Page 138 of Mr. Flirt

“Is he taking care of his great uncle?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Jackson Senior doesn’t need anyone taking care of him. I would know.” Grandma Millie was incensed. “But his older brother does need a hand, and Jackson came back to help him out.”

“How convenient.” I smiled, seeing the sparkle in her eye. “What’s his name? The uncle?” I tried to shift the subject away from Jackson.

The last I’d heard, Jackson had gone on to some Ivy League school and played on the golf team just like he’d planned. After that, I never heard about him, mainly because I loved my life too much to care.

After all, he stood me up.

I looked over at Izzy, who was staring at a clump of green bananas.

It didn’t matter what Jackson had been up to all these years or who he’s married to now. What mattered was getting Izzy okay again. Getting me okay again.

“Carter Locke. He’s nearly ninety-eight, but he doesn’t look a day over eighty. All those men really weather well.”

Izzy wiggled her brows and lifted her gaze from the bananas. “I had no idea my great-grandma was such a cougar.”

“Grrrowl.” Grandma Millie wiggled her brows, and we all broke into laughter.

Trying to bring the conversation back to a reality I could handle, I took another sip of lemonade and let out a happy sigh. “So, this man of yours painted your shutters.”

Grandma Millie’s eyes sparkled as they connected with mine. A sweet-smelling breeze ran through the open kitchen door, and she shook her head. “No, actually, his great-nephew, Jackson, did the kind act. Jackson.”

Izzy snorted and shifted her gaze to mine. “YourJackson? The plot thickens.”

I playfully scowled at my daughter and felt an amazing connection zip between us.

Grandma Millie didn’t end it there. “Fair warning. There’s a pretty good chance you’re going to run into that man. He’s a social butterfly since he got to town, and all I had to do in return for the shutters was promise my lemonade on demand.” She winked at me. “So, he might stop by from time to time.”

I choked down my lemonade and suddenly knew I’d made a terrible mistake in coming back to Buttercup Lake.

Chapter Two

Jackson

My fingers grasped the rogue blades of grass in my uncle’s front garden bed, and I ripped them from the loose soil, banging the dirt from the clump before I tossed it into the compost pile.

“Looking good, Jackson.” The words my Uncle Carter spoke made him sputter into a coughing fit. When he regained his breath, I looked up to see him grinning at me. “Only about forty more feet to go, huh? You know, I used to do that weeding in one afternoon.” His blue eyes sparkled with a pride I’d never dare puncture.

Days ago, when I told him I’d planned to help with his yard, he’d mentioned how long it used to take him, and I mentally vowed I’d take three times as long. I had a pile of mulch delivered and ready to spread once I rid the garden beds of weeds and grass.

“I heard something about that.” I smiled and bent down, reaching for a different clump of weeds. “I think I might have to take Millie up on her offer of lemonade. You want some too? I can dash up there pretty quickly.”

I stood and wiped my forehead of sweat from the humid day. The sun shone brightly with brilliant blue skies, and while the temperature wasn’t abnormally hot, the moisture in the air made it seem stifling and like I needed to jump in Buttercup Lake and soak the day away.

“You don’t mind if I…” I pulled at the bottom of my shirt, and my uncle chuckled.

“Why not? Let’s give the ladies in town something to talk about.” Uncle Carter coughed and shook his head. “When I was your age, I went shirtless whenever I could. Did I tell you about my time as a lifeguard at the lake?” He burst into a fit of coughing as I threw my shirt on a small boulder.

“It never gets old,” I assured him. I jogged over to my uncle as his fit of coughing calmed and handed him his glass of water.

As my uncle took the glass, I heard a woman screeching in terror in the distance.

“You hear that?” I asked, searching the neighbor’s yard and up the street.

“Ah, just a fox. You know they sound like a woman screaming, right? You couldn’t have forgotten everything about living up north.”

I laughed and shook my head as the screeching got louder, and I jumped off the porch to find the source, and right when I did, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

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