Page 88

Marcus meets me at the house. I hate to call him, knowing he’s been trapped at old man McVey’s mansion all day trying to control the flooding.

But I don’t know anyone else in town who can install a skylight before the storms come back.

The hail and rain have stopped, but the clouds are black and ominous.

Marcus jumps out of the truck, soaked to the bone. His hair is plastered against his forehead and he sweeps it back.

“Thank God you’re here, there’s water everywhere.”

He grunts. “Better hurry. Cole is alone with Margo.”

My throat works. “Don’t I know it.”

Marcus starts to unload his tools and the new skylight he’d picked up in town at my request.

I help, grabbing the ladder and setting it up against the house.

“No helpers today?”

“Craig is still at McVey’s, putting sandbags down. I’ve made some improvements this year but the place is still a wreck.”

“He neglected it for thirty years, stands to reason.”

Marcus doesn’t respond. He thinks he can fix anything. That’s his problem.

With my help, Marcus makes quick work of the skylight. It only takes him an hour and a half. The videos I watched online made it look like a full day’s work.

“Come up and look,” Marcus calls down when he’s nearly finished.

I climb up the ladder, standing next to him on the roof. I look down at the new skylight.

“Looks good to me,” I mumble.

Marcus grunts. “You have no idea what you’re looking at, do you?”

I give him a grin. “Nope. But if it keeps the rain outside, I’m prepared to applaud.”

He snorts. “Well. It’ll hold up even through another storm or two.”

I pause. Look at him.

“We shouldn’t leave Cole and Margo alone too long.”

Marcus’s jaw ticks. “We shouldn’t.”

I hesitate before I speak again, not wanting to anger him, but needing to know.

“What if she wants all three of us?”

Marcus’s blue eyes shoot to mine. “I don’t share.”

“Don’t think of it as sharing, Marcus.”

He scoffs. “Then how the hell am I supposed to think of it?”

“Do you want to lose her?”

His shoulders stiffen. “No.”