Maxwells Smile

there’s probably insulation that should be replaced. You have to be careful—the old staff could have asbestos in it. Why don’t you let me stop by and take a look and give you an estimate? Your neighborhood is on my usual route.”
    “Sam!”
    Rachel turned to admonish Maxwell for running in the store, but he had slowed by the time he reached them.
    “Hey, Maxwell.” Sam ruffled her son’s hair. The two of them had the same color hair and both looked as though combs were forbidden objects. “You supposed to be out and about so soon after they cut into you?”
    “It was laparoscopic surgery,” Maxwell explained with his usual droll condescension. “Do you know what that is, Sam?”
    “No, but I suspect you’re going to tell me,” he said, with a wink to Rachel.
    Who did the man think he was, nudging into their lives with his movies and chitchat in the produce aisle? It wasn’t that easy. The way to her heart was not through forming a friendship with her son. So he could take those winks and—
    “It means the surgeons make a very small cut in the skin and go in with a device that has a movie camera on it,” Maxwell explained. “That lets them see what they are looking for without making a huge incision, then they take it out with precision instruments.”
    “That sounds like science fiction,” Sam said. “Are you sure they didn’t stick an alien in there before they closed you up?”
    Maxwell sighed and shook his head. “Aliens are hokum. Laparoscopic surgery has been around for decades, Sam. You should look it up online. Mom, can we get a smoothie on the way out?”
    The store boasted a smoothie machine at the deli counter. Maxwell’s favorite was the mango banana.
    “Of course. Nice to see you again, Mr. Jones.”
    Rachel started toward the deli section, but was suddenly aware the conversation between Maxwell and Sam had not ended. In fact, Sam accompanied them to the deli counter, where she hastily dug out a steel canteen she always carried with her, and set it under the smoothie dispenser.
    “So, Sam, I did some research online about donating movies to hospitals,” Maxwell said.
    “You did?” Rachel asked abruptly.
    Her son nodded.
    “Cool,” Sam said. “What did you find out, buddy?” He leaned against the stainless steel counter right next to Rachel, arms crossed and brilliant white smile distracting her until the drink overflowed. Sam noticed and gave her another wink, then quickly returned his attention to Maxwell.
    “You were researching charitable donations, Maxwell?” she asked, grabbing a handful of napkins. She was sometimes taken by surprise at her son’s enterprising behavior.
    “Yes, last night. And I found the neatest organization. It’s called Kid Flicks. I read all about them. They’re legit. Wait, let me bring it up so I can tell you about it.”
    Maxwell set down his backpack, which he never went anywhere without, and tugged out the iPad his grandparents had given him for Christmas.
    “Maybe Mr. Jones has some grocery shopping to do,” Rachel suggested as she cleaned up the mess of bright orange frozen fruit from the counter with a couple of the inadequately thin napkins. “You shouldn’t bother him.”
    “I’m in no hurry,” Sam argued. “In fact, I want to hear about this organization. If there’s a place that accepts movies for kids, I’m on it.”
    Offering a wincing smile, Rachel wondered why she couldn’t just let the man talk to them. She’d gone manless far too long if this redneck carpenter could make her heart do flip-flops. He was handsome and kind and seemed like a perfectly normal guy, yet he was also a little too sexy for her vulnerable heart. It would be like combining mango with spinach in a smoothie. It just wouldn’t work because, well, because she had certain expectations and—hell, who was she kidding?
    What was wrong with a little friendly conversation?
    She’d focused on Maxwell and her career as a Realtor for so long, she wasn’t sure she’d know a good thing if it walked up and stole her red pepper.
    “See here.” Maxwell moved beside Sam, who squatted to look at the website her son had brought up on the screen. “Kid Flicks was founded by four sisters, Lexi, Romi, Marni and Berni Barta, when a friend of theirs was being treated for leukemia and needed something to help her pass the time while she was in the hospital. This is a picture of the sisters. They’re pretty.”
    “Pretty smart, if you ask me,” Sam