His grimace finally receded. “The Watts are goodpeople.”
I smiled at him. “Theyare.”
“How long—” He darted a glance at his scuffed work boots before looking at me from underneath stubby blond lashes. “How long will you be helping out? Rest of the summer? Or just until Isobel getsbetter?”
“That’s not up tome.”
He held the door of the warehouse open for me to step through. As he shut the heavy door, he asked, “Still carving littlefigurines?”
“No.” I lifted my eyes to the star-strewn immensity over our head. “Haven’t had a chance to do that in a long time.” My father had taught me, but I wasn’t ever good at it—not like August. Everything he carved looked solifelike.
“I still have the wolf you made me,” Tomsaid.
I lowered my gaze back to him. “You do?” Emotion robbed my voice ofvolume.
“On my fireplacemantle.”
The high beams of a car turning into the lot momentarily blinded me. I hadn’t called Jeb yet, so it couldn’t be the van. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness again, I noticed the make—apickup.
“I’ll see you in the morning, Ness.” On his way to his parked car, he stopped to greetAugust.
I slid my cell phone out of my bag and texted Jeb that I was done, then watched August stride over, trying to gauge his current mood through the tether.Tense.He wastense.
He checked the lot. “How are you gettinghome?”
“Jeb’s coming to pick me up.” When he frowned, I added, “I only have a permit,remember?”
“Right.” He looked over my shoulder at the warehouse wall. “I can give you alift.”
“I’m sure he’s on his way already.” I pulled my bag strap over my head so the leather cut across my chest instead of digging into my shoulder. “You still have a lot of worktonight?”
“No. I’m done for theday.”
“Then why are youhere?”
“I livehere.”
“In thewarehouse?”
“No.” He nodded toward a small building adjacent to it. “It’s temporary. I bought a plot of land on the north side of that lake we swam in but haven’t had time to developanything.”
“Can I seeit?”
“What? Theplot?”
“No. Your currentlodging.”
He rubbed his jaw, as though my request necessitated profoundconsideration.
“Forget it,” I mumbled, a little hurt. What exactly did he think I would do? Trash his place or make disparaging comments about thedecor?
He peered at the still-empty road before walking in the direction of hishouse.
Okay, just walk away from me. That’s not weird atall.
He stopped and turned a little. “Are youcoming?”
“No.”
