Love by the Yard (4 page)

Roger had been the same way; only being married to him, there was nowhere to hide. When Roger couldn't get his way by screaming at her, he resorted to violence, some days worse than others. It hadn't happened often, compared to some of the relationships she'd learned about, but even once was too much.

Her own father had treated her mother that way. Shanna recognized the signs, but once married to Roger, she didn't know how to break the cycle of spousal abuse. Sometimes she could calm Roger when he lost his temper, but not always. When they first got married, she'd admired his strength and power, but it hadn't taken long before things began to change. When they started their family, it had been a mutual decision for her to give up her career and stay home to raise their children while Roger went out to work to support the family, including her. However, the warm fuzzies hadn't lasted long, if they'd ever happened at all. Roger's resentment of being forced to work and be the only income earner grew almost daily, especially after Matthew was born. When she became pregnant with Ashley, things became so bad that she thought she was reliving the life of her mother. The strength that had initially attracted her to Roger had become what drove them apart.

By the time she realized she'd been caught in the downward spiral, Ashley was born. With a new baby and a toddler, she felt trapped in a prison of her own making. None of her friends believed her when she told them what Roger was like hidden behind the walls of their home. Just as no one had believed her mother, either. It was only the love of Jesus that held Shanna together.

When Roger was killed in a car accident, rather than fighting grief, she'd fought guilt—guilt because she was free of the horrible way he'd treated her. It had also spared her from making a painful decision. The night before he died, Roger told her that he wanted a divorce because he'd found another woman. Her pride had been hurt, but by then she didn't love him anymore—she'd been afraid of him for too long. Still, she wanted to do the right thing. She'd been willing to attend counseling sessions to work it out. After all, she'd loved him once. But she didn't get the chance. Less than twelve hours later, Roger was dead.

Shanna knew she might want to get married again.
But when that happened, she would marry someone like herself—a nice, nearsighted, deskbound accountant, whose favorite pastime was sitting at his computer playing online games. A nerd. A man who was masculine but could be comfortable with his tender, feminine side—a man who would treat her gently and speak quietly. Someone who would confer with her and discuss issues. Someone who wouldn't take over and do everything his own way, claiming he knew what was best, then become angry when she had the nerve to disagree. She needed to be an equal participant in a relationship.

Male voices echoed from the backyard. Shanna refocused her thoughts and looked outside at Brendan and the other man. From the way the two men spoke, it was obvious they were friends, yet nothing distracted them from their work. Not much time had elapsed, and only a small section remained uncovered. Brendan and his friend were now carrying the last pieces into the yard. His friend carried one roll, and Brendan carried two.

Brendan's friend stood to the side while Brendan pulled a knife from his belt and began to cut those final pieces into shape. He tucked them into place, then nudged the last piece with his foot. They were done.

She stared, not able to tear her eyes away as Brendan stretched, then rubbed his biceps. His muscles bulged as he flexed his arms. She didn't remember such muscles on Paul Bunyan.

The mental picture of how Brendan had come between her and Ray flashed through her mind. If she had any doubt then, she had no doubt now. If he wanted to, Brendan could have squashed Ray like a bug.

Boffo came to her and raised one paw to rest on her leg as she sat in her chair. She turned the chair and leaned to wrap her arms around him, needing to feel his size and strength. She wasn't entirely sure, because she'd gotten Boffo after Roger died; but she hoped that if someone came at her, even someone he saw often, Boffo would protect her.

The two men walked to the front of the yard for the last time. Within minutes the truck rumbled to a start and drove away. Not long after that, Brendan appeared inside her office.

“We're done. I'm going to call it quits for the day as soon as I get the sprinkler going. Can you make sure the kids don't go on the grass tonight?”

“What about Boffo? It's going to be hard to keep him out of his own backyard all night.”

He reached to the wall and pulled Boffo's leash off the hook where it hung by the door. “You don't have to worry about Boffo. I have plans for both of us. Tonight Boffo and I are going to dog school.”

