“No, Archie.” My heart softens at the care in his words. “I’m good. Really.”
“Alright.”He doesn’t sound convinced.
“How have you been? Are you one hundred percent now?”
“Almost,”he replies with a chuckle.“Enough to finally start that house for us.”
My heart stops. “You’re still recovering. You should take it easy.”
“I need that house, Josie. It’s something for me to focus on. I need something else to distract me.”Another rough swallow.“Now more than ever.”
What’s left unspoken is what breaks me, so I decide to tell him the truth. No matter how painful it will be.
“I can’t help you, Archie.” My voice nearly breaks. “I’m sorry.”
“Why?”He sounds a bit defensive.“I can pay you more if that’s the problem.”
“It’s not that,” I reply with a sigh. “I got fired, so I don’t have any developers to back me up.”
“Huh.”A pause.“What happened?”
“Just slept with my boss, ya know.” I shrug even though he can’t see me.
“The sleazebag?”He laughs.“I thought you had some taste, Josie.”
“You and me both,” I groan, embarrassed.
“Why don’t you hire another developer?”
“That’s not how it works.” I sit on the couch and curl my feet under me. “Usually, a developer is the one who hires designers and engineers and pretty much everyone to create and design a building.”
“Then become a developer yourself,”he says it as if it’s the easiest thing in the world, so I laugh out loud.
“I wish it was that easy. I need money and clients.”
“I am your client who has money. Two in one. Hire anyone you need. You built a parlor for me in Texas from the ground, so I assume you hired an engineer.”
“I am the engineer who built your parlor,” I explain with pride. Even though Randy was the one who signed off the permits, because I didn’t have enough work experience to officially present the plans, I was the one who drew them. Now I’m experienced—and apparently old—enough to do it on my own.
“See, problem solved.”He laughs, knowing well enough that I drew the plans. He just needed to remind me of what I’m capable of.“I’m sure you can find good contractors here.”
I chew on my lip, kind of liking the idea. I can engineer and design houses myself because that’s what I’ve been doing for the past five years. I’d just been doing it under Randy’s company name. I can do the same undermine.
“So, what do you think, Josie? Will you give it a shot?”
A wide smile stretches my face. “I think I might.”
ChapterThree
KENNETH
First week of May
It’s been two days since my soon-to-be brother-in-law coaxed me into getting a piercing. On my dick. Now I walk around Little Hope with a healing Prince Albert on my tip.
And that shit hurts.
I sit in my sheriff cruiser on one of the side streets and look around, making sure no one can see me. When I don’t find any lurkers nearby, I dig my hand into my pants and adjust the placement of my loyal member who I betrayed dearly.
