Free Adding Up to Marriage by Karen Templeton Page B

a tree house. And the kids would love it, right?”
    â€œYeah, I suppose,” Silas said, like he was only half listening. Jewel turned to see him sweeping cookie crumbs into his palm, obviously avoiding eye contact.
    â€œSilas? Is something wrong?”
    The crumbs deposited into a napkin, he rubbed his fingers together, then finally met her gaze. “Noah says the roof on Eli’s house is worse than he thought. A lot worse. In fact, it needs to be completely replaced before there’s any more damage to the structure underneath.”
    â€œO…kay…?”’
    â€œWhich means you’ll need to find someplace else to live in the interim.”
    Her stomach dropped. “‘Interim’ meaning…?”
    â€œMaybe…two weeks?”
    â€œOh.”
    Dazed, Jewel wandered out into the living room where her knees went kaflooey, sending her crashing onto the edge of the sofa. Doughboy, sensing unhappiness afoot, waddled over to nudge her thigh, offering slobbery condolences.
    â€œIt’s really that bad?” she said.
    â€œWorse. Noah said one good rainstorm and the whole east side of the roof could turn into a skylight.”
    Jewel doubled over, palming her face. “Where on earth am I supposed to go for two weeks? ”
    â€œYou don’t have friends or somebody you can stay with?”
    Her face still buried in her hands, Jewel shook her head. And realized she was an inch away from acting like her mother. Hell. “I’ll figure something out,” she said, putting on her Brave Face as she stood, wiped her hands on her jeans and returned to the kitchen to check on the pork roast, which was dumb because the whole point of a slow cooker was not having to check on it—
    â€œUm…”
    She glanced up to see Silas doing that palming-the-back-of-his-head thing men did when they were dreading what came next. “If worse comes to worst, there’s the sofa bed in the office.”
    â€œWhat office?”
    â€œMy office. Down the hall.”
    Clutching the cooker lid, she gawked at Silas. “You’re asking me to stay here?”
    â€œOnly as an absolutely last resort.”
    She replaced the lid, muttering, “Your hospitality is overwhelming.”
    â€œYou couldn’t possibly want to bunk with me. Uh, us.”
    â€œAfter such a heartwarming invitation?” Jewel said, gathering placemats and flatware, then whooshing past Silas to set the table. “No. But like you said—” she smacked down the placemats, clunked the silverware on top “—I may not have a choice. And beggars can’t be choosers and all that fun stuff.”
    â€œYou’re overreacting.”
    â€œYou might not want to say that to a woman with a knife in her hand.”
    â€œIt’s a bread knife, I’ll take my chances. And you just made my point—hey!”
    Man was nimble, she had to give him that. Not that she’dactually aimed the knife at him, it bounced off the floor a good foot from his shoe, but still close enough to make him jump. And, she was guessing by the dipped brows behind the glasses, seriously reconsider his offer. Pushing out a breath, she stomped over to snatch the knife off the floor and wash it, annoyed as all hell to feel tears coming on.
    But, dammit, she was getting so tired of being in limbo, of not having her own home, her own life, of feeling torn in two between being there for assorted family members and desperately wanting, needing, to figure out who Jewel was—
    â€œJewel? The knife only fell on the floor, not into a pig sty. I think it’s probably clean enough. And whatever’s in the cooker smells fantastic, by the way.”
    She shoved down the faucet handle. Turned. Felt her renegade heart do a slow flip-flop at the contrite expression on Silas’s face. Maybe his chivalry was a tad rusty, but this was a good man, as stalwart as they came. No, he clearly didn’t