“I’m not going to argue that.”
“I know you guys didn’t have to take down all my dead trees.”
He shrugged. “I’m all about the good neighbor policy. It’s not going to be easy having us here. A couple extra trees and any debris you need to get rid of doesn’t cost anything for us to do.”
She doubted that, but was grateful for it.
“Would you be able to clean up what’s left of our barns?” She was half teasing.
He looked behind him and up toward the house. “Absolutely. I’ll have one of the guys take care of it tomorrow.”
“Seriously?”
He nodded. “I would imagine you get water runoff from the back of your house.”
“We do, but it’s usually diverted around the barn.”
“The barn that isn’t there anymore.”
“Right.” She hadn’t thought about that.
“The last thing we need is that debris ending up down here and clogging up the wash and creating a bigger mess.”
She found herself smiling. “That’s how you’ll spin it if anyone asks.”
“I speak the truth.”
She called bullshit on that. “Well, thank you.”
“No, thank you.”
“I know I busted your guys’ chops last week. I’m not normally that bitchy.”
“You’re giving them boundaries. Nothing wrong with that.”
She rubbed the back of her neck before taking Scout off his leash. The second he was free, he darted over to the parked equipment.
“So this is what it’s going to be? Day in and day out?” She took in the sheer magnitude of equipment sitting on her property.
“Give or take.”
“What does one of those things cost?”
“Depends. Anywhere from a hundred grand to half a million new.”
She knew her jaw slacked. “That’s a lot of money.”
“They do the heavy lifting.”
She shook away the enormity of what she was looking at. “Well, I should let you get home to your wife.” Where had those words come from?
His silence made her look him in the eye.
“What?” she asked him when he didn’t say anything.
“Is that your way of asking if I’m married?”
Even though the sun had dipped over the mountain, she felt sweat start to pool on her neck. “No . . . I just assumed.”
Now he was grinning.
A flutter stirred low in her belly.
“Why would you assume that?”
She shifted her weight, looked at the ground. “I don’t know. It’s just, ah . . .” She started mumbling. “You seem like a decent guy. Old enough to be married. Maybe even have a kid of your own.”
“You’ve given this some thought.”
She shot her eyes back to his. “What? No! Absolutely not.”
“Right.”
She stood from her perch on the rock and dusted off the back of her shorts. “Fine. Whatever. I don’t want to keep you from whatever . . .”
“How old are you, Parker?”
“It’s not polite to ask a woman’s age.” And why was he looking at her like that . . . all smug and happy with himself?
“Twenty-five?” he asked.
“Twenty-six,” she said a little too quickly. “How old are you?”
“Thirty-three.” He leaned in a little closer. “And I’m not married.”
He was onto her. Parker didn’t know what made her want to run more, the fact that he wasn’t looking at her like the county contractor guy only interested in the property but instead a thirty-three-year-old trying to figure out his next move. “It’s none of my business.” And before he could comment further, she called her dog.
“We’ll be back in the morning.”
“I’ll be at work.” Her tone was defensive. “I get home at two thirty.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”
“Fine.”
She walked away and heard him chuckling.
Halfway up the drive, she felt some of her defensiveness fade. Replacing it was a smile. TDH was single!
Colin had grinned like a cat with a mouse in its paws all the way home. He took a quick shower, scrubbing the dust from his hair, and flopped on the couch with a beer in his hand.
His phone buzzed at his side with a text message from Matt. You home?
His response was a thumbs-up.
I’m on my way over.
Colin didn’t ask why. He pushed his ass off the sofa and unlocked the front door. Everyone in his family had a key to his house, and always knew they could come by anytime they wanted. Their family’s open door policy was one of the things he loved the most. Only once had his brother shown up when Colin was entertaining a woman, and from that day on, he always sent a text before coming over. Kinda like a one-knuckle knock on the door before flinging it open when they were still living with their parents.
Colin opened up the pictures app on his phone and scrolled through the Creek Canyon project. Twice he might have accidentally taken a picture of the homeowner when she wasn’t looking. While everyone else ran around with hard hats and long pants, she strolled about in shorts and a tank top. Her hair was in a loose ponytail all day, straggly bits all over the place. No makeup. Only the sun on her skin to brighten her cheeks. Not to mention dirt. When she’d asked him about a wife, he was having a hard time not staring at the smudge of dirt across her chin. She probably didn’t even know it was there. Obviously, she didn’t care. Somehow that was endearing to him.
He was halfway through his drink when the sound of Matt’s motorcycle signaled his arrival before he walked in the door.
“Over here,” Colin yelled from the back of his house where the family room and kitchen lived.
His brother strolled in dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. He placed his helmet on the kitchen island before beelining to the refrigerator.
“Nice safety jacket and leather pants you’re wearing there,” Colin gave his brother hell.
“You live less than two miles away.” Matt flashed the smile he and Grace had inherited from their mother and twisted the top off his beer.
They had their mother to give him trouble, so Colin left it alone. His brother took risks every day in his job, a couple of miles on a bike was the least of them.
“So what do you think of Robert?”
“Gracie’s Robert?” Matt asked.
“Yeah.”
“He’s a putz. Not sure what she sees in him.” Matt toed off his shoes and tossed his feet up on the coffee table.
“I think she’s going to dump him before our next family dinner.” Colin flipped through the pictures on his phone.
“That’s a relief. Talking to him is like talking to a wall. And what’s up with the video game on his phone? Texting, sexting, or hooking up on Tinder I get . . . but a video game at a family dinner?”
Colin looked up from his screen. “You still using that app?”
“It was a phase. I’m over it.” None of his Tinder dates ever made it to Sunday dinner. Which was probably a good thing.
“I can’t see why you ever needed it. You’re the hero. Every single panty in the valley throws themselves at you.”