Hearts Under Construction (10 page)

“No. No, I’m the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none, remember?”

“Well, I’m not a master of anything, either.”

“Ah, but you know the One who is.”

Jax looked at him, hard, as if he hadn’t heard right. “What are you saying, Cole?”

“I’m saying all these years you’ve been trying to talk to me about God, and I wasn’t interested. Well, now I’m interested.”

Cole thought that if Jax’s eyes got any bigger, they’d pop right out of his head.

“Well, for the first time in my life, I’m speechless.”

Cole laughed. “We can wait a minute. If I know you, it won’t last long.”

They spent the next couple of hours discussing God, His truths, His Word, the misunderstandings of man, the things yet to be revealed.

“Wow, you’ve given me a lot to digest,” Cole finally said.

“Listen, Cole. I have an extra Bible at home. How about I bring it to work tomorrow, and you can take it home. I’d like you to read the Gospel of John in the New Testament. Start tomorrow reading the first chapter. Call me with any questions.”

Cole nodded. “I don’t know how I feel about it all just yet.”

“I understand,” Jax said. “But God is working on your heart, Cole. Give Him your full attention before you make your decision, okay?”

Cole nodded. “Thanks, Jax. You’re a good friend.”

“I’m just glad you talked to me about this. I’m telling you, Cole, I’ve never regretted my decision to follow Him.”

“I believe you. There’s a difference in your life. In Ellie’s, too. I mean, you’re both human, make mistakes, but there’s still that difference. And that’s what I can’t get away from.”

“I’ll be praying for you, man,” Jax said, as they walked toward their cars.

“See you tomorrow, buddy.”

Jax waved.

Cole climbed into his SUV and started the engine.
“Thanks,”
he whispered into the night air, feeling sure Someone had heard him.

A
t the Chinese restaurant, Cheryl and Ellie followed the waitress to their table.

“So, Ellie, how was work today?” Cheryl asked, as the waitress seated them. The scents of Chinese cuisine hovered over the nearby buffet table. “Mmm, that smells good enough to eat.”

“Call it a lucky guess, but I think they planned it that way,” Ellie said. She glanced at the table, squinting to see what was there.

“You gonna get the buffet?” Cheryl asked.

“It looks good, but I’d better not. I shouldn’t eat that much.”

Cheryl smirked. She started to comment then seemed to think better of it. “So, you didn’t answer my question. How was work today?”

“Oh, it was fine.” Ellie looked around at the oriental decor and noted the music playing softly overhead. She could kick herself for never learning to use chopsticks.

“No problems with lover boy—I mean, Cole?”

As if Cheryl had happened upon Ellie’s chocolate stash, Ellie pinned Cheryl midbreath with a don’t-even-think-about-it glare. Before Cheryl could comment further, the waitress walked up and took their drink orders.

“Seriously, I’m going to work through this, Cheryl. I’ve been praying about the situation, and I think it will be okay.” In hopes of dismissing the matter, Ellie opened one of the menus the waitress had left. “I’m starved.”

“Well, now, there’s a surprise.”

Ellie made a face.

“Which diet are you on today?” Cheryl asked, glancing through the list of entrées.

Ellie winced.

Cheryl put her menu on the edge of the table and leaned forward. “You know it’s a control issue, don’t you?”

Oh, no, Dr. Phil came to dinner. Ellie knew she might as well not fight it. She put her menu down and looked at Cheryl. “Control?” She said the word with a definite, do-tell sound to it.

Cheryl nodded. “It’s a food issue. You feel like your life is out of control and food is the one thing you can control, so you diet.” Cheryl leaned against the back of the booth looking rather intelligent.

“You’re saying it’s bad to want to control my food intake?”

“Dieting is not a bad thing, if you’re doing it for the right reasons. You know, health problems and all.”

“So, are you going to have me on your TV show, Dr. Phil?”

“Go ahead and make fun,” Cheryl said, sounding smug. “I’m just trying to help.”

“I thought mother hens protected their chicks, not pecked them to death. Between you and Mom, I feel like hanging out with a fox would be safer.”

“Any fox I know?” Cheryl raised her eyebrows.

Ellie pulled her mouth into a thin line.

“Okay, okay, I’ll behave.” The waitress placed their drinks in front of them, and Cheryl took a sip of her iced tea. “But I still think you should consider what I said about the diet thing. I mean, if you were truly serious about dieting, you wouldn’t hoard chocolate. We both know you don’t need to diet. And if it’s a control thing, well, we know Who is supposed to be in charge.”

