âMaybe we skip the small talk,â Drew said, âand you tell me whatâs on your mind.â
Janet decided to take him at his word. âLook, Iâm glad the preschoolâs getting an overhaul. But that doesnât change the fact that Middleburgâs problem is about to become prime-time entertainment.â
âYou donât trust us to get the job done right.â
âAs a matter of fact, yes.â
âWell, Janet Bishop, Iâll make you a deal.â Drew pulled out a checkbook and wrote out a check. âThis hereâs a blank check made out to your store. After weâre gone, if plaster cracks, if the pipes leak, weâll cover the cost for anything the church needs to order. I donât want you all to feel weâve taken advantage of Middleburg in any way.â
Janet stared at the check.
âI believe in what I do, Janet, and I mean to prove it to you.â He extended his hand. âWill you let me?â
Enthusiastic but slightly untidy mother of two, RITA>® Award finalist Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and nonfiction. An avid knitter and non-reformed chocoholic, she spends her days writing books, drinking coffee and finding new ways to avoid housework. Allie grew up in Connecticut, holds a BS in Speech from Northwestern University, and spent fifteen years in the field of professional fund-raising. She lives with her husband, children and a Havanese dog named Bella in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.
Bluegrass Courtship
Allie Pleiter
Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
âPsalms 127:1
To my late father, Joe Stanko, who built things
Returning to Middleburg always means a return trip to charming Midway, Kentucky. Everything good about Middleburg comes from Midway. Everything âquirkyâ is definitely of my own invention. My thanks again to the lovely peopleâreaders includedâwhoâve helped me fall in love with this part of the country. Iâm so happy to be back and eagerly awaiting my subsequent returns.
My thanks, as always, to my familyâespecially Mandy and CJ who endured another one of those âresearch vacations.â To the inventors of the DVR, who saved my family from sitting through dozens of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episodes. To Jim Griffin and Alana Ruoso in the art department at Steeple Hill for giving me a delightful cover. And to all of you, for your kindness, your letters and prayers. You are all proof that God can bless abundantly across the airwaves and the miles.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Questions for Discussion
Eight seconds.
Sometimes five, but never more than eight.
Drew Downing knew the world divided itself up into people who loved his television show, and people who hated it. After three seasons of Missionnovation, Drew could size up which side of that very thin line any one person stood. Always in under eight seconds after his trademark greeting of âGod bless âya and hello, Middleburg!â
He didnât need the last five seconds this timeâ¦not with the pretty face of that woman in overalls standing at the end of the paint aisle. It broadcast pure skepticism. Drew didnât even need three seconds to tell him Bishop Hardware, while it was Middleburgâs only hardware store, would be no instant ally to his cause. âHostiles,â his producer, Charlie Buchanan, called them. Sometimes you could win âem over, most times no matter what you did they were just sure you had an angle. If the hostiles couldnât find an angle, they never believed you just might not have one. It only meant you hid it well.
Middleburg, Kentucky was the perfect project for the season finale of Drewâs Missionnovation television renovation program. The tiny townâs church preschool had been smashed by one hundred-year-old tree during a summer storm. Toddlers had had to learn their primary colors in the YMCA gym because their preschool had been destroyed. The town had been holding bake sales to buy new roofs and spaghetti dinners to fund drywall. And now Missionnovation was here to help.
Some folks at least were glad of it. âMy stars!â came a womanâs awestruck squeal from over by the gardening supplies. âItâs those Missionnovation folks! From TV! Pam, look! Itâs him.â
âHow may I help you?â The woman in overalls asked.
Wow, Drew thought, I didnât know you could make âHow may I help you?â sound unfriendly. âWell, thatâs just it,â he said, turning his gaze to the excited crowd that had pooled into the store behind him, âIâm here to ask you the same thing.â
Oh, sure, said the womanâs dark eyes. Drew could be in a sea of people thrilled to meet him, and the only thing heâd notice was the one person who was convinced he was on the take. The one person sure the âministry makeoverâ Missionnovation offered was just too good to be true. Charlie was always giving him a hard time about his obsession to âwin over the hostiles.â