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I sighed and looked out of the window. Cars passed by as they drove up and down the street, and people snaked through the ones that were parked at the side of the road.
“Of course,” Soph continued. “He never stopped being in love with you, so maybe that’s just me projecting.”
I almost dropped the drill. “What? How do you know that?”
“You know that?”
I nodded. “He told me the other night. On the beach. He told me everything. When did he tell you?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “The day you broke your toe. That thing that he stopped Marnie saying? It was why he opened the store. She told me in the kitchen, and I asked him. He admitted he was still in love with you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It wasn’t my thing to tell you. It was his to say when he was ready. I’m sorry. I wanted to, but it didn’t feel right.”
I sighed. “It’s okay. Really. I wouldn’t have believed you anyway.”
“Exactly.” She laughed and stood up. “Are you going to drill that wall, or are you going to hug that drill and pretend you’re going to do something?”
“I’m trying to figure it out,” I said. “I’m not exactly your regular Miss Fix-It, am I now?”
“My cousin knows one of those.”
I frowned. “A what?”
“A Miss Fix-It. She lives in California and had her come to do a couple things around the house for her.” She shrugged and stood up. “If a woman can do it for a job, I think we can figure out a drill between the two of us.”
Sophie came and took the drill from me. She looked at it and shrugged once again as if to say, ‘How hard could it be?’
“How hard could it be?” She met my eyes. “Where do you want it?”
That felt a lot like “famous last words.”
“Um,” I said.
Sophie lifted the drill, picked one of the spots on the wall that I’d marked with a little pencil ‘x,’ and pressed the button to run the drill. With her tongue sticking out of her mouth and my heart somewhere beneath the outer crust of the Earth, she started to drill the hole.
She stepped back almost instantly. “Holy shit, the wall is hard!”
I snorted. “Of course the wall is hard! It’s fucking brick!”
“I know, but have you seen the power of this thing?” She waved the drill at me.
“Yes! So stop brandishing it as a weapon!” I took it from her. “It can’t be that hard. You’re just being a wimp.”
I stepped up to where she’d just been and put the drill in that spot, then turned it on.
Wow. The wall was hard.
I pushed, and the drill broke the surface of the wall.
Until I slipped.
I screamed as the drill jerked against the brick and my grip loosened. The heavy drill dropped out of my grip, and I let out another scream as I jumped back to stop it from falling on my toe.
Except the case for the drill was on the floor, and that was where my good foot had landed. The plastic case went flying across the floor, taking me with it, and it took everything I had to grab hold of the counter so I didn’t hit the floor and break my spine or something.
The door slammed open just as I stopped myself from hitting the tiles. Chase rushed in and stopped dead, his eyes instantly falling to me. I was gripping the counter for dear life and had my right leg outstretched to protect my toe.
“I heard a drill, then a bang, and a lot of screaming,” he said slowly. “But now, I realize I should have expected to come in here and see this.”
“Walls are hard,” I replied lamely, finally setting my foot down and standing up straight. “Um. Sophie couldn’t do it either.” I pointed at her.
Not that she could say anything. She was laughing so hard tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Did she almost fall over like you?” Chase’s eyes lit up. “Why are you incapable of doing any kind of handiwork?”
“Do I look like a builder?”
“No, you look like a walking liability.” He laughed and picked up the drill. He pressed the button a few times to confirm it was working, then picked up the case and put them both on the counter. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Just.” I smoothed out the skirt of the dress I’d put on this morning. “But I think I might need some help with the drill.”
He bent over on the counter and laughed.
“I need to go,” Sophie wheezed through giggles. “I have to get back to work.” She grabbed her purse and left, still laughing like hell.
Some best friend she was.
Although, if it were the other way around, I’d probably be peeing myself, too.
“Do you want me to help you?” Chase’s hand brushed across my back as he walked around me. “My store is dead. I’ve had one customer all morning because they’re at that stupid festival thing on the beach. I’ll close up and come to help you.”
