Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
HAZEL
I plated egg-white omelets just as my dad walked into the kitchen. He stopped short and stared at me.
I looked down at myself and back up. “What?”
“You look different. Kinda…peaceful.”
I snorted, and he did the same. “Okay, maybe calm is a better word. Or almost calm.”
Huh. I certainly wasn’t feeling calm—
No, that wasn’t true. Even though I’d taken off on Tucker in a spectacular blaze of emotional glory, something in me had…settled. It hadn’t felt good in the moment. But here, with my dad making coffee and the air not thick with tension, I realized maybe walking away had cleared something out.
I understood why he’d stayed in Star Falls. I did. I was envious that I hadn’t had the guts to do the same. But I was here now, unsettled or otherwise, and I wasn’t going to waste a second chance. “Almost calm, huh?”
“Yeah.”
I turned my head and studied my reflection in the microwave’s window. “Is it that unusual?”
He hesitated, then went for the coffeepot. “It’s been happening more this past week than—”
“In all the time you’ve known me?” I finished wryly.
“Yes, and I like it,” he said quietly. “Maybe you’ll even stop living outside like a feral cat.”
“I’m not living outside, Dad. My van is perfectly comfortable.”
He stared down at the omelet. “What the hell is this green crap?”
“Spinach. Just a little bit. For extra goodness.”
He prodded the omelet with his fork like it might bite him. “Anything else?”
“Cheese.”
He brightened.
“Dairy-free, fat-free.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
But he ate it anyway, and I headed out to work.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled up in front of the Sonoma project and used the key Caleb had given me to let myself in.
Early morning light stretched across the gravel parking lot, and fog still clung to the trees beyond. The air smelled like cedar and sawdust, with a faint crispness that hinted fall was coming. I breathed it in like a promise.
The staging area was in the covered pavilion behind the building. I found my delivery right away: massive stacks of gorgeous wood and hardware parts. Heaven. I dove in with my iPad, checking the materials against my order. Running my hands over the wood, I felt a burst of…joy.
I loved this. Being here. Building things. Creating order out of chaos. This part of me had always been real. It still was.
Here, no one eyed me like I was a ghost from the town’s past. No pointed glances. Just work. Just me and my tools, and a job I could disappear into.
My smile lasted exactly five minutes, until I realized parts of my order had been swapped out and others were missing entirely. I eyed the packing slip. It matched the delivery.
What the hell?
I called the supplier, who told me they’d sent everything Colburn Restorations had ordered.
But I’d placed the order myself.
I stared at my phone. I knew Tucker was the company estimator, but I didn’t want to ask him. I really didn’t want him thinking I couldn’t handle my job. Caleb would help, but what did it say about me if I had a problem in the first week?
Hell. I so didn’t want to do this, but I hit a number and bit back a sigh as I brought the phone up to my ear.
“What’s wrong?” my dad barked as a greeting.
“Well, hi to you too.”
“You call me only when there’s a problem. Spill it. Did you mess something up?”
“Nice. Thanks for the confidence.” I drew a deep breath. “And no, I didn’t mess anything up. But the delivery isn’t what I ordered, and yet the supplier says it is. I’ve never had this happen.”
He listened as I explained in detail. Then he said, “My guess is the supplier substituted for something close. Happens when they’re understocked. Don’t worry about it.”
“They didn’t tell me that.”
“Not like they’ll admit to doing it unless pressed.”
“But…” This made no sense. “The materials I paid for cost less than this, which means it’s costing them.”
“It doesn’t cost them shit if they saved having to hunt down what you wanted and also got rid of inventory on hand. You can make the job work with what you received, right?”
“Possibly. But the quality—”
“It’s still good stuff. Your craftsmanship will make up the difference.”
I paused. “Are you not yelling because we promised not to fight on-site?”
“Yes.” There was a beat of silence where I imagined him wondering why he’d had a daughter. “I’m also hoping the niceness is contagious.”
We hung up. A minute later, I called him back.
“What now?” he asked.
“Just saying hi. Seeing how you’re doing.”
A pause. Then a genuine belly laugh. “Look at that,” he said. “It is contagious.”
“Ha ha.” I put my phone away and got to work. First thing I did was text Annie and Tex and let them know I had work for us starting tomorrow.
Then I went about making sure I had everything I needed and resetting my plan of attack, adjusting to the materials I had.
Hours passed before I noticed the time. My stomach growled, my shoulders ached, and I had sawdust in places sawdust should never venture.
I was digging through my backpack for snacks when Kiera FaceTimed me, Emma, and Penny.
I set my phone on a stack of wood so I could eat my candy bar. “Ladies.”
“We’re all on a break and decided you should be too,” Kiera said. “Well, some of us are on a break. Me, I’m just a girl stuck under a napping child, online shopping with a full bladder and a dying phone, while worrying about what the too-silent awake twin is up to.”
