The Reunion: Claire's Rebuilding Contract (Starting Over Series) (2 page)

***

“Ms. Miller?” a man said behind Claire as she foraged around in her front yard the next morning looking for personal belongings of hers or her neighbors.

“Yes?” she responded as she turned around. The first thing she noticed was how incredibly handsome this mystery man was. He had thick dirty blond hair with a slight wave, blue eyes that pierced her soul and a rock solid, manly body that you only see in old cigarette advertisements.

“I’m Jack Stone. My crew will be repairing your roof once that tree isn’t sticking out of it anymore,” he said with a slight smile. “We work with your insurance company.”

“Oh. Great. Thanks…” Claire often wished she had her friend, Ashley’s, gift of gab. Stammering was more her thing.

“The tree guys are down the street, but they should be up here in a bit to remove yours,” he said as he wrote something down on a piece of paper. “Once they remove it, give me a call on my cell.” He handed her the paper, and her hand brushed against his.

“Will do. Thanks,” she said smiling for the first time in a few hours. He had a welcoming face, and she felt strangely comfortable with him in her yard. Maybe her hormones were going wonky again. She was forty-three after all, she thought to herself.

Claire spent the next few hours working with her neighbors to clean up their yards. She watched as the tree guys removed the tree from her house and yard. She had loved those trees. In fact, they had been two good reasons why she bought the house. She would have to find a way to break it to Aven that her two favorite climbing trees were now gone forever. Claire sighed at the thought. Her daughter had lost so much over the years. No grandparents, no father, a cross-country move. And now her two trees. She imagined Aven sitting on stage with Dr. Phil as a teenager working out her issues.

“Ms. Miller?” he said again. Jack Stone was behind her again.

“You really have to stop sneaking up on me like that,” she said when she turned around. “I’m a bit jumpy lately,” she said smiling an exhausted smile.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“I was just joking. And please, call me Claire. Ms. Miller was my mother,” she said turning back around to continue searching. Romance was the last thing on her mind today. She had found so many things on her lawn including her daughter’s first baby doll missing its head, her neighbor’s bank statement and what appeared to be a full box of condoms that certainly didn’t belong to her.

“Can I help?” he asked.

“With the roof? Of course,” she said with a chuckle.

“No. I mean help you search through this stuff?” he asked.

“Seriously? I can’t pay you to help me…” she said.

“I wasn’t asking you to pay me.” He stood there waiting for her to approve his offer.

“Well, okay. It’s your time. I don’t want to hold you up from doing other things,” she said.

“I’ve got all the time in the world,” he said smiling.

“Wow. That’s unusual. I don’t know anyone who has that much time on their hands.”

“I own this business. I can do what I want. And right now I would like to help you,” he said as he knelt beside her and starting scouring the ground for anything that shouldn’t be there.

They worked together quietly for about half an hour before he found a stack of papers caught in her front bushes. They were her divorce papers, only he didn’t realize at first what they were. Upon seeing Claire Miller vs. Cameron Callahan, he realized just who she was.

Jack had followed the story of Cameron’s downfall on the news and in magazines over the last few years. Everyone knew he was a raging alcoholic, and there had been reports of abuse. Could this be the woman he abused like that?

As Claire stood staring at her house, she wondered how in the world she was going to get it fixed and get Aven home as soon as possible. Luckily they were on Fall break right now, but Thanksgiving was coming soon and she wanted her home. Jack Stone had been helping her in the yard all day, but she wondered when he was going to start on her roof.

“Claire, my crew will be here today to work on the roof,” he said as he came back from taking a phone call.

“Great. I am anxious to get my daughter back home as soon as possible,” she said.

“Is she with her Dad?” he asked.

The hair on Claire’s neck pricked up as he asked the question. She was sure he meant no harm by it, but it still made her skin crawl.

“No. She’s with a friend of mine.” She didn’t offer any additional information. She knew she owed this virtual stranger nothing. It brought back bad memories of former friends giving private information to the media so she could end up seeing it on a tabloid. Trust no one. That was her motto.

“Hungry?” he suddenly asked.

“What?”

“Are you hungry? It’s after lunch,” he said pointing at his watch.

“Um. Well, I guess I need to eat…” she stammered again.

“Your power was off too long, so anything in your refrigerator is no good. Let’s take a break and grab something,” he said pointing at his truck.

“You want me to just go with you? No offense, but I don’t really know you,” she said cocking her head and studying his face.

“Your neighbor is my oldest friend. And I have spent all morning digging through the dirt with you. Doesn’t that at least earn me a hamburger?” he asked with a grin. Wow. What a smile. He had perfect teeth and his face brightened unlike anything she’d ever seen before when he smiled.

“I suppose so,” she said, agreeing mostly because her stomach was growling so loud she could hear it over the trees being cut down in yards near hers.

