Her Great Expectations (6 page)

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Sienna dropped her purse and folder of papers on the counter to get herself a drink of water. “I have to go see Jack Thatcher about something. I won’t be long.”

“Okay,” Oliver said without much interest. Then he glanced up, eyes widening. “Hang on. I think Jack Thatcher is the guy who gave the robotics presentation to my class.”

“That’s right. I need to speak to him about starting a Men’s Shed in Summerside.”

“Can I come? I want him to show me how to install a gear in my robot so it’ll go in reverse.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said. “He might not want to be bothered at home with school stuff.”

“He won’t mind, honest,” Oliver said. “He told the class we could come around to his place anytime and he’d answer any questions or help us with projects.”

“Speaking of projects, how was school today?”

“Crappy, as usual.”

“Define crappy.”

“Mum, we’re wasting time!”

“Okay, let’s go. But this conversation isn’t over.”

He thought about the week ahead and wondered how he would fill it. When he described his life to others, he made it sound jam-packed, but it wasn’t, not really. Evenings, when his friends were available to hang out, he could handle, but too often the days stretched without incident, empty squares on the calendar.

A warm tongue lapped at his fingers dangling over the side of the bed. Bogie.

Jack roused himself. “Hey, buddy. Do you want to go out?”

He let the dog out, forced himself to eat breakfast even though he had no appetite. An hour later he was walking up the gravel driveway breathing in the warm spring air scented by the towering pines. His big plan for the day was to come up with a prototype of a more advanced robot high-school students might enjoy building.

He hoped the activity would drive Sienna out of his thoughts. She’d deflated his ego. Without any false modesty it had been a while since a woman hadn’t succumbed to the Jack Thatcher charm. Well, so what? He didn’t need a judgmental female in his life.

He unlocked the shed and pulled back the creaking corrugated iron door. His hand found the light switch and he illuminated the cavernous shed. To the immediate left was a long workbench, tools neatly hung from a board on the wall. The far left wall was covered in open shelving crammed with spare parts for just about anything electronic or mechanical.

To the right were a kitchenette and a sitting area with a battered couch, an area rug and a wood-burning heater. At the back of the shed was a half-finished ultralight aircraft, a reminder of everything he’d abandoned. The three-wheeled chassis and cockpit were intact, but the struts and the wings were stacked behind it on the floor. After the crash he hadn’t been able to complete the machine, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to get rid of it, either. Sort of like the GPS he’d invented.

Later that afternoon, Jack was sawing a sheet of transparent yellow resin into strips he could file down for the body and legs of a robot dog when he heard the knock at the open door. He glanced over his shoulder and did a double take. “Come in.”

Sienna’s bright hair was tied back, but tendrils escaped and curled around her high cheekbones. Her slim square shoulders and narrow waist were defined by a tailored white blouse and a dark pencil skirt. He shouldn’t be interested. He
wasn’t
interested. But despite what his head said, his heart beat a jig.

With her was a gangly teenager he recognized from a recent school presentation. Jack remembered the boy because he’d asked a lot of questions and he seemed bright. Ah, yes, he was carrying the computer-disk robot Jack had shown the Year 9 class how to build.

“Hi.” Sienna approached slowly, glancing around. “This is Oliver, my son. He’s been raving about your visit to his science class.”

“I didn’t
rave,
” Oliver muttered. His face turned bright red but he gave Jack an awkward wave. “Hey.”

“Nice to see you again, Oliver.” Giving him some space to recover his composure, Jack turned to Sienna. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Your father was in to see me today,” she began.

“How is he?” Jack said. “Is there anything wrong?”

Sienna’s mouth shut abruptly. After a moment’s hesitation she said, “He’s getting some blood tests done—nothing unusual for a man of his age. The reason I mentioned him is that he represents a more general problem many men in the community face.”

She started spreading printouts from the internet over his bench. Oliver drifted toward the ultralight. “Don’t touch anything, Olly,” she warned, clearly one of those mothers with eyes in the back of her head.

“He can’t hurt anything.” Jack looked over her shoulder at the brochures and breathed in the smell of her hair. The print blurred. Pineapple. He loved pineapple.

“The government provides start-up funding, but once the shed is running it’s like a small business. It needs a source of income to be self-sustaining.”

She was so eager to get her message across, her words tumbled out. “You can make toys for a child-care center or benches for the park. The projects you choose depend on what your group is skilled at. The main thing is it’s a place for men like your dad to connect and engage in productive activities.” She stopped for breath and looked at him, her eyes shining. “What do you think?”

“I know about Men’s Sheds,” Jack said. “But what do they have to do with me?”

“I’m talking about you starting up a Men’s Shed,
here.
” She glanced around at the interior, as big as three double garages. “You can get funding to upgrade the facilities if necessary. I’ve even thought of a first project for your group—making toys to raffle off at the high school’s Trivia Night. They’re raising funds for better sporting facilities. You would appreciate that. As the leader you get a salary—”

“Whoa! Stop right there.” Jack put his hands up to halt the flow of what she clearly thought was a brilliant idea. “I’m not leading anything.”

