CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN THEO
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THEO
“Wow,” Burke says as he steps into the garage, still in his sheriff’s uniform. “Holy—” His eyes roam the room. “You guys did not mess around.”
“We did not,” I agree as I move the nail gun down the baseboard. “It’s still rough.”
“Still rough?” He puts his hands on his hips.
“It was bare last week. Now it looks like a living space.” He walks over to the middle of the garage, where we put up a wall to separate the bedroom from the small living room/kitchen area.
He’s going to have enough space to put in a stove and a small fridge with a bit of counter space.
“We’re going to be putting in barn doors to close off the bedroom from the living area to give it a bit of privacy.
” I point to the wall in the back. “We wanted to put in a shower/tub combo, but the space is tight, so it’s just a standing shower.
” He nods as he checks out the bathroom in the corner of the room, next to the bedroom.
“I think that will be fine,” Burke says. “If the nanny really wants to use a tub, there’s one in the house. They can always use that one. I have overnight shifts, and they will have to stay in the main house with Asa anyway, and can use it then.”
“Sounds good. We just placed an order for the appliances, and they should arrive sometime next week,” I tell him. “If everything else goes smoothly, we should be done in about four days.”
“Two weeks and you guys transformed it.” He smirks. “No wonder everyone is hiring you guys.”
“I guess that’s a good thing,” I laugh. “The only thing you need to do is choose colors for the paint and the couch and stuff, but that is with our office manager, Mikaela.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not good at that, I trust you guys to do your thing.”
“Got it. I’ll tell her, and we’ll get you a couple of choices, and you can at least see.”
“Sounds good.” His radio goes off, and he listens for a moment. “I have to get going. Good work. If you know anyone who is looking for work this summer as a live-in nanny, please let me know.”
“I’ll keep my ears open,” I reply as I continue placing the baseboards. I finish that before I start with Frankie on getting the joints done to be sanded in the morning.
We wrap up the work a little after four, and I check my phone to see if Collins texted me.
Seeing nothing come up, I wonder if she was on a call and got off later.
I get into my truck with a smile on my face, knowing I’ll be seeing her soon.
It’s still crazy to me that she’s been in my life only for a couple of months, and I can’t even begin to imagine her not in it.
I drive down Main Street, noticing a flower shop called Buds and Butterflies. My truck pulls over without me even thinking about it.
Inside the bright flower shop, I look around at the flowers in the glass fridges. I hear movement coming from the back of the store. A worker comes out. “Hi.” She smiles. “How may I help you?”
“I’m looking for flowers.” Then I laugh at myself. “Obviously. But I’m not sure which ones.”
“Is it a special occasion?” She comes out and stands beside me.
“No. It’s just because.”
“Those are the best flowers to give.” Her smile goes big. “So, romantic flowers then.”
“Yes. But hold on”—I raise my hand—“she’s a bit picky with smells lately.”
“I see.” She tries to hide her smile.
“If you can give me a second, I’m going to call and see if she can tell me what has made her sick over the past couple of days.
” I pull out my phone and call Collins. If she doesn’t answer, I’m going to go out on a limb and get some flowers anyway.
If they make her sick, I’ll take them into the office.
Collins answers after two rings. “Hey.” She sounds more tired than usual. I hear people in the background, so I know she’s not home.
“Hey, I have a question for you. Have you smelled flowers lately? Did any make you sick?”
“I have not, so I don’t know.” Her tone is not one I’ve ever heard before. The sound of tools comes through the receiver.
“Where are you?” I look out the window toward the street.
“I’m at Brock’s shop.”
My heart speeds up when I think that she’s maybe been stuck on the side of the road. Then I get angry that she didn’t call me if she was in trouble. “What? Why?”
“It’s fine,” she huffs out. “Can I call you later?”
“Yeah.” I disconnect and look over at the woman. “Can you prepare four bouquets with different smells to each of them?”
“Sure thing.”
“I’ll be back to get them in about thirty minutes.”
“Is there a budget?”
“No.”
I rush out and head down the road to Brock’s shop.
Her car sits on the back of a tow truck. I find her standing in the reception area. Her arms are on the counter with Brock behind it. He looks up at me.
“What happened?” I snap, putting my hand on the back of Collins’s neck. “Are you okay?” She looks up at me, and I can see the defeat in her eyes. It makes me want to hurt someone. I bunch my hands into fists, trying to push the anger away.
“It’s nothing.” She quickly shakes her head.
“Nothing?” Brock breathes out like a bull. “It’s not nothing. It’s three slashed tires.” He looks at me. “Cut straight through with a knife. One of the tires was punctured five times.”
