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He kissed me, and I sank into it, my arms slipping around him. It was still a little strange to be in a new place. It didn’t really feel like home yet.
But then, it didn’t need to.
I had Kit for that.
EPILOGUE
JOEY
Two years later
The apartment building site was a hub of activity. It was one of the largest projects I’d coordinated for Scott Construction—an affordable housing initiative that would help a lot of low-income families.
The city was converting an old department store downtown into apartments, partnering with the nonprofit Raise The Roof. A cherry picker lifted two workers high to replace windows. Lumber sat in a pile, waiting to be cut to size and used for custom carpentry inside. An industrial trash bin already overflowed with old carpet, moldy wood, and other debris.
A stocky man in his mid-forties approached me. “I’m here to volunteer. Someone told me to check in with you?”
“Yep, I’m your guy.” I checked my tablet for the list of volunteers. All but one had checked in already. “Cliff Ryan?”
“That’s me.”
“Perfect. I’ve got you right here. You’ll need to sign a waiver to ensure your awareness of the general safety risks of working around construction. I’ll let you read it over.”
I handed over the tablet for him to review.
“Hey, Joey! Got room for one more?”
I turned, a grin breaking out as Tex came strolling up. “What are you doing here?”
“Thought you might need some landscaping work,” he said. “My boss thought it would be a nice gesture. What do you think?”
“Well, hell yes,” I said, stepping forward to give him a quick hug and backslap. “That would be great. I’ll have to do some paperwork.”
Tex snorted. “Of course you will. That’s like your whole job now, huh?”
“Hey, does your boss want a charitable write-off or not?”
“Oh, well, yeah.”
I slugged his shoulder. “That’s what I thought, smartass.”
Tex grinned, not even fazed by the punch, the fucker. “Sorry, I come by it naturally.”
“I know. How’s Hendrix?”
“He’s good. He’s having margaritas with my sister.” He rolled his eyes. “Those two are like peas in a pod. Constantly ganging up on me.”
“Poor baby,” I teased.
Cliff lifted the tablet to get my attention. “All done here.”
“Okay, let’s get you sorted…”
For the rest of the day, I ran interference between volunteers and the construction crew, ensuring everyone stuck to their approved roles and followed proper safety procedures. I answered emails, filled out forms, and did a whole lot of that paperwork that Tex was busting my ass about as I went from floor to floor, checking in with people.
What had started as a small, part-time gig that wasn’t even a sure thing had expanded into a full-time job. Scott Construction had opened another branch specializing in nonprofit projects about a year into the job. They’d chosen Riverton for the base of those operations, which was great, because the commute to Granville got old real fast.
By the time we wrapped up for the day, I’d sweat through my T-shirt—despite the spring weather being relatively cool—and put in about ten thousand steps, many of them stairs.
