CHAPTER 11

	Ty slammed the receiver back down on the phone and cursed under his breath.
One of these days Cole would mind his own business, and he couldn’t wait until that day
arrived!
	“How’s the job going?” Cole had asked, almost as soon as he had heard Ty’s
voice on the other end of the line.  It had made Ty wish he hadn’t placed the call in the
first place, but he had continued, instead of hanging up immediately.
	“Going great!” Ty had replied, adding an extra helping of enthusiasm for good
measure.   Though he had called to let Cole know how things were going, he had hoped
there would be a little small talk before jumping right into the nitty gritty.  It seemed Cole
wasn’t interested in wasting any time, however. 
	“What did you say the job was again?” Cole had questioned him
	“It’s a complete period restoration,” Ty had told him, laying it on thick.  So he was
exaggerating just a little, who needed to know. It sounded more impressive than saying
he was doing home repairs anyway, and if there was one thing he wanted to do right
now, it was impress Cole.
	“Oh yeah, that’s right. Mighty smart looking job on that porch, if I do say so
myself.”  Cole’s voice had sounded smug.
	Ty had grumbled under his breath.  “Oh yeah, that’s right. Sandy told me you had
dropped by a while ago.  Sorry I missed you.”
	“She did? Hmmm.  I told her not to bother to mention it.”  The laughter in Cole’s
voice had been infuriating, even over the phone, and Ty had struggled to keep his cool.
	“Just like you didn’t bother to mention that you were my brother I suppose,” Ty
had challenged him.”
	Cole had laughed outright at that.  “It didn’t seem like required information at the
time, little bro’.  Besides, it would blow the deal right out of the water, don’t you think? 
You haven’t remedied my omission yourself, have you?”
	“No,” Ty had grumbled.  “She still thinks you are some real nice potential
employer named Mr. Cole who just wanted to look over my work. Wrong on two counts.” 
he had stated, and Cole had burst out laughing.
	“Well, that makes two of us who are misinformed then.” Cole’s voice had held
more than just a little sarcasm, and Ty hadn’t liked it one bit.
	“What’s that supposed to mean?” He had growled at his brother.
	Cole had laughed again. “Well, I imagine you want me to believe that she is just
some homeowner who hired you to do a job.”
	“That’s exactly what she is!” Ty had snapped back, resenting the implications of
his brother’s words.
	“Right.”  Ty could almost hear the curt, disbelieving nod in his brothers voice.
“Don’t try to sell me any swamp land, little bro, I’m too smart for that. Your reputation with
the ladies has never been a secret around me.  If I know anything, you were most likely
sleeping with her before you even lifted a hammer.”
	“You don’t know shit.” Ty’s anger had been evident in his voice, and Cole had
backed off.  He didn’t care what his brother thought of him, but it angered him that he
talked about Sandy like that.
	“Calm down, Ty, I’m just getting in some good brotherly ribbing while I have a
chance,” he had said.
	But Ty had not been calmed.  “Listen Cole, I’m holding up my end of the bargain,
you just worry about your own.  I’ll see you when this thing is over.  In the meantime, I’ll
thank you to keep your nose out of my business.”
	Even now, Cole’s laughter still rang in his ears as he walked away from the
phone.  Most of the time he considered Cole the best brother a man could ever ask for.
Right now, he considered him a huge pain in the behind.  Why, if it weren’t for Cole, he
wouldn’t be out in the middle of nowhere, with no money, working for room and board
just because he was trying to make a point.
	His mind shot back to the argument he'd had with Cole several weeks earlier.  It
had been amicable, but an argument none the less.  As Ty had gunned the engine and
driven his bike out of town that night he’d been thinking that big brother Cole had got the
better end of the deal.
	Eight years older than himself, Ty had idolized Cole when they had been
children. As adults, he had acquired a deep respect for the man.  They had always been
close, even when Ty had rebelled after their parents had been killed in a car accident
when he was a teenager. Cole had been twenty-four at the time, and had just finished
graduating from University with a degree in Business Administration, with his sights on
eventually becoming the CEO of some large company.  His aspiration had virtually been
dropped in his lap with the death of their parents. Herbert McKinley, their father, had
owned a very successful construction company in the mid west, and Cole had returned
home to run the business, as well as take the rebellious young Ty under his wing.
	Cole was a natural leader. He had grown up watching his father building anything
and everything, and had worked at McKinley Contracting every summer since he was
sixteen, without even wanting to do anything different.  He knew the company from the
ground up and combined with his business degree, the company had flourished. 
