“Hmm?” I drop the crowbar I took up the ladder into my toolbox. “What’d you say?”
“I said, we need to start soon. Like tomorrow soon, if you want to get this finished in time. That schedule ...” He shakes his head. “Fuck, it’s tight. Why can’t Izzy get married next year? Or six months from now? Literally anything else other than in ten weeks.”
“Because they want to get married on their anniversary or other romantic shit like that.”
“Gross.” Ezra shivers. “Well, whatever. We’ll just have to work with the timeline we’re given. Well,you’llhave to work with it.”
He grits his teeth together, knowing full well that most of these restorations will be done by me because he can’t physically help with them. Not with his hip.
Guess it’s a damn good thing I’m competent with a hammer. I have my dad to thank for that, always making me help him with house repairs when I was younger. This will be my biggest project by far and will test my skills, but do I really have a choice at this point?
“It’s fine,” I reassure him. “I’ll just need some help in the bar. I know dealing with the public isn’t your favorite, but ...”
He waves off my words. “I got it. I’m going to bitch the whole time, but I can handle it.”
I chuckle, knowing full well he’s telling the truth. “All right.” I bend and snap my toolbox closed. “I think we’re done for the night.” I push to my full height. “Want to grab some burgers in town?”
Ezra pats his stomach. “Fuck, man. You’re reading my mind. Dickie’s sounds perfect right about now. I could go for a mushroom Swiss.”
“That sounds disgusting,” I complain, unlocking the ladder and letting it slide down noisily back into place until it’s a much more manageable height before kicking the legs together.
“Don’t understand your mushroom hate, man.”
“It’s not that I don’t like mushrooms. They don’t like me. Allergic, remember?”
“Some things are just worth the risk, and Dickie’s mushroom Swiss is one of those things.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” I set the ladder against the wall near the door, my toolbox going right next to it for tomorrow. “Come on. I want to enjoy my last night of freedom before spending all my waking hours in this place.”
“It’s going to be worth it,” Ezra promises. “Wait and see.”
I wish I had the same confidence as him ... and hope that he’s right.
Chapter Four
Odette
“Food. Need.”
“Are we not doing full sentences today?”
I glower at the guy behind the counter of my favorite coffee shop. This may be my favorite coffee spot in Port Harbor, but it’s too early in the morning for full sentences.
“Food,” I say again.
He laughs. “Guess not. Your usual?”
“Please.”
“Ah, there are those manners of yours I know and love.” He punches buttons on the screen with a grin. “Twenty-ounce honey lavender oat milk latte and an Asiago bagel with cream cheese, lightly toasted. Anything else?”
I shake my head. “Total.”
Kai reads me my total—which I should know by heart since I come here nearly every day—and I tap my card against the machine. I leave him a little extra on his tip since I know I’m not my usual chipper self today.
I stand at the end of the counter, where my stuff will come out, and lean against it, looking out the window toward Harborview Boulevard, which runs along the waterfront.
The sun is barely up, so things are still calm, but if I give it thirty minutes, the place will be buzzing. Port Harbor might be small, but it’smighty. The townsfolk are always out and about, supporting the local shops. We take pride in backing up our own.
