I lifted the brown sacks in one hand, and in the other, a bag carrying our plaid blanket and bug spray in the other. Picnics had become a thing for us. Shoes off, every time.
“Breakfast burritos for my queen,” I said.
“Oh,gag.”Darby rolled his eyes.
“I actually cook my woman breakfast in the mornings, Darby, not send them out the door with a bottle of prescription ointment.”
“Dude, that was poison ivy, I promise.”
We laughed.
“Well thanks for showing up, Sally.” My gaze shifted to Gage Steele, sauntering across the field. In the distance, a dozen workers, including Gage’s brothers, Axel, Gunner, and Phoenix, were busy slinging hammers and drilling into the nearly finished frame for the lake house.
Ourlake house.
Gage tossed me a hammer. “Added an extra grip around the handle, made special for fingernail-less nubs. I call it the Cripple’s Clout.”
I caught it mid-air and hurled it back. He doubled over, grabbing his groin.
“I think I like Ball Blaster better.”
“Jerk,”he squeaked out like a pre-pubescent boy.
Grinning, Phoenix Steele, the CEO of the project and aman of recovery in his own right, walked up, grinning at me. “Well, you’ve still got your aim at least.”
“Big target,” Gage ground out between clenched teeth.
Phoenix shook his head and refocused on me. “Rough plumbing and HVAC wiring should be done by Friday. We’re ahead of schedule. Hopefully we’ll start on the drywall within the next few weeks.”
“Sounds like you could use a break, then.” I jerked my chin to the trail that led to the Jeep. “I’ve two coolers filled with sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs. Water, beer, and three handles of Jack.”
Phoenix grinned. “You had me at handle.” He glanced back at the crew. “I’ll let them know. Might even give them the afternoon off after. Your brother’s connections are solid, man. We’re way ahead of schedule.”
I looked over Phoenix’s shoulder to my brother, Ryder, straddling the center beam of the roof, high above the other workers. While everyone else worked in pairs, with occasional jovial banter back and forth, my brother worked solo. He was the first one at the site in the morning and the last to leave. His commitment to helping me reminded me of the good ol’ days when we used to be inseparable. Before his life had imploded and he’d turned into an agoraphobic mute. Sunny had tried to set him up with Briana Morgan, to which he denied with a quick change of subject and turn of his back. As I watched him hammer nail after nail, the sweat pouring off of the hard lines of his face, I wondered if I’d ever have that brother back. Until then—or if ever—I’d settle for someone, who regardless of his callous exterior, would take a bullet for me. That was more than enough, and I loved him for it.
“So, are you ready for Monday?” Phoenix asked.
I pulled my gaze away from Ryder, a zing of excitement shooting through me at Phoenix’s question.
“Hell, yeah.” I nodded. “Brute and I will be there at eight, bells on.”
Hell, yes,I was ready to get back to work. Two days after the fire, I sent my resignation to my boss and tossed my badge on Chief McCord’s desk with a smile on my face, and Sunny waiting for me in my Jeep. Almost losing her—and Darby, for that matter—had jolted me more than any near-death experience had before. Life was short. It was time to change mine. To be a better person. To be a better man. To be like Sunny. And that started with ending my career as a homicide detective. I walked away from everything I knew, from the job that had become my life, from everything I ate, drank, and slept.
Although removing my badge from my belt had been like removing my right arm, it feltright.
It was time to slow down, switch paces.
I’d had too much death in my life. Too many lives taken, too many lives lost, too much pain, too all-consuming in what had become an unhealthy way of life for me.
Three weeks after that, on my fortieth birthday nonetheless, I’d gone in for back surgery, at Sunny’s urging, to finally correct the problem that had been plaguing me for years. The recovery wasn’t as bad as I’d expected, especially with Sunny as my sizzling-hot nurse—I even talked her into wearing one of those dirty nurse costumes—and Brute as my misery-loves-company partner. He’d gone in for doggy-shoulder surgery a week after mine. We’d recovered together, him and I, and the damn dog hadn’t left my side since.
I’d been a fish out of water. No job, no strength, no plans. Totally lost. All this while detoxing off, what I realize now,was a very real addiction to pain pills. I haven’t touched a pill since.
And it was the day I stopped trembling that I picked up the phone and called my mother, taking the first step in mending the crack from a two-decade-long grudge. She’d cried when I said simply, “hi.” I cried when she told me she loved me.
It had stripped me raw, and Sunny had been my strength, my light. My path.
On Christmas morning, I’d taken Sunny to the tree in the park, once known as the Voodoo Tree, now known as the place where I dropped to my knees and asked her to marry me. She was my gift, my woman, my savior.