	For the first few years Ty had balked his brother’s attempts to bring him on
board.  Only the fact that he didn’t have to search for a job had kept him coming back
each summer.  After high school he had studied carpentry and building at college to
please his brother but he had also taken courses in mechanics just to irk big brother
Cole.  Eventually, however, the lure of a steady job that he didn’t have to actually go out
and get drew him in.  After all, he had a busy social life and it was handy to have the
flexibility McKinley Contracting offered him.
	And that was another area where Ty did not follow in his big brother’s footsteps. 
Although Cole had always been viewed as a very eligible bachelor all through his
twenty’s and early thirty’s, he had never been involved in the frivolous dalliances with
women that he often accused his little brother of.  He appreciated a beautiful woman as
much as the next guy, but in a lot of ways he hadn’t trusted them.   It had been his
experience, in the few serious relationships that he had had over the years, that women
were gold diggers, and he preferred to keep them at arms length.  There was always a
pretty woman eager to accompany him to any social function he required a date for , but
that had been where he had drawn the line.
	That was, of course, until he had met and married Hannah.  Ty loved his
sister-in-law like a sister.  She had made a big difference in Cole’s life the last couple of
years, especially since the birth of their first child, a beautiful baby girl that Cole adored
as much as he adored Hannah.   However,  he half suspected Hannah of having
something to do with Cole’s attempt to tame his rebel spirit, now that he was himself a
year over thirty.  
	Ty had developed quite a reputation as a ladies man over the years.  There had
been a never ending stream of girls passing through the house that he had shared with
his brother after their parents had been killed, and this had continued through college
and into adulthood.  He went out a lot, and always had a woman on his arm.  When Cole
had married Hannah, Ty had been genuinely happy for him, but he still vowed that no
one woman was going to settle Ty McKinley down!
	Afraid of commitment! That had been Cole’s accusation, Ty frowned.  Just
because he hadn’t had a steady girlfriend in — well — ever, Cole and Hannah figured he
couldn’t handle commitment?  He was committed, he insisted.  Committed to
bachelorhood, and that suited him just fine!  No, he had never given any of the girls he
had dated the chance to be around long enough to start considering wedding dresses
and tuxedos!  He had made no attempt to hide his views, and any woman he ever dated
knew where he stood on the subject of marriage.  Who needed to wake up every
morning for the rest of one’s life and see the same face on the next pillow?  That had
always been the Ty McKinley philosophy!  Just because Cole had discovered that he
wanted that — and make no mistake about it, Ty was happy for Cole and Hannah — but
it didn’t mean they had to force their views on him!
	Unreliable and lacking dedication!  More of Cole’s accusations.  Didn’t his brother 
know he was just as reliable as any of the other men on the job? Ask him to do anything,
he’d do it! So he might not be there right when everyone else showed up for work, he
got there eventually didn’t he?  After a long night on the town, a guy could be expected
to be a little tired.  He made up for it with all the other stuff Cole always expected him to
do.  And heck, he was dedicated!  He was dedicated to that paycheck, just like the other
men, despite the fact that he had a trust fund from his father’s estate that paid him more
every month than the wage his brother paid him anyway.
	Desperate measures.  That was what Cole had called it. Desperate measures to
get Ty to change his misguided ways.  Ty had grumbled about it under his breath as he
had ridden down the highway with his eyes on the odometer of his bike,  Desperate
measures like hell, he’d sworn to himself.  Down at the pool hall they simply called it a
bet!
	A bet that you accepted Ty had reminded himself as he had driven in and out of
a succession of small towns, although that thought was quickly followed by what choice
did he give me?
	It had been too simple to have a friendly brotherly wager. Oh no!  Cole, in his
shrewd businesslike manner, had actually stipulated terms for the damn bet, wherein Ty
was required to turn his back on the life he knew and effectively become a new person. 
He was to leave town with nothing more than he could carry on his motorcycle, and
$500 in his pocket.  Any bank accounts and all other access to funds was strictly off
limits to withdrawals.   He had to travel a minimum distance away from home, dictated
by the range of the McKinley reputation, and obtain a respectable job without the aid of
that reputation.  And — he had to keep that job.
