Free Completing the Pass by Jeanette Murray Page A

shoveling a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth soon after.
    It astounded Carri that her father could look at her one minute and not have a clue who she was, and then next minute remember the NFL team a family friend’s son had played on for all of fifteen minutes five years ago.
    â€œThe Rams, yes.” Josh nodded. “I’m glad to be back, though. It’s pretty rare, as I’ve found, for someone to be so close to their hometown.”
    Gail simply reached for his hand quietly, and he covered it with his own.
    No, that was one thing she could never say for Josh. He’d never been a bad son.
    And while she’d poked fun at him at the door, she had to admit he looked especially decent tonight. The sports coat was gone, but the white button-down dress shirt fit him well. He’d had his hair cut, and shaved off that lazy scruff he seemed to think looked so good on him. Carri preferred the clean-cut look herself. It was hitting buttons she nearly forgot existed.
    Quick, think of something you hate about him.
    â€œCarri, sweetheart, you have something . . .” Maeve caught her eye across the table and motioned with her finger across her cheek. “Something gray. Dust?”
    Carri swiped at her cheek and came away with, indeed, dust. “Wow, that’s been there the whole time?”
    Josh snickered beside her.
    There, that would suffice. She hated that he took pleasure in making her look like an idiot. He’d probably seen the dust in the kitchen and purposefully hadn’t told her.
    â€œSo, Carri, your mother has been telling me all these years about the wonderful homes you work on.” Gail smiled at her with genuine affection. “Can you tell us about that?”
    She had? Carri sat for a moment in shock. Her mother had always made Carri’s career sound like an idiotic dream anytime they’d talked about it. Eventually, Carri had moved on to answering only the most basic of questions when they’d spoken. “Uh, well, we just finished up a rehab this week. Or it should be finished up.” When she had five minutes, she really needed to talk to Jess without interruption. “So that will go on the market soon. That makes my seventh house as a rental. I’ve purchased a few others, but I flipped them, so they’re gone now.”
    â€œThis is so . . . so HGTV.” Gail leaned forward, appearing excited. “Tell me more. How do you find the houses? Do you do any of the work yourself? Oh, do you use power tools?”
    â€œYeah, right,” Josh scoffed beside her. “Let’s all just picture Carrington carrying around a buzz saw for a second.”
    Ignoring him, she turned more in her chair to fully see Gail. “Yes, actually, I do some of the work myself. Not the heavy lifting or work that requires a license. No plumbing, electrical, that sort of thing. That’s all left to the professionals. But I’ve laid some carpet, helped hang drywall when we were behind schedule, and I usually try to do as much of the painting myself as I can.” She grinned. “I’m pretty good at cutting in with an angled brush.”
    Josh blinked and watched her, as if he wasn’t sure if she were real or a mirage. “Something in your eye, Joshua?”
    â€œNo.” He turned away from her, focusing on his ham.
    She counted to three, then used her fork to flip the piece of ham he’d dropped on her plate. It landed in the middle of his mashed potatoes, which splashed tiny dots of gravy onto his white shirt.
    He growled low, in his throat, but the parents didn’t notice.
    Carri simply grinned. “Great potatoes, Gail.”
    ***
    â€œCarri, your father and I are going to start heading back.”
    Carri stood from the table and grabbed her father’s plate. Josh stood as well, coming around quickly to help Herb pull his chair back.
    â€œI can do it myself,” he snapped, grabbing the