“Enjoy your meeting with Pastor John,” Diana said.
“I will.”With a wave to her mom and sisters, Penny left the house.
Mabel looked pointedly at Barbara.“You’d better tell me everything about Theo before more people come here looking for him.”
Barbara looked pleadingly at Katie and Diana.Surely one of them would save her from having to explain everything to their mom?
“I should check the garage for the decorations,” Katie said quickly.
“And I’ll help,” Diana added with more enthusiasm than she’d shown all afternoon.“We’ll be back later with what we’ve found.”
With their mom waiting for an explanation about what had been going on, Barbara would have to do it herself.“Watch out for the big, hairy spiders.”
Katie and Diana shuddered, but neither of them changed their mind.
“Nice try,” Katie whispered as she walked behind Barbara’s chair.“But you’ll have to do better next time.”
Taking a calming breath, Barbara prepared herself for her mom’s interrogation.In her sisters’ minds, there was nothing worse than spiders.But that hadn’t worked, so she was on her own.
THEO STOODin front of a ladder leaning against Ethan’s house.“I hope your insurance covers what you’re doing.”
Ethan looked down from the top rung.“Don’t worry about me.I’ve cleaned other gutters before.”
“You do realize that most people who fall off ladders probably say the same thing.”
“I’m different.”The grin Ethan sent him was pure mischief.“I’ve been climbing ladders since before I could walk.Watch out!”
A pile of leaves, black with dirt and other grime came hurtling toward Theo.“Give me a little more warning next time.”
“If you can come up with an easier way of doing this, I’ll make sure you never have to clean your own gutters.”
“I could start a new radio program.My listeners must have some ideas about what works and what doesn’t.”
Ethan backed down the ladder.“You’ll probably gain a whole new audience.How’s the mystery furniture program going?”
“So far, we’ve found the owners of three pieces.It’s become so popular that people from around the country are sending me photos of furniture they’ve found.We’ll never discover everything about each piece, but it’s fun coming up with ideas.”
“It sounds like you’ve found a niche audience.”Wiping his hands on an old rag, Ethan looked up at the roof.“This could take a lot longer than I thought.”
“If you have a spare ladder, I could help.”Theo wasn’t comfortable standing on the rungs of a rickety old ladder but, if it helped his friend, he would.
Ethan swept up the leaves.“Believe me, you don’t want to go up there.It’s like the worst type of compost bin you can imagine.”After he’d scooped the smelly mess into the garbage bag, Ethan reached for his water bottle.“I met someone last month who would be great to interview.”
Theo frowned.“If they have anything to do with Steve McGibbons, I’m not interested.”
“It has nothing to do with him.One of the residents of the tiny home village has a prosthetic leg.You might have met him.His name’s Richard.”
“Does he have a young son with red hair?”
Ethan nodded.“That’s him, but it’s not Richard I think you should talk to.The man who made Richard’s prosthetic leg is called Peter Bennett.Have you met him?”
“Not that I can recall.”
“He owns one of the largest biomedical research and development companies in North America.Wyatt met him a few years ago when he was working with a group of veterans in New York City.The guy’s a genius.”
Theo didn’t mind interviewing people who were doing great things, but they needed to be able to communicate to a wide range of people.“He might be a genius, but can he string more than two words together?”
Ethan laughed.“He’s definitely not the strong, silent type.From what I’ve seen, Peter can talk to anyone about any topic under the sun.Nothing fazes him.”
