Page 32 of His Build
“I go by and take care of things as much as I can, but she needs some real help—someone who’s good at animal husbandry. Or you know, a husband.”
Lucy couldn’t help it, she gave him a punch in the arm.
“Ow!” he said.
“Maybe she’s doing just fine over there on her own?”
“It’s not because she’s single—she can handle herself. The place is just a lot of work. The animals are a handful, and the farm is falling apart.”
“Why don’t you help her fix it up?”
“I’ve tried! She won’t let me do anything except emergency repairs. Says she doesn’t want to take away from my business. I think she just wants to prove she can figure something out herself. She had this romantic idea about living off the land, raising her boy as a resourceful, self-sufficient kid instead of a city boy like his dad was, but she’s in over her head.”
“Excuse me, did you saycity boy?”
“No offence to those of you who choose to live in gray shoeboxes.”
Lucy laughed.
When he smiled at her, that warmth came back, spreading through her like sunlight on the inside. Graydon hadn’t once complained about her wanting to go back and check the same pieces over and over again. He hadn’t rolled his eyes no matter how many times she broke out the measuring tape and wrote down notes on her clipboard. She had a memory of going shopping with her mom and Stan when they’d needed a new couch for the living room. He shot down all the ones her mom liked and complained when she pointed out how she would chip in for the more expensive ones by taking on more tailoring jobs. He rolled his eyes at everything her mom said, all the time.
Graydon, on the other hand, tested out all the furniture in the shops. He sat on at the dining room chairs and in the rocking chairs and on the outdoor iron furniture. He pretended to pull a book from the giant bookcase she was considering for the study; he put on a record in the giant record player in store five and did a goofy little dance when he thought she wasn’t looking. She could tell he was tired by the end, but he never once complained.
Lucy had written down the tag number and stores of all the items she wanted and told the shops she would call to set the furniture aside. She figured she’d get a storage locker in town if they needed the stuff out of their shop sooner than a couple of weeks.
Now that they were almost home, her list folded into her clipboard and the day over, an air of something bittersweet seemed to hang around them. She’d had, she admitted to herself, one of the best days in recent memory.
“So, what’s your partner going to say when he finds out you—the one in charge of paperwork—weren’t at the office doing paperwork all day?” she asked as they turned onto the smaller country highway leading to Barkley Falls.
They were only a few minutes from the motel now.
“He doesn’t get to say anything—he’s not the boss,” Graydon said, grinning. “But… if he knew I’d spent the day with you he’d never let me forget it.
Lucy looked over at him, a little flip in her belly. “Why’s that?”
Graydon glanced at her briefly, then back at the road, as if he needed to consider what to say.
“Because I…” he paused.
Lucy’s stomach did a full somersault. “You know what, never mind. it’s none of my business.”
“Because he thinks I have a crush on you, that’s why.”
Something loud rushed in her ears. “A crush?”
“He’s ridiculous. He knows we have a professional relationship and that I… I’m helping you.”
Lucy sat up straight and brushed her hair out of her face. Her heart began galloping in her chest.
Suddenly her harebrained idea from this morning popped up; a rude, uninvited guest. Who maybe she might want to stick around.
She heard Sadie’s voice.Go Lucy!
“Thatisridiculous,” she said.
The neon sign for the motel came into view.
Thank god. There was no way she could do this.
