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She turned to find a sleepy-eyed Mason standing in the bathroom doorway. “As soon as we get cleaned up,” she said, forcing herself to pull it together. She looked past her son. “Where’s your sister?”
“Waiting in the van,” he replied with a yawn.
Rolling her eyes, she started for the door. “Scrub your face while I go get Lily. And be sure to change into a clean shirt.” She headed outside to get her daughter. She understood Lily’s need for a real meal. The snacks they’d eaten while taking breaks from their cleaning had helped to tide them over, but only temporarily. But Audra wasn’t about to take either of her children into town looking like ragamuffins. She’d already made a very poor first impression on one of Braxton’s residents.
The memory of Carter Cooper’s “masked” face managed to bring a smile to her own. But only for a moment, before she remembered he was the kind of man she needed to steer clear of. Kind and charming, and from what she could see of his face, quite handsome, as well. All of the things Bradford had been, and look where that led her.
Pushing all thoughts of her ex and Carter Cooper from her mind, Audra made her way out to the van, where Lily sat buckled in the backseat, door open while she waited for them to join her.
“I’m ready to go,” Lily whined.
“Honey, I know you’re hungry,” she said sympathetically. “We all are. But you need to go back inside and wash up before can we go.”
Her daughter frowned. “Can’t I wash up there?”
“Most restaurants prefer their diners to come in somewhat clean,” she explained. “Not with bits of cobweb clinging to their clothes and dirt smudged on their faces.”
Lily looked down at her shirt and gave a tiny sigh as she released the belt securing her in the seat. “Okay.”
Smiling, Audra followed her back into the house.
Twenty minutes later, looking far more presentable, they pulled into one of the empty parking spaces in front of Big Dog’s. Of which there were plenty. Considering it was nearly eight o’clock at night, the mostly empty street didn’t surprise her.
Audra’s gaze zeroed in on the restaurant-hours sign in the door and relief swept through her. Big Dog’s was open until 10:00 p.m. Lily would have been so disappointed if they’d had to go somewhere else and she’d already disappointed her children enough. Not that they’d ever voiced any such thing, but it was how she felt inside.
Her children were out of the van and waiting at the entrance to the restaurant before Audra had even shut off the engine.
“Hurry up, Mommy!” Lily called out, dancing around in excitement.
Where had that burst of energy come from? Audra wondered. She certainly had none left in her. Smiling, she reached for her purse and then stepped from the van, locking it behind her.
Mason was standing in front of one of the large plate glass windows, peering in.
“Honey, it’s not polite to stare in the window like that,” she told him as she joined them on the sidewalk. “People are trying to eat.”
“No one’s in there,” he told her as he moved toward the door.
“Still,” she said, “we don’t do that.” Audra pulled open the door, holding it as her children scampered excitedly inside. A young waitress came over to greet them.
“Welcome to Big Dog’s,” she said with a warm smile. “Sit anywhere you like and I’ll go grab some menus.”
“Over here,” Lily said, hurrying toward a booth by the window, two away from the door.
Mason took a seat on the opposite side of the table while Audra slid in next to her daughter.
The waitress, a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties with long strawberry-blond hair and a sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks, returned carrying three glasses of ice water and menus, which she promptly handed out. Then she held up two smaller menus. “I brought along a couple of children’s menus just in case. The hot dogs on the main menu are for those wanting really big hot dogs. The ones on the kids menu are regular size.”
“Thank you,” Audra said. “But something tells me we’ll all be ordering from the regular menu tonight.”
“’Cause we’re starving,” Lily informed her in dramatic fashion.
The younger woman laughed at her daughter’s antics. “You are, are you?”
“We missed dinner tonight,” Audra explained. “We just moved into the Harris place and had some cleaning to do. It took a little longer than we thought it would.”
“The Harris place?” the waitress repeated, her expression matching the one Carter Cooper had on his face when he’d learned Audra had bought the place. “That old abandoned house out on Red Oak Road?”
“That would be the one,” Audra said, reaching for one of the menus.
“You’ve got your work cut out for you there,” she said. “If you’re looking to hire someone on to help out there, I could give you the number for our local contractors.”