The second Boffo noticed that Brendan had his leash, the traitor surged out of Shanna's grip and bounded to Brendan. He alternately circled Brendan's feet and jumped up for the leash so fast that his feet skidded on the linoleum and he almost fell.

Shanna ignored Boffo and stared up at Brendan. “Excuse me?”

“Boffo's not really a bad dog,” he said as he raised the
leash over his head, causing Boffo to miss it as he once again leaped for it. “He just needs a firm hand and a little training. I was talking to a friend, and I enrolled Boffo in his dog obedience class that starts tonight.”

“Obedience class?”

Brendan nodded, then switched hands, breaking Boffo's rhythm as the dog continued to attempt to gain possession of his leash. Brendan kept talking, with Boffo scrambling and jumping around him as if the dog were nothing more than an annoying fly. “Jeff owes me a favor. He had an opening that would have gone empty, so he let me in for free as long as I promised to spread the word for anyone else who wants to enroll next session. Rather than bringing Boffo back late at night, I figured he could spend the night at my place. I'll just bring him back in the morning when I come back to work. I don't think my neighbors would mind.”

Finished with his explanation, Brendan reached down, snagged Boffo by the collar, and pushed him down. Through a battle of intense physical strength, he forced the hyper dog into a sitting position. Despite Boffo's struggles, Brendan never lost his grip. When Boffo was finally convinced that he was overpowered, he stopped struggling.

Once Boffo was completely motionless, Brendan released Boffo's collar and scratched him behind the ears. “That won't happen again, dog. Mark my words,” Brendan muttered. “Next time, you're going to behave.”

Shanna gritted her teeth. Her automatic reaction was to cower and mutter an agreement that what he was doing was the best thing. But even if it was the best thing, he hadn't discussed it with her first. And that was exactly the opposite of what she told herself would happen after Roger died. It was time to take control of her life and direct the things that happened around her, including her wayward dog.

She summoned all her courage and stood straight, stretching to make herself as tall as possible. “I would have appreciated it if you'd asked me first.”

He stared down at the ground, avoiding eye contact. “I didn't want you to insist on paying for it. I want you to consider this paying back a favor.”

“We don't owe each other any favors. We're exchanging a business deal.”

He raised his head and looked into her eyes. “To tell the truth, I was thinking that you're probably going to be doing a lot more extra hours on my bookkeeping than I'll be doing in your yard.”

“But there's the added expense of the materials for the playscape to take into account.”

“I know the price my friends pay their accountants to do taxes. That cost alone, without the other stuff you have to do to get to that point, is already way more than what I'm going to spend on the materials. Remember, I'm paying wholesale.”

“But the cost of your labor per hour has to be taken into account, too.”

“Those things are pretty easy to put together, actually. They come with instructions.”

“Instructions?”

“Yeah. Instructions. I may be a male, but I do read instructions.”

She felt her mouth drop open.

“You know. When you buy something that's not assembled, there's this book that comes with it. It tells you how to put it together. There's even pictures.”

“Pictures?”

“It shows you how to put piece A into slot B and fasten with bolt C.”

She stared at him, not knowing what to say and trying to remember how the conversation started. “What does this have to do with Boffo, again?”

He sighed. “I wanted to even up the deal, so I got him into dog school. It won't teach him how to be a watchdog, but he'll be easier to live with, and people will look at him differently when he listens to what you say.”

Shanna stared at Brendan as she mentally sorted his words. The main reason she'd brought Boffo home from the animal shelter was because he looked like a watchdog, even if he didn't act like one. Everyone quickly found out that Boffo was a lover, not a fighter. But now things had changed. It wasn't strangers she needed protection from—it was her brother-in-law. If she understood Brendan's unstated message, Ray was more likely to keep his distance if he thought Boffo might actually obey a command to do something to protect her. Then dog school would be worth it, and then some.

“All right. But I'm going to keep track of my hours, and I want you to keep track of your hours and expenses.” She
didn't want to owe anyone—including her landscaper—
anything.

“Deal. Now if you'll excuse me, I don't want to be late.”

