The Husband Project

Lucia leaned closer. “Can you tell us where you’re hurt?”

“I don’t think he’s a robber at all. He’s a nameless victim of inclement weather,” her babysitter declared, her cell phone clutched in her ungloved hands. “That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.”

The so-called robber groaned and rolled over onto his side. Thank goodness he wasn’t dead. Finding a dead thief in the backyard would not keep one in the holiday spirit. Finding some poor man frozen to death less than twenty feet from her warm kitchen would be positively tragic.

Boo growled, warning the man not to leap up and attack the children.

“Boo,” Lucia said, hoping the dog would listen to her. “It’s okay.” When he looked to her and wagged his tail, she knew the animal was enjoying the drama as much as her babysitter was. He turned back to the man in the snow and whined.

“Help,” the stranger groaned. “Get...them...away from me.”

“He was stealing our wood,” Davey said. “I was getting wood, like you told me to, and there was a guy stealin’ it!”

“Stealing our wood!” Matty cried, jumping up and down in the snow. His hat was missing and his ears were red. “The man was stealing our wood!”

“He’s not dead. See? I told you he had a pulse,” Kim said as she took pictures with her cell phone.

“Kim, stop that,” Lucia ordered, but she knew it was useless. Within seconds at least half the senior class of Willing High would know there was a strange man in her backyard and by tomorrow morning his photograph would be on the front page of the Willing Gazette’s Facebook page. “Don’t Twitter it, either.”

“Too late,” she said, stuffing her phone into her pocket. “Already sent. It’s a done deal, Mrs. Swallow. Sorry. But I’m glad he’s not dead. Really.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and studied it for a few seconds. “My grandpa wants to know if you called the sheriff.”

“Tell him I’ll get back to him.”

“Okay.” Kim’s thumbs flew over the keyboard. “I’ll tell him to ‘stand down.’”

“Down!” echoed little Tony, holding Lucia’s hand as he bounced up and down like his older brother. “Down, down, down!”

“Shh,” Lucia said. “All of you, be quiet and let me find out who he is.”

She knelt over the stranger in the snow, looked into pain-filled blue eyes and saw a very angry, very unfamiliar, very handsome man. He didn’t seem dangerous. Just intensely aggravated and somewhat humiliated, the way men get when they’re not in control. “Can you tell me who you are? Are you hurt? We’re going to call for help.”

“Don’t. Need. Help. Ribs,” he rasped. “Cracked.”

She turned to her son. “You broke his ribs?”

Davey stared at her, his eyes large. “Not on purpose. He was stealing our wood,” he whispered. “No one steals wood. Except bad people.”

“Not. Stealing.” The man moaned. “Renting. House.”

“From Jerry? Claire’s house?”

“Kelly,” he said. “The woman who died.” He tried to take another breath, but winced. “Purple.”

Kim muttered, thumbs once again punching her phone. “How do you spell delirious?”

Lucia ignored the question and focused again on the man. There was no blood, no obvious broken bones, but that didn’t mean he was okay. “I think you need to go to the hospital.”

He struggled to sit up. “I just...got out of one. So, no. The answer...is no.”

“You might want to think about it,” she said. “You look a little out of it.”

“Long...day,” he said.

“Okay,” she told him, deciding to save the discussion for later, after they were all out of the snow. “Just hold on for a sec and I’ll get you back inside before we all freeze to death out here.” She straightened and faced her boys. “Davey, take your brothers home. Now.”

“But—”

“Now.”

He knew she meant it, so he reached for Tony’s hand and led him across the snow-covered yard. Her youngest child continued to bounce despite the snow that should have slowed him down.

Matty hesitated. “Can I stay?”

“No, sweetheart. Your ears are cold. Go on, and call Boo with you.”

The dog had planted his rear end in the snow and had taken it upon himself to guard the new neighbor, someone he obviously saw as a potential threat to his temporary family. He’d been staying with Lucia while Owen, the future bridegroom, was out of town. It was like having another child, Lucia thought, watching the dog’s ears flick when he heard his name.

“Boo,” Lucia said. “Go with the kids.”

The dog looked disappointed. He may have even sighed. But he stood and shook off the snow before trotting obediently after Matt.

“We’re gonna have cookies,” the boy promised. “A whole lot of ’em, and they have red sprinkles on top. Green, too.”

Boo knew what cookies were. He wagged his tail a couple of times and broke into a run, racing Matty to the back door.

“Can you stand?”

“Eventually.”

She turned to her teenaged babysitter. “You get on one side, I’ll get on the other.”

She looked back down at the man. He was about forty, broad-shouldered—and more than a little handsome, she noted anew. “So you’re renting Mrs. Kelly’s house?”

“Yeah.” He managed to nod as he lifted himself up on one elbow. “Get me up. The wood stove,” he panted. “Needs wood.”

“Sure.” She motioned to Kim to help her. Together they managed to hoist the man to his feet. Split logs lay in the snow at their feet, and Lucia bent to collect them, until she realized he couldn’t walk without help. She’d come back for the logs later.

“I’m really sorry about this,” she said, dusting snow off the front of his jacket. “Put your arm around me. You don’t want to fall again.”

“I didn’t...want to fall the first time.”

At least he was breathing a little more normally. He was taller than she’d thought, at least a foot taller than her. His close-cropped dark hair was flecked with gray and wet with snow, which also clung to the front of his jeans. He shivered and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“I can help—”

“I’m fine,” he interrupted, but he sounded more tired than angry now. “I can walk. What I can’t do is...fend off little boys...and a dog. In a foot of snow.”

He tromped carefully toward Mrs. Kelly’s back door, Lucia and Kim following him until Lucia told Kim to go back to the kids. “I’ll be home in a few minutes.”