“They just said yes and they want us to move on it as soon as we can.”
It’s news that has me whistling through my teeth. We’d fought hard for that job, with it worth a lot of money. We can’t turn it down, that’s for sure, not without the word getting out that we can’t cope with demand.
“I’m off down to the veterans center to see if I can pick up some extra labor. Even if they only help with demo, it will mean we can get started.” He pauses briefly while taking in the state of the main bathroom. “If you want to manage this job, I’ll run the Sanderson job. That work for you?”
I don’t allow myself to overthink it. Hell, I don’t think about it at all. “How about I take on the Sanderson place and you look after this one?” He’s surprised by my offer, and it shows. To help sell the concept, I hit where I know it will work best. “If you put Cole in charge of the day-to-day running of this job, it’ll make it easier for you to get away to help Lindsey.”
Even though I don’t have a clue if Cole is on the payroll, the guy sure is good at bossing people around. He’ll be a natural. And with him in charge, I can leave the site without being eaten up by guilt that the job will fall over. Much as Lily and I are history, I don’t wish her ill.
As quick as my offer to move to the other site, is Ethan’s agreement to it. He even looks to be relieved. This has me wondering if that wasn’t his plan from the start. “Great, I’ll let the team know what’s happening. Then I’ll head on down to the veterans center if you like?”
With Ethan and I having done so together in the past, I know the sort of guys he’ll be after, with it usually those who need a lucky break more than most.
Hadn’t he done just that for me?
On loading my tools into the back of my truck, I’m experiencing an interesting mix of relief and regret. I’d been so sure that Lily and I had something special together, but I guess I was wrong.
Fully packed up and ready to get going, I lock my truck. Only then do I head back up the driveway to say goodbye.
SIXTEEN
LILY
I’m hiding out in my trailer, doing my best to read a book, although I’m not being very successful, having read the same paragraph four times. Despite my lack of attention, I’m still startled when there’s a loud knock on the trailer door.
I freeze and my book drops to my side. I’m unsure how to tackle what will be a tough conversation. The only thing that’s guaranteed is that I can’t lay here hiding. Tyler will know that I’m in here.
Rather than call out ‘come in’ as I usually would, I get up, make my way down the narrow aisle, and slowly open the door. Only it’s not Tyler, it’s Ethan.
“Oh, hi Ethan.”
Even after so brief a greeting, I can’t help but compare him to Tyler. While both men are good looking, with a hard edge to them, Ethan does nothing for me.
“Hey there. I just wanted to see if you’d decided on the tiles for the main bathroom. We’ll be starting on that in a day or two, so we’ll need to order everything in.”
I don’t immediately answer him, knowing why it’s him asking and not Tyler. While part of me is relieved, disappointment still makes itself at home. So that’s how it’s going to be, is it? Tyler’s simply going to ignore me.
This has me looking at the tiles on the banquette where they’d landed after Tyler cleared the table in his haste to take me to heaven. Busy as I’ve been with him and everything since, I’d given no thought to my preferences.
However, rather than keep Ethan waiting, I turn to the banquette, grab the closest samples to hand, and thrust them at him.
“These should work.”
If he’s surprised by my lackluster response to this design choice, he keeps it to himself. Rather, he takes everything from me and heads back to the house, leaving me to wonder where Tyler is.
As I look at the remaining samples on the banquette, I can’t help but remember the day Tyler and I had selected them at the hardware store. This has me remembering that little boy in his bathtub pirate ship.
And his mom with her baby strapped to her back in one of those sling contraptions. The sling, being blue, hinted at the baby being another boy. Give it a couple more years and those two boys would play pirates together.
Exactly as is right with siblings. Hadn’t I played dollies with my little sister often enough to know how special that was? Make that adoptive-sister, with me clearly able to remember sitting with my hand on my mom’s baby bump.
The first time I’d felt Rose kick, I’d been awestruck, counting down the minutes until I could hold my baby sister. Even knowing what I know now, I can’t remember a single time that my parents treated Rose any differently than me.
Putting my being adopted to one side, we were sisters through-and-through.
Maybe Alice was right and my parents had loved me as much as Nanna Dot said when the pair were chatting over their many cups of tea? This has me thinking back to how it felt to have Zoe snuggled up next to me on the picnic blanket at her birthday.
We’d bonded so quickly, despite only being together half-a-dozen times. Would it matter that she wasn’t my blood? I only need to think about it for a heartbeat. No, of course it wouldn’t. Not having a mom wasn’t a choice she’d made, just as not being able to have a baby of my own was mine.
