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I was sure that something was going on with her. Still, whatever it was, I couldn’t let anything personal get in the way of my business again. I made sure that I was engaged with Sarai and Henry as we reached the first hut.
“You’re good at this, Lukas, aren’t you?” Sarai said. “Somehow, you catch more than the rest of us do. You’re a good man to have along for all this.”
I smiled, not sure I agreed and unsure why Sarai felt the need to flatter me so much. Either way, I focused on the task in front of me and tried to push all thoughts of Kit from my head for now. As always, there were several issues to fix in snagging. I’d never been able to walk into a building and not find something.
The foreman had them fixed swiftly on this project. Often, within a week of me bringing it up, the problem was solved. I had noticed Kit had been picking up on some as well and making sure they were finished before she got too far into the interior work.
Both huts we were looking at this afternoon were fairly bare still, and I was surprised. She’d said she was working hard, and I’d expected to find these two much closer to ready. Still, Sarai didn’t seem like it was unexpected in any way. Once again, I had to push thoughts of Kit from my head.
Henry was eager to make up for his rudeness the last time he went around the site with me, jotting down everything and talking to Richard about their mutual love of golf.
It left me trailing behind with Sarai, both of us preferring to be a little more thorough.
“Please tell me that you and Kit are still sweet on each other,” Sarai said when we were in the master bedroom of the first hut and our companions were heading to the second. Despite being left behind, she kept her voice quiet and almost conspiratorial.
“I believe so,” I replied, too taken aback by the change in conversation to know what else to say.
“Oh, good. I had hoped the answer was a yes. She’s been here so much the last two weeks I was worried that you and her had fallen out or something.”
“Not that I’m aware of. She’s passionate about her work, and I’ve been busy with mine, too. Sometimes life is like that.” I shrugged, not sure where she was going with any of this or if she really had just been worried about us.
Sarai headed toward the exit of the hut and I followed her, hoping this was the end of it, but she stopped at the door and turned to me again. “You will encourage her to dress a little more…well, like us, won’t you? I don’t want her to feel like she stands out again. Or have the others pick on her the way they did at dinner the other day.”
At first, I didn’t know how to respond. I both appreciated the comment and didn’t. Kit had looked amazing that night, and the women would have been catty no matter what she was wearing, but Sarai also had a point.
Many times, Kit hadn’t dressed as well as the other women around her, and it made me wonder why. Did she not care? Or was there a bigger problem? If she had been working as hard as Sarai suggested, she wouldn’t have had much time for herself. Was she struggling to find time to shop or do her hair and makeup while also doing a good job?
I had a PA, and for the most part, Henry made my life easier, but Kit didn’t have one. Or if she did, she’d left her PA in theUK. It wasn’t something we’d ever talked about, but I made the mental note not to put this aside. Sarai had a point, and I needed to think about it some more before I decided what to do.
The second hut was in a worse state than the first and wasn’t really ready for us to be going around and doing snagging, a carpenter still in the kitchen adding some of the fittings.
“I should be done by tomorrow morning,” the man said, barely looking up from his work. “We had trouble getting the plumber to finish the pipes, and there was a leak, so I wanted to give it time to dry out before I boxed it all in.”
“That’s all right. We can come around quickly tomorrow morning again,” Richard replied. “Definitely better to do it well and make sure we don’t cause problems down the line. We appreciate the care and thought behind it.”
I nodded, although I didn’t like the idea of having to come back. It would cut some more time out of my day, but Richard was right. The job needed what the job needed, and I also wanted it done right.
We quickly checked the place anyway, and I had Henry make a provisional list of everything not attached to the kitchen to see how much had changed by the following day. There was a chance it would at least save us some time the following day.
Despite the extra snagging to check on and having more to note down, we all made our way back to the site office in record time. Richard quickly indicated that he was leaving, and even Henry went toward the cars instead of back to the office. I paused, not sure what I wanted to do, and worried about Kit.
I could see her in the site office, striding back and forth with a phone to her ear, and I heard her voice as Sarai went that way and opened the door. The two women talked to each other briefly, and then Kit hung up the phone.
Although I didn’t see what followed that, the door shutting on the scene, it made my mind up for me. I chucked the keys toward Henry again.
“I’ll come back later.”
“It’s okay,” Richard said. “I’ll drop Henry back at the office. I’m heading that way, and I don’t mind talking to this young man about sports. It will make the drive far less dull.”
Henry threw my keys back at me with a grin, letting me know that he didn’t mind either. Happy to keep my car for once and hoping this would mean I could take Kit home again tonight, I made my way toward the office as well.
If Sarai thought Kit had been working extra hard over the last few weeks, maybe she wouldn’t mind me spiriting the woman away for another evening of good food and debauchery because I was starting to want her, especially now that I knew she hadn’t been blowing me off.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Kit
As soon as everyone left the hut, and I was sure I was going to be alone, I burst into tears. I didn’t know what to do or say, but I was terrified that I would have to spend another weekend with people I wouldn’t like. And I wasn’t sure how I could get out of it.