“Would that happen to be Cooper Construction?”
“You’ve already hired them on,” the girl replied, sounding almost relieved. “Smart move. They’re the best there is in these parts when it comes to renovations.”
Audra knew she should have cleared things up as far as her hiring Carter’s company was concerned, but she didn’t want to explain that she couldn’t afford to have her house renovated by professionals.
The front door opened at that moment, saving Audra from having to say anything more. She did a double take, thinking the man who had just stepped into the restaurant was none other than Carter Cooper. But on closer inspection, this man was even taller than the cowboy who had come to her rescue that afternoon, and slightly leaner. Carter Cooper was more broad-shouldered and had the extra bulk of muscle on his frame that had most likely come from all the physical labor involved in working construction.
“Hey, Lizzie,” the man said in greeting to the waitress.
“Hey, Logan.”
His gaze shifted to the booth where Audra and her children sat. Tipping his cowboy hat with a polite smile, he said, “Ma’am.” A smile that was an exact replica of Carter Cooper’s unarguably handsome, slightly crooked grin. Only instead of sporting a mask of black around his eyes, he had smudges of dirt all over his face and clothes.
“How’s come I had to wash my face before we came here?” Lily said, her words echoing loudly in the empty room. “He didn’t.”
Audra wanted to sink down into the booth and hide. Make that two bad first impressions with someone from Braxton in just one day.
The man chuckled. “Your momma has the right of it,” he told Lily. “I’m just stopping by on my way home from work to pick up my dinner order. Unfortunately, my job requires me to play in dirt so this is how I usually look at the end of the day.”
“I want to do that when I grow up,” Mason announced.
“Me, too!” Lily squealed.
The man seemed thoroughly entertained by their reaction. “It’s hard work,” he said, his attention focused solely on her children.
“We’re hard workers,” Lily stated. “Aren’t we, Mommy?”
“Very,” she agreed with a nod.
“Your brothers are gonna be helping her with her new place.”
His brothers? That explained the resemblance.
He looked Audra’s way. “That so? Where’s that?”
“The old Harris place,” Lizzie answered for her.
His dark brows lifted in undeniable surprise.
“I know,” Audra said before he could voice his thoughts. “It’s a big job, but with a little tender loving care the house will be a home in no time.” She had to wonder who she was truly trying to convince. Him or herself.
“If you all will excuse me,” Lizzie said, “I’m gonna go grab Logan’s order.” Then she scurried off into the kitchen.
He looked to Audra. “If you need any help with the landscaping out there, just give me a shout. I own a landscaping business and join forces with my brothers on a lot of their jobs.”
“How many Cooper brothers are there?” she said.
“Only three,” he said, his grin widening. “I’m the youngest. Although I’m not so sure Carter’s laying claim to me right now.”
“Are you the one who painted his face?” Mason asked.
“Saw that, did you?” he said.
Her children nodded.
“Actually, it was our older brother, Nathan, who did the painting. But it was sort of my idea,” he admitted. “Mind you, it wasn’t a very nice thing for us to do to him and it’s not something either of you should ever do to anyone.”
She was grateful that he didn’t boast about the prank they’d pulled on their brother and had, instead, stressed to her highly impressionable young children that it was something that should never be repeated.
Lizzie returned, carrying a white paper bag, and walked over to the cash register. “You’re all set,” she told Logan.
“Pleasure to meet you,” he said, tipping his hat once more before going over to pay for his order.
“How’s come he wears that hat if it’s too big?” Mason said in an attempted whisper. However, voices carried in the empty room and she was certain she heard Logan Cooper’s muffled chuckle from across the room.
Keeping her own voice low, Audra explained, “It’s not too big,”
“Then why does he keep pushing it up like that?” her son persisted.
“Because that’s what cowboys do down here in Texas. It’s how they show ladies respect.”
“Then I need one, too,” he said as he watched Logan leave with his order. “Just like his, so I can be a real cowboy.”
Audra couldn’t help but smile as she added a cowboy hat to her lists of things they needed for their new life in Braxton. Because more than anything she wanted to make certain her children were happy here and felt like they fit in.