“But you’re perfect for the job.” Sienna blinked, bewildered. “You’ve got the skills, the time—”

“That’s
my
time,” Jack said, cutting her off again. “To pursue
my
interests.” Jeez, but he sounded selfish when he put it that way. And considering how hard he’d found it to get out of bed this morning, he probably ought to do it. But he just couldn’t. Softening his tone, he added, “I’ve never been good at sticking to someone else’s schedule. That’s why I used to have my own business.”

Sienna’s face cleared. “From what the head of the Men’s Shed Association told me, each shed sets their own agenda—”

“You already talked to the head of the association? I hope you didn’t mention my name.”

Guilt all over her face, she glanced away. Then she turned to him again, her small, pointed jaw determined. “I just wanted to have all the facts for when I talked to you. Nothing’s carved in stone.”

“Good, because it’s not going to happen. At least not in my shed, run by me.” He started to shift her papers off his robot parts.

“Your father is bored and lonely. He’s—” Again she stopped abruptly. “He needs an active interest. There are a lot of men like him out there.”

“Look, I’m more than happy for Dad or Oliver or anyone to come and have a cup of coffee or potter with my tools. But I don’t want to be tied to a schedule or held accountable by community organizations.”

“You might—”

“No, I won’t.”

“Let me finish!”

He crossed his arms and fixed her with a stare. “You might
enjoy
it. You might get something out of it yourself.” Barely audible, she added, “A purpose in life.”

He’d hoped she might be different. But no, she was just another do-gooder bent on saving him from himself. Something she seemed to need more than he did. So what if he had a bad day once in a while? “I
have
a purpose to my life. To get as much pleasure out of it as I possibly can.”

“I refuse to believe you’re that…hedonistic,” she said, shaking her head.

“Don’t go thinking there’s some deep side to me,” he snapped. “I’m totally out for myself.”

“I know that’s not true,” she said. “You got Olly and his classmates interested in electronics. I happen to know you didn’t get paid for that.”

Jack waved that off. “Money isn’t an issue. I don’t like being responsible for others.”

“Okay.” She held her hands up, surrendering. “I just thought you might enjoy it. I apologize for putting you on the spot.”

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t have a problem saying no.”

She walked back to the workbench and started stacking her brochures and papers, tapping them down into alignment. “Olly wanted to ask you something.”

Jack walked over to the boy, who was peering into the cockpit of the ultralight.

“Did you build this?” Oliver asked, awestruck.

“I’m in the process of it.” Not wanting to explain why three years had passed since he’d done a lick of work on it, Jack gestured to the CD Oliver was holding. “How’s your robot working?”

“I’d like to make it go in reverse. Can you show me how?”

“I’ve got a gizmo that should do the trick. Come with me.” Jack led the way to a spot farther down the workbench from where Sienna waited. He searched through a large plastic container whose many compartments held wheels, gears, levers, cogs and miscellaneous parts for robotic applications. Finally he found what he was looking for.

“Take off the original motor and we’ll install this one,” he told Oliver. “It’s got gears and it’s bigger, so you’ll be able to move this baby faster. See this slide switch? You push it back to put it in reverse.”

Oliver unwired the gearbox from the disk, his blond head bent over the task. “Would wheels work on this instead of the rubber legs?”

“Sure. If you’ve got any old toy cars lying around, pull them off and attach them. Just make sure they’re on an axle so they’ll spin freely.” Jack handed the new gearbox to Oliver. “You put it on.”

Oliver maneuvered the parts into position, his face turning red from being watched.

“That’s right,” Jack said. “You’ve got it.”

“Does this wire go here?” Olly looked to Jack for confirmation.

Jack nodded. “Make sure you get a tight contact.”

Oliver got the robot moving forward, then flipped the switch into reverse. The disk tottered backward. He shot Jack a wide grin. “I did it!”

“Excellent work.” Jack clapped a hand on his shoulder.

Oliver pushed the switch again, sending the robot forward. Leaving him to play with it, Jack crossed the few steps to Sienna. “He’s quick on the uptake, more so than most of the kids in his class.”

“He’s a smart boy,” Sienna said, watching her son.

Jack leaned against the wooden bench. He didn’t know why he should care what she thought, but something made him ask, “Are you annoyed because I won’t fall in with your Men’s Shed plans?”

“Look, I’ll admit I’m disappointed,” she added. “I thought my idea would be perfect for you, your father and the community at large and I really wanted it to work. But I’ll get over it.” Her sigh was so slight it was barely perceptible. Then she glanced at her watch and called to her son. “Olly, are you finished?”

“In a minute.” He reversed the robot and watched it totter back across the bench.

“Now, Olly.”

“Okay, okay.” Oliver picked up his robot, his eyes bright. “This is so cool,” he said to Jack. “Thanks.”

“Any time. Drop by after school and I’ll show you some more stuff.” He raised an eyebrow at Sienna. “If it’s okay with your mother, that is.”

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with his schoolwork,” she said. “Again, I’m sorry I was so pushy earlier. Thank you for being so generous with your time.”

Her gratitude had the effect of making him feel small. Which irritated him. Who was she to come in here and expect him to follow her whims?

Then as she walked out the door Jack’s gaze dropped to her legs. A shaft of sunlight illuminated a small shell tattooed on her shapely ankle.

Damn, but he was in trouble.