Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
REECE
With a fat permanent marker, I draw a big X on the wall. Tapping the pen against the hideous wallpaper, I turn to Andi. “This is the wall we’re smashing. Not that one.” I point at the load-bearing wall across the tiny dining area.
She gives me the stink-eye like I knew she would. In fact, it’s the main reason I marked the wall—to distract her from our recent conversation. I don’t want her sinking into self-recriminations over her bid for freedom in London. That’s over and done, and there’s no reason to dwell on it. I also don’t want her questioning my ability to recognize a random princess in a city of eight million. If she questions my intentions in London, that will lead her to question my reasons for offering her a home.
Which I’m still not clear on, to be honest. It felt like the right thing to do until Teo demanded an explanation. If Andi hadn’t given me an excuse to bolt, I would have been in real trouble.
Of course, I still am. Teo isn’t going to let this go. I need to get my story straight in my own head so I can explain it to him in a reasonable manner. I’m providing Andi with a place to live, and in exchange she’s helping with my renovation.
That’s exactly what I told him last night. Why would he take it any better today?
“Gee, boss, I don’t know which wall to smash.” With a pout, Andi picks up the bigger sledgehammer. She hefts it to her shoulder, then swings it at the wall. It misses completely and nearly takes her over backwards as the head swings past her legs.
I press my lips together, trying to hide my smile. “Maybe move a little closer.”
“You think?” Her eyes narrow as if she’s contemplating hitting me instead of the wall.
“Use this one instead.” I hold out the smaller tool. “That thing is too big for you.”
Her glare burns into me, then pours away like rain off a metal roof as her usual sunny disposition reasserts itself. “Thanks.” She switches tools and steps closer to the wall. As she swings, the tip of her tongue protrudes from the corner of her mouth in a way that makes mine go dry. The hammer connects and bounces off, leaving a dent in the wall. “What happened?”
“You hit a stud, but not hard enough to break it. Move a little to the left and try again.”
Another swing lands the iron head of her hammer in the drywall. “I broke through!”
“Yup. Good job.” I move a few paces away and get to work.
When we’ve completely destroyed the little wall between the kitchen and dining area, I call a halt. “Let’s take a break and have some lunch.”
Andi nods, her chest heaving with exertion. She blows the hair that has fallen out of her ponytail away from her face.
I grab a couple of water bottles from the fridge and toss her one. “We’re going to have to remove these cabinets before we can do any more of this anyway. We might want to refinish and reuse them. And we’ll remove the appliances, of course.”
“On your show, they smashed the cupboards, too.” She taps the head of her hammer gently against the countertop.
“That’s a lot more work than just removing them. And wasteful. We can take these to the Big Thrift in town. Or maybe even sell them. But smashing things makes better video.” I pat the refrigerator. “Maybe after lunch, you can move all the food into the little fridge in the garage?”
She chugs some water, then puts the cap back on and raises her brows at me. “ All the food? You mean the three baggies of lunch meat and the shelf of condiments?”
“You forgot the six-pack of Diet Coke.”
“Zero! It’s Coke Zero.” She pulls the door open and grabs one of the red cans. “And we’re going to need more before we finish this job. A lot more.”
“I’m surprised you don’t drink that stuff with your breakfast.” I take the maligned deli bags and head for the garage. “We can eat in there where it’s cleaner.”
“I’m European. We drink coffee with breakfast, not soda.” She detours into the half bath by the laundry. When she comes out, her damp face shines, and her hair is slicked back into its ponytail again. “Your turn.”
“I took care of the shelf of condiments.” I nod at a small cardboard box I filled with mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, and relish, then flex a bicep.
“How will I ever pay my way if you keep doing my job for me?” With a grin, she pulls some paper plates from the stack on the workbench.
When I return from washing up, she’s made two sandwiches, added pickles and chips to each plate, and stowed the remaining food in the dorm-sized fridge by the door. I take the plate with a nod of thanks. “Cooking makes up for not moving the relish.”
