The muscle in Tanner’s jaw twitches. “Crystal.”
Chapter 18
Lily
My favorite part of the weekend is sleeping in. Even during the summer, I make myself get up early on weekdays. I have a routine: wake up, get in a two-mile run, complete my skin care, and eat breakfast. For breakfast, I make myself a protein shake along with two hard-boiled eggs. Day in and day out, the routine is like clockwork—except for on weekends.
The weekends are the only time I let myself just—be. Exist outside of expectations.
That’s why, when I hear hammering outside my house at nine a.m. on a Saturday, I nearly flip my lid.
My neighborhood is quiet. An elderly couple lives on one side of me, and the house on the other side is empty. So the noise is both unusual and annoying.
Throwing on a pair of running shorts and a tank top, I slide on a pair of sandals and head toward my front porch where the noise seems to be coming from.
I’m out the door before I have the time to consider that I should have probably checked through the window before barging outside. Theo is kneeling on my front lawn, bent over a saw, cutting a 2x4—shirtless.
His back muscles ripple, and even though it’s only mid-morning, sweat drips down his skin, and my mouth suddenly goes dry. I’mstanding there gawking, unable to look away, but then Theo turns around and winks. There’s a smirk on his face like he knew what I’d been doing when his back was turned, and it makes me want to punch him— because, let’s be honest, a girl can find a man attractive and still want to strangle him.
“What are you doing?” I ask, trying to save at least a little of my dignity.
“I’m cutting a board,” He says blandly, continuing to kneel at my feet.
“And you needed to do that shirtless?” I shake my head. “Better yet, why are you doing it at all?”
He doesn’t answer me at first, turning back to the saw and firing it up to make a cut before standing to face me. “You had a loose board.”
Theo says it as if it should have been evident from the start, and then he walks past me to the porch. I hadn’t noticed it when I first came out, but now that I’m paying attention, I see a board missing to the left of my front door.
“That’s not an answer, Theo,” I say, following him, but he pays me no mind, laying the board down and starting to nail them in.
I kick his boot. “I’m talking to you.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I glare down at him even though his back is to me, and he can’t actually see me.
His attention stays on the board. “I can feel you glaring at me, hopeless. I heard the question.”
I huff. “Then answer it.”
With a long, drawn-out sigh, he stands up. “I figured we could get to know each other better.”
“Why?” My nose scrunches up, and my brows furrow together.
Theo chuckles. It’s deep and warm, and I hate it. At least, I want to.
“Don’t look so disgusted, hopeless. I started thinking—”
“Hopefully not too hard,” I grumble, and he shoots me a look beforehe continues.
“As I was saying—I was thinking.” He stops, lifting a brow as if waiting for me to interrupt, and when I don’t, he continues. “We really don’t know each other. I mean, we know the basics, but that’s it. If we are going to do this thing—convince people we are dating—then we should probably get to know each other.”
I hate to admit it, but what he’s saying makes sense. We might have been able to fool Josephine with our performance at the game, but it won’t be so easy with the Birdies. Nothing escapes them. They have their finger on the pulse of all the gossip in Benton Falls, and if I’m going to convince them that I’m not as cold-hearted as they might think, then I will need to get to know more about Theo than I do right now.
So I drop my arms and put my hands on my hips while staring him down. “Fine, but I need coffee first.”
______________________
Theo is sitting on the front step, waiting for me when I come back with two cups of coffee. His tools have been put away, and the loose board on my porch has now been fixed. I still don’t understand why he did it. It’s not like he had to do that to have this conversation, and now it feels like I owe him.
