He turns around when he hears me behind him, letting out a full-body sigh. “Dude.”
“This won’t take long. I have a proposition for you.”
He crosses his arms, leaning against the door to his room. “What kind of proposition?”
“The practice needs work. You saw the wall the first day.” I pause, trying to think of a way to say this, the way I’ve been since we had apple pie and I realized I have a job he can do. “You’re handy. You know how to use tools. And I’ve got a half-finished project that needs to be done.”
He’s watching me with the same flat expression he always has when I talk, but I know if I hadn’t piqued his interesta little bit,he would’ve already gone inside.
“I can’t pay you what the job is worth,” I admit. “But it’s better than nothing.”
“You want me to renovate your practice.”
“I want you to finish what I can’t do on my own. Walls, floors, whatever you think needs doing. I’ll cover materials.”
“And you’d pay me.”
“Yes.” He looks off toward the road, chewing on his lip, considering my offer. “Just until something better comes along,” I add. “We’ll keep looking in the meantime.”
“Anything that comes along would be better than working foryou.”
“Think of it as a temporary position. And if you hate it, you can quit.”
He meets my eyes, the teal color flashing under the porch light as he narrows them slightly, looking for the catch. “You’dhave to leave me alone while I work. And you have to trust me not to screw up. No hovering.”
“I don’t hover.”
He raises his eyebrows in disagreement with that statement, but before I can argue my case any longer, he exhales, pinching the bridge of his nose like he already regrets what he’s about to say. “Fine. What time do you need me there?”
The ball of nerves that’s been sitting inside of me since the day he asked me to leave him alone begins to loosen for the first time. “Early, before patients arrive, so I can help you get started.”
“I’m not wearing a uniform.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you to.”
“Good.” He reaches for the doorknob, and I head back toward the car, ending the conversation before I say something to ruin what little progress we’ve made.
I can’t help but notice on the drive back home that for the first time in about a week, I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
But that doesn’t mean anything.
I’m just glad we’re back on track.
Chapter 8
Before
The Davis family has an annual get-together every summer with extended family, and that includes me now too.
I’ve never had this much family, being an only child with older parents. My grandparents were gone before I was born, so all I ever had were my parents.
And now, I have Jess and her parents and twenty other people.
The backyard is full of cousins I’ve slowly learned the names of over the years. Aunts and uncles who greet me like I’m part of the family. Kids, chasing each other too close to the pool while Joyce yells at them to stop running before someone gets hurt.
I’m in a lawn chair by the far end of the pool with my book in my lap while Jess talks with two women I vaguely recognize from out of state, a beer bottle in her hand.
This isn’t my thing, but I enjoy it for her sake, drowning out the noise as I turn the page.
