She clapped. “Yay! I told you it was going to work out.”
He grinned, and her pulse tripled. “You sure did, and you were right.”
“Maybe Andi will come too.” She picked up a bag of paintbrushes and an extender. “These are perfect.”
Jake jumped down to the ground. “Yeah, I thought—” He stopped speaking when his phone began to ring. He studied the screen, and when Emily spotted Claire’s name, her belly twisted. He glowered and locked the phone.
She hesitated, waiting for him to say something about Claire. She yearned to know why he didn’t accept the call. Was he over Claire, or was there another reason? She longed to read his thoughts. But instead of commenting on the rejected call, he pocketed the phone.
“Need help carrying the paint up the scaffolding?” He hefted a gallon of paint and strolled toward the barn.
Emily followed him. “Yeah. Thanks.” She focused on her task at hand and tried to shove away her nagging curiosity about Claire.
Chapter 10
“We’re so grateful that you and Seth came to help,” Emily told Andi the following morning. It was the perfect early September morning—not too hot—and the sky was bright blue. A few birds sang in the nearby trees while Emily and Andi used paintbrush extenders to work on the side of the barn.
She had managed to finish the highest part of the wall last night, and despite her sore arms and back, she was determined to finish painting the side of the barn by the end of the day. She was so grateful when Andi and Seth had arrived shortly after eight, and while Jake, Seth, and Vince worked on the walls of the barn, she and Andi set to work painting.
“When Seth told me he ran into Jake and offered to help, I said I’d love to come too since it’ll be like old times. Some of my best memories are from when the four of us hung out together. We were never bored.” Andi snickered. “Do you remember that time we had a bonfire down on the beach?”
Emily pivoted toward her. “And you set your shoe on fire by accident?”
“Yes!” Andi cackled. “I was like, ‘Why is it so hot all of a sudden?’”
“And I was like, ‘Uh, Andi... look down!’” Emily guffawed and wiped her eyes. “I’ll never forget the way you danced around while stamping your foot. I thought Seth and Jake were going to fall down from laughing.”
Andi hugged her middle while gasping for air. “Oh my goodness,” she said as she got ahold of herself. She leaned her paintbrush extender against the wall and sat on a folding chair before choosing two bottles of water from a nearby cooler. Then she patted the chair beside her. “It’s time for a break. Sit.” She held out a bottle of water.
Emily sank down onto the chair, opened the bottle, and took a long drink while scrutinizing their work. “We’re good painters.”
“Nowthat’sfunny,” Andi declared. “An artist is calling me a good painter.” She sipped from her bottle. “But the barn is coming together. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s done.”
“Me too.” Emily twiddled the bottle cap in her fingers.
The rumble of low conversations drifted over from the other side of the barn.
Andi angled her body toward Emily. “How about the time we got together to dye Easter eggs, and Seth and Jake started horsing around and spilled the egg dye all over the kitchen?”
“I thought your mom was going to lose it.” Emily groaned. “I felt so bad about that.”
“Yeah. We scrubbed the kitchen until it was glistening.” Andi snorted.
Emily began peeling the label off her bottle while the events of that long-ago day flashed through her mind. She had just broken up with Evan a few days earlier, and she had been the fifth wheel with the two couples. She was positive that Claire hadbeen shooting her dirty looks the entire day, which didn’t make any sense. Claire had Jake, and Emily was single. But Emily always had the feeling that her existence irritated Claire. Lifting the bottle, she took a long drink of water.
“I always thought you and Jake belonged together.”
The comment caught Emily off guard, and she began choking on the water. She tried to suck in air, but she continued to cough.
“You okay?” Andi asked.
Emily sputtered and coughed while trying to respond.
Jake appeared around the side of the barn and rushed over to her. “Hey.” He knelt beside her and rubbed her back. “Just breathe.”
The worry reflected on his face just made the entire situation even more embarrassing. Behind him, Andi gave her a knowing look.
Finally, the coughing subsided and Emily was able to breathe again. “I’m fine,” she told Jake. “Get back to work.”