Chapter Three
Logan glanced up from the hole he was digging and smiled. “What brings you out here?”
“The need to work,” Carter answered honestly as he crossed the newly laid sod in front of Braxton’s only bank, where his brother had been hired to do a complete external face-lift to the property. He’d spent most of the night tossing and turning, his thoughts filled with Audra Cooper and her two young children and that eyesore of a house they were going to be living in. Leaving them to handle things alone the afternoon before had really eaten at him. But what choice did he have? Audra had made it clear she didn’t need his help. No, she definitely needed his help. It was that she didn’t want his help. Even when it was freely offered.
“I would think you’d be enjoying your time off between jobs. Maybe doing a multiday hike up into the hills,” his brother said as he went back to digging a hole for the ornamental tree he had sitting next to the spot.
Carter frowned. If only he could be enjoying his day off. And while hiking was a favorite pastime for him whenever he had the time, he knew if he’d gone up into the hills, relaxation was the last thing he’d find there. He would have spent all his time worrying over Braxton’s newest residents. “Do you need any help here or not?” he asked in a rare show of impatience.
Logan simply laughed. “If you’re that fired up to work, you could lend me a hand with the mulching.”
“Fine,” Carter grumbled.
“There’s a wheelbarrow full of mulch around back,” his brother told him. “You can start filling in around the trees and plants I’ve already put in.”
With a nod, Carter set off around the building, his mouth in a grim line. While he’d come there hoping to distract himself from thoughts of Audra Marshall and her kids the exact opposite was happening. Looking at the newly laid lawn made him think about the jungle of grass and weeds surrounding the old Harris place. Did she have a mower? And if she did, would it be powerful enough to get through the deep grass? And what about that overgrown hedgerow? Did she have the tools needed to bring that out-of-control shrubbery into some semblance of order?
Spying the wheelbarrow, which had been heaped high with a deep red mulch, he walked over to it and proceeded to wheel it back around to the front side of the bank, where his brother was hard at work.
After a good twenty minutes or so of tossing shovelfuls of mulch onto the designated garden area, Logan said, “Is your offer to help me out here today your way of getting back at me for the goggle prank?”
Carter stopped what he was doing to cast a questioning glance his brother’s way. “Why would you think that?” Truth was, getting back at his brother was the furthest thing from his mind at that moment. His thoughts were far too preoccupied by one very stubborn female.
“Considering how much of that mulch is ending up on the sod I just laid the day before, I’d say it’s a pretty good guess.”
His gaze dropped to the ground at his feet, where, sure enough, a growing pile of red mulch lay atop the bright green grass—a good foot away from the edge of the landscaped area he’d been helping Logan with.
With a groan, Carter set the shovel aside and knelt to clean up the mess he’d made, scooping the misplaced mulch up in his bare hands as not to damage the grass.
“You wanna tell me what’s gnawing at you?” his brother asked as he settled onto his knees on the ground beside him.
“More like who,” Carter mumbled with a frown as he tossed a handful of mulch into the flower bed, where it belonged.
“Who?” Logan repeated. “Look, if you’re still upset with Nathan about what happened, keep in mind that he was only partially responsible for the shoe polish on your goggles.”
“I’m not referring to Nathan,” he said. “I’m referring to a stubborn female who’s jumped off into the deep end and is now struggling to tread water.”
“Afraid you’ve lost me there, big brother.”
Carter scooped more of the misplaced mulch into a pile. “There’s this woman who needs my help but is determined not to take it.”
“Anyone I know?”
He shook his head. “No. She just moved to town.”
“She wouldn’t happen to be a tiny thing with golden-brown hair, two very inquisitive children and the new owner of the old Harris place?”
Carter’s head snapped up, his gaze locking with his brother’s. “How do you know Audra?”
“We met in passing last night at Big Dog’s,” Logan said, getting to his feet as the last of the mulch that could gather was removed from the grass. “Lizzie said you and Nathan were gonna be doing work out there.”
“Not sure where Lizzie got that idea,” he said with a frown as he stood. “Audra’s determined to do most of the work on that place herself.”
“By herself? You mean her and her husband?”
He shook his head. “Nope. I mean only her. She’s divorced.”