They walked to his big red truck, and he opened the door for her. She had forgotten how chivalrous true Southern men were. As she went to climb in, her muddy shoe slipped which sent her falling backward into his arms. He was strong and smelled of cologne, and her mind went blank for a moment. It felt nice to have a real man put his arms around her, even if it was because she fell. The irony was not lost on her. Cameron never caught her - physically or emotionally. He was never “there”.

“You okay?” he asked as he steadied her.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Sorry about that,” she said turning to look up at him. “Let me try that again.”

“Let me help you. It’s slippery out here,” he said while simultaneously grasping her waist and lifting her straight up into the truck. His strength astounded her. He was nothing like the typical Hollywood pretty boys she had dated before Cameron. The ones who didn’t get their nails dirty or wear clothes that were “out of style” that season.

As she waited for him to come around to the driver’s side, she took a quick glance inside of his truck looking for something to tell her more about this man. Who was he really? Because he seemed like some kind of knight in shining armor to her, and that couldn’t be true.

***

“So let me get this straight? You order a hamburger and then you remove the bun and eat the insides?” Jack asked as he sat there staring at Claire across the table at a local diner.

“Yes. What’s wrong with that?” she asked staring back at him.

“Well, for one, it’s a hamburger. You are supposed to eat the bun. Secondly, you are using a fork on a hamburger,” he said pointing at her plate as he took a drink of his Coke.

“The bun just adds extra carbs that I don’t need ending up on my waist, if you must know,” she said smiling.

Jack eyed her across the table and then leaned around to look at her from head to toe. She felt very uncomfortable for a moment, as if she was being judged in a pageant.

“I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you,” he said as he leaned a bit forward.

“And why is that?”

“Because you’re as close to perfect as I’ve ever seen,” he said with a sly smile as he took another bite of his burger.

“What a line!” she said without thinking.

“A line? What are you saying?”

“Do women really buy into your lines?” she asked sitting back.

“Well, first it wasn’t a line. I was being completely serious. Second, something tells me that you aren’t used to a man complimenting you.” He continued eating his burger while staring into her eyes.

Claire thought about his words for a moment. “No, I am most certainly not used to it.” She averted his steady gaze. Why was he staring at her?

“Get used to it,” he said under his breath.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“You should get used to it. You are a very beautiful woman, even when you’re covered in mud,” he said with a smile. “Now, please eat you buns…”

“What?” Claire asked with her mouth hanging open.

“Your buns. On your plate there,” he said pointing to her hamburger with a laugh. Claire’s face turned bright red. “It’s okay. It’s been a long day.”

As they continued their lunch, Claire reassembled her hamburger, throwing caution to the wind when it came to her waistline. She enjoyed Jack’s company, and it was nice to get away from “life” for a little bit. Watching her neighbors lose their homes and seeing hers damaged was hard to take. It was like her life was in flux yet again, just as it had been after her divorce.

Jack, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air. She hadn’t dated at all after the divorce, not that she was dating Jack either. But having a kind, chivalrous Southern gentleman in her presence was a welcome relief after eleven years with a narcissistic actor who only cared about his wants and needs.

Claire’s thoughts were interrupted by the ring of her cell phone. It was Aven calling from Amelia’s house.

“Honey, is everything okay?” she asked as she answered her phone. As she spoke to her daughter, Jack watched her face. She had the most gorgeous and thick dark hair. It was almost black. Her eyes were an interesting shade of brown with flecks of copper in them. Her smile was bright, and her skin was a tone of olive he’d never seen much on the women around here. He imagined she had some Native American genes in her family tree.

“Everything okay?” he asked as she hung up her phone.

“Oh, yes. She was excited because Amelia took her to see a movie and out for ice cream,” she said smiling.

“Amelia?”

“She’s my regular babysitter. Stay at home mom one county over. She’s keeping Aven until I can get the house back to some semblance of normal.”

“I see. Well, I plan to help you do that quickly,” he said taking a final sip and standing up. “Ready?”

“Sure,” she said standing up.

“One question. Where did you get the name Aven?” he asked as they walked out onto the sidewalk after paying the bill.

“My ex-husband is Irish. The name means ‘fair radiance’, and my daughter came out with fair skin and red hair, believe it or not,” she said with a giggle as she pulled on her own hair.

“I guess a name like Callahan is Irish…” Jack said without thinking. Up until then, she’d had no idea he knew who she was and he’d wanted to keep it that way.

“What did you just say?” she asked stopping dead in her tracks beside the truck.

“Nothing.”

“You said Callahan. My last name is Miller. How did you know?”

“I found your divorce papers in the bushes. I didn’t know what they were until it was too late,” he said looking down at his cowboy boots.

“I cannot believe this. Why didn’t you tell me that? Where are they? Did you sell them to some tabloid already?” she asked with her hands on her hips.