Ellie wasn’t in the mood for a sermon. She snapped open her menu once again. “Can we change the subject?”

“Sure,” Cheryl replied pleasantly. “Just remember, best friends say the hard things.”

That’s why so few people have best friends, Ellie thought, though she kept the comment to herself. For the flit of a second, she wondered if what Cheryl had said was true. After all, chocoholics and dieters really didn’t mix. Why did she diet? She always blamed it on weight, but deep down, she knew her weight didn’t fluctuate all
that
much. She just needed a reason to diet. Oh, she hated it when Cheryl was right. Not that she was convinced that Cheryl was right on this matter. At least, not yet. Ellie decided maybe she’d think about it later. Maybe.

In a weird sort of way the conversation actually lightened her mood. She could forget her liquid diet and eat whatever she wanted tonight. And right now, fried rice, egg rolls and assorted entrées, topped off with fortune cookies, sounded pretty good….

The next morning, Ellie called a couple to set up an appointment to go over floor plans. After contacting a few subcontractors about a current job and then documenting tasks completed in her file, she took a breather. Making circular motions with her shoulders, she tried to work out the kinks. Her muscles could knot up faster than three chili dogs in an empty stomach. She rolled her head from side to side.

“That bad already?”

Cole stood beside her, grinning.

“Hi,” she said with a smile. She told him what she had been working on.

“Hey, listen, I’ve been thinking.”

Uh-oh, never a good sign when Cole had time to think.

“I thought it would be a good idea if on the day we are scheduled to visit job sites, we do it in the mornings from now on, rather than the afternoons.” Before she could respond, he continued, “That way, we could make the necessary phone calls for those particular homes in the afternoon when we returned to the office.”

She swallowed hard. “That’s fine, Cole, if that’s what you want to do.” She smiled, though she mentally tried to work through her schedule to accommodate the new policy.

His eyes narrowed. “Excuse me, but do I know you?”

“Okay, so I’m not the most flexible person around.”

Cole simply laughed and walked away.

Staring after him, she couldn’t decide whether she liked him or not. Her mother’s words from long ago came back to her. “Eat your oatmeal, Ellie. You will find life is not always the way we want it, but some things you just have to endure.”

She smiled to herself. That pretty much summed up her relationship with Cole Preston.

He was like oatmeal.

And her family knew that oatmeal was one thing Ellie Williams could live without.

Cole’s legs felt like dead weight as he walked out to his car. It seemed everyone wanted to buy a home and have it built before the cold weather set in. Once inside his car, he glanced at the time. Caed should be getting to his house any minute, if he wasn’t already waiting. Cole backed out of his parking spot and glanced over to see Ellie walking out the door. He waved at her.

Pulling into traffic, he thought about her a moment. He had to admit their working relationship was improving, though at a snail’s pace. Despite the changes he implemented, Ellie didn’t seem to buck him as much as before. No doubt about it, she was changing. He could only pray things continued to run smoothly.

Pray. Now that’s something in which he had little experience. Still, he had to admit he was learning from his study of John. Jax met him on Thursday nights to talk over any questions or comments. Though Cole continued to have lots of questions, he couldn’t deny his longing to know more about the God whom Jax and Ellie served.

Rounding the corner toward his house, Cole saw a car in his driveway. He smiled. Once he pulled into the garage, he got out and walked toward the other car. A man stepped out.

“Hey, big brother,” said Caed, pulling Cole into a bear hug.

After the hug, Cole studied him. “You know, it’s kind of scary how much we’re even aging alike. Same dark eyes, our hair’s still the same color, height, weight—it’s still like looking in the mirror.”

Caed shrugged. “Oh, come on, admit it, I have better hair.” He ran his palms along the sides of his hair for emphasis, then laughed and swung at Cole playfully.

“It’s a matter of opinion,” Cole said with a laugh, dodging Caed’s punch. “So, you need help with your luggage?”

“Sure.” Caed opened the trunk of his SUV and pulled out a small suitcase and garment bag. Cole crooked the garment-bag hanger on his fingers and whisked it over his shoulder.

“Did you have a nice trip?” Cole asked as they stepped through the garage into the back of the house.

“Yeah, it was okay.” They walked through the kitchen and into the living room. “Not bad,” Caed offered, looking around.

“Thanks. Your room is back here.” Cole led his brother down the hall and opened the door to a bedroom. Once Cole had shown Caed around, they sat at the kitchen table and ate ham sandwiches and chips. They talked about their lives over the past few months, catching each other up to the present.

“So, do you have feelings for her?” Caed asked, after Cole discussed his job and coworkers.

