Subconsciously, I knew she didn’t mean anarranged marriagethe way my family did it, but I felt the blood starting to drain from my face nonetheless. Suddenly desperate to steer the conversation away from me, I smiled and inclined my chin at her instead.
“What about you? No old biddies trying to set you up?”
She let out a scoff and crossed her arms over my chest. “Not anymore. I bought an old horse farm recently and I’ve been fixing up the house on the land. Ever since they learned that my true passion lies in renovation and design, they started leaving me alone.”
I felt my eyes widen. “You bought a whole horse farm? Or would you call it a ranch? Stables?”
Raquel snorted softly, looking a little pinched, like she wasn’t sure why she was telling me all this. “It was called a horse farm when I bought it, so I’m calling it a horse farm. And it’s not as glamorous as it sounds. Half the fencing has collapsed, the barn is trying to do the same, and I’m pretty sure the house is going to lose its roof if I don’t get it fixed up before the next big storm. That’s what I get for choosing to stay in town, I guess.”
She swiped the box she’d been studying off the shelf and started walking slowly toward the register. I stayed at her side, not really sure why I wasn’t just letting her go.
“You never thought about branching out and moving to the bright lights of the big city?”
“Staying here is a choice,” she said defensively, biting out the words like she was still telling me things without really meaning to. “Bright lights never really did appeal to me much.”
We reached the register and she set her supplies down. I balanced the paint cans carefully beside me, angling myself slightly toward her. “Well, I’m pretty handy if you ever need help with the house.”
The second the words left my mouth, one of her eyebrows lifted and indignation flashed across her features. “Are you offering because I’m a woman and I can’t do it myself?”
Oh. Oh no.I blinked at her, genuinely caught off guard. “What? No. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I can fix my own house.”
“I believe you,” I said without even having to think about it. This woman looked like she could rebuild an entire civilization from spare truck parts in a fit of anger. “It’s just that you mentioned the property needs a lot of work and I know my way around tools, so I thought I’d offer. That’s all. I was trying to be friendly, not condescending.”
She held my gaze another second longer before she finally nodded. “Okay.”
It wasn’t exactly warm, but it wasn’t as hostile as before either. Unfortunately, the cashier called her forward before I could say anything else. She paid for her supplies, then glanced back at me once she was done. “Good luck with the paint.”
“Thanks.”
As I shuffled forward to pay for my own stuff, she left and I watched her go, back to staring but at least not caught in the act this time. By the time I got back to the motel, Avery was already there, as promised, helping Frieda tape plastic over the windows.
Well, she supervised from a lawn chair, a strict, cigarette-smoking foreman, while he did all the work. He turned to grinat me as I climbed out of the truck. “There he is. The paint mule returns. We were starting to think you’d abandoned us.”
“Never, but I did run into some people who are very invested in the difference between flat and satin finish. They wouldn’t let me leave until they’d explained said difference in great and painful detail.”
Avery laughed as I carried the paint over. “I should’ve warned you that you might run into some trouble. The Blossomville Extended Stay Motel is a local landmark.”
“And don’t you forget it,” Frieda grumbled. “Are you two going to stand there yapping all day, or are you going to get to work?”
Avery winked at me but picked up the next plastic sheet and kept going. We spent the next few hours sanding and priming the motel siding while Frieda yelled occasional instructions. The building itself was ancient, the wood weathered and the trim faded, but Avery and I worked well together.
I’d liked him as soon as I’d met him. He was a pretty easygoing guy, funny, and competent without acting like a jackass about it.
The sun was just starting to sink when he wiped his forehead with the back of his arm and glanced over at me. We were both coated in dust, but we’d made good headway today.
“I’m grabbing drinks with some friends of mine over at Novo on Main Street after this,” he said. “You want to join us?”
“Yeah, man. That sounds great. I’m in.”
“I’ll text you directions, but you can’t really miss it. It’s the big bar right on the corner. There’s a literal flashing neon sign.” He grinned. “I might even convince Raquel to come if I can drag her away from that dusty old house she bought.”
Despite my best efforts to act normal, I nearly dropped the toolbox I’d been packing. “Yeah, I heard about that. I ran intoher at the hardware store and she mentioned it. How bad is the house?”
Avery barked out a laugh. “Oh, it’s bad, but my sister tends to do shit like this instead of talking it out or going to therapy.”
He left it at that, and unfortunately, it only made me more curious about her than I’d already been—and I’d already been pretty fucking curious.
