Not So Easy (The NOT Series Book 4)

Chapter 7

Calvin livedin the house he grew up in, so I’d been there before, but I expected it to look completely different. Instead, it looked exactly the same.

We made the two block drive in silence, because all I could concentrate on was the pain throbbing through my foot. I also didn’t want to discuss my car. Rationally, I knew there was nothing to be embarrassed about. We all chose our priorities and mine was the house. But I portrayed this image of an independent woman with her crap together, and Loretta trying to stall every chance she got did not fit that picture.

Thankfully, my business didn’t require driving clients around. Loretta looked perfectly respectable on the outside. Her flaws were of the under-the-hood variety. And in my defense, I planned to put her in the shop as soon as I could afford a rental.

If the dying car wasn’t enough, the trip from the car to the house was just as humbling. With luck, no one saw me hobbling on one foot, one boot missing and clinging to Calvin for dear life. If rumors popped up about him dragging a drunk woman into his house in the middle of the day, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Sitting on the floral sofa where he left me, I debated how to ask why his house looked untouched since the eighties. I had hired this man to flip my house, but this setting was not filling me with confidence that I’d made the right choice.

“You can put your foot up on the coffee table,” he said, returning from the kitchen with a bag of frozen peas and a tea towel. After gently laying the towel across my foot, he placed the bag of peas on top of it. I braced for the pain, but only felt the cold. “Is that good?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah.” Calvin took a seat in one of the wingback chairs on the opposite side of the coffee table, and I tested my extremities. “It doesn’t hurt as much when I move my toes.”

“That’s good. Hopefully, the hammer didn’t land straight on.”

“I don’t know. That really hurt.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what?” I was the one who dropped the thing.

“I never should have let you demo the counter. Not without the proper gear.”

He looked so contrite I felt the need to lighten the mood. “I had glasses on, remember?”

His expression remained apologetic. “You need work boots for stuff like that. I should have known better. If you need to see a doc for this, I’ll pay the bill.”

I appreciated the offer, but there was no need. “Calvin, I’m a grown woman. I took the hammer, and I should have held onto it. Stop beating yourself up. Accidents happen.”

“In my line of work, accidents can cost lives.”

Okay, he had me there. “I’m still alive,” I assured him. “Besides, breaking that counter might be the most fun I’ve had in months. If I get the right gear, can I help break more stuff?”

Calvin smiled for the first time since my initial yowl of pain. “You want to help with demo?”

“If it’s a day I’m free, yeah. That was a serious adrenaline rush.” Grin in place, he watched me in silence. “What?” I asked.

“You keep surprising me.”

The softness in his tone did uncomfortable things to my peace of mind. Going for deflection, I said, “Can I ask you something?”

Rich brown eyes dropped to the hands in his lap. “Ask away.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but why does this house look the same as when we were kids? Shouldn’t a house flipper’s house be the best looking house on the block?”

He assessed our surroundings. “Well, for one, I flip houses not just to improve the neighborhood, but to make money. Putting hours, funds, and sweat into this place just for me is pointless.”

“That’s fair, but since you said for one, there must be another reason.”

Calvin pressed his head back against the chair. “I guess you could say I prefer not to disturb the ghosts.”

He had my attention. “The ghosts?”

“Why do you want to live in your Bammy’s house so badly?” he asked, the change of topic catching me off guard.

“Because that’s where my best memories were made. Bammy’s house was my safe place, and I want to bring life to it again.”

With sadness in his eyes, he nodded. “That wasn’t the case here.”

My heart went out to the boy I knew. On summer days our group would sometimes stop at random houses for snacks or drinks, but now that I thought about it, we never came here. In all those years, I’d maybe been in the Hopkins house two or three times, and we were never invited in beyond the foyer.

“I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“Not many did. It’s not like anyone could have done much about it.” Shifting to the edge of his seat, he nodded toward my foot. “How’s it feel?”

I wiggled my toes. “Numb mostly. The throbbing went away.”

“That’s a good sign.” Moving to the couch beside me, he lifted the towel and peas away. “Looks like the swelling has gone down. You want to try putting weight on it?”

Being off my feet for any period of time would mean lost income, so I needed this to be superficial at best. Nothing more than a bruise at worst.

“Let me try.” Lowering my foot to the floor, I pressed a bit to test it. Definitely a twinge, but not the shooting pain from earlier. Pushing off the couch, I rose to my feet, keeping most of the weight on my right foot. After a deep breath, I shifted more weight to the injured one and found the pain tolerable. “It isn’t too bad.”