She laughs. “If this is your idea of cooking, we’re both going to get tired of sandwiches. I thought you said you had skills?”
“You ate my waffles this morning!” I take a bite of my sandwich and lift it toward her in toast.
She beams, then digs into her own lunch.
The soft growl of a car engine filters through the insulated roll-up garage door. I stand to peer out the windows in the upper section. “Teo’s here.”
She bites her lip and wrinkles her nose, then takes a deep breath. “I’ll talk to him.”
Putting the remains of my sandwich on my plate, I set it aside and rise. “No, I will. Would offering a sandwich help?”
She snickers. “Food always helps. You got any cookies?”
I shake my head as I move toward the house. “What you see is what you get. Except the left-over waffles in the freezer.”
When I open the front door, Teo stands on the porch in old jeans and a T-shirt. I stare in surprise at the casual attire. “You’re not at the office today?”
He steps past me into the living room, looking around. “I worked this morning, but I thought you could use some help this afternoon. Andi’s not really—” He clenches his hands in a body-builder type pose.
With his slender physique, the action—and intention—is humorous, but I bite back a laugh and pretend I don’t know he really came here to check up on our living situation. “Perfect timing. I could use a bit of muscle.” I clap a hand to his shoulder and guide him toward the kitchen.
He follows me into the little kitchen and stops in surprise, nodding at the missing wall. “When did you do that?”
“Andi and I did it this morning. But I could use some help with the stove and fridge. And the cabinets. We’re having lunch right now.” I push him toward the garage. One point for Team Reece and Andi: actual work was done.
“Hi, Teo.” Andi holds out a plate with a fresh sandwich and chips. “Are you hungry?”
He stops on the step, then continues into the room. “Thanks, I could eat. I’ve never seen you so dusty, Andi.”
Her smile lights up her face. “Demo is so fun! But I might be sore tomorrow.” She rolls her shoulders experimentally. “Good thing I have some arnica oil.”
Teo and I inhale our sandwiches. Andi eats half of hers and drinks two of her precious sodas. She wraps the remains of her lunch and puts it into the fridge, grabbing a third can at the same time. “I’ll save that for a snack.”
“If you drank less diet soda, you might eat more.” I purposely use the wrong description.
“It’s zero, not diet! And I don’t think that’s how it works. Although it would make for excellent marketing if it did.” She pops the can open and heads for the door. “We should get back to it.”
I put her to work taking the doors off the cabinets while Teo and I wrestle the stove out of its space and onto a dolly. “Let’s put it in the living room.”
“Not the garage?” Teo backs toward the door I indicated.
“That’s our clean space. We’ll be eating and living in there.” I shuffle behind, holding the front edge of the oven as the door tries to bounce open. “This thing is going to the secondhand store in town.”
“We have a hand truck at the warehouse I could have brought.” Teo follows my directions, and we maneuver the stove into a corner. “You aren’t worried about the couch?”
I look at the dilapidated piece of furniture, currently covered with a layer of plastic. “It’s useful for now, but that thing is going to the dump when we get the new one in a few weeks.”
“We?” Teo crosses his arms. “You and…?”
I flush. Andi only moved in yesterday, and I already consider us a “we.” How did that happen? One point for Team Teo. I try not to think about last night’s storm—as if Teo would be able to read it on my face. He’d have way more than one point if he knew about that. I backtrack. “I’m renovating this property for my parents, so yeah, we. Who did you think I meant?”
“I think my sister moving in with you is a bad idea.”
“You made that abundantly clear last night. But this is a business deal. She’s working for her room and board. You saw what we got done this morning.”
He throws up his hands in frustration. “She didn’t mention any financial difficulties until last night. In fact, she had a good job when she got here.”
“Earning minimum wage for picking up after Kellie? Hardly a ‘good’ job.” I glower at him. “And Kellie decided to fire her when I canceled my contract. Even though I paid the substantial exit fee. Which, technically, I could have fought, since the only work accomplished was Andi measuring the house. Kellie didn’t even deliver the preliminary drawings she promised. If you want to be angry at someone for Andi’s predicament, talk to Kellie.”
