Page 26 of The Payback Adventure
His knock-your-socks-off smile sent her pulse climbing again.
Elisabeth didn’t like that. Or him. He was so much like Toby, a boy who would never grow up. “First, you flood my garden, and then you try to burn down my house by cooking when you don’t know how to cook. What’s next? Do you have a swarm of locusts packed away in your bag that you’ll let loose on the crops?”
He furrowed his brow. “What flood?”
“I asked you to turn off the water when you got up. It was the first thing on the list I left for you on the kitchen table.”
“I was going to read the list after I ate breakfast.” He stared at the singed towel. “I just got up.”
Her jaw dropped. “It’s after eleven.”
“I generally sleep in on weekends.”
Now, she was going to lose it. Her temper bubbled up. She bit the inside of her cheek and counted backward from ten. It didn’t help.
Sam ran toward the kitchen door with a garden hose in his hands. Water dripped from the hand trigger. “Where’s the fire?”
“I wouldn’t call it a real fire,” Henry said. “The flames only licked the ceiling.”
“What’s with the apron?” Sam asked.
“He was cooking breakfast,” Caitlin answered.
“Doesn’t Henry look like Daddy did when he wore Mommy’s apron to make us cinnamon rolls?” Abby asked.
A rare smile lit up Sam’s face. “Dad burned them.”
Caitlin giggled. “Just like Henry.”
Abby laughed. “The fire alarm went off. Smoke was everywhere. It smelled bad. Mommy was so mad.”
Caitlin giggled again. “Just like Elisabeth.”
The smiles disappeared. The laughter, too. Mommy and Daddy weren’t ever coming home again, and it was Elisabeth’s fault. A heaviness settled on her heart.
“I’d better put the hose away,” Sam muttered.
Abby took Caitlin’s hand and they followed their brother. “We’ll go with you.”
Elisabeth stared at the slumped shoulders of the three people she loved most in this world. No matter how hard she tried, she could never take the place of their parents.
“I’m sorry about the plants,” Henry said.
Me, too.
Words weren’t enough. They didn’t have enough money to afford fresh fruit and vegetables at the grocery store. That was why they grew their own. “You’ll have to replant the garden. We count on that food.”
“Of course,” he said.
As she turned, her gaze caught his. Looking into his eyes made her feel warm and tingly. What was she doing? What was she feeling? Henry was way more trouble than he was worth. She didn’t need any more problems than the ones she already had.
“Is there anything you want me to do?” he asked.
“I left you a list.”
“I’m going to get to it.” He flashed a killer smile. “But I thought there might be something you wanted me to do first.”
“There is.” Elisabeth refused to be charmed. She squared her shoulders. “Clean up this mess.”