Before she could respond or reconsider, he turned and left with Boffo straining and pulling on the leash so hard that Brendan had to lean slightly backward to brace himself to maintain his balance.

When man and dog rounded the corner, Shanna ran to the front of the house to watch through the blinds. As soon as they reached Brendan's pickup and Brendan opened the door, Boffo changed his mind, digging his feet into the ground. But by the time he started to turn and try to run the other way, Brendan had grabbed him in such a way that he couldn't escape. With an extreme amount of effort and maneuvering of the flailing dog, Brendan shoved him up onto the seat, then slammed the door.

As Brendan drove away, Boffo jumped and clawed at the back window, just as he did when she took him to the vet.

“Good luck,” she whispered, not sure if she was talking to Brendan or the dog.

Four

As promised, Brendan arrived right on time in the morning with Boffo in tow. Or was it himself that was in tow? He hadn't quite figured that out.

He'd expected most of the dogs to behave badly at dog school last night. He just hadn't expected to be the one with the worst-case scenario. His friend Jeff had used Boffo's behavior as the bad example of what the other class participants were to avoid.

The gate had barely closed behind him when Shanna's office door opened. Immediately, the movement caught Boffo's eye. The dog lunged forward with all his strength. Since Brendan hadn't expected the dog to bolt inside his own yard, the leash slipped out of his hand.

Fear clenched his gut. “Shanna!” he shouted, then started running, despite knowing he would never be able to catch Boffo. The image of Boffo jumping on her and slamming her into the metal frame of the doorway pierced through his mind. He now knew exactly how much the dog weighed and the result of being slammed with that weight, because he'd experienced it the hard way.

“Brace yourself!” Brendan shouted as he ran faster. “Boffo—”

Before he could finish yelling out his warning, Shanna dropped to her hands and knees. Boffo skidded to a halt in front of her and frantically began licking her face and dancing, his tail wagging so fast it was a blur. Shanna threw her arms around the dog, balanced herself on her knees, tilted her head back, and laughed.

“Yes! I missed you, too!” She giggled as Boffo sloppily licked her cheeks. Behind her, Ashley appeared in the doorway. At the sight of her mother and Boffo, Ashley called out Boffo's name and clapped her hands.

Brendan stopped short, feeling like an idiot. He should have known that Shanna knew what to expect and what to do so that she wouldn't get plowed down as he had. She was a smart woman.

He smiled at the whole happily-ever-after scene. A happy mom, a happy daughter, and an overly happy dog. He wished he were a part of it instead of an outsider looking in.

His smile faded. Being a part of this scene wasn't part of his plan. He was only working here. Shanna didn't want him involved in her personal affairs; she'd made that point more than clear. Everything she said and did indicated that this was supposed to be business only, which was how he wanted it, too. Yet he liked Shanna. She was resourceful, determined, loyal, an excellent parent, and a hard worker. In a few short weeks, he'd also come to like her kids. If he were forced to admit it, he would have to say that he was even getting attached to her nutty dog.

Normally a job was a job, but this time he knew that when this job was over, he would be asking Harry for updates on Shanna and her little family. He'd even been praying for Shanna to get the business she needed. He could see a good ending to the story except for Ray. That was what bothered him. He knew she hadn't wanted him to witness anything about her personal life, but it had happened. He'd become involved whether he wanted to be or not. If anything happened to Shanna, now that he'd seen Ray in action, Brendan wouldn't be able to live with himself. He didn't think it was wrong to want her to be happy, just like she was now, playfully kissing her daffy dog. The only thing he would change in this picture was that instead of the dog kissing her, it would be himself, and he would be kissing her properly.

The realization of what he wanted to do made his breath catch. His life's plans didn't include a ready-made home and family. He wanted to start his own “happily-ever-after” without having to carry someone else's baggage.

He cleared his throat, causing her to hold the dog still and look up at him.

“Jeff told me you need to work with Boffo every day until the next lesson, because we can't have him just listening to me. He said Boffo's already made good progress, just in the first two-hour class.”

