Adelle leaped from her truck, yanking her keys out of the ignition as she flew. She darted into the Wheeler's garage hoping to find Tom. Not seeing Tom, she took a moment to chew on her nails.
"Tom?" She called out. Tom pulled his head out from under the car hood and saw Adelle's back. He grinned mischievously as he realized that she hadn't seen him.
"Didn't you finish your work here yesterday?" He asked as he stepped towards her. She screeched as she spun around in mid air.
"You scared me!" She said, accenting each word with a smack to his arm.
"What do you need?" Tom asked as he watched Adelle fidget.
"Do you know anyone who is artistically inclined?" Adelle turned back to chewing her nails while a thoughtful look crossed Tom's face.
"You want to know, why?" Tom's raised eyebrows were hidden behind his bangs.
"I'm between a rock and a hard place. A client wants to see some ideas for landscaping, and well, I can't draw to save my life. I need someone that can draw my ideas for me," she said quickly.
"Well, I would have to ask first. See if she's willing. I'll give you a call when I get her answer, okay?" He asked. Adelle just nodded and handed Tom one of her business cards.
"You are a life saver, Tom. Thank you," Adelle started towards her truck.
*****
Regan decided that he needed to talk to Tom. The image of that girl was haunting him. He figured since he helped run the estate, he had a right to know who came and went. Since he and Tom were pretty good friends, Regan figured that Tom wouldn't mention it if he started to blush while interrogating him.
Regan wasn't exactly paying attention to where he was going. He was trying to plan out what it was that he was going to say to Tom to sound nonchalant. Regan lifted his right hand to the back of his neck to massage the tension away.
Regan was just reaching the garage when someone collided with him. His arms flew around the person's waist to keep them, and him, from falling.
*****
Adelle had just left the garage, watching her feet as she went, when she walked into a soft, but solid, wall. Arms flew around her waist as she started to lose her balance. Startled, Adelle looked up into the most amazing green eyes she had ever seen, and her breath caught in her throat.
"Excuse me," the wall with green eyes said. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Adelle said breathlessly. She started to turn a brilliant shade of red and muttered, "I'm so sorry."
"Think nothing of it," he said in a deep voice with a smile.
"Adelle Bishop," she smiled, offering her hand.
"William Regan, but please, call me Regan," he blushed when he realized he hadn't let go of her yet. He brought his left arm back to his side as he shook Adelle's hand.
"So, you're the groom," Adelle said, not knowing what else to say.
"Yes, I am," Regan beamed proudly. Adelle looked longingly over Regan's shoulder at a little black horse in the pasture. "I saw you here yesterday. What is it that you do?"
"Landscaping and lawn maintenance," she said. "Speaking of," she slapped her forehead, "I should get going. I have a lot of work to do."
"What, a big company?" Regan inquired.
"Oh, no, just me. Uncle Andy started the business, and I'm taking over for him. I just have this new client down the road that I have to have sketches for soon, and I have to get planning." Regan nodded knowingly.
"Down the road? You mean Jim's school?" Adelle's eyes widened.
"That's the place," she smiled hesitantly. "You know James Frayne?"
"Oh, sure. Jim's family lives here," Regan gestured to the Wheeler's mansion. "They adopted him five years ago or so."
"Small world," Adelle said softly. Regan nodded in agreement.
Adelle was beginning to feel ridiculous, standing in the driveway, talking to a man that she bumped into. She slowly wandered towards the fence that lined the pasture. After staring out at the lone horse for a moment, she turned and narrowly avoided colliding with Regan.
"I really should get going," Adelle smiled up at him. Regan nodded and escorted her to her truck.
"So, when is the next time you are coming by?" Regan tried to sound casual.
"Next week sometime, I suppose," Adelle eyed the yard as she climbed into the cab of her truck.
"Okay, I'll see you then," Regan smiled and patted her arm that was resting in the open window. Adelle couldn't help but smile back at him.
"Well, bye," she sighed with a slight coloring of her cheeks.
