She looks over at the board, and we go through all the jobs they have going on. An hour later, she’s getting to the last name on the list that hasn’t been seen. “Officer Burke called today to ask us to come and take a look at his garage.” She taps her fingers on her cup. “He’s looking to fix it up and turn it into an apartment.”
“Do you have notes or anything like that?”
She pffts as she rolls her eyes. “We weren’t all off for a month.” She puts her mug down and moves the box of donuts to the other side of the desk, then pulls her keyboard in front of her. She has two screens on her desk, one right next to the other. I have no idea what she does on them, nor do I care to ask. She asked for them, and she got them. I’m better with my hands than with technology. It’s why I’m barely on social media. That, and the fact that the last time I went on there, I was informed the woman I loved for the last seven years was married and expecting a kid. She clicks and clacks on her keyboard, and then the computer makes a swooshing sound. “There, I just emailed them to you. You can call him and set up a time to stop by.”
“Sounds good.” I take the phone out of my back pocket and see her name in the middle of the screen.
“Email has been received.” I smile at her before getting up to my feet. “I’m assuming there is no reason for me to go to my office.” I motion with my chin to the stairs that lead to the two offices we have upstairs. One is Caleb’s, and when I decided to stay in town with him, he immediately had an office set up for me.
“Only if you want to choke on the dust,” she laughs at her joke. I must have been in there a whole five times since he’s done it. And that is only because we had family come to town to visit and check in.
“I shall leave that for another day”—I nod my head at her—“and bid you adieu.”
“I don’t even want to know which girl you got that saying from.” She shakes her head. “Just don’t use it with me.”
“I have not been on a date in over eight weeks,” I tell her, and she gasps. “I know, you and me both.”
“Well, now that you’re back home, I’m going to bet you one hundred dollars that you have a date by Friday.”
“It’s Wednesday.” I shake my head.
She leans back in her chair. “Yes, but tomorrow is Thursday, and you usually hit up Thatcher’s. Then you’ll look over at one of the girls who is visiting for the weekend, and you’ll have a date.” I smirk at her. “Don’t give me that smirk, you’re wasting your time.” I clap my hands and throw my head back, laughing out loud. “So, a hundred bucks, you have a date Friday night, followed by breakfast Saturday morning.”
“Well, prepare to pay me a hundred dollars because I plan on resting and relaxing this weekend.” I grin at her and run my hand through my hair. “I accept cash and cash. No credit.”
“We’ll see tomorrow.”
“You never come to the bar,” I point out to her.
“I do when I’m about to win a hundred dollars,” she snaps back at me, and I just shake my head and walk out the door.
“Call me if you need me.” I slam the door behind me and pull up Officer Burke’s number. I’ve seen him a couple of times at Thatcher’s when he was off duty. I think he just got divorced. From what I remember of the gossip, she cheated on him and is set to marry the other man soon.
He answers after two rings. “Hi, Officer Burke. This is Theo Williams from CW Construction.”
“Hey, Theo, what’s up?”
“I was wondering if I could pass by and see the garage you are looking to renovate. Are you free now?”
“I’m on call,” he says, “but I’m at the house, so you can swing by at any time. If anything happens, I’ll have to leave.”
“Got it.” I make it to my truck, stepping up to get in. “I should be there in about twenty minutes.”
“Sounds good. If I don’t answer the front door, you can come around the back.”
“Great, thank you.” I’m about to disconnect the phone when I see I have an incoming call from Caleb. I switch the calls and then put the phone on speaker.
“You miss me already?” I joke.
“No.” His voice is tight. “Listen, I just got off the phone with Carl.”
“The wood guy?”
“Yeah.” Carl does all our wood cabinets and recently did library shelves for Caleb’s girlfriend, Sierra. A truck door slams on Caleb’s side of the phone. “Listen, I can’t explain now, but he’s on his way here. I just left the barn job.”
“Got it,” I confirm. “Do you need anything from me?”
“Not now.” I can feel he’s keeping something from me just by his tone. “But I’m going to need you to go to the site and see if anyone needs anything.”
