“Good thinking, man.” Liam slapped my shoulder, and my breath left me in a whoosh. “Way to run interference.”
Wow. Okay.I hadn’t been expecting that reaction.
I rubbed a hand over my face, exhaustion seeping into my bones. It had been one hell of a week. I’d had to perform an emergency surgery on a cat who’d swallowed a string. One pet owner had freaked out when her dog had sniffed at a bowl of chocolates. And even though she wasn’t sure the dog had eaten any, she was convinced the dog was dying. Spoiler: the dog was absolutely fine. And then an actual toxicity case that had been concerning in its severity. And the cherry on top? I’d come home from work yesterday to a flooded house.
“Were you able to get an estimate on your house?” Asher asked me, and I could’ve kissed him for changing the subject.
I nodded. “I did. Thanks for sending me his info.”
“No problem. He does a lot of work for Enzo at the winery, and I know he’ll do a good job.”
“Repairs?” Liam asked, shifting to face me. “What repairs?”
“Yesterday, I came home to find that my hot water heater had busted. It flooded the house.”
“Oh shit,” Liam said.
“Yeah.” I sighed. “It’s not good. When I got there, the damage was already done. And thanks to its location, there was a lot of it.”
Liam resumed his task, Asher helping him.
“That happened to Tessa’s parents a few years back,” Tristan said. “They came home from vacation to ruined wood floors.”
“Yeah. This is a lot more than just my floors. Now I’ve got to find a place to stay for the next six weeks while my place is being repaired. I figured if they had to rip out most of the stuff anyway, I might as well have them update the whole thing.”
I’d considered renting a vacation home, but this time of year, most of them were booked. A hotel seemed too impersonal and cold—not to mention, too far away. The closest one was a forty-minute drive. And now I was going to be overseeing the repairs at home in addition to work. Six weeks was a long time to add a commute of that length to my day.
“Where’d you stay last night?” Tristan asked.
“Alpaca Acres.”
“Tessa’s been wanting to try out one of the yurts. How was it?”
“Fun for a night—maybea weekend. But definitely not comfortable for the next six weeks.”
“I’d offer to let you stay with me, but my place is a constant work in progress,” Liam said.
Liam was a good friend, but there was no way I wanted to stay with him. Been there and done that in college. Our friendship nearly hadn’t survived.
“Sorry.” Asher raised his hands, though we all knew he wasn’t sorry. Not in the slightest. “My rental agreement clearly states no roommates.”
Asher had moved home from LA a few months back. Given up his job as a pastry chef in a three-star Michelin restaurant. We all knew something was going on with him, but he wouldn’t talk to us. So, for now, we just tried to be there for him.
“Trust me,” Tristan said. “You don’t want to stay with us. Maddox has these awful night terrors that wake everyone up.”
“Wow. Thanks a lot, you guys. You’re a bunch of help.”
“What about Wren?” Tristan offered after the pergola had come down with a sickening groan, a big cloud of dirt pluming around it.
“What about her?” I asked quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly, judging by how Asher was looking at me.
“She has an extra room. Right, Liam?”
Liam nodded, and he looked as if he were actually considering it. “Yeah. Yeah. That’s not a bad idea. Let’s call her.” He wiped his forehead off with the hem of his shirt.
Before I could respond, he whipped out his phone and pressed the button to connect the call. “Hey, little bird.”
I couldn’t hear her side of the conversation, but I strained to listen, to catch any hints as to what was going on.