Jeff had also said that Brendan, too, had to be diligent with the daily lesson plan, since he was the one taking Boffo to the dog school. Brendan didn't mind that, though. He definitely wanted to change a few of Boffo's habits, most important, his digging. Otherwise, the beauty of what he was doing would be spoiled and end up no different than before he started.

For now, except for the seams, the newly sodded lawn was rock solid against digging marauders. In a couple of months, though, when the roots took hold of the ground below and many waterings had loosened the original layer of soil, Boffo would be able to dislodge it enough to dig holes.

Brendan pulled the class instruction sheet from his back pocket. “Let's go over this while it's fresh in my mind. The first things we're supposed to work on are
sit
,
down
, and
heel
.” He showed her how to prompt the dog to do everything he'd been shown in class, then released Boffo from the leash. “Jeff said the biggest motivation for the dog is praise. At first, give him treats; but later just a pat and a kind word will be all we need. Now I have to get to work. The materials for the playscape will be here in an hour, and I've got to get ready.”

For once it was Brendan, not Boffo, who did the digging. Using his power auger, after taking the measurements twice, he dug the holes he was going to need for the support posts. Next, he hauled the bags of cement and mixing tubs to where they would be needed. With perfect timing, the delivery truck arrived in front of the house when he was ready.

Moving the materials for the playscape was considerably less work than lugging 160 rolls of sod. By the time Shanna returned after picking up Matthew from kindergarten, Brendan had the frame in place. The children, and Boffo, too, sat still, fascinated, as he put the set together piece by piece. Their eyes lit up when the slide was in place. He warned them not to touch the pieces of the fort section that he'd laid out in the order he needed for assembly. Even though it nearly killed them, they obeyed.

For once, Boffo didn't take off with any tools, allowing Brendan to finish the playscape in record time. He poured the cement around the posts, then helped Matthew and Ashley write their names. Brendan finished the job by writing the day's date.

“That's it,” he said as he swiped his hands down the sides of his jeans. “All I have left to do is put the swing up when the cement is set, paint it, and we're done. So today, you can look at your new playscape, but don't climb on it quite yet.”

While the kids squealed and ran around the playscape, snaking underneath the fort section and circling the support posts, Brendan looked at the faded fence.

His feelings of self-satisfaction faded.

When he'd first started this job, he'd mentally noted its poor condition. Shanna had asked him to repair a few sections that were at the point of falling down, but no more. Harry had been very clear not to mention any extra work that he thought should be done, because she simply couldn't afford it. Fixing up the yard and making it presentable for her business clients was all he was to do. But now it wasn't enough. After the new playscape was painted, the fence would look even worse by comparison.

He walked across the freshly laid lawn and poked at a section of the old fence. Many of the boards at the back were starting to rot because they'd only been painted on one side, which was the worst thing anyone could do. By next year, especially if they had another windstorm, a section or two would come down.

Just painting the fence wouldn't be good enough. She needed a new one.

He turned to watch Shanna through the window, alternately hunched over her computer, then digging through the second box of his disorganized receipts and paperwork.

He knew that when he was done working in her yard, it would be at least another month before she was finished with his bookkeeping and tax returns. Of course, the deal for Shanna was the cost of her time, while he'd had to pay actual money for the materials. Still, this was more than a job or just a barter for services rendered. He wanted everything to be perfect for her, and the only thing in his power to change was her yard—it was his contribution to brighten her future.

Until the fence was as good as the rest, the project was incomplete, whether she agreed or not. But at the same time, he had other projects contracted—projects that paid the wage he needed to pay his rent, car payment, and groceries. Projects that he'd promised to have completed by specific dates.

He hated to, but he had no choice. He'd already crossed the line from business-only to personal. Now it was going to get even more personal.

Brendan pulled out his cell phone and typed out a text message. He cringed as he hit
Send
,
telling himself he was only doing this because he had obligations to meet and promises to keep.

It was done.

❧

For the first time in months, Shanna was alone.

She'd taken both the children to visit friends for a few hours. Brendan was away on his lunch break.

