Where Azaleas Bloom. Sherryl Woods

at night to seven in the morning,” Karena replied.

      Dismayed, Lynn shook her head at once. That was out of the question. “Sorry. I have kids at home. I can’t do that.”

      “Well, that’s all we have.” Karena stood up, ending the interview.

      “Thanks, anyway,” Lynn managed to say. “Sorry to have wasted your time, but the ad didn’t mention that it was a night job.”

      When she got back to her car, she rested her head against the steering wheel and fought the tears that were never far away these days. She tried hard not to give in to them, but sometimes she simply couldn’t hold back all the pain and frustration. A few minutes later, a tap on her window had her sitting upright, her heart racing.

      “Mitch!” she exclaimed. “You scared me half to death.”

      He gestured for her to roll down the window. When she’d complied, he regarded her with what looked like real distress. “Please tell me you were not even thinking about applying for a job here,” he said, heat in his voice.

      She frowned at his tone. “I did apply, but the only thing available is overnight. Obviously, I can’t do that.”

      “You shouldn’t be working here at any hour. It’s dangerous.”

      “If the clientele’s so rough, what are you doing here?”

      “I was on my way to my plumbing supplier’s and saw the HELP WANTED sign in the window and your car in the parking lot. After our conversation earlier, I stopped to check it out, make sure you weren’t about to do anything crazy.”

      “There’s nothing crazy about needing a job.”

      “Of course not, but not here, Lynn,” he said flatly.

      Annoyed by his attitude, she retorted, “I already told you I couldn’t take it because of the hours. What business is this of yours, anyway?”

      “Just one friend looking out for another,” he said, clearly not fazed by her attitude. “Do you know the reason they need a new night clerk? The last one was shot a week ago during a robbery.”

      Lynn started trembling uncontrollably. “Good God,” she murmured. “I had no idea.”

      “It was in the paper, the same one you were reading this morning.”

      “I just checked out the ads.”

      “Well, I imagine if I hadn’t come along to tell you, Carter would have stepped in. He has more problems around this area than anywhere else in town.” He hesitated, clearly waging some sort of internal debate with himself. “If you’re this desperate for a job, work for me,” he said with unmistakable reluctance.

      She almost laughed, but the expression on his face said he was serious. Not happy, but definitely serious. “You? Doing what? The last do-it-yourself job I tried to tackle at the house was such a disaster, it had to be redone by a professional.”

      He had the audacity to smile at that. “I wasn’t suggesting putting you on one of my construction crews. I could use the help with paperwork.”

      She studied him skeptically. “Don’t you already have someone?”

      “Nah. In the winter I can usually keep up with the billing and payroll myself, but with spring coming on and more jobs, it’s harder for me to manage all that and the paperwork, too.”

      “I doubt I’d be much better at that than I was at wallpapering the kitchen,” she told him candidly.

      “It’s an easy system,” he assured her. “I can teach you in an hour.”

      “You have an office?”

      “No, that’s the beauty of it. You can work at home. I’ll just bring my laptop and a printer to your place and leave ’em. How about we give it a trial run, see how it goes? If you’re comfortable with it, we’ll take it from there.”

      Lynn felt a faint frisson of hope. “And you swear you’re not making up work just to give me a job?”

      “Cross my heart,” he said with a grin, sketching an exaggerated cross on his chest. “You can start tomorrow. I’ll bring the laptop by in the morning and show you the basics. There are half a dozen bills that need to go out, and maybe you’ll be up to speed to do payroll by the end of the week.”

      “If all this is as simple as you make it sound, how many hours are you thinking?”

      “Just part-time, maybe twenty. You’d be able to keep the job at Raylene’s, too. Would that be enough to help?”

      “It would be a godsend,” she told him, especially the part about working at home. “But only if you’re sure. You didn’t look all that certain when you first mentioned it. Were you already having second thoughts before the words were even out of your mouth?”

      “Not at all,” he said, sounding more convincing. “I’m sure about this, Lynn.”

      “And you’ll fire me if I’m lousy?”

      “I don’t think you’re going to be lousy, but if you are, something tells me I won’t have to do a thing. You’ll quit, either out of frustration or mind-numbing boredom.”

      She looked into his eyes, a gray-blue shade she’d never noticed before and filled with kindness. “I seem to spend a lot of time thanking you lately, but I have to say it again.”

      “Don’t,” he said. “You’ll be solving a problem for me.”

      She smiled. “I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?”

      “I’ll be over first thing in the morning, then, as soon as the kids have left for school. Is that okay?”

      She nodded. “That’ll be perfect. I don’t have to be at Raylene’s shop until ten. I’ll be home just after two and can jump right back into whatever you need me to do.”

      “Then that’s what we’ll do,” he said. “And I’ll stop by before I head home at the end of the day, in case you have any questions. Or you can just run next door if something crops up that you don’t understand.”

      “This really is a blessing, Mitch. Thank you.”

      “No more thanks, understood? This is a business arrangement, okay? I need help. You’re looking for a job. It works out well for both of us.”

      She shook her head. “Sorry. I can’t promise you I won’t keep thanking you. I have the funniest feeling you’re my guardian angel.”

      The remark seemed to fluster him. “Sweetheart, I can assure you I’m no angel. You can ask anyone in town about that.”

      Lynn shook her head, not buying it. “I think you’re wrong about that, Mitch. I’ve never heard a single bad word ever said about you.”

      “Then you never spoke to Nettie Rogers, who swears I trampled her azaleas when I was rebuilding her screened-in porch. And then there’s Sissy Adams, who accused me of changing the sunny shade of yellow paint she chose to mustard just to annoy her, never mind that the woman is flat-out color blind. I could have painted her walls bright orange and I swear she wouldn’t have been able to tell that from neon pink.”

      Lynn laughed. “You’re exaggerating, but those aren’t exactly the sort of sins I was thinking about.”

      He grinned at her, a surprising twinkle in his eyes. “Now sins are an entirely different kettle of fish,” he said. “I think we’d best save those for another day, or you’ll quit this job before you’ve even started. Now head on out of here. I want to see you safely on the road before I drive away.”

      “See you in the morning, then,” Lynn said, turning on the engine and putting the car in gear. She was about to open her mouth to utter another thank-you, but the expression on Mitch’s face stopped her. He looked as if he were just daring