Free Rich in Faith (Richness in Faith, Book 3) by Lindi Peterson

called it a date. I didn’t.”
    “Jared always gets the pretty girls.”
    The only reason Court wouldn’t get the pretty girls is if he didn’t try. He has everything a woman would want in a man. He’s loaded to the brim with all the star qualities in life.
    Yet he lives here, still grieving MaryLeigh’s death, and works from morning until night.
    It’s a shame is what it is.
    “I’ll see you in the morning.”
    With those words, he walks from the living room to the side of the house where his bedroom and office are.
    My heart hitches disappointment that I might have disappointed him by going to the concert with Jared. Certainly he knows I thought it was just a friend thing.
    I had no idea Jared would consider it a date.
    And I can’t tell Court about my mission.
     
     
    THE FIVE A.M. RUN is a little cooler than the previous run a couple of days ago. I shower and barely finish my first cup of coffee before Court saunters into the kitchen. He pours a cup of coffee for himself then nods to me. “Good morning.”
    “Good morning.”
    His hair is still wet from his shower and his soap scent lingers softly in the air, making me think of days spent outdoors, breeze blowing. I love the way he dresses for success in his crisp white shirt, sleeves rolled up, his gray slacks and beautifully classy-looking black shoes.
    “Did you run this morning?” he asks, breaking my starefest.
    “I did. Still sultry, but slightly cooler.”
    “Florida’s like that. Whenever you’re ready, you can come into my office. I have the information about homeschooling.”
    “I’m ready now.” I slide off the bar stool and follow Court.
    His office is a manly sort of place with a large fish gracing the top of one of the walls. A big, dark heavy-looking desk and matching office furniture take up a lot of space. There is a small settee with a coffee table in front of it.
    “You can sit there if you’d like.” He motions toward the settee. There is a box sitting on the coffee table. A box filled with papers.
    Court takes a seat in a straight-backed chair in front of his desk. He turns the chair so it faces me. He points to the box. “There are the notes and such.”
    I widen my eyes and nod toward the box. “In there? All that paper?”
    “Yes. I’m not sure how organized it is.”
    I slide the box to the floor in front of me and fish out the top layers of papers. “I thought all this would be on the computer.”
    “MaryLeigh wasn’t big on computers. She liked tangible stuff. Stuff you could actually hold and touch.”
    MaryLeigh’s tangible stuff preference would make this job harder. “Okay. I’ll take this box to the, well, I guess to my room and work on it.”
    “You can use this space. I’m going to my office. You can use my computer, or your own. Whichever. Also, there’s a phone here if you need to make calls.” He points to a cordless phone sitting in a charger on his desk.
    “Okay. Mrs. Stratton indicated that someone was hired at one point to homeschool the girls. Do you know if that information is in here?”
    He shrugs and stands. “Probably. Although they weren’t here long.” He makes his way behind his desk and leans over for a moment. He looks like he’s rifling through a drawer.
    After about a minute he holds up file folders. “I knew I had some here. You can use these to organize all the information if you want.”
    He sets the folders on top of his desk.
    I see a printer sitting on a credenza that lines one of the walls. “Is there a scanner on that printer?”
    “Yes.”
    “If I can download the printer drivers to my computer, I’ll probably scan the documents straight to my computer if that’s okay.”
    Nodding his head he sips his coffee. “Sure. Whatever works for you. I think the set up disks for the printer are in this credenza somewhere if you don’t find what you need online.”
    “I’ll figure it out.”
    “Okay.” As Court comes around his desk he takes another sip of his