The yard was deserted except for Boffo, who was lying in the cool, new grass, sleeping in the shade of the new playscape. Boffo let out a quiet “
woof”
in his sleep, his tail thumped, and he again quieted in his doggy dreamland. She wondered if he was dreaming of going to dog school with Brendan.

Brendan.

The dog liked him and the kids loved him.

Shanna didn't know quite how to feel about him, except that he made her nervous.

Brendan was a laborer. Everything he did required physical force and strength. She'd never seen such muscles except on bodybuilders on television infomercials, which probably weren't even real. But Brendan's strength and power were very real. The speed at which Ray had retreated when Brendan confronted him was proof of that—and her best incentive never to be on the wrong side of Brendan's fury. It was a lesson she'd taken too long to learn with Roger, and it was a mistake she'd never repeat.

Shanna had tried to act like the good wife she should have been, but she didn't know how. Most of her friends were also newlyweds, and they were too starry-eyed from being recently married to give her any practical advice. The only example of a long-term marriage she had to follow was that of her parents, but Shanna didn't want her marriage to be like that. Her mother couldn't do anything to make her father happy. Shanna had countless memories of her parents fighting, with her mother always coming out the loser. As a child, she had rationalized what she'd seen, likening such scenarios to a parent punishing a bad child. As an adult, she now knew how wrong that was. She'd never seen her father hit her mother, but that didn't mean it didn't happen. Her mother spent a lot of time crying. She seemed to live her life for the sole purpose of not making her husband angry.

Shanna didn't want her marriage to be the same, so she made sure she'd married a man who wasn't a perfectionist like her father—she didn't want to be partnered with someone who would think nothing she did was good enough. Instead, Roger became bored with her, then frustrated. Then he began pushing her around, and the cycle continued. In the end, she'd married a man not much different than her father. Roger's death hadn't relieved her of being victimized. Roger's whole family was the same, including his parents, and his brother was the same way to his wife that Roger had been to her. Bigger, stronger, smarter, and everyone had to know it.

She'd easily fallen in love with Roger. He oozed power and masculinity. He made her feel safe, because no one would dare confront him. But then she'd learned the hard way that she couldn't confront Roger, either. To him, confrontation meant disagreeing with him. She would never again be so blind or so gullible. She would never let herself fall into that trap again. When she began dating again, she would seek out a man who was quiet, understated, and gentle, whose biggest strength was his faith, not his might.

The chime on her wristwatch sounded, signaling it was 1:00, the official end of Brendan's lunch break. Right on time, his pickup pulled up to the front of the house.

The sound roused Boffo from his sleep. The dog bounded to the gate, then sat waiting. His only movement was his tail swooshing behind him.

Shanna could barely believe Boffo's good behavior. Brendan was doing wonders with the dog in a remarkably short amount of time.

He was also doing wonders with her children. She'd bartered good behavior from them, and even a few
household chores, for the privilege of spending time with Brendan in the yard. Even better, by taking the children into the yard while he worked, Brendan was helping her get more done by keeping them busy. He was teaching Boffo to be not only a good pet, but a potential watchdog, as well. And if it wasn't her imagination, the playscape was much larger than what she thought he'd originally described. A truckload of wood had arrived this morning, which meant Brendan wasn't just replacing the one section that was ready to fall down; she was getting a whole new fence.

She didn't know how she could ever pay him back. The only thing she could do was to do more work for him, which meant spending more time with him. And that was exactly what she didn't want. She'd fallen for his type before; only this time she knew the risks and her own mistakes, and especially her weaknesses.

This time, Shanna was going to put a stop to it while she could. Already she regretted that he'd seen her vulnerability with Ray. She didn't want to seem ungrateful for everything extra that Brendan was doing, but it was time to stop him from becoming any more involved with her personal life. She would thank him for his help with the dog, but she would take Boffo to dog school herself and pay for babysitting. She would find something else for her children to do instead of letting them pretend to help him work. The second he came into the yard, she would also tell him that while she appreciated his offer, she really didn't need a new fence and that their business together was nearly complete.