Chapter 33 Avery
Avery
It was a morning of ups and downs.
Kneeling on the floor of the workshop with a feel-good playlist to boost her mood and four tacks between her lips, Avery had to turn her music down when Jackson Hale called. She spat the nails into the palm of one hand so she could speak.
“I’ve been offered three antique bed frames with upholstered ends, but they’re damaged,” he said without preamble. “Does that sound like something you can help with?”
They talked details for a few minutes, agreed a price for the labor, and Jackson promised to let her know when he could arrange delivery.
“Might see you soon anyway,” he grunted just before hanging up. “Sam’s been whining about getting everyone together for a game of softball or something. I swear he needs more exercise than a damn toddler.”
She couldn’t stop a small squeal escaping her lips as she bounced to her feet.
Jackson had already commissioned a three-seater couch and an eight-piece dining chair set.
With the work she already had on her books, she hadn’t been this busy since she’d started her business.
Avery sent up a quick prayer that maybe her shifts at the Rusty Barrel might be coming to an end.
She’d be on cloud nine if only anything else was running as smoothly.
The trolling on her online work accounts had continued to balloon.
The vicious comments left a horrible taste in Avery’s mouth, taking the edge off her satisfaction at the growing list of commissions but leaving her all the more determined to keep uploading her “how to” tutorials and makeover videos regardless.
“I guess there will always be haters,” she murmured to herself as she worked. “Even if all you’re doing is restuffing a recliner.”
And it wasn’t only the trolling that continued to be an issue.
She’d had a further three anonymous texts since the wedding, each one pointless and nasty. Bel said she should report them but it seemed like an overreaction to Avery. Their discussion—and disagreement—at home that morning had been interrupted by a delivery.
Assuming the box would contain the piping cord and heading tape she’d ordered, Avery opened it to find a giant tub of live mealworms instead.
The company who’d sent it were unconcerned about the mix-up when she rang and, since the order had been paid for, they weren’t interested in having it returned.
“Scatter it in your garden for the birds,” the woman on the other end had suggested.
“I’ve got enough here to feed a family of pterodactyls,” Avery pointed out, but she was already talking to dead air.
Her mom’s call came swiftly after Jackson’s.
Having already had an hour-long chat yesterday as soon as Avery got home from the wedding, there was precious little left to say now it was less than twenty-four hours later.
Avery listened with half an ear to her mother on loudspeaker as she continued to work.
She tuned back in when her mom brought up her father.
“No, I haven’t seen him for a few weeks.
He doesn’t call me a whole bunch,” she said, cringing when her mind leaped to the fateful confrontation with Paige in the bar.
It wasn’t something she’d shared with her mother.
“Yeah, they seemed fine the last time we got together. But I don’t—” Avery broke off when her mom interrupted.
“Sure. I know it still hurts. But he’s moved on and so have you.
Don’t give him any more power over you. Let it go now.
” She listened for a little while longer, then said firmly, “Let’s not go over this again.
I’ll sort the gutters out—pretty sure they’re all just full of leaves.
And I looked at the downspout when I was there last. I can bring a stepladder over and push the joint back together.
I’ll do it before we get any rain. Promise. ”
With a few more platitudes, she brought the conversation to a close, hanging up with a stifled groan and raising her eyes to the ceiling.
“Problems?” Tanner startled her with his question from the doorway; she hadn’t heard him arrive.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Avery eyed him warily, fighting a traitorous roll of pleasure at seeing him. And memories of clever fingers and breathless sighs blended with the dust motes in the air between them, stealing her breath with their clarity.
“Happy to help if you need it.” His voice was husky before he cleared it. “Mats and Arlo arrived yesterday. I brought them over to introduce you. As long as you’re not too busy?”
“No, that’s fine,” she said, dragging her focus from Tanner to the two guys who trailed behind him into the workshop. Avery offered them a smile as Tanner made the introductions.
“Arlo and I were at college together—I told you that, right? He looks after all my business stuff. Arlo, this is Avery.”
“Always good to put a face to a name, Boo.” The glint in Arlo’s dark eyes matched his toothy smile.
“Mats and I played together in Boston, as you know,” Tanner continued and Avery looked up and up again at the monster of a guy who towered over them all.
