Along Came Trouble: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

it was only because she’d been raised that way. Herown mother was Lebanese, and all the women on Mom’s side of the family expressed affection through criticism and an obsession with appearances. Spotless floors and a neatly pressed shirt for the school dance said, I love you . Mom rarely did.
    Nothing about her had changed since he was a kid. He knew it wasn’t fair of him to hold the way she was against her, but he couldn’t seem to help it. He was responsible for this boisterous, problem-plagued crew now—or at least, he was trying to be. She made it hard as hell for him to do the job he’d moved home to do.
    “Well, it’s your father, of course,” she admitted, casting a baleful look in his direction. “He’s made a mess of things again.”
    Caleb bristled, same as he always did when she started in on Dad. “What happened?”
    “He took the master key out of the drawer when I wasn’t paying attention. By the time I found him, he’d left an open can of paint in one unit and done something to the plumbing in 4C that I’m going to have to call Kevin in to fix.”
    Kevin was a local handyman and one of Mom’s favorite feints in the conversational swordplay she kept dragging Caleb into. He couldn’t understand it. She knew he wanted to help. She knew his father had taught him to do any sort of work that needed to be done at the apartments his parents owned. And yet she persisted in pretending she was planning to pay Kevin money she couldn’t afford for work her own son was perfectly willing and able to do free of charge. Every time, she made him pry the information out of her.
    It was both insulting and exhausting, but all very polite. Which was his mother to a T.
    At times like this, he missed the simplicity of the chain of command. It would improve matters a lot if he could just hand Mom her orders and be done with it.
    Given the way things had been going, she was far more likely to be handing him orders. But even that would be an improvement over the current situation.
    “You don’t need to call Kevin. I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”
    “I couldn’t ask you to do that. Maybe Tony can spare a few minutes.”
    Tony and Amber had their hands full with three young boys and a construction business that had been struggling since the housing market took a dive. “Tony’s got a lot to do already. I can come by—”
    “Please, don’t worry about it. I’ll give Kevin a call tomorrow.”
    Katie piped up from down the hall. “Let him help, Ma. I swear, you’re going to drive Caleb crazy.”
    “Well, he’s busy ,” she chided. “He has to focus on his business. June over at the Parish House was telling me last week how many new businesses fail, especially when the owners don’t have the skills or the experience they need—”
    “Holy cow, Mom, lay off,” Katie said. “Caleb’s not going to fail. Camelot Security’sdoing fine. He can take an hour off tomorrow to do some plumbing, and I’ll make sure the office doesn’t implode while he’s out.”
    Caleb threw Katie a tight smile, grateful she was loyal, if not honest. She made a shooing motion behind their parents’ backs. Get them out of here .
    He opened the door and told his mother, “I’ll take care of it.”
    “All right,” she said, as if she were doing him a favor. She tucked her purse under her arm. “Come by early, though. The tenant needs his shower working.” Glaring at her husband, she asked, “Are you ready yet, Derek? It’s time for us to go.”
    Caleb’s father smiled his crooked smile, unperturbed. “I guess I am.”
    Eventually, with Katie’s help, Caleb got them all out of the house, though not before his mother had remarked that the lawn needed mowing and the trim could use a coat of paint.
    “We are never doing that again,” he said as he pushed the door closed.
    “It wasn’t that bad this week. At least they left early.”
    He checked his watch. Seven thirty. Still time to get over to Burgess Street.