	Worse, Cole had even defined respectable employment!  Oh no, pumping gas,
or flipping highway construction signs wouldn’t cut it.  Ty had cursed his  brother and
raced his bike down the highway.  The only thing he had actually been given a choice in
was the direction of his travel.  In his anger, he hadn’t bothered to consult a map, merely
packed and hit the open road.  Wouldn’t Cole just love to hear that he had screwed up
before he had even started! Instead of choosing a route with many larger centers that
could offer several prospects for employment, he had found himself driving through one
small town after another with no end in sight.
	The farther down the road he traveled, the more it began to look like Hannah’s
favourite charity would be getting a fat donation.  Under the terms of the bet, if Ty broke
any of the conditions, failed to complete or defaulted on the bet, then three months worth
of his trust fund would have to be donated to the charity of Hannah’s choice.   Much
worse than that, however — Cole would be proven right, and that drove Ty forward more
than what he stood to gain if he won the bet.
	Full partnership at McKinley Contracting was on the line.  If Ty succeeded, his
brother would sign him on as a full partner.  Although that was a pretty fat carrot that was
being dangled in front of his nose, the main reason why Ty had accepted the bet in the
first place had been simple. To prove a point! Just what that point was, however,
seemed to have been distorted a little since he had met Sandy Johnson.  In fact, there
were days that he almost forgot about the bet entirely.
	Ty had cursed his bad luck when he had found himself at the end of his travel
budget in the little town of Silverside.  He had had to choose whether to stay there, in a
town with a population of about six thousand, or risk his luck spending the rest of his
cash on the unknown road ahead.  Money, he’d reminded himself, that he still needed
for accommodations.
	Unfortunately no one in Silverside seemed to be hiring.  Ty had been on the
verge of crawling back to Cole with his tail between his legs when he had decided to try
one last attempt before giving up. And that was Sandy Johnson.
	Old Mrs. Witherspoon had given him the girl’s name and address on his first day
in town, but other than driving around to have a look at her house, he had done nothing
with it.  Miss Johnson had nearly bumped into him on her way out of the hardware store
that first day, though she hadn’t even paid any attention to him.  That was the day he
had asked the old lady behind the counter if they needed any help at the store.
	“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Witherspoon had said, shaking her head.  “My husband and I
work the store by ourselves, and we already have a couple of young boys that help out.
I’m afraid we don’t need anyone else right now.”	
	“Well, thank you anyway, Ma’am,” he had responded politely. “Would you know
of anyone who is looking for help? I have a great deal of building experience.”
	The old lady had glanced over his shoulder.  “Well, Miss Johnson — the young
lady who just left here — she’s bought herself the old Clarkson place out on the edge of
town.  She’s always in here buying stuff for something that needs fixin’.  If you ask me,
she could use a man like you out there, but she wants to do everything herself.”
	Ty had noticed the independent Miss Johnson again the next day, and followed
her back into the hardware.  She had apparently had a toilet that needed fixing.  The day
after that the scene had repeated itself, except it  was a window pane.  On his fourth day
in town he had been ready to admit defeat.  He had already checked out of his room at
the Sleepy Owl when the sky had virtually opened up in a deluge of rain that appeared
to have decided to settle in for the duration of the night.  At least that had been his
estimation after sitting for a half hour in the coffee shop at the highway exit. 
	One last try before giving up to brother Cole, he had thought, as he had
maneuvered his bike through town in the rain towards Sandy Johnson’s house.  She
was his last hope, and if she refused him, it would be a long wet ride back to Cole in the
dark.
	But she hadn’t refused.  At least, not once he had offered to work for free, he
reminded himself.   The idea might have been an absurd one, but it had worked, and he
hadn’t been joking when he had told Bob she had been his life saver!
	Even though Cole had gone to the trouble of defining a respectable job, he had
stopped short of actually stipulating a respectable wage.  All he had to do, Ty told
himself, was to find enough work around this woman’s house to keep him there just long
enough to win the bet and earn himself half of McKinley Contracting.  When this whole
charade was over he wouldn’t even miss the  lost wages. It would be worth it to see the
look on Cole’s face when he proved the man wrong!
	At least that had been the plan.  When it had all started going wrong, Ty wasn’t
quite sure. When the state of repair of the old house started to matter to him more than
three months of his trust fund, he couldn’t actually put his finger on.  It might have been
while he had spent his days alone with the house and had been able to really look at it.
He had seen the quality workmanship that had gone into its construction — quality
seldom seen in the days of mass production.  The house had begun to talk to him, to tell
him tales of the skilled crasftsmen who had done their work with pride.
