“Oh, good.” Jace took it from my hand, then gave me an inquisitive look. “She okay?”
I plunked down in the chair across from his desk. There was no point in lying about what had happened.
“When I got there, she was on the phone with Teddy. He was giving her a hard time.”
Jace sat up straighter in his chair, and I could see the muscles in his jaw working. Like me, he was wearing jeans and a dusty flannel. “What did he want now?”
“Trying to get her to meet up to talk. Figures, they can work it out.”
He frowned. “He thinks he has a better chance of taking over dad’s company when he retires if he’s married to Layne. That’s his motivation for all this.”
“Well, she has a strategy to get rid of him.” I took a deep breath. “She said she was seeing someone new. Just to get him to back off, you know?” I added, quickly. “When he didn’t believe her, I took the phone and talked to him, pretending to be the guy.”
Jace’s eyebrows went up so high they disappeared under his ball cap. “What?”
I nodded, trying to keep the heat out of my cheeks. “Yeah. Her plan only works if he believes her, so I tried to help.” I resisted the urge to squirm as he studied me.
Jace clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Good. Thanks, then. Whatever gets that fuckhead out of her life.”
He went back to eating his donut, and I relaxed my shoulders. “No problem.”
Except it was a problem.
A big one.
Maybe talking on the phone was all she would need from me, but I had a feeling there would be more to it. And the more time I spent with her, the harder it would be to ignore my crush.
I needed to distract myself with some work, and luckily there was plenty to do even in the winter.
Wild Timber Homes made custom log homes on site here. We built them, then took them apart, shipped the parts where they needed to go, and put them back together on location. It was controlled chaos, and usually I liked that.
Wyatt, the only one capable of running the software we used to design the projects, came through the door a moment later. His shaggy dark hair was half hidden under a toque, and he was wearing his trademark grin, the kind that usually meant trouble for someone else. “Hey Bossman, hey E, ooh donuts, score.” He grabbed one from the box and shoved half of it into his mouth.
“Why so quiet in here?” he asked around a mouthful of baked goodness. “You break the computer again, Jace?”
Jace frowned, folding his arms over his chest. “No. I’m about to throw this demon box out the window though.”
Wyatt’s grin widened. “Violence already? It’s not even lunch.”
“This stupid thing has no mercy.”
“More changes to the Beast, I assume?” Wyatt asked, tossing his hat and jacket aside.
Jace nodded and moved so Wyatt could do his thing, muttering something under his breath that sounded like a death threat to our software.
Wild Timber Homes had been contracted to build a massive lodge for a resort in Banff. Three levels, seventy rooms, and enough custom details to make any sane builder pause. We’daffectionately nicknamed the project the Beast. They wanted carvings and rockwork, wraparound decks, exposed beams.
None of it was outside our skill set. The problem was the client, Marin, who kept changing her damned mind.
“I’ll be in the yard if you need me,” I said, craving the distraction. We may not know the exact final measurements for the entire project, but I could still start picking logs to be prepped.
As I examined the lumber we had on hand, my mind wandered back to Layne. Her life with Teddy had been very different. But over the last two months it had been so clear she fit in here. She was sharp and kind, but put up with a bunch of messy lumberjacks without complaint.
I just hoped once she had Teddy in the rearview mirror, she wouldn’t put Wild Timber Homes, and me, in the same place.
I pushed the thoughts from my head.
I knew she would be meeting Teddy at the insurance office. I even knew when.
