Standing Guard. Valerie Hansen
See? They won’t fall over if you do that.”
“Gotcha. You’re pretty smart, aren’t you? How old are you? About twelve?”
The boy grinned. “Naw. I’m almost eight. But I’m big for my age.”
“You sure are.” Thad straightened and backed away, hands fisted on his hips. “Think that will do or should we go find more boxes and make higher walls?”
“That’s good like it is,” Danny said, considering their construction as if he were the architect of a skyscraper. “It needs a door.”
“Hard to do without a frame,” Thad said. “How about we give that some thought while you get used to your new office?”
The child giggled and looked to Lindy. “Okay, Mom?”
“Perfect. Have you thanked Mr. Pearson?”
Thad raised his hands in the air and backed away. “No need for that. We both worked on it. Now, what about furniture? Danny can’t do his homework without a table and chair.”
“Really, I...” Lindy’s objection was cut short by Thad’s warning glance. “Right,” she continued brightly. “How are you two geniuses going to make those?”
She saw her usually reticent son look up to the ex-marine as if he held the answers to all life’s questions.
Thad began to grin. “I have an idea. We’re pretty much out of boxes in here. Follow me.”
He never looked back as he strode past Lindy to the door. It was as if he knew Danny would follow. As if he was willing him to trust. And so he did.
She stood at the office door and watched an amazing transformation occurring. Not only was Danny keeping up with Thad, he had double-timed enough to walk beside him. The sight of her timid son joining such a sizeable man in any endeavor left her speechless.
Maybe this job was more than the answer to her prayers for employment. Maybe it was for Danny’s benefit, as well.
She began to smile in spite of deep concerns over her fragile financial situation. Yes, she was still very worried about the canceled credit cards and her missing money, but there were more important things in life than that. Danny’s recovery and future happiness meant more to her than all the money in the world.
Even if the cause of the cyber attack on her finances was never found, the unexpected side effects of that hacking were something to be celebrated. There she was, in a job she wouldn’t have gotten if she hadn’t been in trouble, watching her son warm up to a man he might never have gotten close to otherwise. How could she complain? This was almost too good to be true.
* * *
Thad hadn’t been sure his ploy would work until he’d seen the sparkle in Danny’s eyes. It was obvious that the boy’s mother loved him dearly but, somewhere along the line she’d lost her sense of playfulness. That was where Thad had the advantage and he intended to make the most of it.
Gathering stacks of slim cartons that were still in bundles from their delivery, he wound a short stack in plastic wrap and handed it to Danny. “Here you go. You carry the desktop and I’ll bring the sides.”
The child was beaming when he returned to where his mother waited. Thad was pretty happy himself, especially considering the beatific smile on Lindy’s face when she gazed at her son.
It must be comforting to please someone that much, he mused, refusing to let himself dwell on that thought. It was his job to help this fractured family and that was exactly what he was going to do. Period. He wasn’t about to picture himself as part of it.
It had taken him months to accept the fact that the military shrinks had been right about his mental state. Because of nightmares and flashbacks caused by the PTSD, he wasn’t the right person to parent his brother’s kids and it wasn’t fair to make them wait for a new home until he was well again—if he ever would be.
But he did have a way with children. He might not be suited for permanent fatherhood, but he could be a true friend, a buddy, on a level that youngsters understood. That was what he was doing when he led the Sunday school class and he was determined that the same would be true of his interaction with Danny Southerland.
Placing two medium-size boxes eighteen inches apart, Thad stood back and let the boy lay the planklike package across them to serve as a tabletop.
“Okay, now we need a chair.”
“I can do that by myself,” Danny insisted.
Watching him choose, Thad started to grin. He figured it was better to let the boy learn by making his own mistakes.
The minute Danny plunked down on the empty cardboard box he had selected as a stool, it collapsed and he fell on his back pockets, giggling.
“I think it might be better to use one with stuff in it,” Thad said, joining in the laughter. “I have just the thing. You don’t mind sitting on colanders, do you?”
Danny sobered. “What’s that?”
“A strainer, like I use when we make spaghetti,” Lindy volunteered. “They’ll be in boxes. You won’t even know.”
Thad’s grin widened when the child looked to him as if waiting for the final decision before saying, “Okay,” and swiveling to concentrate on his mother. “We can make that tonight for supper, huh?”
“If you want,” she said easily.
“And Mr. Pearson can come eat with us.”
Thad would have laughed aloud if there hadn’t been such a stricken expression on Lindy’s face. He thought about relieving her anxiety by refusing the childish invitation, then decided it would be advantageous to accept. The visit would give him a chance to look over her home and judge whether or not it was secure enough.
“I’d love to come to your house for supper, Danny,” he said. “How about if I bring some ice cream for dessert? What flavor do you like?”
“We don’t eat sweets,” Lindy blurted, her cheeks red, her eyes widening more by the second.
“Okay. Then I’ll bring dill-pickle-flavored,” Thad gibed. To his delight, Danny started to laugh so heartily he got short of breath and tears filled his eyes.
Judging by the incredulity on Lindy’s face, it had been a long time since she’d seen her son express that much unbridled amusement.
She finally recovered her composure. “All right. Please join us for supper, Mr. Pearson. And you don’t have to bring pickle ice cream. I suppose we can eat normal flavors once in a while without getting too many cavities.”
“Chocolate okay?”
She didn’t have time to comment before the office phone rang and she slipped into her formal persona to answer. “Pearson Products. How may I help you?”
Thad and Danny watched her grow pale, then reach for the edge of the desk to steady herself.
“What? That’s impossible.”
Thad didn’t know what was being said by the other party to the call but he could tell enough to cause him to reach for the receiver. Instead of balking, Lindy relinquished it to him.
“This is Thad Pearson. Is there something I can do for you?”
“Our business is with Mrs. Southerland.”
“Who has just passed your call to me. Now what’s going on? She looks like you just told her somebody died.”
“Mrs. Southerland has not kept up with her mortgage payments since before Mr. Southerland passed away and there was no insurance on the account to pay off the loan in case of the death of either party. Therefore, she’s seriously in default.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? In plain English.”
“According