High Hurdles Collection Two Read Online Free PDF Page A

kind. “You gonna help me?”
    â€œWhat’s it worth to you?”
    Joe crinkled up his eyes like he was thinking hard. “It’s worth you not having to set the table and load the dishwasher by yourself.”
    â€œGran would help me.”
    â€œI have a feeling Gran is going to be pretty busy with two sick little boys.”
    â€œDid you have to remind me?” DJ picked up the vegetable brush and attacked the red potatoes Joe poured into the sink.
    â€œYou have a problem with that?” Joe brought out a bag of carrots and began peeling them.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œSounds like a yes to me.” He dumped a peeled carrot in with the scrubbed potatoes.
    DJ glared at the potato in her hand and scrubbed so hard the red came off.
    â€œSo?”
    â€œI really like the boys.”
    â€œAnd?” When she didn’t answer, he added, “But?”
    â€œThey take so much time and they are so … so hyper.”
    â€œMaybe it seems that way, but they’re really more busy and active than hyper. You just haven’t been around little kids much, and those two are a double handful.”
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œNow, what’s really bugging you?” Joe finished peeling the carrots and washed his hands. “Hand me the butcher knife, will you?” He quartered the carrots and potatoes, the knife blade slamming into the cutting board.
    â€œNothing, forget it.”
    â€œNope. Let’s get it out—now.”
    DJ chewed on her lip. “I … I feel like a creep.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œI don’t know.” She pushed herself away from the counter.
    â€œNot so fast.” Joe snagged her arm with one wet hand, leaving a print on the arm of her gray sweat shirt. “Give, girl. This is GJ, remember? I’ve interrogated hardened criminals. One confused teenage girl, especially my granddaughter, is a piece of cake.”
    He handed her the bowl of veggies and, opening the oven door, pulled out the roaster. With the lid open and steam rising, he ordered, “Dump ’em in.”
    DJ did as asked. “I’m too old to be jealous of two little boys, sick ones at that.” The words gushed as if from a wide open faucet.
    â€œYou’re a better man—excuse me, woman—than I am, then, because I feel jealous over the kids or even Mel’s painting at times.”
    â€œYou do?” DJ’s eyebrows shot up.
    â€œSure, we all do. Only some, like you, are honest about it bothering you. Most grown-ups have just learned to hide their jealousy and suffer in silence. Some even make the other person miserable by getting even or making smart, cutting comments.” He closed the oven door.
    â€œBut I thought Christians weren’t supposed to feel jealous or mad or—”
    â€œGet even or say things to hurt another’s feelings or all kinds of things. Of course we’re not supposed to, but sometimes we do. We’re human, and we have feelings. But the sin is acting on those feelings. Feelings are neither good nor bad—they just are. It’s when you let them take root and begin to poison your mind and soul that you get into trouble.” Joe leaned against the counter, waving his celery stalk for emphasis. “There are times when you’ll have feelings or thoughts that aren’t the best, but let them go. Saying ‘I feel really angry’ is like popping the top on a can of soda. It lets the fizz out. When Robert was your age, I gave him a punching bag so he could beat his anger out on that rather than on his sister and brother. It helped—a lot.”
    â€œRobert got mad?”
    â€œHe had a terrible temper.”
    â€œAre we talking about the same Robert—you know, the man who married my mother?”
    â€œWe sure are. If he gets mad at you, he’ll tell you about it. But if he hadn’t learned to feel the feelings and then let them go, he wouldn’t be where he is