I gingerly led him up the stairs. We’d stripped the carpet off and pulled up all the carpenter nails. “The stairs will be one of the last things we do.”
“Makes sense. You’re still hauling things up and down.”
I chuckled, thinking of that bloody bathtub. Well, both—the one we’d carried up and the one we’d removed and thrown away. “In here.”
We’d made our way across the empty master bedroom and into the master bath.
Felix gasped.
I grinned. “Yeah, pretty cool, eh?”
“It’s…” He faltered at the doorway.
“It’s okay to come in. Everything’s set and working.”
We’d busted our balls to get it done. Well, butts, since half my team didn’t have balls. Still…we’d worked so fricking hard to get this done.
“I can’t believe you did it.”
“Truthfully, I can’t either. My crew—” I swallowed the lump in my throat, feeling an unaccustomed emotion. Beyond the normal gratitude I felt for my people. “They really like you and Josie. They want it done properly and quickly. I mean, we never dawdle on jobs, but…” I pointed. “Now, the bathtub’s not hooked up, and the shower’s not finished, but by tomorrow night everything will be perfect.”
“Right. No showers or baths.” He cut me a sly grin. “I think I can manage one day.”
“Don’t you swim at the leisure center some mornings?”
He offered a shy smile. “I didn’t realize you knew that. Yeah, a couple of mornings a week. I was planning to go tomorrow.”
How I’d known that random fact, I couldn’t remember. In fact, I suspected I knew a lot on minutiae about my future brother-in-law that would fill a small part of my brain. “Well, I should be going.”
“Oh.” He held up his finger and retreated to his car. Within a moment, he headed back with a pizza box in his hands. “You like Canadian, right? Mushrooms, pepperoni…” He wrinkled his nose.
“You don’t like Canadian?”
“No, I can’t remember the other ingredient.”
“I think bacon is the one you’ve forgotten. Although each pizzeria does it a little differently.” I pointed to the box. “But they are the best in town.”
A look of relief crossed his face, and he let out a little puff of air. “Yeah, I thought I remembered you saying that.” He indicated his backpack with his chin. “Sodas. I considered getting beer—”
“Soda is perfect.” I relieved him of the pizza box, and we walked inside.
Sawdust covered just about every surface, as Niall had cut some wood today that we’d used to shore up some areas that needed extra reinforcement. Again, I wished Felix had bought something newer, but his budget wouldn’t have stretched that far. Not if he wanted to live in the country, which he obviously did.
He eyed the place. “Uh, maybe we should sit on the porch?”
I grinned. “Good idea.”
We headed back outside, and within a few moments, we’d plopped onto the step, distributed pizza and sodas, and were chowing down.
Oh, he’d remembered my favorite was fizzy lemonade.
What a sweetheart.
Which is why he’s the perfect guy for your sister—considerate, gentle, and kind.
As we ate, Felix tried to tuck his mushrooms onto a napkin.
“You don’t like mushrooms?”