“Which one’s on the loose?” Penny asked.
“Alex.”
“Uh-oh,” Penny said.
“Why ‘uh-oh’?” I asked.
Kiera sighed. “Because I’ve got only one kid I could trust to be on their own for a whole weekend, and I know they’d eat veggies, lock the doors, and wash the dishes. And it’s not Alex.”
We all grimaced.
“I also have to pee,” Kiera said. “Distract me. What are you all up to?”
“A customer at the café yelled at my barista,” Penny said, “and another managed to spill an entire pitcher of soda down a vent. I’m going to be sticky for weeks, and I’ve been whispering, ‘What, from the bottom of my heart, the fuck?’ for hours.”
Emma nodded, then said, “I read somewhere that being a woman means whispering WTF daily.”
“Wait, we’re supposed to be whispering it?” I asked.
Penny laughed and rubbed her belly. “My clothes are already getting too tight. I can’t wait to be past this.”
I looked at my friend, who had everything I’d secretly dreamed about. When I’d been pregnant, I hadn’t gotten to maternity jeans, and an unexpected pang hit me right in the chest.
A secret part of me wanted a second chance, and I was afraid I’d never get it.
Kiera tilted her head at me. “Tucker still ignoring you?”
I sighed. “To be honest, it was me ignoring him. But we came to a sort of truce.”
“You ever going to tell us what is going on?” Kiera asked.
I wasn’t ready to discuss this. “Not anytime soon. Anyway, it’s a long story.”
“We love long stories,” Penny said, then peered closer to her screen, trying to see something behind me. “Oh…holy…hotness.”
Emma leaned in close as well, brows raised. “Wow, I knew the Colburn Collective was hot, but it’s nice to be reminded. Too bad Tucker isn’t here; he just might be the hottest of them all.”
On my phone screen, I saw Caleb about twenty feet behind me, with his crew: Danny kept everyone in line. Hawk, whose hairstyle changed more often than my socks. And last but hardly least, Miguel, with his movie-star good looks. He was also the biggest flirt I’d ever met.
And they’d all taken off their shirts. I refused to react. I absolutely did not fan myself like a Victorian widow at a scandalous play. I just…appreciated from a distance.
Miguel came up behind me and flashed his dark eyes and bad-boy smile at my phone. “Ladies.”
Emma’s and Penny’s noses were practically pressed to their screens.
“It’s like Magic Mike: Jobsite Edition,” Emma said.
We were laughing when Caleb caught us.
He gave a barely there shake of his head, like he couldn’t believe it. “Seriously?” he said, eyes locked on mine. “We’re all hot and sweaty.”
“Yeah, you are!” Emma said cheerfully.
Caleb eyed Ryder’s pregnant wife. “You too?”
Penny blushed. “It’s the baby’s fault!”
He muttered something and disappeared.
Not Miguel. His eyes locked on Kiera. “Hey, sweetness.”
Kiera grinned. “Guess you’ve forgotten what Ryder said about flirting with his baby sister.”
“You wound me.” Miguel clutched his chest. “I’m just checking in on a friend.”
“Miguel!” Caleb yelled from another room. “Don’t egg them on!”
Miguel grinned at us and sauntered off with a wink.
We all looked at Kiera, brows up. I smiled with them, but it didn’t land. I wasn’t thinking about Miguel. Or his abs. Or any other shirtless flirt. Just one man who could shut down a room with a single look.
And I’d pushed him away.
Again.
Kiera sighed dreamily, but ever the pragmatist, she also shrugged.
“I’m not…ready for anything. But it wouldn’t kill me to leave the door open, right?
Plus, there’s the bonus of pissing off a brother or two.
” She glanced at me specifically. “Speaking of my pain-in-the-ass brothers, Tucker lost it when he found out you got stopped by the cops.”
I froze. “He what?”
“Got them in trouble and everything.”
Oh God. Was she talking about that night I’d rebuilt the gazebo? “Again,” I said very carefully. “What?”
“You know how protective he is. He lost his shit. I mean, the man might as well have peed on you. Good thing you love him. You do still love him, right?”
Emma gasped.
Penny gasped.
I nearly swallowed my tongue. “I gotta go.” I disconnected from them, then just stood there blinking.
Love him?
I couldn’t afford to. Not when I was hiding so much.
And I knew he didn’t love me. So I didn’t understand why he’d butted in on the police thing, much less not even told me. It smacked of…what? Control? Possessiveness? Or something worse. Care?
Probably all of the above, but that he’d gone to bat for me now really lit my fuse. I wasn’t his business. This wasn’t his business. I mean, I’d barely given that night I’d rebuilt the gazebo a second thought. In fact, I’d been out to fix other things since then.