“No, she’s Jax’s woman.”

“I wasn’t talking about her. I was talking about the other one.”

“Oh, you mean Ellie?”

Caed nodded and grinned.

Cole held his hand up as if to stop his brother’s thoughts. “No possible way. She’s a nice woman and all, but she’s definitely not my type.”

Caed’s eyebrow spiked. “Really?”

“Really,” Cole said with a little impatience. “That woman rattles my nerves.” He shook his head. “We do what we have to for survival, but that’s about it. Why do you ask?”

Caed shrugged. “You just mentioned her a lot.”

“That’s because we work closely together.”

Caed studied him.

“What?”

“Um, I don’t know. There’s just something in your voice.”

“Look, little brother, Ellie Williams is nice. But she’s not at all my type.”

Caed whistled. “How so?”

“I like adventure. She likes—well, I don’t know, she’s boring.”

“That bad?”

Cole nodded.

“So, are you going to tell me?” Caed pressed.

“Tell you what?”

“What she looks like?”

“Hey, why are we discussing Ellie? I work with her. We do what it takes to get the job done, end of discussion. Now, tell me more about you.” Cole wanted to make it perfectly clear that he didn’t want to discuss Ellie Williams. His brother seemed to pick up Cole’s irritation and changed the subject.

After they’d been talking a little while, someone rang the doorbell. Cole walked over and opened the door. “Hi, Jax, come on in.”

“I knew Caed was coming, and I thought I’d drop in and say hi.”

“Come into the living room. We’re just sitting around shootin’ the breeze.”

Caed glanced up, then stood, saying “Hey, Jax!” and the two hugged. “Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”

“Yeah, it has.”

The guys spent the next hour catching up on things, until finally Jax glanced at his watch. “I guess I’d better go. I’m supposed to meet Alex for coffee.”

“So how are things going with you two?” Cole asked.

Jax waited a minute and sighed. “Not good.”

“Really?”

“She’s getting too possessive, and I’m growing very tired of it. I mean, she is nice and all, but well, it’s just not there for us.”

“Uh-oh. Are you going to tell her?”

Jax frowned and nodded. “I’m afraid so. We’re going to dinner tomorrow night, I thought I would do it then. There’s not enough time to talk things through tonight.”

“Oh, wow. That’s tough,” Caed said.

“Does she have a clue?” Cole wanted to know.

Jax shook his head. “I didn’t decide it myself till recently. I sat down and really thought about it and realized this wasn’t the direction I wanted to go. I had to be honest with myself, and now I need to be honest with her.”

Jax stood to go. The other two followed him to the door. “Let me know how it goes, buddy,” Cole said.

“You interested in her?”

“No way. I don’t want to deal with that on top of everything else in the office,” Cole said.

“Everything else, as in Ellie Williams?”

Cole nodded.

Jax grinned. “I don’t know what to do with you two.”

Cole glanced at Caed whose expression said he had a secret. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Oh, nothing,” Caed said with a grin.

His brother had been home only a few hours and already Cole wanted to deck him. This reminded him of their younger days. The last thing Cole wanted was for Jax to get the wrong impression of his feelings for Ellie.

“Am I missing something?” Jax asked.

“Yeah, your coffee date if you don’t hurry,” Cole said, practically pushing him out the door. “What are you doing?” Cole asked Caed once he closed the door.

“Nothing.” Caed headed back to the living room.

“Look, Caed, I love you, man, but please don’t get into your matchmaking mode again, okay? If I meet someone I’m interested in, I’ll let you know. Until then, just enjoy your vacation, and let’s have a good time, all right?”

“Sure,” Caed said, but somehow Cole felt he was being patronized. “Want to have lunch tomorrow?”

Cole shook his head. “I can’t. I have to meet with some contractors at a job site. In fact, I’ve got several appointments tomorrow. Be out most of the day.”

“Maybe you can take me to the office on Saturday,” Caed mentioned.

“Sure, that would be great.” Cole looked at his brother’s expression a moment. He didn’t like what he saw there. Something about Caed’s expression spelled trouble. Cole inwardly groaned. They had been through this so many times before. To pay Cole back for his help in their younger days, Caed’s goal in life was to find Cole a good woman. Not just any would do. She had to pass Caed’s approval. Cole glanced at his brother again. Uh-oh, Cole had seen that look before. Caed was on a mission, no doubt about it. Why didn’t Caed just push him over a cliff? It would be easier on everyone.

Caed tossed him a broad grin.

Yep, Cole thought, his brother was up to something. It was as sure as death and taxes.