“Hey, yourself.”
Trent spoke quietly into his phone. “I need to go. Talk to you later.” He put the phone away and approached the gate. When he reached for the latch, Michael held it shut.
“So,” he said, grinning. “How’s it going?”
“Uh, fine, thanks.”
“Awesome. I’ve got to admit, you’ve piqued my curiosity by hiding away out here. You must have been talking to somebody important to take you away from your work and Emily.”
“Yeah. I needed to return a call.”
“I see. And isBabydoing well? I hear she can be quite a tease.”
“Look—”
“No, you look. I was already pissed off at having to chase you down for the next shot. But now that I hear—”
“You haven’t heard anything, just a snippet of a conversation with an old friend.”
“That must be some friendship.”
Trent angled his head in a gesture of defiance. “I don’t see what it has to do with you.”
“I’d be willing to bet it has a lot to do with Emily. I think she deserves to know.”
“Know what? That you like snooping?”
“Don’t make this about me, Andrews. I only went looking for you because we have a schedule to maintain. In case you’ve forgotten, we’re renovating your fiancée’s house and you can’t even stay in the house for more than five minutes at a time.” Michael looked him in the eye. “I have no respect for cheaters.”
“When I meet one, I’ll give him the heads up.” He had the gall to chuckle. “Do you make a habit of taking conversations out of context, bro?”
“Not at all,bro.Don’t act innocent with me. I heard enough to know you’re playing Emily.”
“It’s your word against mine. Who do you think Emily will believe? Her loving fiancé or a man she just met?”
“I love calling a bluff. Let’s find out.” Michael turned.
“Wait.” Trent gripped the gate. “Please. You don’t understand. Things have been hard for Emily and me. I reached out to an old friend, just to talk, I swear. She made assumptions. She’s the sort of woman who gets clingy. I haven’t had the heart to break it to her yet. I’m devoted to Emily.”
“Are you? I wouldn’t know. I’m just a stupid handyman.”
Trent’s nervous laughter set him even more on edge. “You heard that too, huh? It’s nothing personal. I’ve never been handy around the home. My talents are in the kitchen. I need to hire people like you to change a lightbulb.”
“Enough of this shit. Tell Emily or I will.”
He didn’t stick around while Trent continued to sputter. Michael marched through the backyard, averting his gaze from the crew members there. Surely his face was red. It felt hot enough. Even his neck felt hot and sticky with nervous perspiration.
How could he? With a sweet woman like Emily…
Michael plowed around the corner of the house and almost collided with her.
She held out her hands and laughed. “Whoa! So that’s what it’s like to run into a brick wall.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching.”
“It’s okay. Lacey sent me to find you. Have you seen Trent?”
“Um, yeah. He said to say he’s on his way.” He put a hand on Emily’s elbow. “Let’s go inside. I don’t want to keep Lacey waiting any longer.”
