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so maybe the nod to Kelsey was his
third
good deed of the day.
    Those deeds felt good. Not that that was why he’d done them. He’d heard the pain in Maggie’s voice and it’d reached into his soul and twisted. He hadn’t had anyone to toss him in the air. Hadn’t had anyone to show him how to make a tree fort or mow the lawn or fix the bathroom sink when he’d leaned on it a little too hard. Life was tough enough; without a dad, it was even tougher.
    Get off it already, Manley. You are not
the kids’ father.
    Yeah, he knew it. Prided himself on not being
anyone’s
father. Not until he was good and ready. And that meant a bank account hefty enough to cover any eventuality and a woman who’d be on board with his crazy lifestyle.

Chapter Five

    W HERE’D you learn to do that?” Tommy asked for the sixth time since Bryan had arrived.
    “I bet it’s from a movie,” said Mark. “I bet you were a supersecret agent who pretended to be a maid so he could learn the bad guy’s plans, right?”
    Bryan grabbed the wrench to turn the nut on the sink drain. “Right now I’m fixing the plumbing, guys, not cleaning.” Yeah, it was semantics, but the meaning was important to him. He didn’t want the guys to think this was a maid’s work. It was plumbing, completely different.
    Yeah, his masculinity was driving that sentiment. Sue him. Thankfully, Beth had taken him up on his handyman offer. He had to tell Mac—it’d be that extra
something
to set her company apart from her competition.
    “Can you hand me the bowl? There might be some water in this trap and I don’t want to end up wearing it.”
    They handed him a pink bowl. Covered in pictures of little white kittens.
    So much for his masculinity.
    Luckily for his ego, he managed a clean separation of the trap from the wall pipe with minimal leakage, directed the boys to hand him the new trap, and showed them how to replace it. Little fingers couldn’t close the PVC nut tightly enough, so he made a few last-minute adjustments after they extricated themselves from the tight confines of the cabinet, the boys none the wiser that they hadn’t done it all.
    “What are you going to teach
me
, Bryan?” Maggie stood in front of him as he sat up from the uncomfortable position of lying partly in the cabinet and the bottom half of him on the kitchen floor.
    His back hurt like a son-of-a-bi— “What do you want to learn, Maggie?”
    “Mommy says girls should know how to change a tire. Can you show me? ’Cause she doesn’t know how.”
    “Maggie, Bryan isn’t here to do everything. I’ll have Grandpa show you how to do it,”
Mommy
said.
    Maggie wrinkled her nose. “Grandpa smells funny,” she whispered to Bryan. “And he’s not our real grandpa, so I don’t see why you can’t show me.” Maggie tapped his nose, then spun around to face her mother. “No thank you, Mommy. I want Bryan to do it.”
    Bryan got to his feet, wincing at the twinge in his back. Those stunts in Sri Lanka had pushed him almost beyond his limits and he was paying for it now. “It’s okay, Beth. I don’t mind. And if you don’t know, I could show you, too. You’re right; it’s something everyone should know, not just guys.”
    “Can
we
learn?” asked Tommy.
    “I already know how.” Mark crossed his arms.
    “Do not.”
    “Do too.”
    “Do not.”
    “Do t—”
    “Guys.” Bryan stepped between them. “Ten minutes. Driveway. Tire-changing lesson. Anyone who wants to learn, be there. Or don’t call me when you get a flat. You’ll have had your chance.”
    He strode out of the kitchen, flicking Beth on the chin as he passed. “That means you, too, cupcake.”
    “Cupcake? Did he call you cupcake, Mommy? That’s silly.” Maggie giggled.
    Bryan wasn’t giggling. He’d said it to be flippant, but, yeah, Beth was as sweet and tempting as a cupcake. He wouldn’t mind licking icing off her, either.
    He took a deep breath and headed for Jason’s room. Nothing like