*****
Adelle turned her truck towards home. Uncle Andy's home was her home, until she felt she was steady enough on her feet to get her own place. This way, she could also look after the old man still recuperating from his heart attack. She drove mindlessly, the truck seeming to know where to turn on its own.
Adelle walked into the house by the back door and put her purse beside the kitchen table. She wandered into the den, where she knew that her uncle would be watching whatever game show was on.
"Hey Uncle Andy," she said as she stooped to kiss his cheek. "How was your day?"
"Uneventful, as usual," he replied gruffly. Adelle smiled, he always tried to act gruff, but she knew that he was nothing but a big old marshmallow.
"What do you want for dinner tonight?" she asked, mentally going through the fridge.
"What any decent Irishman wants. Meat and potatoes!" Adelle hid a chuckle. They went through this almost every night. He always wanted red meat and potatoes, but he couldn't have a lot of red meat, not after just having had a heart attack.
Adelle nodded and headed into the kitchen to rustle up some dinner. She took chicken breasts from the fridge and looked in the American Heart Association cookbook. She settled on pesto-fried chicken, fast, easy and healthy. It took her ten minutes to get it into the oven. She then called out to her uncle that it would be an hour until dinner. She hurried down the hall to her room to change, and finish washing up.
As she walked by the den on her way to check the chicken, Andy called out.
"Some young man called you while you were gone. He said to give him a call back when you had a minute."
Adelle's heart jumped into her throat, her stomach tightening with the feel of butterflies, as her mind raced to the soft wall of a man that she ran into at the Wheeler Estate. Her stomach tightened with the feel of butterflies. She shook him from her head after a moment, and remembered that she was going to call Tom. She took the portable phone and continued to the kitchen, using the excuse of checking dinner to escape to a more private spot.
The phone rang three times. Adelle was about to hang up, when a breathless Tom answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Tom, hi," she hesitated then quickly added, "It's Adelle."
"Oh, great. I was wondering if I would hear back from you tonight."
"I just got home and started dinner when Uncle Andy told me you called."
"I spoke with the artist, and she said that she would love to help you any way that she can."
"That's great!" Adelle exclaimed; she lowered her voice, "When can I get in touch with her?"
"Celia says that she is free tomorrow morning after her morning chores. She'll be free around 9:30 or 10."
"That is wonderful. Thank you so much for your help. What can I do to repay you?"
"You don't have to do anything at all. Just being neighborly. Surely a Southern girl, born and raised, would understand that," Tom laughed.
"Completely. Thanks again, Tom, you're a peach. I'll let you get going, and I'll get back to fixing Uncle's dinner." They concluded their conversation with the proper pleasantries, and she hung up the phone.
"You find yourself a suitor?" Andy asked from the doorway with a mischievous grin.
"No, Uncle Andy. He's just a friend-a married friend-who is helping me out," Adelle turned away to hide the blush she felt creeping up from her neck to her cheeks.
"Then why are you red as a tomato?" Andy loved his niece dearly, so it was only natural that she be the victim of his relentless teasing. "You run into someone today that you have high hopes for?"
"Uncle Andy!" She scolded, turning a deeper shade of crimson. She tried not to relive the incident involving Regan, but she couldn't escape it. The feel of butterflies returned and she tried to ignore it. Uncle Andy had used the perfect words to trigger the memory.
"Mmmmhmm," Uncle Andy hummed with a cocked eyebrow and a grin. "When'll dinner be ready? I'm famished."
"It'll be ready when it's ready," Adelle chided. The oven timer chose that exact second to go off. She laughed and said, "I guess it's ready."
Author's notes:
I would like to take this time to thank my three wonderful editors, April W, Cathymw, and Amber. I would also like to thank Amber for persuading me to get to work :D she did a great job helping me right along!
I can't forget to add my thanks to my Dear Husband, Jeffrey, who is my computer man that has been handling my website for me. Doing a wonderful job of it too! *squish* thank you Jeffrey!
Disclaimer These characters are property of Random House Publishing. I am making no money from them, I only write because I love them.