He winced as soon as he said it. Why did he offer that? He wasn’t exactly in a position to commit to that kind of project for free.
Her eyes widened, then she shook her head. “I couldn’t let you do that. I mean, the shades, yes, please. But that’s a ton of work; of course I’ll pay for your time and everything.”
He flipped open his notebook. The house was in decent shape, and most of the renovations were minor: new light fixtures, new kitchen appliances, new HVAC, tankless water heater, repaint all the walls, redo the bathrooms, update the tile and countertops. Beneath the last item, he scrawled “fireplaces,” “pull up carpets,” and “window shades.”
“Anything else you want me to take a look at?”
She hesitated. “Yeah, actually. One more thing. Downstairs.”
The bottom floor of the house was another, smaller recroom, which led to a bedroom with two sets of built-in bunk beds lining the walls.
“I think I want to take these out and knock down the wall in between to make it one big room. But do you think that’s too ambitious?”
He shook his head. “Totally doable. Is this where you want to keep all your instruments and stuff?”
She shot him a startled glance, then looked away just as quickly. “Um, I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t know.”
Niko studied her, unsure where he’d gone wrong. Was it because he’d let on that he knew who she was? Because he didn’t—not really.
When she’d first moved to Crested Peak, he’d overheard enough gossip about her to figure out she was famous, or had been at some point. For what, it hadn’t been exactly clear. It seemed too obvious for anybody to mention. He’d never cared much about celebrities, though, and after a while, everyone else got used to it and stopped talking about her. And since she was either ignoring or glaring at him every time they were around each other, it seemed like he’d missed the boat to find out directly from the source.
A couple of days after first running into Merritt in her bathroom, he’d gotten a drink with Dev. Niko had brought her up casually, or so he thought. He couldn’t even remember what he’d said. Maybe something in his face had given him away. But Dev’s expression had clouded over immediately.
“What?”
Dev had looked down at his beer.
“Look. I’m not trying to say anything bad about her. I like her a lot. I do. She’s just…she can be a little…messy. Like worse than Helene. I don’t know, man. It’s a small town. She’s Olivia’ssister.If something happens with you two, or goes sour,or something…I just don’t want to lose you as a friend.” He took a pull from the bottle and shrugged, seemingly embarrassed by his candor. “I can’t tell you what to do. If you’re interested in her, go for it. I get it. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Niko had been rattled that Dev had jumped from an offhand mention of Merritt’s name straight to their inevitable nasty breakup. It was more dramatic than even-keeled Dev usually got.
The warning had flashed neon red behind his eyes the next time he saw her, in the grocery store. Even so, it was like his body moved on its own, propelled down the aisle toward her by some unseen force. When it became clear that she wasn’t interested in talking to him, it was almost a relief. She’d made the choice for him.
Dev was right, anyway. Niko had long ago adopted an informal policy not to get involved with his fellow locals anymore. Crested Peak had a constant flow of visitors, taking advantage of the slopes in the winter and the hiking trails in the summer. It wasn’t hard to limit himself to flings with tourists in town for a week or two, or with the ski bums who came out to work for a couple of seasons if he wanted something a little more long-term.
Besides, he didn’t know anything about Merritt except that she was pretty and messy and some kind of famous and, of course, sharp. It was easy enough to keep his distance.
Until she’d called him.
“I guess that’s everything,” she said, shifting her weight. “What do you think? Can you get it all done in under nine months?”
“Oh, for sure.” His eyes flicked to her midriff, obscured and mysterious behind her coat. “Nine months? Are you…? Because you might want to keep this a kid’s room, then.”
“What? Oh. No. I’m not, Olivia is.” She groaned and covered her eyes with her hands. “Fuck.I need to stop telling people that.”
Niko cocked his head. “Wait, is she or isn’t she?”
Merritt sighed, dropping her hands to rest on her stomach. “She is, but it’s still early. It’s still kind of a secret, I think.”
Niko grinned. “No shit. That’s great.”
The corner of Merritt’s mouth twitched. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.” She turned on her heel and strode out of the room, leaving him trailing after her again.
They found themselves back in the driveway, leaning against their respective cars, with enough distance between them that Merritt had to raise her voice to be heard.
“So do I…should we sign a contract, or something?”
Niko shrugged. “I can get you the first estimate soon, but I usually just do a handshake agreement. I haven’t done a project this size before, though. If it would make you more comfortable…?”
