This time, she scowled, and, alas, it was also adorable.
“Ha ha, you’resofunny,” she deadpanned. “I already said I was sorry about that. Anyway, I’m going to… turn the bottom floor into a bookshop.”
She said it with such sweet earnestness, like she was seeking his approval. And Garrett supposed it wasn’t necessarily a bad idea. He had pretty much read his way through the spy thriller section at the library, and now, when they got new ones, he had to wait for about a million years while people who were faster at getting their names on the hold list got through it. He wouldn’t mind being able to get his hands on his favorite genre a little bit faster.
But thinking about the woman who had fumbled with putting a shelf in correctly deciding to undertake a massive renovation on her own? That part, he was not so sure about.
“I wouldn’t say I think you’recrazy,” he said, trying for diplomacy. “But, uh, you remember the sink, right?”
Her scowl grew more ferocious. Like a kitten.
“Yes, I remember the sink, you big jerk,” she said without any real heat. “This is not going to be like that.”
“Because you’re planning to hire professionals?” he put in hopefully.
“For… some of it?” she added in an unconvincing way that did not particularly inspire confidence.
“Eleanor,” Garrett sighed, before realizing this was the first time he’d ever said her name out loud. He liked the feel of it when he strung the syllables together. “I have to say again: do you remember the sink? Because I don’t know if you deciding to undertake a major conversion to turn a residential building into a commercial one is… the best idea…”
He trailed off as she gave him a determined look. Garrett, despite himself, was impressed by that look.
“I’m going to do it,” she said, and he wondered if she was trying to convince herself as much as him. “I’m going to make it work. I know that I won’t be able to do everything by myself. I’m not a professional contractor. I do know that. But some things? I can do some things. I canlearn.”
Well, okay then.
He might have been compelled by her fire, but he didn’t necessarily want her to be able to tell that he was so compelled. It was bad enough thatheknew it.
He turned toward the front counter, placing down the coffee cup he was still holding. He hadn’t even made it properly past the front door before he’d gotten caught up in Eleanor’s whirlwind.
“Right,” he said firmly, leaving his back to her. That was rude, even for him, but he was stretching his limits trying to stay out of her business. What was it about this woman that poked at his defenses like this? It wasn’t like he’d never seen a beautiful woman before.
“What’s your first project?” he asked. “I’ve got most of the usual equipment here, but for anything specialty, I’ll have to order it for you. Stuff usually arrives in… oh, three or four days, depending on what you’re looking for. Maybe a little longer if it’s backordered, but that doesn’t come up too much, to tell you the truth.”
“Well, I have another sink to fix, and then I’m going to do some electrical work?—”
“What?” Alarmed, he whirled around. Plumbingandelectrical? She was going to end up getting herself killed!
“Eleanor you—” He spotted the gleam of humor in her eye. “Woman, are youteasingme?” he demanded. He sounded more entertained than annoyed.
Her innocent expression collapsed into a flurry of laughter.
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” she said. “No, I’m not doing electrical work.Thatmuch I know is for the professionals. I’m just going to redo the roof…”
“You can’t trick me twice, Eleanor,” he said tartly.
She was not repentant in the least. “Okay, okay, fine. You got me. I’m just going to hang a door. I need one with a decent lock, because it’ll separate my living space from the business space. I looked it up, and the internet said that I’d need hinges, a drill to make the holes, and all the hardware that goes in the doorknob. I thought I’d add a chain lock for extra nighttime security. Does that sound about right to you?”
Part of Garrett, the part that had earned the reputation as a local grouch, was annoyed with how reasonable the plan was.
“Yes, that sounds like you know what you need,” he said begrudgingly. “Anything else?”
“I want to replace the paned windows in the downstairs bedroom with picture windows,” she said, this time sounding a bit less confident. “But I’m a little nervous about the glass, if I’m telling the truth. What do you think?”
“Replacing a window isn’t too bad,” he said. “But with an old house like yours, you’re likely to find that the casing isn’t a standard size. You don’t have pictures of the window frame and all that, do you?”
“No, but I have measurements,” she said. “Will those help?”
She tilted the notebook and showed him neat columns of numbers and sketches of dimensions above the more hectic scrawl of the notes she’d been jotting as he’d walked up. She’d taken detailed measurements, he admitted, and her art was pretty good.
