Free A Fair of the Heart, Welcome To Redemption, Book1 by Donna Marie Rogers

lived if I didn’t tell
you. I thought the boy deserved that much. He’s been through a lot
this past year, needed someone he could trust.”
    Ouch. Though she knew Caleb hadn’t meant to
imply that her son didn’t trust her—even if she knew that was
exactly the case—hearing the words aloud was like an arrow to the
heart.
    “And the cigarette Emma picked up wasn’t
Max’s, it was some punk friend of his who snuck into the backyard
while we were talking. He flicked the burning butt in the grass,
and Emma picked it up before Max could get to it. The kid split as
soon as she started crying.”
    Lauren chewed on the inside of her cheek, at
least somewhat relieved Max hadn’t been smoking the cigarette that
burned his sister. “Caleb, I’m grateful you’ve taken such an
interest in Max. You’ve made more progress with him in a week than
I have in over a year. But you should’ve told me and let me decide
what to do.”
    Before Caleb could respond, Max zipped down
the stairs and flew into the kitchen, an almost smug smile on his
face. “Are we gonna work again tomorrow? I bet we can finish the
rest by noon if we start at seven.”
    Despite everything, Lauren laughed. “In the
morning?” Max hadn’t dragged his butt out of bed before ten a.m.
since summer break began.
    Max surprised her with a sheepish grin. “I
could do it if I set my alarm clock. Can I, Mom?”
    “Max, tomorrow’s Saturday. Most people don’t
work on the weekends.”
    “Actually,” Caleb laced his fingers over the
back of the chair, “I’d love to get the boards finished tomorrow.
Then I could start putting the fence up on Monday.”
    Lauren eyed Caleb, more torn than she’d been
in a long time. Max deserved to be grounded for a month, not
allowed to go out and have fun. Only the “fun” was hard, honest
work, and the fact that he was willing—heck, had even suggested—to
get up early to do so, was enough incentive to agree. “Fine. But
when that alarm goes off, I don’t want to hear any whining. This
was your idea, so you won’t disappoint Caleb.”
    “No way, I swear. I really like staining. And
I’m good at it. You know I’m not good at a lot of stuff.”
    She clucked her tongue. “That’s not true.
You’ve just never really applied yourself before. And you were
getting pretty good at the guitar until you quit.” She set the
bread, garlic side up, on a foil-lined pan.
    “I was thinking about taking lessons again. I
mean, if you’ll let me.”
    Lauren spun around, surprised. “Of course,
I’ll let you. You know how disappointed I was when you wanted to
quit.”
    “But can we afford it? If not, I can pay for
it out of my own money.”
    “Max, I appreciate the offer, but you’ll put
your money in the bank. I’ll pay for your lessons.”
    “Hey,” Caleb said, “why don’t you play me
something while we’re waiting on supper? I always wanted to learn
how to play guitar.”
    Max jumped up so fast Caleb and Lauren both
laughed. Lauren said, “Peek in on your sister, would you? She’s
awfully quiet, and her movie should be about over by now.”
    “’Kay.” Max took off like a shot.
    “He’s eager to please you,” she told him,
unsure of how that made her feel. Caleb seemed to be a great
guy—not to mention sexy as a box of Godiva chocolates—but really,
she’d known the man less than a week. Maybe things were moving
along a little too fast…hell, who was she kidding? Things were
absolutely moving too fast. For all she knew, Caleb could pack up
and skip town tomorrow, and where would that leave them? Emma was
young and would quickly forget about him. But Max? It would kill
Lauren to watch her son withdraw into his angry shell again—maybe
for good this time.
    “He’s eager to please period. And I really do
love his company. The kid has a great sense of humor, believe it or
not.”
    Lauren’s hand stilled. “He hasn’t told you
any dirty jokes, has he?”
    Caleb laughed. “Why in the world would