“Pleased to meet you,” said Mats, his voice low and soft, his face so much less outwardly friendly than Arlo’s and yet somehow more appealing.
“Thought you might want a cold drink.” Tanner handed her a can of Coke and leaned a hip against her workbench, twisting the silver chain at his neck.
Masculine warmth and light sweat mingled in the air around him and the heady scent twisted something low in her belly.
Avery’s pulse gave a little hike as she popped the top of the can and took a grateful swig.
“What’s this?” Mats asked as he bent to study a bulky item of furniture that was due to be packaged up for shipping.
“It’s a four-fold screen.” Avery crossed the workshop to stand next to him. “Originally people had them for privacy or to stop drafts. Sometimes they were used as a dressing screen for ladies. Now they’re more often wanted for decoration or dividing up spaces.”
“I like the fabric you’ve chosen.” She noticed he positioned himself automatically so the long, livid scar that ran from his ear down his neck was facing away from her, and her heart went out to him. “It’s interesting to look at.”
“It’s called ‘toile de Jouy’ and you can buy it with hunting scenes, rural landscapes, trees, and flowers—that kind of thing. This one has mythological characters. It was ordered by a photographer who wants to use it as a prop.”
“She’s going to find me a couch and cover it in this.” Tanner wandered over to her shelves of plastic-wrapped fabric bolts and Mats followed him.
“Well played, sister.” With a sideways glance, Arlo held up one hand for a fist bump.
“What do you mean?” Avery frowned, ignoring the gesture until she understood what he was getting at.
“New workshop, free services, custom-built space. You’ve done well here.” Tanner’s friend smiled. “I take it this is a level-up on your old place.”
She opened a fresh box of staples. “It’s only temporary. I’ll be back at home as soon as I can get my own workshop rebuilt.” Avery resented having to explain the situation to Arlo. There was something about him that was already rubbing her the wrong way.
“Sure.” He winked. “It looks temporary.”
Running her eyes over the set-up, Avery realized with a jolt that he wasn’t wrong—she had settled herself in, filling the extra space and laying it all out exactly how she liked it.
The new sewing machine she’d originally begrudged Tanner buying had become her pride and joy.
The lighting was perfect, the ceiling fans made the working conditions blissfully comfortable, and the shelving unit was so much better than her secondhand one at home, which she’d salvaged from an estate sale and had never really been big enough.
Everything she needed was here. Tanner had made sure of it.
It didn’t look temporary. And suddenly Avery didn’t know how to breathe. The feeling of being reliant on someone else gripped her by the throat like the main character in a dark romance novel—and it wasn’t sexy.
“This is what Tanner does.” Arlo gave an easy shrug. “He buys shit for people because he knows how lucky he is to earn the big bucks.”
Gritting her teeth, Avery shoved her anxiety deep inside to examine later, at home, alone. She might be drowning in conflicted misgivings about her own relationship with Tanner but she couldn’t let Arlo’s comment go uncontested.
“It’s not luck. He worked hard for his success. He’s earned it.”
Arlo eyed her shrewdly. “We both know that’s not true. He wouldn’t have gotten into college without your help. You deserve to get something out of it.”
He made it sound like she’d had a long-term plan to ride on Tanner’s coattails. “He’d have done it on his own, one way or the other. He’s talented and driven.”
Fiddling with some of the instruments on her workbench, Arlo just laughed. “Yeah, we all blow smoke, don’t we? If that’s what it takes to ride the train, Boo.”
“Why do you call me that?” Avery itched with discomfort at his sly digs and shallow friendliness.
“You’ve always been Boo to me. Seemed like a good name for a girl who would ghost someone like you ghosted Tanner. It was cold, the way you left him hanging.” The smile stayed on Arlo’s lips but the look in his eyes was biting.
Avery stepped closer. “Don’t judge me until you know what you’re talking about,” she said through pinched lips.
Struggling to keep herself in check, she swallowed the anger clawing at her throat; she didn’t need anyone else lining up to take a shot at her.
Especially someone who knew nothing about her.
Tanner and Mats interrupted their standoff, but Avery caught the speculative look Mats gave them as Tanner said, “Sam messaged earlier. He’s fixed up a softball game tomorrow night and he’s after more people.
Drew and Bel are in. Jackson and Leah, too.
He mentioned others as well. Want to ask Gemma and Leo to join us? ”