“She still smokin’ hot?” Kidd asks, his grin turning douchey.
“She’s still my sister,” I reply with a warning stare. He chuckles.
“You were always such a protective dick about her,” Kidd chuffs. “Easy, killer. I’m not after her. I have enough female problems.”
Truth is I wasn’t protective enough over her and that’s why she barely talks to me now, but I am not about to get into that with Kidd. I appreciate all he’s done for me in the last two days, but I’m not about to make him a friend and confidant again. I reach in my back pocket for my wallet and pull out a stack of twenties. “Here ya go.”
“A hundred?” he says counting them and I nod. He hands me back one. “Nah. You’re right, I was late.”
I’m actually shocked by that, in a good way, and then Kidd adds, “And if you need any plumbing help on this job, I still know a thing or two from working with my miserable old man from when I was a kid.”
“I’ll keep you in mind,” I reply vaguely.
I take back the twenty, and as I stick it back in my wallet I hear the screen door slam. I glance up and Winona Braddock is standing on the stoop at the top of the stairs. Her hair is everywhere, she’s got mascara making rings under her eyes, and she’s in little shorts and a stained T-shirt. Somehow, though, she’s hot as hell, even with the snarl on her face.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m out of here,” Kidd announces and makes a beeline for his truck.
I turn to look up at Winnie again. “Don’t leave your trailer here!”
“It’s my trailer, not his,” I call back and she turns her eyes on me instead of Kidd.
“Well why are you dumping it here?” she demands, arms crossed tightly over her chest.
“Have you talked to your brother lately?” I ask, and she frowns.
“He was just here yesterday, so yeah, I’ve talked to him,” she barks back. “But he never said anything about you dumping this tinfoil box here.”
I glance over my shoulder at my home. I guess there are worse things she could have called it. And besides, I remind myself, she has a right to not like me, like most everyone else. I turn back to her. “He didn’t mention that he said I could stay here while I do the renos?”
A flicker of confusion replaces the spark of anger in her hazel eyes. “What renos?”
“Jude is renovating the cottage, mostly basic stuff but it’ll take about six weeks,” I tell her. “He gave me some old blueprints your dad had drawn up and I gave them to a local guy to double-check they’re all still good and applied for a permit with—”
“I’m canceling it,” she interrupts, causing my words to stop and my heart to drop. “No renos. Not right now. You can move your camper somewhere else. Thanks.”
She turns and heads back into the house, slamming the screen door and then the oak door that leads into the house off the porch. I sigh and run a hand through my hair aggressively before sagging against the outside of the trailer. I pull my phone out of my back pocket. It may be early to call Jude but I have to now. I don’t have a choice.
I start to dial his number as I call out. “I’ll call your brother. He’ll explain everything.”
4
Holden
The phone rings once before the oak door flies open again and Winnie reappears on the porch. Her cheeks are flushed, with what I can only assume is anger, but the look in her eyes is something else. Panic?
“Hang up,” she demands as it rings a second time in my ear. She steps up to the screen. “Please hang up.”
I hang up. She sighs so loudly in relief I can hear her down where I am. What the hell is up with this girl? I’m confused, even kind of annoyed, but also concerned. I take a step closer, toward the porch as she buries her face in her hands to muffle some sort of strangle cry sound she’s making.
“Winnie?” I say tentatively. “You want to stop being a hot mess and tell me what’s going on? Then you can just be hot, without the mess part.”
She looks startled by my remark, but it manages to wipe the scowl off her face.
“My brother is saving the family once again,” she announces, dropping her hands from her face. “Dixie wants to get married here next summer so he’s fixing the place up. They’re my dad’s plans and Jude is taking it upon himself to see that they get done, finally. Of course he is, because Jude thinks it’ll help. Jude is a fucking fixer.”
“Okay…” I assess her words. It sounds like she might be mad at Jude. Or her dad? Or life in general. Definitely that last one. For the first time since I moved back, I kind of wish I was a little bit more in the loop of this little town so I would know for sure. This town may be small but it’s big on gossip. “But you don’t want me here?”