“You haven’t walked on it yet.” Standing, he offered his hand. “Hold on just in case.”

Our fingers intertwined and the warmth of his palm pressed against mine. The heat extended to other parts of my body, making walking on my own an immediate necessity.

Taking a few shaky steps, the pain definitely increased, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Plus, keeping most of the weight on my heel would work until the rest of the foot was better.

“I’m okay,” I said, When I dropped his hand I lost my balance, and Calvin braced strong hands on my hips to keep me steady. I practically jumped away from him. “I’m good. Really. Look.” I hobbled with the grace of a drunk ostrich. “It’s fine.”

“You nearly took out my coffee table. Just take it slow.”

So he was more worried about his furniture than about me. That was good.

“The unevenness of wearing one shoe threw me off, that’s all. I just need my other boot.”

“We left that back at the other house.”

I lamented limping back in my sock before remembering there were shoes in my car. “There’s a pair of sneakers behind the passenger seat in my car. I can change into those.”

Before I could take two steps toward the door, Calvin cut me off. “Can you chill, please? I’ll get the shoes.”

He mumbled something under his breath as he walked away and since I doubted it was positive, I pretended not to hear. Once the screen door slammed behind him, I dropped back to the sofa with a groan. That last step hurt like hell.

Sliding off my sock, I surveyed the damage. The bruising had started, but the swelling really wasn’t bad. I bent the foot in all directions and other than some tenderness to the touch just below the big toe, there didn’t seem to be any other injuries. It definitely wasn’t broken, and by the shape of the mark beneath the bruise, I was pretty certain the bulk of the hammer hit the floor.

Nice to know that awful thud was from the tool hitting aged linoleum and not my poor appendage. Hearing footsteps on the porch, I slid the sock back on and launched to my feet to pretend I’d been standing the whole time.

Calvin stopped at the living room entrance, sneakers in hand and shaking his head. “You aren’t fooling anyone, you know.”

Squaring my shoulders, I said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He pointed to the large picture window behind me, which looked out over the front yard and to the street beyond. Right to where my car was parked on the curb.

Dang it.

Embracing my right to remain silent, I changed the subject as he handed over the shoes. “Do we have a start date for the work yet?”

Calvin rolled with the change. “Tentative date is next week.”

I dropped onto the couch to put my shoes on. “For real? The demo can begin?” We’d already lost weeks since I’d closed on the house. The longer this took, the longer I’d have to live in a construction zone.

“Yeah, I have the crew lined up for Wednesday. The dumpster should be on site on Monday.”

Once the right shoe was tied, I switched to the left, holding in the wince as I slipped my foot in. The swelling had gone down thanks to the ice, but I still loosened the laces as much as possible. Tying it wasn’t going to happen, but as I stood I found the support helped a lot for walking.

“I need to get back to work.” Unsure what else to say, I added, “Thanks for the frozen peas.”

That would go down as one of the dumbest things I’d ever said.

He laughed. “You’re welcome. I should probably get them back in the freezer.”

“Right. I’ll be going then.”

“Are you not going to drive me back over?”

“I thought we were finished for today.”

“My truck is still over there, and I have more measurements to take.” Calvin grabbed the frozen vegetables and towel off the coffee table. “Are you working this weekend?”

I worked every weekend, but the wedding this Saturday was a morning affair and the bride had assured me the festivities would end around noon. Sunday was always dinner with Mom and Dad.

“Do you need me to look at something for the house? I should have time Saturday afternoon.”

Calvin disappeared into the kitchen. I heard the fridge open and close, then there was a quiet pause before he returned. When he did, he extended a small sheet of paper my way. “Meet me at this address around two.”

Note in hand, I read the address, which wasn’t far from Bammy’s house. “What are we looking at?”

“Just be there.”

Why so secretive all of a sudden? “For what?”

“You’ll see.” He tossed me my keys. “Let’s go.”

Calvin strolled off toward the door, and when I rounded the corner, he was waiting with the door open.

“Are you really not going to tell me?”

“I thought you needed to get back to work.”

The man was impossible. “It would help to know what I’m going to look at so I can think about what I want.”

He let me pass, then closed the door behind us. “You’ve never not known what you want.”

I took that as a compliment. “That’s a good thing, right?”

Calvin remained silent and as I didn’t want to have the pick a fight conversation again, I did the same.

“What were you thinking?”Josie asked before going back to blowing on her cup of coffee.

We were sitting in the hospital cafeteria waiting for Megan to arrive. Lindsey was upstairs with Becca, who was being induced to get little Noah into the world as soon as possible. Both baby and mother were healthy, but the baby was also nearly as big as the mother at this point. If he grew anymore, they might never get him out.

