Prejudice Meets Pride Read Online Free PDF Page B

surprised if they made a run for it and fled across the street to Becky’s beautiful yard instead.
    Emma pushed away from the pillar with a purpose. Although there was nothing she could do to brighten her job prospects at the moment, there was something she could do to brighten the yard for the girls, and she’d do it right now. Then on Monday, she would resign herself to the clerical jobs listed in the classified ads.
    Emma reminded the girls to stay in the yard and away from the street before she opened the garage and started looking around. After a few moments of searching, she finally found the control box for the sprinklers. Like the house, it looked old and tired, but once Emma wiped away the dust, she could still read the words written under each knob. An old and yellowed owner’s manual, encased in a sheet protector, hung from the box. Emma opened the pages carefully, and with one eye on the girls, scanned the directions. With a smile, she confidently turned the knob to manual, set the number of minutes for the first zone, then twisted it back to Run. She watched the yard, waiting anxiously for the sprinklers to pop out of the ground and give the girls a fun surprise. They would squeal in delight and probably race inside to put on their swimsuits.
    The seconds ticked by with no sprinkler action, and Emma’s smile soon faltered. She bit her bottom lip and studied the box once again. Another perusal of the instructions, and she was sure she’d pressed the right buttons. So where was the water? Why weren’t the girls squealing? This was supposed to be the one thing that went right today.
    Hmm… maybe it was an electrical problem. Although the box was plugged in, all the dials were manual, so it was impossible to tell if it was receiving power. Emma glanced around, wondering where the circuit breaker would be.
    “You look a little lost. Can I help?” a deep, masculine voice sounded behind Emma, making her jump. She whirled around and barely refrained from rolling her eyes when she saw Kevin. She suddenly felt like a magnet who attracted knight-in-shining-armor wannabees. It would be one thing if the whole grocery incident had never happened, but it had, and Emma wasn’t about to play the needy role yet again.
    “Aren’t you late for work?” Emma said, noticing that Kevin was dressed in nice slacks and a starched, button-down shirt.
    He stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced at the red sport convertible running in his driveway before returning his attention to Emma. “I don’t have appointments on Friday. It’s sort of a catch-up day, so I usually go in a little later. I saw you out here and figured I’d drop by to say hi really quick. We sort of started off on the wrong foot the other day, and well, since we are neighbors…”
    “We’re good, Kevin,” said Emma. “No hard feelings on my side.”
    “Nor mine.”
    “Great.”
    Instead of leaving, like she expected him to, he looked around the garage. “Everything okay?”
    “Yep.” Emma smiled, a little too brightly. “Just looking for the circuit breaker.”
    Kevin’s eyes quickly scanned the garage, finally coming to rest on the far corner. “I think that’s it over there. Did you trip a circuit or something?”
    Emma started toward the box. “I just wanted to make sure the control box for the sprinklers is getting power.” She tried to sound confident, like she knew exactly what she was doing and didn’t need any help. But when she arrived at the circuit breaker box and pulled the door open, a bunch of switches stared back at her, like beady black eyes, challenging her to know what to do with them. Emma glanced over everything, searching for anything that looked out of place. But they all appeared to be perfectly lined up. Oh brother. Now what?
    “This box is getting power, so it’s not a power issue.” Kevin was at the control box, checking it out. “Are you sure you programmed it right?”
    “Yes,” Emma said crossly. Did