Rose sneered back and jerked the binder out of the girl’s arms.
“I’ll give this to Tom. Who I have, multiple times,pulled. Maybe he’ll pass it to Boyd,” she said as she swept away with all the dignity she could muster after an encounter with the youths.
It wasn’t a good enough parting line. The girls were still glaring at her.
“And you’re wearing mom jeans,” Rose informed them. That was better.
She let herself inside the unlocked front entrance of the inn and saw more evidence of repairs. Butcher paper laid out on the floor, heavy footsteps echoing from upstairs. The lights were on, the windows were open, and she smelled nothing worse than dust. Encouraged, she set the binder down on the big round table at the entryway and took a couple of steps up the stairs.
“Tom?” she called.
After only a second or two, she heard jogging footsteps, and he popped his head over the top landing.
“Oh hey!” he said, looking tight-lipped and harassed. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Much better. Is everything okay over here?” Rose asked.
“Um, everything is fine. I’m glad you’re feeling better. The tape and bed guys aren’t going to leave after all.”
Rose frowned at this non sequitur. “Why would the tape and bed guys leave?”
“Well, they were worried about the bees.”
“What’s going on with the bees?” Rose asked, taking an instinctive step down the stairs.
“The bees are also fine,” Tom said vaguely, casting a nervous glance back over his shoulder. “The bee removal lady definitely knows what she’s doing.”
His tone suggested less than one hundred percent confidence in every previous statement.
“Where’s Boyd?” Rose asked.
“Out back somewhere,” Tom said, nose wrinkling. “I’m notsure. He might go home today. Don’t worry about it—I have everything under control.”
“Literally everything you just said makes me worry,” Rose informed him, mind already sketching out unfortunate scenarios involving drywall, bees, andPeople’s third-sexiest man alive for the year 2022. “Do you want me to look over any of the estimates you got?”
“You don’t think I can hire a repair guy on my own?” Tom demanded.
“I could at least help you come up with a schedule? You know. Who’ll be here when.”
Tom’s shoulders hunched. “You’re assuming I don’t have a schedule.”
“Do you? Can I see it?”
“It’s a mental one.”
“Uh-huh,” Rose said.
“I do have one! Today it’s something like…” Tom hesitated, transparently coming up with a schedule on the fly. He straightened and found his mark. “Ah, bees, roofers, drywall,lunch, painters, wash the sheets, take down the curtains, bleach the kitchen, and then it’ll be time for the season premiere ofDrag Raceand dinner. There.”
“Is that all?” His schedule sounded ambitious, to put it lightly. She didn’t want to make any more negative assumptions about him after being spectacularly wrong several times so far, but she also didn’t want him to feel like she expected him to do everything himself.
Tom peered at her thoughtfully, crossing his arms and tapping his lips. “Well, I could add sex afterDrag Race, but onlyif you really want to, because I’ll probably be pretty tired by then?”
Oh. Her eyes widened as Tom began to grin at her in a proprietary way. “That, um. I just meant that sounded like a lot.”
“Ouch,” said Tom, smiling wider, because she’d neatly fallen for his line. “Can we make out on the couch afterDrag Race, at least?”
Probably. She let a tentative smile round out her cheeks. She actually thought that out of everything Tom was doing for her today, she’d appreciate making out on the couch after trashy TV the most.