“That makes no sense.” Teo yanks his phone from his pocket. “She has an ad in the Zeitung to hire another assistant.”
“She’s replacing Andi?”
The door swings open. “What are you two yelling about?” Andi pushes her hair off her forehead, leaving a streak of dust across it.
Teo shakes the phone in Andi’s face. “How did you lose a good job so quickly? Did you refuse to get coffee for her? Sometimes running errands is part of the job.” His voice is even but cutting.
Andi stills, then draws herself up, her spine going rigid. “If you are implying I was too self-important to do my job properly, you are mistaken. I did all of the… what did you call it, Reece? The ‘grunt work.’ Every little task she requested, I did. She fired me because she thought I talked Reece into hiring me instead of her.”
“Which I didn’t.” I frown. “Not like that at least. I mean, Andi suggested I could save money doing the remodel myself, and she was completely right. I contacted Kellie because I wanted help with the design, but she wanted to subcontract everything. Stuff I can do myself. She must think I’m made of money.”
“It looks like you dumped Kellie and brought in Andi.” Teo puts his phone away. “And this living situation isn’t helping with appearances.”
“No one needs to know I’m living here.” Andi advances on her brother, shaking a finger in his face. “I haven’t told anyone except you, so if Kellie knows about this, it’s your fault.”
“Please. I have better things to do than gossip with Kellie.” His expression changes from angry to thoughtful. “But she knew. Before I did. I saw her at Helmut’s yesterday morning, and she said something?—”
When he breaks off, Andi takes a step back and drops onto the plastic-covered sofa. It groans under her slight weight, reinforcing my decision to get rid of it. “She said what?”
“Nothing.” He darts a look at me. “She asked if you and Reece were dating. I thought it was strange since, at that point, I still believed she was your boss. I told her you’d met at the fest and referred her to you.”
“Look at you, telling a little white lie. I’m so proud of you.” Andi grins at her brother.
“Lie?” His brows knit. “I didn’t lie.”
“You told her we met at the fest.” She looks at me. “When you knew by then that we met in London. Which is really weird. What are the odds that we’d run into each other in London and then here?”
“It is odd.” I shrug. “I was there for Herr Walther’s reception, although I missed it.”
“Me, too!” She laughs. “I mean, I didn’t miss it. But it’s still a weird coincidence.”
“Sometimes those just happen.” I tip my head toward the kitchen. “Shall we get back to work? That refrigerator isn’t going to move itself.”
“Why don’t we leave the fridge until tomorrow.” Teo dusts his hands together, apparently back to business now that he’s said his piece. “I’ll bring the hand truck from the warehouse. But I can help with the cabinets.”
We spend the rest of the afternoon removing the sink, laminated countertop, and cabinets from the small kitchen. When we finish, I offer to buy dinner, but Teo declines, claiming he has a date.
Andi grabs her brother’s arm. “A date? Eva is in Korea. Does she know you’re going out with someone else?”
“Not a date , date. Hans and I are going to the movies.” He raises a brow at us. “It’s a Marvel, if either of you cares to join.”
Andi releases his arm and shakes her head. “I’m out. I haven’t seen the last two, yet. I’d be hopelessly lost.”
I roll my shoulders. “Thanks, but I’ll pass, too. I saw that one last week. Wasn’t my favorite.” I follow him to the front door, ignoring his speculative look. Hoping to fend off any thoughts I might be lying, I add, “No spoilers. We can discuss tomorrow. I’ll take you up on the hand truck. You want me to come get it tonight? I can manage on my own—I know you’re busy.”
“How about Hans and I bring it out on our way to the movie? We’ll have time.”
I try to decline, but Teo insists. I nod my thanks. “See you in an hour or so?”
He slaps the doorframe. “Perfect.”