“I take it she has experience in home renovations then.”
“Not a lick.”
“So you’re just gonna take no for an answer?” his brother challenged.
“I can’t force her to allow me to help her.”
His brother stepped back into the garden, retrieving his discarded shovel. “Reckon you could always blame Momma.”
“Excuse me?”
His brother looked his way with a grin. “You and I both know Momma wouldn’t be too pleased with us if we were to turn our backs on someone in need. And it sounds to me like Audra is clearly in need.”
Carter’s mood lightened instantly. “Good point. Last thing I’d wanna do is let Momma down.
His brother’s crooked grin lifted even more. “Exactly.”
* * *
“Uncle Carter!” Katie squealed as she raced out of the house to greet him.
Carter swept her up in his arms and spun her around like he’d done since she was a toddler. “Katydid,” he chuckled. It warmed his heart every time he saw her. It also reminded him of how fortunate he and his brothers were to still have her there with them. A true blessing in their lives.
“I’m getting dizzy,” she said with a giggle.
“No,” he said, lowering her carefully to her feet, “what you’re getting is big. Sprouting up like a weed.”
She looked up at him. “I’m not a weed. Daddy says I’m a sunflower ’cause I’m getting so tall and I like tipping my face up to the sun.”
He reached down to playfully pinch her tiny cheek. “That explains where all these sun kisses came from.”
“Those aren’t from the sun,” she told him. “They’re from my mommy.”
A lump wedged in his throat at the mention of Isabel. His sister-in-law had been a wonderful, loving mother. She should be there raising her daughter alongside Nathan. His only comfort was in knowing that his sister-in-law was safe in the Lord’s loving arms. No doubt keeping watch over his beautiful little niece.
“Looks like you forgot something in the house,” he said, his gaze zeroing in on her mouth.
“I did?” she replied.
He nodded. “Your teeth.”
Her tongue moved to the empty space where two of her bottom teeth used to be. “Oh, those,” she said. “I lost them.”
“You need help looking for them?” he teased.
“Not that kind of lost.” She giggled. “Daddy says I’m gonna start losing my teeth ’cause my big-girl teeth are getting ready to come in.”
“Where is your daddy?” he asked with a forced smile.
“Nana Mildred needed some wood, so Daddy drove around back to load some in his truck.”
Mildred Timmons had been his parents’ neighbor for nearly forty years. Her husband had been the only other casualty from the tornado that struck Braxton, leaving behind a wide path of destruction that the town was still trying to recover from. Millie looked after Katie for his brother when Nathan was at work and had become a much-loved surrogate grandmother to his niece. It helped to ease Millie’s loneliness and gave Katie some much-needed female presence in her life. Probably the only she would ever have seeing as how Nathan was dead set against ever marrying again.
“Reckon I’ll take a walk around back, then,” he told her. “You want a piggyback ride?”
She shook her head, her dark curls bouncing about on her slender shoulders. “Daddy said I’m supposed to wait at the house until he’s done chopping wood.”
“Then you best do what your daddy says,” he said. Nathan was overprotective of his little girl and understandably so. Losing Isabel had crushed his brother both spiritually and emotionally. If anything were to happen to Katie... Carter shook the thought away. “I’ll be back in to see you before I go.”
“Okay, Uncle Carter,” she said with a smile. “See you in a bit.”
He waited until she’d gone back into the house before setting off in search of his brother. Nathan’s property consisted of just under two acres of mowed backyard and side yard with a few scattered oaks that butted up against a large expanse of woods, which his brother also owned. In the backyard was a rather impressive wooden swing set/jungle gym his brother had built for Katie, a miniature castle playhouse and a large pole barn.
The sound of wood being stacked onto wood drew Carter’s gaze toward the pole barn. He spotted his brother’s truck, backed up to the towering pile of firewood Nathan had recently replenished with his and Logan’s help. His brother was standing in the bed of the truck, stacking the split logs he’d loaded onto it.
Carter started across the yard in lengthened strides.
Nathan glanced up, a slow smile moving across his tanned face. “Almost didn’t recognize you without your mask.”
