Free Love at Last by Darlene Panzera

A Perfect Opportunity

      Sarah threw down the wrench and sank to her knees on the cold garage floor. Who would have thought putting wheels on a skateboard could be so complicated?  
    She surveyed the scattered array of nuts, bolts, and screws beside her and squelched a pang of remorse. Yes, she should have paid the extra money and bought the board pre-assembled. Too late now. The store closed at six o’clock on Saturday’s and she needed the skateboard together before morning for her son’s birthday.
    It was at a time like this she really missed having a man around the house.
    Her grandparents next door were too feeble to be of any help. Joanne, her friend across the street, was out on a date. The computer geek two doors down couldn’t handle anything non-virtual, and the other couple on their block had been fighting. She didn’t dare bother them.
    She couldn’t hand her son a disassembled gift, either. Tommy had already had his share of disappointments.
    His father’s life insurance money paid for the funeral and most of their debt, but didn’t leave them much else. She and Tommy had been forced to make a lot of sacrifices over the last eighteen months. Tight finances made it impossible to send Tommy to winter camp with his friends. When spring came, she couldn’t afford the required physical and uniform fee to register him for soccer.
    This year for his birthday, Tommy had asked for only one thing, a skateboard, and she couldn’t fail him.
    Not again.
    Sarah looked at the pickup parked in the driveway to her right. The gold glow of the setting summer sun glistened upon the metal ladders, toolboxes, and plastic-wrapped two by fours vying for space in the truck bed. The sign on the passenger door advertised construction services. Could a carpenter put anything together besides wood?
    She hadn’t met her new neighbor yet, but figured this might be the perfect opportunity. She even had the perfect cache to offer a trade. Her refrigerator held more than five pounds of cookie dough for her son’s party the next day. Who could resist a plate of warm, gooey, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip cookies? 
    Five minutes later she placed the baking sheet in her oven and thought about the man who’d recently bought the white Cape Cod next door. A moving van had arrived two weeks ago and a team of professionals carried furniture and an assortment of brown cardboard boxes into the house. The new neighbor’s bright red pickup arrived later that day.
    She’d heard the truck rumble in and out of the driveway a few times, but her only glimpse of the driver had revealed the head of a guy wearing a baseball cap. She couldn’t make out the rest of his features.
    Half an hour later Sarah was on his doorstep with an enticing plate of chocolate chip cookies in hand. Her thoughts teetered back and forth between the skateboard and her son.  Would she get the help she needed? Her heart pounded in her ears as she knocked.  
    A shuffle sounded from within the house, then footsteps. Finally the door opened. The man she’d spotted in the truck stepped into the frame.
    “Can I help you?” her new neighbor asked.
    Her very good looking new neighbor. Not only did he have a rich shade of hazelnut hair and a handsome face, but his biceps were so large they threatened the sleeves of his T-shirt.  
    She met his gaze and heat rushed into her cheeks. Geez, she’d been staring like a deer caught in the headlights. “I’m Sarah,” she sputtered. “I live next door.”
    “I’m Matt.” He glanced down at the cookies in her hands, his expression hopeful. “Are those for me?”
    “It’s a welcome gift.” She handed him the plate. “I noticed the sign on your truck says you’re a builder?”
    “Yes, I am. Do you need work done?”
    “Not exactly. How are you with skateboards?”
    “Well, it’s been a few years since I’ve been on one,” he said, arching a brow. “How about you?”
    “Most of the time I just watch.” She