More Than Neighbors Read Online Free PDF Page B

driveway faster than she should have, dust pluming behind, turned right on the two-lane road then right without even signaling into Mr. Tennert’s driveway. As cool as he’d been, she was trying not to think of him as Gabe. That was too...friendly.
    And friendly was the last emotion she’d feel if she found out he’d been letting Mark hang out without insisting her son call home first.
    * * *
    G ABE KNEW MAD when he saw it, and there it was, vibrating in front of him, in the person of Ciara Malloy.
    Mark didn’t seem to have noticed. “Mom! Look at all these cool tools Mr. Tennert has. And he’s like me. See? He has a place for everything, and he says he never quits work without putting every single tool away and cleaning up every scrap of wood and even sawdust.” He sounded pleased and awed. He hadn’t been as impressed by the huge band resaw or the pillar drill, grinder and sanding machines as he’d been by Gabe’s regimented ranks of clamps and the rolling chest with multiple drawers that held his tools, each placed as precisely in a slot designed just for it as a surgeon’s tools might be in the operating room.
    “You disobeyed my direct order,” his mother said from between tight lips. She shot a fiery look at Gabe.
    “I didn’t!” her son cried. “You said I couldn’t go in the pasture, and I didn’t.”
    She stared at him. “If you didn’t cut through the pasture—”
    “I went down the driveway and along the road. Didn’t you see my bike? Though it would be a lot faster if I could go through the pasture, Mom. Then I wouldn’t have to ride my bike on the road. The horses wouldn’t hurt me.” Momentary chagrin crossed his face. “They won’t even come near me.”
    She planted her hands on her hips. “Okay, new rule. You need to tell me if you are going to leave our property. Always . No exceptions.”
    “But Mom! You say I can’t interrupt you when you’re working. That’s already a rule.”
    “Then you wait until I take a break.”
    “But Mom—!” Even he seemed finally to notice she was steaming. “Are you mad?”
    “I was scared when I couldn’t find you.” She transferred her gaze to Gabe. “Didn’t it occur to you I’d be worried?”
    “I did ask if you knew where he was,” Gabe said mildly. “He said...” He frowned, unable to remember exactly what Mark had said. “I’m right next door,” he added.
    “He knows better than to bother you, especially in the middle of a working day.”
    “I’m not bothering Mr. Tennert,” Mark assured her. “Am I?” Eyes as blue as his mother’s met Gabe’s. The beseeching expression was his downfall. Damn it, the kid was a bother. Gabe would really like it if Ciara forbade him visiting. But looking into those eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to be that blunt. It would feel like kicking a puppy.
    “Ah...a little break didn’t hurt anything. I’d have kicked him out pretty soon.”
    “I wish you’d show me how to use your tools,” the boy said wistfully.
    Gabe cringed at the idea of those uncoordinated limbs anywhere near a whirring saw blade. Hand tools, though...
    “Whatever he says, you cannot pop over here whenever you feel like it and bother Mr. Tennert,” Ciara said. Her sigh was almost surreptitious. Did she have as hard a time crushing the kid’s hopes as he did? Gabe wondered.
    “Make it Gabe,” he suggested, glancing at the boy. “Both of you.”
    They beamed at him. “Oh,” the mother said. “My name’s Ciara. Did I tell you that?” She spelled it for his benefit, and he nodded. Spelling never had been his strong suit.
    “I could give Mark a few lessons in using hand tools,” Gabe suggested, even as he thought, What the hell? “Unless you’re hiring someone to come in and do a sweeping remodel of your house, maybe he could take on a project or two. Learn how to strip and sand windowsills and moldings, say. The doorknob on the front door could use to be replaced.”
    Her expression changed