My eyes go from Brock to Collins. My hands shake with rage. This is going too fucking far. Now something has to be done.
“It’s fine,” she plays it off.
“It’s not fucking fine,” I growl and then look at Brock. “Was anything else damaged?”
“Not that we can see. But I’ll be doing a checkup anyway.”
“Brock,” she interjects, “really, that isn’t necessary. It’s probably some kids causing chaos.”
“I don’t care what you say.” His tone is clipped. “I’m doing a checkup.”
“Well, how much will that be?” I can hear the weight of the question in her tone.
“It’s on the house. The tires will be a hundred dollars each, new. Or I can call around and see if maybe someone has some used ones.”
“Um . . .” Her finger taps the countertop.
“We can work something out like we did the last time,” he assures. “I’m not worried about it.”
“Oh,” she murmurs.
“The only thing is, it won’t be ready until maybe tomorrow.” He puts his hand on the desk in front of him.
“That’s fine,” I say. “I’ll take her to work and pick her up.”
“That’s—” She lets out a huge sigh. “I guess we have no choice.”
“I’ll call you when we get the exact price for the tires,” Brock says. The two of us share a look that lets him know I’ll be taking care of this bill.
“Thanks for your help, Brock,” she says softly. “Oh, I have to pay for the tow.” She starts to grab her purse, looking away from Brock, and I shake my head at him.
“It’s good,” he deflects. “I’ll put it all on one bill. You can take care of it when the tires are on.”
“Okay,” she says, “if you’re sure.”
“It’s fine, Collins,” he assures. “Don’t worry about it.”
She smiles at him, and it’s a sad smile. The burning in my gut starts to form. “Thanks, Brock,” I tell him. “See you tomorrow.”
I slide my hand in hers as we walk out of the shop. I take one look back at Brock, and he nods to confirm he got what I was silently saying. He wears an expression that tells me he’s going to hurt me if I fuck this up with Collins.
“Hey,” I say softly when we get to the truck. “It’s okay.”
“It’s actually not okay.” She quickly wipes the tears away from one eye. I reach up to catch the tear from her other eye as I cup her face.
“Collins . . .” I start softly. She tries to look down, but I stop her, making her look at me. “It could have been so much worse.”
“I know. That’s the only thing keeping me from freaking out.”
“We need to talk—” My phone rings, and I glance at the caller ID. “I have to take this. Get in the truck, I’ll just be a minute.” I bend to kiss her lips softly, and it calms me down.
I wait for her to get into the truck before I put the phone to my ear. “Hey, it’s not a good time,” I tell Caleb, walking around the front of the truck.
“Someone just tried to break into the office,” he says. “Got the door open and had enough time to grab the laptop off the desk before the alarm started ringing.”
“Shit, shit, shit.” I try not to punch the side of my truck. “Well, someone slashed Collins’s tires.”
“Theo,” he says, “it’s time to go to the cops.”
“Yeah, I think so also. I just don’t want Collins to worry.”
“Well, then don’t tell her until you talk to the cops, but she needs to know to look out for someone.”
“Fuck.” I shake my head. “This is ridiculous. I spent one night with this woman.”
“You ever watch Fatal Attraction? The woman spent one night with him and then made his life hell.”
“This isn’t helping me right now.”
“Who said anything about helping you? I’m going to go fix the door at the office now. You take care of Collins.”
“Yeah. Talk to you later.” I get into the truck.
“Everything okay?” Collins asks. I shake my head.
“We need to have a little chat.” Her face goes white. “Why didn’t you call me?” Her eyebrows pinch together. “When you came out, and you found out your tires were slashed, why didn’t you call me?”
“I don’t know. There wasn’t anything for you to do, really.”
“Collins, do you get that what happens to you means a great deal to me? How would you feel if something happened to me and I didn’t tell you?”
“But—” she starts.
“But nothing. I know you’re independent and want to take care of yourself, but—”
She puts her hand on my leg. “It’s not that, Theo. It’s just that I’ve never had anyone care before. I’ve never had someone who would worry if something happened to me. I’m sorry, I should have called you. I just . . .” She shrugs. “I guess I didn’t think.” I can see she’s exhausted.
“Why don’t we get you home, and you can take a shower while I make us some food. Later, after you’ve had a nap, we can discuss what steps we will both take going forward.”
She puts her head back on the headrest. “That sounds like heaven,” she admits. “I’m so tired.”
I pull out of the parking lot and head back to the flower shop. “Give me two seconds,” I tell her, “then I’ll take you home.” I get out of the shop at the same time my phone beeps with a text from Caleb.
Caleb:
Just got off the phone with Burke. He said to come see him tomorrow morning.