Match Made In Paradise by Barbara Dunlop (black female authors TXT) 📕

up and do the way the rest of them had. But everything seemed to be under control, and the small kitchen was already overcrowded with three people in it. Even if she could see a way to help, she’d only be in the way.

She hung back, and in what seemed like only minutes, they were gathered around the tiny kitchen table in front of grilled ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches.

“I talked to the commissioner yesterday,” Brodie casually tossed out, his gaze surreptitiously on Raven, seeming to watch for her reaction as he spoke.

Raven sat up straight, her interest clearly perking up. “You did?”

Brodie nodded as he chewed and swallowed.

“On a Saturday?” she asked.

“The number you scored was for his personal cell.”

“Really?” She looked happily surprised. “I thought it was the direct line for his office.”

“Nicely done.” Brodie gave her a smile and a brow wag of admiration.

“I threatened them with you,” she said. “That’s what worked.”

Mia glanced at Silas, wondering if he was seeing the same thing she was. It was so obvious that Brodie and Raven lit up around each other.

She nudged Silas under the table, and he looked her way.

She cocked her head toward Raven and Brodie, putting on her best see-what-I-mean expression.

“What?” Silas asked her out loud.

Raven and Brodie looked expectantly her way.

Silent conversations were obviously not Silas’s strong suit. She didn’t know why she thought they’d be on the same wavelength.

“Uh . . . great news.” She beamed at Raven and Brodie to cover up her misstep. “About the commissioner, I mean.”

Everyone looked puzzled, and she felt more like an outsider than ever.

But then Raven gave her a compassionate smile. “I sure hope it’s good news.” Her attention went back to Brodie. “What exactly did he say?’

“He’s calling the foreman and requesting they upgrade the road material and put in culverts at Grant Creek and on the bend of the river, plus a couple more.”

The explanation meant nothing to Mia, and she fell silent, eating her way through the crispy sandwich.

The other three ate and drank more quickly than she did, and Silas was the first to rise from the table. He lifted his and Raven’s empty plates. “You guys head on up. I’ll take care of these.”

“You sure?” Raven asked.

“Sounds good,” Brodie said. “We’ll start ripping that rotten patch on the north side. We might need to replace the sheathing.”

Feeling slow and out of step, Mia dug in on the second half of her sandwich.

“Will they have sheathing at the hardware store?” Raven asked as she came to her feet.

Brodie polished off his soda and stood beside her. “If we’re lucky.”

“Please tell me we’re not going backward on this.”

Brodie smiled. “Don’t be a pessimist.”

As the two of them chatted their way out the door, Silas turned the heat on under a kettle of water and efficiently moved the dishes from the table to the counter beside the sink.

Quickly finishing her sandwich, Mia joined Silas in the kitchen.

“There must be something I can do,” she said. She didn’t like admitting her insecurity to him of all people, but she hated feeling this way.

“Do about what?” he asked, running some cold water into the dishpan and squirting in a stream of soap.

“Up there.” She pointed to the roof. “I really would like to help.”

He paused and braced the heels of his hands on the lip of the counter. “Have you done any roofing before?”

“You know I haven’t.”

“Ever climbed a ladder?”

“No.”

“Pounded a nail?”

“Are you making this painful on purpose?”

“I’m not trying to make it painful. I’m making it realistic. It’s dangerous for you up there.”

“I’m not a toddler. I won’t wander too close to the edge.”

His lips twitched as he clearly fought a smile.

“Don’t,” she said.

The kettle whistled and he shut the heat off beneath it. “Sorry.”

“I don’t laugh at you.” She hit him with a reproachful glare.

“You might.” He poured the hot water into the sink. “If we were at some snooty fashion event in LA and I showed up in my cargo pants and work boots.”

A comical picture formed in her mind. “Your work boots?”

“You’d laugh at me then.”

“I would not. Besides, you’d know what to wear.”

“What? My good suit? I haven’t owned a good suit in years.”

“Nobody gets married around here?”

He washed the first plate, setting it in the drying rack. “Not in a formal ceremony, they don’t. They usually travel outside if they’re going to have a big wedding. We’ve had a few locally in the clearing by the river, dance afterward outside at the Bear and Bar. They were nice but pretty casual. No suit required.”

“Back to me,” she said, realizing they’d wandered from the subject.

He grinned. “Used to having all the attention, are you?”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant me and the roof.”

“There is no you and the roof. Because we’re fine without you, and we don’t want anything bad to happen. We like you, Mia.”

“Brodie doesn’t.”

“You’re imagining things.”

She realized they’d wandered off topic again. “I want to help. I hate feeling like . . . like the annoying little sister you have to take along to the park.”

He lifted a brow. “My annoying little sister?”

“You know what I mean, the person nobody wants there and who ruins the game.”

His gaze and his tone softened together. “Mia, the last game we played was pool. You definitely didn’t ruin it.”

“You’re deliberately missing my point.”

“What’s your point?”

“That I want to help.”

“You do?”

“Yes.”

“Then grab a dish towel and start drying.”

The suggestion threw her off balance. She looked at the four plates and two glasses standing in the rack and realized it was ridiculously obvious. She quickly grabbed the green-and-white-checkerboard dish towel and started to dry.

“Most of the time you can just jump in,” he said. “You usually don’t need permission to help.”

Mia thought back to the almost choreographed way Silas, Raven and Brodie had made their lunch. She cast her gaze to the ceiling. “So, I can just climb right on up there and start pounding nails?”

“No, not that.”

“Then what? It seems like you’re making up the rules as