The Rancher Who Took Her In. Teresa Southwick

a fall performance?”

      Annie didn’t know if she would still be in Honoria in the fall. She hadn’t planned that far ahead. As for performing in a musical… “I don’t know, Jamie. It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything like that. And I’m really not sure I would have the time.”

      “Think about it, okay? We’d love to have you. We’ll be holding auditions in early June.”

      “I’ll think about it,” Annie promised, though her first impulse was to refuse on the spot. She’d been fairly content to live in the shadows lately; she wasn’t sure she wanted to take a chance at losing that comfortable anonymity.

      “So how are things going with the repairs on your house?” Jamie asked, obligingly changing the subject. “Trevor told me he and Trent worked on your roof. Did it help? Is it still leaking?”

      Surprised, Annie asked, “Did you say your husband worked on my roof?” It was the first she’d heard of it.

      “You didn’t know?”

      “No.” She bit her lower lip.

      Now it was Jamie’s turn to look surprised. “Does that bother you?”

      “A bit.”

      “Why?”

      “I haven’t paid him anything. The arrangement I have with his brother is that I clean his house in exchange for the repair work.”

      “Trevor doesn’t want to be paid to help out a friend. And besides, you clean his offices and you’re giving Sam piano lessons.”

      “But he’s paying me for both of those. I still come out in his debt.”

      “So you can do him a favor sometime,” Jamie said with a shrug. “Don’t worry about it, Annie. It isn’t charity.”

      Jamie had zeroed in on the reason for Annie’s discomfort, of course. She’d been so adamant about making her own way, about not needing assistance from anyone, that even the suggestion of charity made her uncomfortable. It was the reason she’d been so anxious to repay Trent for his work and for the rocker he’d given her. She never again wanted to feel as though she was living off someone else.

      Jamie didn’t let the conversation lag. “How’s your arrangement with Trent working out? He’s been helpful to you?”

      “Extremely,” Annie said fervently. “You wouldn’t believe how much he’s accomplished during the past six weeks.”

      “He did the cabinets in here, did you know? Trevor and I remodeled a few months ago, and Trent helped us out. He wasn’t quite as far along in his recovery then as he is now, but he still managed to do most of it by himself, with Trevor helping only a little. It took a lot of nagging on Trevor’s part to get him to do it, though. Trent seemed to be afraid he’d mess it up, though I don’t know why since he built all the cabinets in his parents’ house when he was home from the Air Force Academy one summer holiday. Working at your place has been good for him, I think,” Jamie mused without pausing for breath. “It’s getting him out of his house, making him think about someone other than himself. He needed that. He’s gotten very self-centered lately.”

      Annie couldn’t help frowning. “He’s hardly self-centered. He’s worked so hard on my house—much harder than I have at his. I’m sure he’s practically exhausted himself, but he just keeps going back. I’ve never asked him to do anything except fix my front step, but he’s done so much more—all on his own.”

      Jamie’s eyebrows rose in response to Annie’s spirited defense of Trent. “I wasn’t really criticizing him. Just making a comment.”

      Annie cleared her throat. “It’s just that I’m very grateful to him. I couldn’t have afforded to pay anyone for all the work he’s done for me.”

      A quick, sharp rap on the back door interrupted the conversation, to Annie’s relief. Her relief turned to self-consciousness when Jamie opened the door and the man they had just been discussing walked in.