Breakfast, I want to go over to the office and look around.”
“I wish you’d consider my offer,” she said.
“I can’t do that.”
Her eyes darkened. “In the end you’re going to wish you had.”
He stood, and when he took a couple of slow steps toward her, she had the good sense to take a couple of steps back. “I intend to carry out your father’s request. That said, I think it will be in our best interest if we got along.”
She glared at him. “I don’t see that happening.”
A tight smile spread across his face. “Maybe I should have told you that I like challenges, Jocelyn.”
Chapter 2
Bas parked his car in front of Sadie’s Bed and Breakfast and glanced around. He certainly hadn’t expected this, all the changes that had taken place in Newton Grove since he’d last been here fourteen years ago.
It was still one of most beautiful, quaint towns he’d ever traveled to, but it no longer had that Mayberry look. He’d passed a Wal-Mart and Home Depot, certainly two things that hadn’t been here before. And the library had been given a face lift. But the drive-in theater appeared to still be intact, as well as the Newton Rail Station that provided a memorable excursion up into the Smoky Mountains.
And from what he saw it was still a favorite place with tourists, which meant the souvenir shops that formed a tight circle in the town square were still thriving. The county fair, which was always held the third weekend in August, was a major event and always brought enough excitement to last the towns-people until the fall festival in the middle of November. He smiled, remembering all the stories Jim had told about both events. Boy, had he enjoyed hearing them.
Bas got out of the car and shoved his keys into the pocket of his jeans, appreciating Jason Kilgore for making arrangements for him to have a place to stay while in town.
Just being back in Newton Grove was stirring memories of how closely he had worked with Jim that summer, the bond they’d made and the special friendship that had been forged. He took a moment to lean against the fender of his rented car and glanced around, reflecting. In his mind he could actually see Jim loading lumber into his pickup truck while preaching to Bas in that strong, firm, yet caring voice. He’d told him the importance of a man being a man, about handling your responsibilities and taking advantage of every opportunity. The memory tugged at Bas’s heart, and emotions swamped him. They were emotions that Jim had effectively shown him that it was okay to possess.
Bas suddenly blinked when the sound of a car’s horn reclaimed his attention. Sighing deeply he went to the trunk to get out his luggage, thinking of his encounter with Jocelyn Mason. If the woman had her way he would be headed back to Charlotte by now. He could almost feel the daggers she had thrown in his back when he’d walked out of Kilgore’s office.
He sighed again and glanced up toward the sky. “Jim, old friend, I hope you knew what you were doing because I don’t think your daughter likes me very much.”
“Aren’t you that same young man who used to give us trouble?”
Sebastian glanced up from signing his name in Sadie’s Bed and Breakfast’s registration book and met the old woman’s eyes. Something hard and tight settled in the pit of his stomach. It was a reaction he got whenever anyone recalled his less-than-sterling past.
If she had been someone from Charlotte, he would have shamefully admitted to it. But he distinctly remembered being on good behavior that summer while living in Newton Grove. For that reason he stared at her and said, “No, ma’am, you must have me mistaken for someone else.”
Evidently she thought otherwise and her blue eyes sparked as she said, “No, I don’t think so. I might be old—I’m pushing seventy—but I have a fairly good memory about some things. You worked with Jim, as part of his construction business one summer, over thirteen or fourteen years ago.”
Bas’s stomach began feeling unsettled again. She certainly did have a good memory. “Yes, but I didn’t get into any trouble,” he said defensively.
The old woman laughed. “Not any of your own making, trust me. But whenever you worked outside at a construction site on those extremely hot days, you drew an audience every time you took off your shirt.”
She barked out another laugh and continued. “Yeah, I do remember that summer. You had all the young women acting like silly fools whenever they could take a peek at you. And I remember Marcella all but salivating whenever she saw you.”
She studied him for a moment then said, “I understand you’re going to be helping out at Mason’s Construction again.”
He took his Visa card out of his wallet to hand to her. News traveled fast in small towns. “Yes, ma’am, I am.”
“I’m glad you saw fit to come help Jocelyn for a while now that Jim’s gone. Lord knows she wouldn’t ask for it, even if she needed it,” Sadie went on to say. “And I’m curious as to what Leah’s going to do. I expected her to leave town right after the funeral.”
Bas put his charge card back into his wallet after she returned it to him. “She lives in California, right?”
“So we hear. Leah left here at eighteen. She hated this place, claimed Newton Grove was too small town for her. She wanted to see the world and headed to California.”
After a quick pause she added, “She broke Reese Singleton’s heart when she left. They’d been sweethearts. He’s a good man who didn’t deserve what she did to him. You’ll get to know Reese rather well over the coming months.”
Bas leaned against the counter. “I will?”
“Yes, he’s the foreman at Mason Construction. But he might not be there for too much longer.”
Bas lifted a brow. “Why not?”
“Because he’s better suited as a carpenter than a builder, and I heard that Jim left him a bunch of money to start his own business.”
Bas turned to follow Sadie up the stairs to his room. Once he got settled he would check out what was happening over at Mason Construction.
The nail was taking a beating as Jocelyn hammered it relentlessly into the wood. A part of her wished it was Sebastian Steele’s head.
If there was one thing she didn’t need it was aggravation, and the man had gotten next to her like nobody’s business. The nerve of him, thinking he could just waltz in and take over. Mason Construction was now hers and she would run things the way she saw fit, regardless of what he had to say.
It wasn’t as though she didn’t know what she was doing. Heck, she’d been reading blueprints practically since she could walk. Growing up, she’d spent hours at every job site with her father, learning each aspect of a builder’s trade, from the ordering of the supplies to the overseeing of each structural design. While many construction workers had their specialties, Jocelyn was truly a jack-of-all-trades. She handled a paintbrush just as expertly as any artist; she could fit a pipe together as well as any master plumber, and she worked with brick, stone, concrete block and structural tile with the skill of an accomplished mason. For years she had worked alongside
