Page 16 of From Grumpy to Forever
Reid assessed the chair and shook his head. “I think I’ll stand. Those chairs look like they’ve seen better days.”
“They’re on the list.” I held up the pad of paper. “Along with almost everything else.” My swing creaked and protested when I settled myself onto the bench.
Reid’s eyebrows shot up, his eyes wide. “You’re not going to sit on that?”
“It’s my very favorite place to?—”
This time, he couldn’t move fast enough to catch me from the crash as the rusted old chain gave away and I, along with the swing, tumbled to the floorboards in a coffee-stained heap.
“Oh shit.” Reid was at my side in an instant. “Are you okay?”
Before I could protest, he had a hand under my elbow and lifted me easily to my feet. His hand lingered on my elbow, holding me in place while I recovered from the upset.
“Looks like we should add fixing the swing to the list of things that need repair.”
Unexpected, hot tears burned in my eyes. I blinked hard and looked down at my empty coffee cup. There was no way I was going to let myself cry. Not over a broken swing, of all things. Even if it was my favorite part of the house.
But it wasn’t about the swing at all. It was just one more thing in a very long, and growing list of things that were starting to feel out of my control.
“It’s okay, Avery.”
Reid’s hand was still on my elbow. It was the only thing keeping me from losing it altogether.
“I can fix this. No?—”
“It’s fine.” I pasted a smile to my face and pushed the unexpected and unwelcome emotion down. “I think it just startled me. Don’t worry about it.”
I took a step back, and Reid’s hand fell away. His eyes were dark with concern, but thankfully, he didn’t push the issue because I had no idea how I would explain that the real reason I was on edge was that I’d received a message from the lawyer earlier to schedule a meeting to discuss what I was now referring to as the husband clause.
No, it was definitely best that I kept that detail to myself. I didn’t need to scare him off now that I’d finally gotten him to agree to the job.
Especially because if I couldn’t figure out a solution to the husband clause, there would be no job at all. No inn. No money. No handyman needed.
It took me a few more moments to recover, but when I finally pulled myself together, we moved to the much safer—although not by much—porch steps to finish up the discussion of our working arrangement.
Reid’s proposal was fair, and I agreed to it immediately, including a small retainer to get started. “I have to go over to the plaza later this afternoon for a meeting,” I told him. “If you can wait a few hours, I can grab you some cash then. I’m good for it.”
His lazy smile did something to my insides that was more than a little distracting. “That’ll be fine.” He reached for the notebook in my hand. “If it’s okay with you, I’ll spend some time going through the house and the list you have here so we can triage the biggest jobs and come up with a plan that makes the most sense so we don’t waste time and money.”
The amount of relief I felt knowing I was in competent hands with Reid almost made me want to cry again. Instead, I handed him the notepad.
“I’ll leave you to it then.” I stood up and dusted off my shorts. “I should be done with my meeting around two if you want to meet up and go over things then?” At least I hoped we’d be going over the details after the meeting.
There was still a chance that the lawyer couldn’t find a loophole and I’d have to pivot my entire strategy. Or scrap it altogether, considering I didn’t have a husband. But I was nothing if not an eternal optimist. It would all work out.
It had to.
“How about meeting at the Sugar Shack? They have the best ice cream in town.” Reid was already down the steps when he turned.
What was it about the way he looked at me that felt different? It was probably just the stress I was under that had me seeing and feeling things that weren’t there. Even if they might be there…
Getting involved with the man I’d just hired was not a good idea.
“It’s a date then.”
The words were out of my mouth before I realized how they would sound. My face heated, a blush that turned into a blaze when Reid said, “I wish it was. But I don’t date people I work for.”
“Oh. Right,” I stammered, my face completely on fire with embarrassment. “I didn’t mean it like…that’s not what I?—”
