He spent Saturday around the farm though his father and George hadn’t been expecting him. If it wasn’t crazy season, he usually took a couple of days off a week. On Sunday morning, he woke at four like a bad habit. He showered and got in his truck. He grabbed a fast-food breakfast he could eat on the road and he drove south. Fast, along a deserted highway. He was in Thunder Point before nine in the morning. He drove right out to the parking lot behind Cooper’s place. It was no mystery where the action was—there was already a lot of activity around the third house down from the bar.

The garage door stood open, and three men he happened to know were armed with paint rollers and painting the inside walls of the garage. A truck holding four large ceramic planters filled with small trees was parked on the road.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Cooper asked Matt.

“I heard there was a barn raising and I was curious, thought I’d check this out. And since I’m here, maybe you can use a hand.”

“I didn’t know you were coming down,” Scott Grant said. Scott was covered in paint and it was still early. “Are you staying over?”

“Can’t. Monday morning Paco is snapping his whip early. We’re temporarily caught up at the farm and I had a day, so...”

“Does Peyton know you’re here? Did you stop by the house?”

“I didn’t. Didn’t call her, either. Spur of the moment. What can I do?”

“I don’t know,” Cooper said. “Project manager is Troy. Really, it’s Grace, but she’s letting him think he’s running things. Last time I saw him he was struggling with the light fixture in the kitchen. Apparently it’s complicated...”

“I got that,” Matt said with a laugh.

When he got inside, Troy was apparently supervising while a big guy in a blue T-shirt was on a ladder installing track lighting. He was introduced to Al, whose name he’d heard in conjunction with Ray Anne. The great room was cluttered with furniture covered in plastic, several boxes and picture crates. And a lot of women with rags, mops, brooms and shelf paper were opening boxes, looking things over, organizing.

“Matt!” Troy said in surprise.

“Matt?” a tall curly-haired woman he couldn’t remember asked.

“Iris, this is Matt Lacoumette, Peyton’s brother,” Ray Anne Dysart said. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“Last minute, I know, but I thought since I had a day, maybe I could help.”

They all eagerly accepted the offer. Ginger, a kerchief tying back her strawberry-blond hair, flushing slightly under her freckles, just smiled at him. He smiled right back at her.

“We’re down to finishing touches,” Grace said. “Lots of finishing touches. Furniture was just delivered, my mother’s assistant shipped some personal and household items that have to be put away after the cupboards and closets are cleaned, the basement and garage are getting painted today, light fixtures and bathroom fixtures have to be installed as well as washer and dryer hookup. And obviously serious cleanup. What’s your pleasure?”

“I can clean like I was trained by Corinne Lacoumette and I’m pretty fast with a screwdriver.”

“Great. You’ve got bathroom fixtures. Four bathrooms, the fixtures all in boxes in the bathrooms. One loft bathroom, master and main floor bathrooms, one bathroom downstairs.”

“I’ll go get my toolbox,” he said, leaving them. As he was walking out to his truck, he heard the unmistakable sound of women giggling and whispering. And it made him smile. He remembered something Paco had told him long ago: try fooling women all you want, you’ll never get away with anything. How true. He wanted to stay away from Ginger; he wanted to be with her if he could.

Everyone worked ferociously and work crews came and went. Cooper went home to take care of his little daughter and tend his bar while his helper, an old guy named Rawley, replaced him. Al left to go to work, Devon left to go home and Spencer replaced her—someone had to watch the kids and this “work in progress” was no place for little ones. Peyton showed up and apparently got the word Matt was on the premises right away because she found him in the downstairs bathroom, head in the cabinet under the sink with a wrench, fixing a leaky pipe.

“I suppose you think you’re fooling someone,” she said.

He sat up abruptly and hit his head. He scooted out cautiously. Women, it seemed, were a serious threat to his cranium. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why are you here?” she said.

“Ginger told me about this project, about the urgency because Grace’s mother is not well, and I am a very neighborly guy.”

She completely ignored his virtues. “You’re pursuing Ginger and I told you not to. It makes no sense. It’s not like you two got off to a good start.”

“Peyton,” he said very patiently. “Boxers are sometimes friendly outside the ring. On weekends defense attorneys play golf with prosecutors. But you’re wrong, I’m not pursuing her. We’ve talked a couple of times and neither of us is interested in a new relationship. For obvious reasons. We’ve sworn off, all right? But we’re friends now.”

“This is a bad idea.”

“Bugger off,” he said. “And don’t piss me off.”

“Or what? Huh?”

“I will do something terrible to you, without causing you any distress to your pregnancy. But you’ll never forget it, it will be so bad and dangerous.”

“How can you talk like that to your pregnant sister?”

“Gee, I don’t know,” he said. “Didn’t you threaten to castrate me? Now, leave me alone. I can pick my own friends. And for your information, Ginger is very nice.”

“I know!”

“And she likes me!” Matt said, standing up and facing her. “Why is it you’re so upset at the idea of me being friends with her? I admit, I made an awful mistake at your wedding, but she’s accepted my apology and I’ve been perfectly perfect.”

“That’s now,” she said. “You’ve been... Well, Matt, you have a reputation. A love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation. That’s the last thing a nice girl like Ginger needs right now.”

He got it. Everyone thought he left Natalie because of a lot of annoying arguing. Because no one knew the whole story. And no one could know. “Okay, okay. I give you my word, we’re friends and I will not do anything to hurt Ginger. I like her. She’s a good person. I’m here today because she told me how everyone is helping Grace and Troy so they can get their families together and get married and I thought it was sweet and kind. She told me you and Scott were helping, even though you have little kids and a clinic to run. She told me she was going to be here all day working, even though she worked all week at the flower shop. I came to help. That’s why I came.”