Healing Beau (The Brothers of Beauford Bend Book 6) by Alicia Hunter Pace Read Free Book Online

settled back in his chair and hit a button on his phone. After a few seconds he smiled.
    “Hey, Will. Jackson Beauford here. Yeah. Yeah. We’re about as ready for the big day as we’re going to get. We’re good. I guess Missy told you Emory’s pregnant. Yeah. She’s good. How about Arabelle and the boy? Yeah. Great. Uh, listen, Will. I’ve got a situation here. My little brother is home. Oh? Missy told you? He’s good. A little banged up, but he’d going to be fine. But his girl broke an antique portable writing desk, and he promised her he’d try to fix it.”
    His girl?
Where the hell had Jackson gotten that? Beau shook his head and waved wildly. He had to tell this Will Garrett different.
    Jackson frowned, waved him off, and kept talking. “I know it’s two days until Christmas, but is there any chance you could drive up here and help Beau out with this? Yeah. Sure. Okay. That’s great, Will. We’ll do that. I appreciate it and I owe you. I mean it. Merry Christmas to you, too.”
    “What the hell?” Beau exploded as soon as Jackson hung up. “Why did you tell him Christian’s my girl?”
    Jackson rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Economy of words and because it doesn’t matter. Because I didn’t want to say instead, ‘childhood friend of Beau’s, former U.T. basketball player, one of my wife’s best friends, and daughter of old family friends who owned the neighboring plantation that’s now a B&B.’ Will hasn’t got time for all that, and neither have I. And neither have you if you intend to learn a skill and apply it all in one day.”
    “Now he’ll go tell Missy.” And
that
would go well. Beau loved his cousin, but she was a force of nature who thought the world owed her information and she owed the world her opinion.
    “Calm down, Beau. He will not. He hasn’t even thought about it again. And besides, I didn’t say Christian’s name. Now, do you want to know what he’s going to do for you, or not?”
    “Yes. When’s he coming?”
    Jackson sighed. “He’s not. Will is weird. He’s world-class good at what he does, and he only works for people he likes on projects that interest him.”
    “I thought he liked you.”
    Jackson nodded. “He does. And he appreciates your service to this country, but his wife has taken a few days off work for the holidays, and he has no plans of leaving her and his boy for one second. He wouldn’t leave town if Michelangelo came back to life and asked him to carve him a chapel ceiling.”
    “I think you’ve got that all mixed up. Michelangelo wasn’t a woodworker. He was a painter and a sculptor. Not a woodworker.”
    “Again. It doesn’t matter. This is what matters: He said for us to take some pictures of the damage and send them to him. If he thinks it’s something you can handle, he’ll talk you through it. And don’t worry. I’ll help you.”
    Great. Two clueless people turned loose on a family heirloom, including one, Jackson, who would decide he was an expert. They’d be lucky if they didn’t have kindling when they were done.
    Jackson took a couple of pictures of the writing desk and sent them.
    “I wish you’d told him I don’t know what I’m doing.”
    “Don’t worry. Where his craft is concerned, Will assumes nobody else on the planet knows what he’s doing.”
    Jackson’s phone signaled that he had a text. “Good,” he said after reading it. “Will says it looks fairly simple, and he wants some more pictures from different angles. He’s going to call a woodworking shop in Nashville and tell them what supplies and tools we need. I’ll call Sammy and send him to get them.”
    “Thank you, Jackson.” Beau really did appreciate the help, but he needed for this to be his project. “But I’m going to pay for the supplies.”
    “As you like. Now, turn that thing around, and let’s get those pictures.”

Chapter Five
    Christian wearily climbed the stairs to the third floor, anticipating the warmth she’d find