Once again, I reminded myself to keep my mind on the task at hand. “I just need to take some measurements, then I can get out of your hair.”
She swept an arm out. “Have at it. I need to head next door. Can you lock the back door when you’re done?”
“Sure. I’ll follow you outside right now, though. I need to grab a few things from my truck.”
“Oh, okay.” Spinning on her heel, she headed for the back door.
My gaze strayed to her curved rear. Those jeans should be illegal.
Focus, Decker.
Right. Squaring my shoulders, I looked away from Mina Kensington’s tempting curves and followed her out the door.
CHAPTER 3
Mina
“Man, you were right. There is still a lot of stuff here.”
I glanced back at my friend Claire’s words as we stepped over the threshold into the back room of my new building. We were here to sort through all the items Mr. Shuman left behind. “Wait until you see out front. He left most of the displays.”
Claire’s nose wrinkled. “That’s just rude.”
I shrugged, tossing my keys onto the small card table I set up earlier, so we’d have a place to set things. “Maybe he thought I could use some of it. None of them are in terrible shape.” I put my tote bag down next to my keys.
“I guess that could be true.” Claire set her bag down beside mine. “It still would have been nice if he asked first, though.”
“What can you do? The displays really aren’t that big of a deal. Luke said his team would take care of them. It’s more this stuff that’s the hassle.” I gestured to the art leaning against the walls.
Glancing around, Claire nodded. Her dogs, Betty and Pebbles, strained the ends of their leashes, sniffing anything they could.
I eyed them, amused. The new puppy, Betty, was adorable. She was little more than a black ball of fluff. A ball of fluff that liked to annoy her small Yorkie friend.
As I watched. Betty gave up sniffing the floor and hopped over to Pebbles, tackling her. The little dog did a quick roll and sprang to her feet, barking.
“Pebbles, that’s enough.” Claire gave her dog’s leash a soft tug, then looked up at me. “Maybe I should have just crated Betty after all.”
“Nonsense.” I waved a hand. It didn’t bother me at all that she brought them. I completely understood why. No one wanted to keep a dog confined to a crate any longer than necessary. Her boyfriend, Ozzie, got called in for a burglary investigation, so no one was home to keep an eye on the little stinker. “They’ll be fine. Let them off their leads. I’m sure there are plenty of new smells to keep them occupied for a while. And it’s not like it’s a problem if Betty tinkles on the floor. It’s all getting replaced. She’s just impatient to be let loose.” I walked over to the pile of paintings and photo prints leaning against the far wall and grabbed one in a large frame, pulling it over to block off the stairs to the basement. The last thing we needed was either dog going down there and finding heaven only knew what. I hadn’t even been down there yet. Honestly, I was a bit afraid to go down and take a look. When I toured the building, there had been some boxes and furniture down there, but I didn’t know if Mr. Shuman had removed it all. My fear was that everything that had been upstairs was now downstairs. I’d never seen a dumpster or a moving truck here to remove the items from the store. There could be piles and piles of more junk downstairs, and I just didn’t even want to think about that.
Claire unclipped the dogs’ leads, and they immediately ran in opposite directions, noses glued to the ground.
“Where do you want to start?” Claire asked, setting the leads on the table by my keys.
“Let’s flip through this stuff, then we can tackle the main room.” I tipped my head toward the front of the store before eyeing the basement stairs. “We can end with the dungeon.”
A wry smile sprang to life on Claire’s pretty face. “Sounds like a plan. You take that wall.” She pointed to the one I’d dragged the picture away from to block the stairs.
“So, tell me about this contractor,” Claire said, moving toward the other wall. “I thought you hired Les Decker, but you said the guy’s name is Luke?”
“I did. Luke is his son. Les had a heart attack.”
“What?” Claire gasped. “Oh my goodness! Is he all right?”
“He’s doing okay, from the way his son talked, but he’s been sidelined for the foreseeable future. Luke’s taken over the business until his dad can return.”
“Wow. That’s quite the task. He’s young, isn’t he? Early twenties, if memory serves me correctly.”
“Mid-twenties. He said he’s twenty-six. I guess he’s the company architect. Now he’s also the main project manager.”
