Read Online Man with a Past by Kay Stockham - Free Book Online

in his hand and his glasses perched on his nose, she told herself to quit stalling.
    Joe stood looking outside the kitchen door, but he glanced over his shoulder at her as she entered the room, his expression closed and devoid of the many emotions she’d seen moments earlier.
    â€œWhat rooms have water spots?”
    â€œThe far corner here in the kitchen. And also the bedroom above where the roof lines meet. I haven’t seen any others, so hopefully the problems are confined even though the whole roof definitely needs to be replaced.”
    He nodded, his hand on the screen door. “I’ll go check it out. Those clouds rolling in don’t look good so the rest of the list and tour will have to wait.”
    â€œThere are tarps in the truck, passenger side.”
    Ashley watched him leave the house, antsy, uneasy, wanting to help. And wondering why a baby crib bothered Joe so much.
    Â 
    O NCE HE’D CALMED DOWN , Joe came to the realization it wasn’t seeing the crib that had upset him—it was seeing Max in the crib.
    One minute he was standing in the doorway waiting for Ashley to return and the next, he was staring down at the baby boy, frozen and panicked because he wasn’t sure if Max had closed his eyes and fallen asleep—or stopped breathing.
    So much for the CPR class he’d taken in prison.
    Job or no job, staying here wasn’t a good idea.
    â€œJoe?”
    Ashley’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he turned, surprised to find her balanced on the ladder instead of on the ground below.
    â€œWhat can I do?”
    He finished securing the tarp into place, all the while thinking there weren’t many women in the world who’d climb up on top of a house in the midst of a brewing storm to help her hired help repair a roof.
    â€œNothing, get down!”
    The wind whistled through the trees and grew stronger with every passing second. It had already sprinkled and thunder rumbled in the distance. There was such a charge to the air, Joe knew it was only a matter of time before the clouds really opened up.
    He eyed the loose shingles that had already pulled away from the tar paper beneath andfrowned. No way were they going to make it, but there wasn’t anything he could do about them now.
    â€œYou can’t do this alone,” she shouted back from where she crouched near the ladder. “Let me help! It’ll be faster if we work together!”
    Head low, he scrambled across the roof toward her and tossed a hand up toward the sky. “Look, Mrs. Cade, I don’t mean any disrespect but you’ll get hurt! Go back inside and see if there are any tornado warnings!”
    She blinked at him, her eyes widening even more. “And leave you up here? No! Let’s fix that tarp and we can both get off this roof! Look, I’m sorry about the crib, okay? I’ll get another as soon as I can, but I can’t afford to lose the only handyman willing to work for me and what I can afford to pay him so stop being stubborn and let me help you! ”
    Joe raised his brows rose at her tone, but one glance told him the storm was nearly on them and he’d wasted precious time arguing with her.
    He’d gotten the first tarp in place with no problems, but the last one over the bedroom was tricky because it needed to go on the back part of the house where all the angles V’d together. And with the wind blowing against him, he couldn’t anchor the sections into place without help.
    Joe locked his jaw and ignored the urge to order her inside again. So he did the next best thing andmade his bossy boss sit on the tarp with her legs outstretched to keep her from falling while holding the tarp down.
    He handed her some of the rope he’d found on the porch and showed her how to thread the rope through the grommet rings until he had enough to descend the ladder and tie the tarp to cinder blocks on the ground.
    The outward facing side covered, he