simply a client or file for me. My job is to help Colm be as self-sufficient as he can. Sunrise Foundation’s purpose is what our mission statement says—we help exceptional people lead exceptional lives. We provide advice and assistance with every aspect of housing, employment, medical care, education—”
“Colm has me,” Liam assured her. Even before his parents died, he’d always known Colm was ultimately his responsibility. And he was willing to do whatever he had to in order to keep his brother happy and content. “I’m all he needs. And all I need is some help—”
“I’m not trying to railroad you into anything. I simply want to meet your brother and see what, if anything, we can offer him in order to make his life better. And that’s what you want, right? To see Colm live his life to its full potential?”
Okay, so what could he say to that? What he wanted to say was back off and leave them alone. They were doing fine.
What he wanted to do was tear up the papers he’d signed for Sunrise and take the manila folder that had Colm’s name on the tab away from this curly-haired, smiling woman.
They were fine.
Granted, he’d never planned on assuming total responsibility for his brother so soon. He could still remember the day. His parents had gone to a show in Buffalo and he’d been staying with Colm. At some point, Liam had drifted off. He’d awakened disoriented when there was a knock on the door and he’d opened it to find a policeman with a sober expression standing on the porch.
“Mr. Franklin?” It took Liam a moment to realize that Ms. Chapel was saying his name, not the cop from the past.
He shut out the sad memory. “Fine. You can meet him, but tread lightly. I don’t want him upset. Since we lost my parents two years ago, I’ve worked hard to see to it he’s got a sense of stability and normalcy.”
“Mr. Franklin, honestly, I’m a life coach. My only goal is to help your brother, not upset him.” She stood and extended her hand. “I’ll see you at your place tomorrow at nine, if that works for you.”
He didn’t want to shake her hand. It felt as if he’d be agreeing to let her into their lives, even after tomorrow. But she stood there, hand extended a fraction of a second longer than he’d probably have waited, and he found himself taking it anyway.
“I’m only agreeing to let you arrange for a babysitter, and to meet him tomorrow,” he warned her. “It’s only a meeting.”
She nodded, her curly hair boinging every which way. “Let’s start with tomorrow and take it from there.”
She escorted him to the front door and waved as he left. Just the motion of her hand was enough to set her shoulder-length curls bouncing.
Liam left the office not sure what had happened.
He’d simply wanted to arrange a babysitter.
And he was leaving with Anna Chapel coming to the house tomorrow.
No. That meeting hadn’t gone the way he’d expected.
CHAPTER TWO
THE NEXT DAY, Anna arrived at the Franklin house promptly at nine. She was as prepared as she could possibly be. She’d read Colm’s thin file. He’d been oxygen deprived at birth. The medical term was hypoxia, but medical definitions weren’t her concern.
He’d been labeled slow by one doctor, intellectually disabled by another. The last assessment had placed his cognitive age at eight. She put all those previous reports aside. She didn’t care how he’d been tested and labeled. She only cared about how she could use that knowledge to help Colm live his life to the fullest.
His brother, Liam, had certainly been on the defensive yesterday. Anna knew some people might find it off-putting, but she found the way he defended his brother attractive. Unfortunately, it was just one of many qualities she found attractive about Liam Franklin. But since he was Colm’s guardian…No, she couldn’t think of him as attractive in any way.
She took a long, deep breath to clear the image of Liam from her thoughts and instead, concentrated on the weather.
It was one of those balmy, mid-April days that made it easy to believe another winter was officially over.
The minute she saw the Franklins’ white two-story house surrounded by a blaze of red tulips, she was struck by a case of porch envy.
Some people dreamed about picket fences or tons of acreage or living in the right fashionable neighborhood.
Anna dreamed about porches.
Porches like this one.
It extended at least eight feet away from the house, and wasn’t simply a front porch, it was a wrap-around one as far as Anna could see from the sidewalk.
Of course, the porch was a bit barren-looking. Only two old folding lawn chairs sat on it, and the paint had long since started fading and peeling. But with a little elbow grease…
Someday.
Someday she’d move out of her apartment and buy her own house with a huge front porch. Then she’d paint it some merry color—maybe green—and furnish it with big white wicker furniture that had overstuffed cushions. In the mornings she’d sit on the porch, have a cup of coffee and read her paper before going into work. Then in the evenings, she’d come home, and after dinner, she’d be on her porch watching the day turn to dusk and maybe smiling at neighbors who strolled by.
Anna sighed. It was a lovely fantasy.
But right now, she didn’t have time for fantasy. She had a job to do.
She walked onto the beautiful object of her porch envy and rang the doorbell. A matronly looking lady who reminded Anna faintly of Aunt Bee on the Andy Griffith Show answered the door. Tinier even than Anna, and roundish, the woman had salt-and-pepper hair, with a heavier emphasis on the salt. When she saw Anna, she smiled and a pair of dimples swallowed her cheeks. “Hello, you must be Ms. Chapel. Come in, dear.”
Once Anna was inside, the woman introduced herself. “I’m Betty Taylor.”
The fact that Anna had a mere second ago thought that the woman resembled Sheriff Andy Taylor’s aunt on the Andy Griffith show made her smile.
“Liam wanted to be here, but he had a last-minute emergency with some local account and had to go. He wasn’t very happy he couldn’t be here to meet you himself.”
Anna almost laughed at one of the biggest understatements she’d ever heard. She was positive that Liam had wanted to be here to monitor her meeting with Colm.
“He said you’d be coming and that you’d be wanting to meet our Colm,” the woman continued. “This way, dear.”
She showed Anna into the living room where there was a man who looked remarkably like Liam Franklin. More than remarkably like him—he looked exactly like Liam. They were twins. Somewhere around five-ten. Dark-brown hair and very blue eyes that were so much more open—happier—than Liam’s had seemed. Where Liam peered at her distrustfully, this man smiled as he got up from his Lego and hurried over to her. “Hi, I’m Colm.”
“And I’m Anna.”
He hugged her and said, “Hi, Anna. You wanna play Legos?”
“Why don’t I let you two talk,” Mrs. Taylor said and left them alone.
“Aunt Betty is makin’ cookies for us. She said we feed company. Aunt Betty likes to feed people. She really likes feedin’ company, but we don’t have much of that since Mommy and Daddy went to heaven. Liam, he’s too busy for company.”
As if that was all the introduction and information Anna needed, Liam returned to his building bricks. When she didn’t immediately follow, he waved his hand in her direction impatiently. “Come on.”
Anna sat down next to him