No Man Left Behind: A Veteran Inspired Charity Anthology by Elizabeth Knox (black authors fiction TXT) 📕

His shoulders lifted and slowly dropped. “I see them from time to time.” He raised the glass to his lips and enjoyed a delightful surprise. “This is sweet tea.”

“Is that okay? I have water.” She began to stand.

“No. It’s good.”

“Some people think I make it too sweet,” she told him.

“Most people don’t make it sweet enough,” he corrected her.

Silently they enjoyed the lunch she had prepared, with Tasha sprawled across Leo’s lap. As he ate, he decided it would be best to repair anything else she needed before returning home. Well, anything other than the tree damage. That was a lost cause.

“What else you got in need of repair?”

“The house,” she joked, carrying the dishes to the sink.

“Let’s see it.”

“I was kidding. There seems to be more repairs than I realized when I moved here. But I’ll get to them as I can.”

“Why did you move into a house with a tree on it if you can’t afford to have it taken care of?”

“How do you know it had fallen before . . . Oh, right. It’s dead.” She lifted her shoulders with a sigh. “No choice. I had nowhere else to go. Besides, the portion of the house that is damaged, I have closed and blocked the doors. Nothing can come in that way.”

He stood and walked to the light switch and flipped it. Nothing happened. His glare once again landed on her.

“You’re almost scary. You know that?” She paused and crossed her arms returning his glare. “I’ve been job hunting, but no luck so far.”

Leo squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, reminding himself that her dilemma was not his problem. If she chose to live in a house only half intact, that was her prerogative. “Thanks for the lunch,” he said instead of what he thought. Then he turned and made his way back through the house and headed home.

The remainder of the day, he kept his mind busy tinkering with anything he could find. Later that evening, he checked the progress of the apples on the tree and cleared fallen twigs and debris from the yard.

During the time Leo was busy at home, Hanna made a trip down the mountain to the little general store. She had found the place before finding the house. One day she had stopped in to stretch her legs and get a snack for her and Tasha. The atmosphere of the quaint place appealed to her, enticing her to turn in and check it out. While there she had struck up a conversation with an older man sitting near the long window which made up most of the building front and came to learn of the house that she now lived in.

When she walked in the store, she went straight to the back wall.

“Hello, little lady,” a man whose hair was beginning to gray spoke as he stepped next to her.

She twisted from where she stood near the refrigerated section scanning drink bottles.

“Hello,” she answered with a smile.

“That looks like the little fella Leo had in here with him the other day,” he commented, nodding toward Tasha whose head was peeking through an opening in the bag she carried over her shoulder.

She glanced to the dog then to the old man.

“You know Leo?” he asked.

“We met recently when he found my Tasha. Rather my Tasha found him. She ventured to his house. He dropped in and repaired the hole in the fence today. So hopefully she won’t escape again.”

“Good. That’s good. Glad to see Leo meet a friend.”

“I don’t know him that well. Actually, I would say he doesn’t like me at all,” she corrected the man.

“Did he talk to you?” he questioned her.

“Yes.” Hanna nodded. “Not a conversation, but we talked.”

The man laughed. “Then he likes you well enough to mend a fence and speak. I call that as close to a friend with him as you’ll get.” He offered a smile before grabbing a soda bottle from behind the door. “I best be on my way. Don’t see none too good after dark anymore. Tell Leo old Henry asked after him. I’ll see him next time.” Then he strolled to the register and after laughing with the lady behind the counter, he walked out of the building.

Hanna purchased her soda and a snack along with two small cans of dog food.

“Any new work notices?” she asked the woman ringing up her purchase.

“No dear, not today.”

She smiled as she paid for her items and headed outside to her car.

Placing the bag on her passenger seat, she dropped the snack items onto the floorboard.

“If nothing comes up by the end of the week, girl, I’ll have to apply for a job in a larger business. Or hit the road again. I know, you don’t understand. But I don’t have the requirements for most places. I so hoped to find someone willing to hire a housekeeper or sitter for cash.” She cocked her head to the dog as if she understood exactly what Hanna was saying. “It’ll be okay, girl. We’ll make it just fine somehow.”

Chapter Six

Leo paced the top floor of his home. He wanted to not care. And he told himself he didn’t care. But his brain kept telling him otherwise.

Why would anyone live in a house with a tree in it? It’s not even on the roof. It fell to the floor of two rooms. Not my problem. He shook his head. Nope, not my problem at all if an animal gets in there. Maybe she’ll pack her bags and move on. Leo walked to the large glass door crossing his arms as he looked beyond the valley, studying the various colors of leaves preparing for the new season. Soon they would drop to the ground and the branches would be bare of the reds, oranges, and yellows. Stubborn woman probably thinks she can survive when the nights begin to dip below freezing. Ha. Her