AllFreeNovel
Share Us
While Josie continued her internal battle, Sawyer cracked open the first tin of paint that Luke had bought.
“You’ve got to be joking…” he muttered, peering into the can.
“What?” Josie looked into the tin and could see nothing wrong with the crimson paint. It wasn’t lumpy or anything; it just needed some mixing to even it out.
“Are we really painting the barn red?” Sawyer said, eyebrows raised.
“What’s wrong with red?”
“Because it’s not the nineteen forties,” Sawyer said, picking up a stick and starting to mix the paint despite himself. Josie fought hard to keep the grin off her face, and it was disconcerting howhardshe had to work to do it.
“It’s gonna make the place lookscenic,” said Josie.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know. It’s just what Luke said.”
“Luke’s never been known for his artistic talents.”
“It’s traditional,” Josie said.
“It’s kind of lame is what it is.”
“Both things can be true.”
Sawyer barked out a laugh, and Josie lost her battle with suppressing her smile. It crept across her face without permission as Sawyer stood and started pouring paint into the roller tray.
“Whatever,” Sawyer said, climbing up onto the scaffolding with a roller in hand. “Luke’s the boss, and I am his humble assistant. I’ll do the top and you do the bottom?”
“Seeing as I’m vertically challenged, sounds like a plan.”
For a solid hour there wasn’t much talking, and despite herself, Josie was eternally grateful for Sawyer paying through the nose for that stupid scaffolding. They would have been here for weeks, just painting the barn, if they’d stuck to the frankly dangerously wobbly ladders they had lying around the place. A trip to the hospital might have been in their future as well, come to think of it…
They fell into a rhythm, getting half of the widest wall done in record time, only pausing to scoot the scaffolding across. Not to mention, Josie’s vow to keep her distance from Sawyer was going well. Super well. She couldn’t even see him because he was standing above her on the scaffolding.
But, well, she just couldn’t help herself, could she…
“Hey,” she called out, dipping her roller back into the paint tray for what felt like the billionth time. Boredom. That was the only reason she was talking to Sawyer. Boredom, she told herself. That was it.
“Yeah?”
“If this football thing goes bust, you’ve got a long and prosperous career as a painter.”
Sawyer snorted above her, his own roller dipping into view below the metal plank he was standing on as he finished a roll.
“I’ll be sure to tell my manager,” he said, his voice muffled by the steel barrier between them. “I’m sure he’ll be super impressed.”
“Well, he should be. Painting’s a much safer career than football player.”
“Says the rodeo queen.”
“I can’t believe you’re scared of horses.”
“I ain’t scared of them. I just respect the fact that they are both giant and stupid.”
Josie grinned. It was hilarious how she could hear Sawyer’s accent coming out more and more as she riled him up. Now that she knew which buttons to push, she planned to make him sound like a country bumpkin at every opportunity.
Done with her roller, Josie spun around, looking for her brush only to find it missing right when she needed to get into the nooks and crannies of a particularly dilapidated plank in the wall. It was sitting in a bucket of water a few yards back, left behind when they’d shifted the scaffolding over.
