“Helen, I’m almost done,” he announced once he took the last screw out of his mouth. “You need anything else before I get outta your hair?”
Ash wouldn’t necessarily call himself a handyman, but he knew a couple things and had muscles he could put to good use. And from what he could tell, his sweet older neighbor Helen lived alone. So he’d volunteered a good part of the afternoon hanging curtain rods and changing smoke detector batteries, and other little jobs she’d rather not get on a ladder for.
“Oh, not a thing!” she sighed when she rejoined him from the kitchen. “You’ve been a huge help to me, thank you so much. But if you won’t let me pay you, I insist that you stay for dinner. My granddaughter is actually on the way, and I’m sure she’d love it if you joined us.”
After a bit of an awkward laugh, he heard himself agree. Sue him, he was hungry. And judging by the groceries he’d help her unload a couple of times at this point, he’d been curious about her cooking. So what if she was clearly trying to set him up with this mysterious granddaughter of hers? Nothing he hadn’t dealt with before.
At least, that’s what he thought. Until said granddaughter actually walked through the door.