Soldier, Handyman, Family Man. Lynne Marshall

one on each side of the sign.

      After some arm-twisting, Mark managed to get a picture of the entire family, with a good portion of the beautiful house behind them. He had to admit, Laurel’s smile was captivating, and he thought about secretly sending a copy of one shot in particular to his email. It was of her alone, of course, looking proud, maybe a little nervous but alluring, as she often did. Her understated confidence was just one of the things he liked about her.

      “This is the best picture. Agree?”

      She shrugged, but he could tell she liked it, too. Yeah, that one, definitely that one. “Should I post it?”

      “Sure.”

      It was time to face the fact. His grandfather had a word for it—smitten. Mark would never use that term, but he needed to admit he dug her. Yup. There. He’d finally allowed himself to think it. He liked her, and not just in a pure neighborly sort of way. Ready or not. Maybe he’d blame it on the tangerine pedicure.

      “There you go.” He handed her the phone. “Anything you want to say with the picture?”

      “Oh, sure.” Her thumbs flew over the phone, and Mark took the opportunity to watch her up close. Yeah, as bad of an idea as it was, he liked her all right.

      * * *

      Laurel finally realized, with Mark’s hinting, she was behind in the social media game. Instead of going all ditzy over an appealing man like she’d been doing since he’d helped her that first day, she needed to hunker down and finalize her plan for opening the B&B. Sure, she’d given it a lot of thought before she’d bought the place, but making the move and starting the kids in new schools all at the same time had taken her eye off the prize.

      She had catching up to do and plans to firm up. Ads to run in the tricounty local papers, visits to make to the chamber of commerce.

      What about a mock run? She could invite three local travel agents to spend the night as a sort of rehearsal, maybe get some good endorsements in the process. Her head spun with new ideas, thanks to Mark’s gentle nudging, and she needed to get back on her game, instead of ogling her sexy neighbor. Pronto.