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Sawyer nodded, not uttering a single argument or protest and followed her back to the barn and surrounding sheds where the tools were kept.
“Not to poke my nose in where it isn’t wanted…” Sawyer said, hesitant like he was checking how cold a lake was before jumping in, testing how she really did react to him questioning her.
“But?” prodded Josie, interested despite herself.
“But without a full herd here, it might be worth cutting all this grass, you know, as part of your list.”
He was right. The fields themselves wouldn’t matter, but the grass and weeds were creeping over the tracks and paths, making everything look messy and abandoned, all of it growing taller by the day.
“That’s a good idea,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him and grinning when she noticed him preening at her praise, just like she had under his. So he was as easily flattered as she was… that was a consolation, at least. Josie cleared her throat.
“I’ve got my own list, but if you think of anything else…”
“I’ll let you know.”
“Good. You do that.”
She would have been more than happy to hang around and talk all afternoon, continuing her verbal sparring with the football player, but they had work to do. A lot of it.
“Here,” she said, guiding him to the planks of wood that they’d collected, bought and begged for to repair all the fencing but that none of them had ever had time to actually get to. “We can start up here in the top fields, get the fences most likely to be seen or used by any potential buyers fixed up first and then worry about the back of the property later.”
“All right, then,” Sawyer said, once again not uttering a word of argument against her, not one. It was refreshing to be listened to so easily, to not have to repeat herself ten times just to be heard, let alone actually have her requests followed. This was going to be much easier than Josie had anticipated.
Without warning, Sawyer hoisted multiple planks of wood up onto his shoulder as if they were nothing but breadsticks from the diner, swinging around to face Josie and follow her back to whatever fence she deemed the one that they would start on. It took a couple of seconds for Josie to get over her surprise and find her voice again.
“I was… just gonna use the truck,” she said, pointing to her flatbed parked behind them.
Sawyer froze and, after a second of contemplation, nodded. “That’s probably a better idea,” he said and started piling the wood into the back of the truck instead. “Andthat,” he said over his shoulder, “is why you’re the brains of the operation and I’m the humble grunt worker.”
Josie shrugged, embarrassed at how easily flattered she was by all of his compliments. When did she become such asap? Here she was, acting like a blushing schoolgirl because the captain of the football team noticed her in the hallway or something. So he was strong enough to lift wood, so what? A forklift could do that too. And he was nice. Plenty of people were nice.Lukewasnice to her, and she’d never been all sappy over him. In fact, the thought of having any sort of non-platonic feelings towards Luke Butler made her feel kind of queasy.
There was another pleasant surprise in store for Josie; Sawyer, for all his gift of the gab, knew when to shut up, put his head down and actuallywork.They got multiple planks nailed together in record time, quickly getting into a routine where Sawyer did the heavy lifting and Josie was able to run around with a hammer and nails and secure it all into place. The jobs that needed doing before Luke could put the place up for sale had seemed like an impossible mountain to climb for weeks… But now, with Sawyer here helping, maybe it wasn’t going to be as bad as they’d all thought.
“Luke will be impressed I’m actually working with you,” she said, adding another handful of nails to her jeans pocket for easy access.
Sawyer went very still all of a sudden, watching her carefully. “Why’s that?” he asked, guarded like he was on the defense.
Josie backtracked, not knowing how she’d offended him, just knowing that she didn’twantto offend him. Not after he’d been so nice to her all afternoon — after she’d had such agreatafternoon in general.
“I just mean I’m too stubborn for my own good,” she said with a shrug. “Kinda surprised at myself, really, that I didn’t ignore you and say I could do it all myself, thank you very much.”
“I bet you get a lot of men spouting garbage at you,” said Sawyer, his shoulders relaxing. Josie just nodded with a grimace.
“Hate to admit it, but it’s actually been a huge help having you here so far,” she said, hammering a new board to the post with deft strikes.
Sawyer grinned. “Gee, thanks.”
“Don’t let it go to your head or nothing.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“And just so we’re clear, Icoulddo it all myself if I wanted to. I’m stronger than I look.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Sawyer said, holding up another board for Josie to nail in place. “But nothing wrong with teamwork. I’m big, and you’re fast. Seems to be doing the trick for this job, at least.”
He wasn’t wrong; Josie had to admit it. He could hold a board in place as easy as if he were holding up a piece of paper, and she could hammer in all the necessary nails in under a minute. They’d already gotten through more of the fencing repairs in an hour than she could have done herself in a whole afternoon. Not that she’d ever admit it out loud. Ever. But it still amazed her.
“Didn’t think you’d be so enthusiastic aboutteamwork,” she teased. The way Luke had been talking, she hadn’t expected Sawyer to be this cooperative. Or relaxed. Or decent in general.
