"Jack" of all trades

While fixing up her father’s house after he passed, Jenna meets Jack in the caulk aisle...and gets a loving sign from above

- Chris Maday Schmidt

Standing in the hardware store’s caulk aisle, Jenna debated between the tube of red tone and redwood—the kind of decision she’d always consulted her dad about…until recently. “Ugh!”

Her eyes pooled with tears as an older gentleman ambled past wearing a flannel shirt and trousers, his scruffy white mustache, thinning hair and hearing aid tipping the scales on Jenna’s waterworks. And just as a sob escaped her, the situation got even worse as an attractive man ambled into her aisle.

Concern creased his forehead where a shock of dark hair fell. “Must be a pretty difficult choice.” He nodded toward the caulk selection lining the metal shelving.

Jenna sniffled, laughing ruefully. Her dad would’ve loved this guy.

Fishing a starched hankie from his shirt pocket was the icing on the cake.

“Don’t worry, it’s clean.” His wide smile revealed a crooked front tooth that added to his disarming good looks.