Free Summer's End by Kathleen Gilles Seidel Page A

Kentucky. He wasn’t lazy; he simply liked doing things at the last minute. He could focus better, think more clearly when things had to be done immediately. He became more resourceful, he made better decisions. One way to create such urgency was to fight fires—before he had had the hardware store in Wyoming, he had been on a county fire-fighting force in Virginia—another was to procrastinate.
    He soon learned that there was still another—signing contracts with a tight deadline. He had built this business on his willingness to work fast. If clients wanted number-every-nail, historic-preservation-quality work, if they wanted perfection, they went to someone else. But if they just wanted the thing done and done fast, if they themselves had already procrastinated far too long, they went to Jack Wells. Jobs that seemed impossible to everyone else always sounded like a lot of fun to him.
    So it was not usual that Jack had a fair bit to do today. All the permits, the police escort, everything involved in moving a mid-nineteenth-century farmhouse across three Kentucky counties, were set up for day after tomorrow, and the house wasn’t close to being ready. People would have to be working nearly around the clock to stabilize the house, jack it up, get it on the wheels.
    They were right on schedule.
    â€œHi, Mom. It’s me. What’s up?”
    â€œLovely things. Hal and I have decided to get married.”
    â€œWhoa, doggies…” Jack shifted the phone to his other ear. “You’re getting married?”
    â€œYes.”
    He shook his head. He had just gotten his mind wrapped around the fact that his mother was dating. Now she was marching down the aisle. He had always figured that was how he himself would get married. He’d meet somebody who would set off the right bells, and threedays later they’d be married. He didn’t know when it would happen—he was twenty-eight already—but he certainly hadn’t expected that his mother would get to it first. On the other hand, her life had been pretty calm and orderly for the last few years, and even though she never picked the newspaper off the front porch without combing her hair first, she liked having a fair bit of mess and noise swirling around her. What was the point of being a lighthouse on a perfectly smooth, sandy shore?
    â€œThat sounds like good news,” he said. “I mean, if you aren’t pregnant. You aren’t having to get married, are you?”
    â€œNo, Jack.” His mother’s laugh was soft. She was used to his sense of humor. “I don’t have to get married.”
    â€œThat’s a relief. So when is all this happening?”
    â€œWe don’t know yet. Sometime soon. Before June. Hal has a summer place in Minnesota, and he likes to get there in June.”
    â€œA summer place? You’re marrying into a family with a summer place?”
    Military families didn’t have summer places. They couldn’t afford to.
    She laughed again. “Actually, a cabin would probably be a better description. I think it’s on the primitive side. Hal says I’m to urge you and Holly to come up for a while.”
    â€œWe will be there. In fact, we think it’s really cool that you’re going to be Amy Legend’s wicked stepmother.”
    â€œThat’s less funny, Jack.”
    â€œHolly and I think it is.”
    That had been weird, finding out that not only was their mother dating, but she was dating Amy Legend’s father. Jack had never had any dealings with celebrities.He had always assumed that it would be pretty tedious. You would be wildly curious about them, but wouldn’t know what questions were all right to ask, while they wouldn’t know a thing about you and probably were very happy with that state of affairs.
    Oh, well, that was a bridge that didn’t have to be crossed yet. Mom had already said that Hal apparently saw his famous