“Check back in a few weeks. Oh, and follow us on social media,” Emma said, slipping in the quarter-sheet flyer she hadcreated with a QR code leading to the various social media pages she had created. “We’ll post updates about the project as we go.”
“That’s great. Thank you!”
The woman seemed almost giddy as she left, leaving Emma with a deep glow of satisfaction.
Would she feel that same sense of accomplishment working for Lucas Construction?
Maybe she wouldn’t have the same kind of personal interactions that she had always enjoyed while working in the service sector, but building something from nothing would offer a different kind of fulfillment.
Even as she considered the possibilities, negative thoughts intruded. What made Emma think she had any right to step in at Lucas Construction, simply because the company had been started by her mother and father? Yes, she had a business degree, but she hadn’t really worked in construction at all, except when she was young and living here with her parents.
She had not earned anything nor did she really deserve that kind of chance after all she had done to hurt her mom over the past decade.
And what about Bryce? He loved working for her mother and was obviously great at it or Rosie would not place such trust and reliance on him.
With a sigh, she moved to the aisle where Bryce was hefting one of the big bookcases onto a wheeled furniture mover.
“You aren’t supposed to be doing this by yourself,” she exclaimed. “I thought you were going to call someone to help you.”
“They’re not as heavy as I figured they would be. I can handle it,” he assured her.
“I’ll help,” she said.
The two of them worked together to maneuver the heavy bookcases outside to his waiting trailer. It took muscle to push them up the small ramp into the back but they managed, then returned to the store for the other three.
By the time they were done, she was sweaty and her muscles ached. She really needed to get back to the gym, once she felt more settled here in Wood Briar.
“Thank you,” she said as they returned to the bookshop. “It looks so much brighter in here already!”
“It might take me a week or so to have these ready, by the time I strip the finish off so I can paint them.”
“Can I get you a drink?” she asked.
“Water is great,” he said.
When she came out from the office holding two cups of water from the watercooler, she found him wiping his brow with his sleeve. Emma couldn’t help but notice how his T-shirt raised up as he lifted his arms, revealing a thin strip of hard muscle above the waistband of his jeans.
Awareness bloomed inside her like a long-dormant seed finally pushing through soil.
Cut that out, she told herself. She was not supposed to be interested in Bryce in that way. He was helping her, and she was grateful. And apparently, they would have to work together if she wanted to whip the bookstore into the shape she desired.
But she was not about to fall for the man.
Chapter Twelve
Bryce
He wasn’t quite sure what he was doing here.
Yes, he had promised he would help her out, but he was certain Emma would have understood his reasons for not fulfilling that promise. Now that he was here in the bookshop with Pearl stretched out at his feet and Emma across from him, Bryce realized he didn’t want to be anywhere else.
“Tell me how your mom is really doing,” she said, sipping at her own water. “We didn’t have a chance to talk about it earlier.”
“It was a tough day,” he admitted. “She doesn’t understand what’s happened or why she has to be in the hospital, out of her comfort zone at the care center. She was so agitated, they finally had to sedate her.”
“How scary that must have been for her. I’m so sorry. That couldn’t have been easy for either of you.”
The compassion in her voice touched him. Emma had always been caring and kind to everyone they went to school with. She was the first one to stand up to the bullies, the first to fight injustice. It was one of the things he had always liked most about her.
