I push away from the truck. Stand up straight. “Do you want me to?”
She lifts a shoulder. “Hey, you signed yourself up to carry my bags. But if you’ve changed your mind, I’m sure I can get some other guy to help me out. I find most people will do anything if you offer to show them your?—”
“Careful, Lola.” I step forward, narrowing my eyes at her until she hides her smile, her eyes gleaming. Before she can say anything else I turn back to the truck and lift out both her bags in one go. I don’t need to, but I can, and the caveman part of me likes it when Lola’s gaze gets caught on the way my muscles flex. Days of working outside has turned me from the sleek businessman my father wishes I was into the country farmhand I feel at heart.
I flash her a knowing smirk and Lola blinks before fixing her gaze firmly past my shoulder as she holds open the door for me.
The place is half gutted, most of the shelves that were in here before are gone or stacked up against the wall and the large glass panes at the front of the shop are covered with a thick layer ofdust. Shards of a formerly ceramic something crunch under my foot as I move farther into the space. It’s going to take a lot of work to turn this into a coffee shop, but Lola doesn’t look fazed. In fact, she’s humming with excitement.
“Come on, let me show you upstairs.”
I don’t think I even knew there was an upstairs. Lola leads me behind the beaten-up counter and through a door that opens onto a set of narrow stairs. I hike the backpack onto my shoulder and carry the case up in front of me.
I thought the shop was in bad condition, but when Lola opens the door at the top of the stairs it takes all my restraint not to drive her back to her parents’. No, scratch that, they don’t deserve her right now, I’ll take her back to my place. Anywhere but this shithole of a room that I’m pretty sure Lola’s about to tell me is her new apartment.
She takes her backpack from my numb grasp and places it on the bed, or what would be the bed if it wasn’t stacked high with left over stock from the hardware store. Jesus, it’s not even covered with a dust sheet.
The rest of the space is no better. Flat packed shelves stacked against the walls, surfaces littered with cords, and tools overflowing from damp cardboard boxes and plastic containers. I have to shove what looks like a computer from the 80’s out of the way just to put down Lola’s case.
She must read the dismay on my face because her smile wavers. She points a purple nailed finger at me. “Don’t even. It just needs a bit of a spruce. Gregor used it as a storage room, but it used to be an apartment. It’s all hooked up to the water and electrics.” She flicks a switch and a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling flickers to life. “See?”
I shake my head. “You’re not living here.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Lola—”
She rolls her eyes and gets to work uncovering what I think is a sink from under piles of debris. “Relax, Roman. Just because you’re a neat freak it doesn’t mean we all are. You should have seen some of the hostels I stayed in while traveling. One place had literal vomit on the walls. And then there was the time I stayed in this guy’s bike shed because my booking fell through. Trust me, compared to that, this is a palace.”
I may like things ordered but this place is no palace. “Little tip, Firebird, listing off all the dangerous situations you’ve put yourself in isn’t making me more inclined to leave you here.”
She goes still for a moment, but then she cocks her head at me, sparks playing in her eyes. “Huh, funny. It’s like you’re imagining you have any say at all in what I do.”
I work my jaw, holding back a smile. How can her sass make me simultaneously want to spank her ass and cheer her on?
I sigh. As much as I don’t want Lola staying here, I can’t bring myself to ruin this for her, so I get to work lifting the heavier items off the bed.
“You don’t have to do that.”
I lean a stack of shelves up against the wall and dust off my hands. “I signed up for the heavy lifting, remember?”
Lola crosses her arms. I can practically sense her independence bristling. “Fine. But just the heavy stuff then you go. I knew what I was signing up for. I’m not out of my depth here.” Sparks ricochet. The words are defensive but her eyes glisten and the way she folds her arms over her chest feels like she’s holding herself together.
“I know.” I wait till her eyes find mine. “Mase and your parents, they shouldn’t have said what they did.”
Lola lifts one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug, her gaze turning playful. “At least they didn’t send me halfway across the world to get rid of me.”
Laughter huffs out of me. “Yeah, there is that.” I’ve made no secret over the years of how I feel about my parents. Part of me wishes they’d loved me enough to keep me at home but then I wouldn’t have met the Fords. I might never have stepped foot in Pine Rock, the place I now call home. Might never have met Lola.
She tugs on the worn strap of her backpack, rubbing her thumb over the material before lifting it off the bed. “I guess I did the going halfway across the world bit all by myself.” She takes the backpack over to the corner then grabs one end of an old door. I take the other end and we lift the door off the bed, moving it over to the far side of the room.
I straighten up and wave my finger in a circle. “So does all this mean you’re done with the traveling?”
Lola nods. “Yeah. I mean there’re still places I want to see, it’s hard to shake the traveling bug but I’ve been dreaming of this for years now. Did you know Black Ivory coffee is made from beans passed through an elephant’s digestive system?”
I blink. “That’s… disgusting.”
She laughs, and the sound rolls through me. “I know right. Costs three thousand dollars per kilogram and tastes like it.”