	It might have been when he had seen the wounds that threatened the future of
the old house; when he had felt its sadness.  Like a doctor looking at a patient he knew
he could cure, or a mechanic with his eyes on a classic car he knew he could restore, Ty
began to look at the house with an eye for restoration, more for the satisfaction he got
from doing the job than from the fact that it was his meal ticket for the future. 
	When he had found himself looking at this house the same way Carl looked at
Daisy, he just didn’t know.
	And then there was Sandy.  Her reaction to everything he did filled him with a
pride for his work he had never known before, a pride he imagined the men who had
originally built this house must have felt.  And he liked that feeling!  He found himself
always putting a hundred and fifty percent into every task, just to see that look of
appreciation in her eyes when he was done.
	The roof, of course, had been a major stumbling block.  At first, he had been glad
she couldn’t afford to get it fixed right away.  As long as the roof still needed fixing, he still
had a job.  He had imagined himself putting the job off until his time was almost up, filling
his requisite days with little jobs.  But then the roof started to matter.    He found himself
looking up at the sky in the mornings and heaving a sigh of relief when he saw blue, and
listening to the evening weather forecast every night for any chance of rain.  The
weather was holding, but he had known it wouldn’t last, just as his plan to use the roof
as his guarantee of a job hadn’t lasted.   When the forecast started predicting rain,
suddenly the fact that she couldn’t afford to fix the roof mattered a great deal.
	He knew that for some reason Sandy was clinging fiercely to her independence. 
Taking the lead from his big brother he had decided that desperate situations called for
desperate measures.  Somehow, he vowed, he was going to get that roof repaired.
	His plan had solidified with an unexpected turn of events, when he had spent the
evening out with Carl and met Gerry Cotgrave and Trevor Long.  In fact, the idea had
materialized in a matter of minutes as he had sat listening to their conversations, and all
that was needed was to put it into action.
	It had been relatively easy to convince the boys to volunteer their labour in
exchange for a case of beer.  It seemed that Silverside’s new librarian was well liked — a
fact that, as it turned out, seemed to surprise her.
	The hard part had been getting the supplies. He had enough money back home
to pay for Sandy’s roof several times over.  Heck, he could have bought her a brand
new house with cash, but his money was out of reach, even for a good cause.  So, the
whole plan hinged on the co-operation of Long’s Lumber yard.
	After an hour in deep conversation with Jerome Long, he had managed to
convince Trevor’s father to give him a line of credit to cover the supplies for the roof.  Mr.
Long was now the only person in Silverside who knew the truth about Ty’s identity.  It
had taken a great deal of soul searching before Ty had come to the decision to tell him.
	He had finally decided that telling Jerome Long his story would not be breaking
any of the conditions of Cole’s wager.  He couldn’t touch his money, but Cole had never
said he couldn’t borrow against it.  He could not use his family name to get or keep
himself a job, but in this case, he already had the job.  In fact, it could be argued that
fixing the roof in no way helped him to keep his job, but rather, potentially shortened the
length of his stay.
	The only obstacle he had faced was convincing Jerome Long that the outlandish
tale he told him was true.   In the end, a deal was struck, and Jerome had been sworn to
secrecy.  The roof had been fixed, Ty had made a few new friends along the way, and
his boss — well, that was another matter all together.  She had turned out to be more
than he had bargained for when he had begged her to hire him.
	Sandy still had to be kept in the dark, however.  If he told her the truth, Cole
could argue that she simply kept him on long enough for him to win the bet.   Knowing
Cole, he would probably argue that Ty had used his playboy charm to seduce her into
hiring him in the first place — a fact he had already eluded to on the phone, and Ty
wasn’t very pleased about that.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Sandy had
made it quite clear the night he had arrived, that she was not interested in him, and he
honestly hadn’t been interested in her — she just wasn’t his type anyway.
	So how do you explain the fact that you’re sleeping with her?,/i> his inner voice
challenged, and he swore under his breath.  That, he told himself, has absolutely nothing
to do with the bet!  He would never have seduced Sandy for personal gain, just to win
this damned bet with Cole. and that he knew, even if Cole would probably never believe
him. She was not that type of girl.
	Just what had happened then, he asked himself.  Why did he look forward to her
coming home from work every day?  Why did he look forward to opening his eyes to her
smiling face every morning?  Why was the bed in his room virtually un-slept in these
days?
	Ty shook his head and looked at his watch.  Those mysteries would have to wait.
Once this business with Cole was behind him, then he could try to figure it out.  For now,
he had work to do.