Free A Cold Creek Reunion by RaeAnne Thayne

looked up, a look of complete astonishment on her cute little face. She pulled one ear cup away, testing to see if the sander was on, but quickly returned it to the original position. After a minute, she pulled it away again and then replaced it, a look of wonder on her face at the magic of safety wear.
    He chuckled and turned back to Alex, waiting eagerly by the belt sander.
    “Okay, the most important thing here is that we don’t sand your fingers off. I’m not sure your mom would appreciate that.”
    “She wouldn’t,” Alex assured him with a solemn expression.
    Taft had to fight his grin. “We’ll have to be careful, then. Okay. Now you always start up the belt sander before you touch it to the wood so you don’t leave gouges. Right here is the switch. Now keep your hands on top of mine and we can do it together. That’s it.”
    For the next few minutes, they worked the piece of wood until he was happy with the way it looked and felt. He always preferred to finish sanding his jobs the old-fashioned way, by hand, but a belt sander was a handy tool for covering a large surface quickly and efficiently.
    When they finished, he carefully turned off the belt sander and set it aside, then returned to the board and the boy. “Okay, now here’s the second most important part, after not cutting your fingers off. We have to blow off the sawdust. Like this.”
    He demonstrated with a puff of air, then handed the board to the boy, who puckered up and blew as if he were the big, bad wolf after the three little pigs.
    “Perfect,” Taft said with a grin. “Feel how smooth that is now?”
    The boy ran his finger along the wood grain. “Wow! I did that?”
    “Absolutely. Good job. Now every time you come into this room, you can look out through the window and remember you helped frame it up.”
    “Cool! Why do you have to sand the wood?”
    “When the wood is smooth, it looks better and you get better results with whatever paint or varnish you want to use on it.”
    “How does the sander thingy work?”
    “The belt is made of sandpaper. See? Because it’s rough, when you rub it on the wood, it works away the uneven surface.”
    “Can you sand other things besides wood?” he asked.
    Taft had to laugh at the third degree. “You probably can but it’s made for wood. It would ruin other things. Most tools have a specific purpose and when you use them for something else, you can cause more problems.”
    “Me,” an abnormally loud voice interrupted before Alex could ask any more questions. With the ear protectors, Maya obviously couldn’t judge the decibel level of her own voice. “I go now.”
    “Okay, okay. You don’t need to yell about it,” Alex said, rolling his eyes in a conspiratorial way toward Taft.
    Just like that, both of these kids slid their way under his skin, straight to his heart, partly because they were Laura’s, but mostly because they were just plain adorable.
    “Can I?” she asked, still speaking loudly.
    He lifted one of the ear protectors so she could hear him. “Sure thing, sweetheart. I’ve got another board that needs sanding. Come on.”
    Alex looked disgruntled, but he backed away to give his sister room. Taft was even more careful with Maya, keeping his hands firmly wrapped around hers on the belt sander as they worked the wood.
    When they finished, he removed her earwear completely. “Okay, now, like I told your brother, this is the most important part. I need you to blow off the sawdust.”
    She puckered comically and puffed for all she was worth and he helped her along. “There. Now feel what we did.”
    “Ooh. Soft.” She smiled broadly at him and he returned her smile, just as he heard their names.
    “Alex? Maya? Where are you?”
    Laura’s voice rang out from down the hall, sounding harried and a little hoarse, as if she had been calling for a while.
    The two children exchanged looks, as if they were bracing themselves for trouble.
    “That’s our mama,” Alex said