“You’re hilarious,” Carter muttered as he stepped up alongside the truck bed. “Took me nearly an hour to get the stuff off my face when I got home and only with the help of some solvent-based cleaner they recommended at the hardware store. Mind you, that was only after they had a good laugh at my expense, saying they were sure I was a masked robber when I first stepped into the store.”
His brother threw back his head, his husky laughter cutting into the silence of the nature surrounding them. “Thanks for sharing that little tidbit. That just made my day.”
“Logan’s rubbing off on you,” Carter muttered. “And I don’t mean in a good way.” Despite the semiscowl he’d plastered on his face, it was good to hear his brother’s laughter. It had been a rare thing since losing Isabel, with the exception of when his brother was around Katie. His daughter always seemed to bring a smile to Nathan’s face.
“So what brings you out here this evening?” his brother asked. “Come to get more revenge? Because I’ll tell you, you had me sweating it when you had me thinking you’d put my keys in that bucket of primer.”
“Good. You deserved to sweat a little.”
“Hey, I wasn’t the lone man in that prank.”
“Don’t you worry. Logan’s gonna get his,” Carter said. “I’m just biding my time.”
Nathan walked down to the end of the truck bed and settled himself down onto the open tailgate, dangling his long legs over the edge. “Meaning you haven’t come up with something as good as the prank he had me pull on you?”
Carter grinned. “Exactly. Besides, I’d like to pay him back when he’s least expecting it. As for why I’m here, I need a door. Do you still have the ones we salvaged from the Parker renovation we did last fall?”
His brother nodded. “In the pole barn. Why?”
“There’s a lady in sore need of a halfway decent door. Figured I’d give her one of those since we don’t really have any plans for them.”
Nathan quirked a dark brow. “You’re doing a side job?”
He understood his brother’s curiosity. They were partners and always worked as a team. Even on the small jobs. “I wouldn’t exactly call it a job.” How did he explain it? That he met a woman, a pretty one at that, rescued her actually, and then offered his services, which she promptly turned down. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about her, and wanted to do something to help her out?
“Are you gonna make me drag it out of you?” his brother muttered impatiently.
“She’s new to Braxton,” he explained. “Just arrived yesterday, as a matter of fact.”
“So you’re giving her a used door as a housewarming gift?”
“I’m giving her the door because she can’t afford a new one,” Carter said with a frown. “Not with everything she has to do to the old Harris place.”
His brother threw up a hand. “Hold up. Did you just say the old Harris place?”
He nodded. “Bought it sight unseen from an online auction.”
The face Nathan made said it all. “I haven’t been by that place for a nearly a year, but last time I was the old house was practically begging someone to bring in a wrecking ball and put it out of its misery and put something new up in its place.”
“That’s the thing,” Carter said with a frown. “Audra has no intention of tearing the place down. She intends to live there.”
His brother’s dark brow lifted even farther. “Audra?”
“With her children,” he added, so his brother wouldn’t think this had anything to do with her being a prettier-than-most female.
“Grown-up children?” his brother persisted.
He shook his head. “I’d say they’re closer to Katie in age. And before you ask, she’s divorced. Her ex sounds like a real loser.”
“Are you passing judgment on someone you’ve never met? Not like you, little brother.”
“He chose to give up all rights to his children,” he said. “And they’re pretty hurt by it.”
Nathan looked aghast. “Those poor kids. So where are they staying while the house is being renovated?”
“I believe they’re gonna be staying in the house.”
His brother’s blue eyes widened. “That’s gonna make it a challenge for anyone she does bring in to help out with the bigger jobs.”
Carter’s frown deepened. “That’s not gonna be an issue. She’s got it in her pretty little head to do most of the repairs herself.”
“Pretty, huh?”
Carter groaned. “Did you hear what I just said? She’s gonna try and fix that old house up all by herself.”
“Heard that,” his brother replied. “But it’s the pretty part I’m latching on to. That’s gotta be the first female in a long while you’ve taken notice of.”
“Hard not to notice her when I had to rescue her from a roof.”
“You what?”
With a sigh, he went on to explain what he’d stumbled upon the previous afternoon. “She’s in over her head.”
“And you’re gonna come to her rescue again?” his brother said, studying him closely.