Hence, the induction.

Thankfully, Miles was handling Jacob, who was both panicked and a bit in denial. You’d never know the man had been through this once before.

“I was thinking I’d swing the hammer and the cabinet would break,” I replied. “Breaking myself never crossed my mind.”

To be fair, both Calvin and I were correct that the foot wasn’t broken, but per a late day visit to an urgent care, I did have a deep bone bruise that would take quite some time to heal. I could only wear hard-soled shoes until then. Heels were out of the question, but I gave up wearing those for work years ago.

No matter how fancy the wedding, my job required that I not only get pics from every angle, but do so without disturbing the event. That was only possible in sensible shoes.

“That bruise looks awful. Can you really walk on it?”

“I can, but I won’t be running, or even jogging, any time soon.”

“There you guys are.” Megan rushed up to the table. “Am I too late? Is the baby here?”

Josie shook her head and tapped the table beside her. “They just started the Pitocin less than thirty minutes ago. The doctor said it could still be hours. Have a seat.”

She slowly lowered into the chair. “Shouldn’t we be upstairs?”

As much as we all loved Becca, she wasn’t quite herself during this ordeal. Not that we blamed her.

“Becca is a little…” Josie searched for the right word.

“Snippy,” I finished for her.

Understanding in her eyes, Megan nodded. “I see. Is Lindsey with her?”

“Yep.” I added sweetener to my coffee, attempting to cover the burnt taste. “She seems to be the only one who can keep Becca calm.”

“What about Jacob?”

“He’s getting the worst of it,” Josie said. “Poor guy doesn’t know whether to beg for forgiveness, or hide in the waiting room. One minute she’s saying how happy she is that they’re about to be parents, and the next she’s cursing him for getting too close to her.” Changing the subject, she said, “Ask Donna about her foot.”

I failed to hide the eye roll. “Is that really necessary?”

“What did you do?” Megan asked.

“It’s just a little bruise.”

“Ask her how she bruised it.”

This was the last time I was telling the story. “Calvin and I were taking some measurements at the house and he encouraged me to demo the kitchen.”

Megan blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Right?” Josie laughed. “I think she was trying to impress her contractor.”

I may have been having improper thoughts about Calvin, but impressing him was not on my mind when I swung that hammer.

“Do you like him?” Megan asked. “You never like anyone.”

“I like people.” My friends stared in accusatory silence. “Okay, not a lot of people, but some. And no, I wasn’t trying to impress Calvin. We’ve known each other since grade school. He’s just an old friend.”

Josie’s blonde hair swooped forward and she sat up straighter. “You didn’t tell us that. So you two have a history?”

You could say that.

“He grew up a couple blocks from Bammy’s, so we ran with the same crowd during the summers. I hadn’t seen him in years before Darnell called him over the day we first walked through the house.”

“Wait, he was there the first day, but it took weeks to get him to do the job? What was his problem?”

Should I unfairly throw him under the bus, or fess up? After we’d cleared up the misunderstandings of the past, framing him as the villain felt wrong.

“Calvin wasn’t the problem. I didn’t want to hire him.”

Megan poked my knee. “What? Why not?”

Might as well spill it all. “I didn’t think he liked me much when we were kids, and when I had a crush on him early on in high school, he never gave me a second look. So I was holding a grudge.”

“You do that,” Megan said. I wanted to argue, but she was right.

“Anyway, once all the other contractors were a no, I gave in and offered him the project.”

“What about the grudge?” Josie asked.

“Before the hammer incident, we cleared up some old misunderstandings. Let’s just say, I read things wrong back then.” The pair exchanged a look and I knew what would come next. “Yes, he also had a crush on me, but that was more than fifteen years ago. Ancient history. Now we’re homeowner and contractor. Nothing more.”

Josie turned to Megan. “Do you believe that?”

The brunette grinned. “Not for a minute.”

I opened my mouth to argue when all three of our phones went off. Reading the message aloud, Josie said, “The eagle is about to land. Get your butts up here.”

Quickly gathering our things, we hurried out of the cafeteria and I tossed my coffee on the way. No amount of sweetener would help that drink.

“We’re going to have a baby,” Megan trilled as we shuffled toward the elevator. “I can’t believe one of us is going to be a mom.”

“And the rest of us will be the best aunts any kid could hope for,” Josie added.

“Spoil him rotten and give him back,” I said.

Megan giggled. “This is going to be so fun.”