to the house. Turning some more, he saw some of her projects. "Wow! You made all that?" Luke asked.

"Yep."

"Told ya she was good," Bo grinned with pride.

"I hate to admit that Bo was right, but ya do good work, Maddie," Luke said in awe. "I've fiddle around makin' some stuff like that but your stuff is really good."

"Thank you, Luke."

"Wait 'til ya se her workshop, cousin," Bo said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her slightly.

"Workshop?"

"Yeah, it's out in the barn."

"Can we take a look?"

"Sure," Maddie nodded, feeling very comfortable having these two men in her house. Just like Bo said, she was beginning to like Luke as much as she liked Bo. "Come on."

Leading the two men, she headed outside towards the barn. Opening the door, they entered and she flipped the switch bringing the lights to life. Luke's eyes widened as he took in the machines that she had.

"Wow. You've got a regular mill here don't ya?"

"Not quite. Just enough equipment here to help keep me out of trouble or get me into trouble depending on how you look at it. I figure the more I work, the less I miss my home."

Luke looked at her and saw the longing in her eyes. "Where's home?"

"Pennsylvania," she answered sadly before shaking her head and smiling. "Anyway, Bo here volunteered to help me finish my china cabinet and when I'm done with it, he also volunteered you and another guy named Cooter to help me move it."

"He did, did he?" Luke asked as he looked at his cousin out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, Bo's good at volunteerin' my help."

"If you don't want to, you don't have to," Maddie quickly said, hoping that she didn't get her new friend in trouble.

"Now I didn't say I wouldn't help," Luke grinned.

"Don't worry Maddie, he'll help," Bo chuckled. "Say Luke, take a look at the cabinet."

Bo showed Luke the object that he was talking about and he whistled in appreciation. "Ya really should do this for a livin', Maddie. This is really nice."

"Thank you Luke, but I'm afraid that I'm not that good to go into business for myself."

"Ya could've fooled me," Luke replied.

"I'm not exactly an expert and besides, it's taken me quite a while just to make that."

"Well as they say, perfection takes time," Bo smiled.

"I appreciate the compliments, but I think I'll just do this as my hobby instead," Maddie grinned.

"Well, why don't we head ta the hardware store and get what ya need ta finish this thing," Bo said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders again. "Then we'll come back here, do some work on your house, and then the three of us will head over ta our place where Daisy and our Uncle Jesse will have supper waiting for us."

"I can't barge in like that," Maddie protested. "In fact, I should be the one feeding you two."

"We won't take no for an answer," Luke countered. "Besides, our Uncle Jesse would be very disappointed if ya turned us down. Now what do ya say?"

"Well…I guess I can't disappoint your uncle and besides, it will be nice having a home cooked meal instead of something I had to buy from one of the restaurants on my way home from work."

"You can't cook?" Bo asked, almost disappointed at the thought.

"Oh, I can cook but not with the way my kitchen is at the moment," Maddie sighed. "Hard to cook anything when your stove isn't connected."

"Well then, you'll be in for a real treat," Luke answered as he held out his arm for her to take. "Come on. The sooner we get ta the store the sooner we can get back here and help fix your place up."

"I never thought that I would have my own personal escorts for a trip to a hardware store," Maddie smiled.

"Darlin', this is Hazzard and anythin' is possible here," Bo laughed as Maddie wrapped her other hand around his proffered arm, sandwiched in between the two of them.

"I think I'm going to like it here," she said as they headed out the door.