Page 9 of Nailed

But Brock wasn't having any of it, skillfully rebutting every point of contention. I was confident enough in his capabilities that I stopped paying attention to him and the inspector and instead headed back to the engine bay, now more eager for the whole thing to be over with than nervous.

Callum was there, staying to clear out the very last of the residual clutter. There were a few leftover vacuum tubes, cord spools and other miscellaneous garbage that hadn't been taken out yet.

“I'm pretty sure this responsibility doesn't fall on you,” I said, walking up to him. He turned to face me.

“This just makes things easier for when the real work begins,” he said simply, sharing another of his charming smiles. “I just figured I'd get a head start.”

“In that case, I'll help you,” I said, heading over to join him.

“You don't have to, Miss Lauren,” he started and I waved off his protests.

“You don't have to. This isn't part of your job description but it is my house and I want to help you,” I said.

He didn't look convinced but seemed to accept that he wasn't going to win this one. As we began to work together, I couldn't stave off my curiosity any longer.

“Hey, Callum? I've been meaning to ask you something,” I told him.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Brock has a very… mature work ethic for a man his age. I mean he's what, maybe thirty-three? He acts fifty. I don't know, I guess I just find it interesting,” I said. “Almost intimidating, really.”

Callum laughed and I felt a fluttering warmth in my belly. His laughter was almost melodious, the kind of honeyed baritone sound that felt like a Southern evening and made him look ten years younger.

“Well, he certainly had more than a few chances to practice and if you saw any of them, you'd be far less intimidated, trust me.”

There was no malice in what he was saying, just a simple statement rounded by the kind of fondness that suggested memories lay beneath it. We carried on for a few more seconds before I decided to just go for it and ask the question anyway.

“Like what?”

Callum's eyes shone with mirth like he'd just been waiting for me to ask. “Brock and I once spent three days on a kitchen remodel, losing our minds over a single outlet that just wouldn't get any power. We traced every wire, tore out half a wall and were about five minutes away from giving up and calling an exorcist.”

I giggled, trying to picture these two tall, rough-hewn guys freaking out over a haunted power outlet.

“Hey, we were running on two hours of sleep a day and it was scary at the time,” Callum said defensively.

“I wasn't judging, don't worry,” I reassured him. “I was just admiring the diversity of solutions you were willing to consider.”

“We were desperate,” he admitted helplessly, shaking his head. “Imagine flipping a light on in the bathroom and a blender starts screaming in the kitchen.”

“The stuff of nightmares.” I tossed a wayward pipe over to the far wall. “So how did our fearless leader manage to solve the mystery?”

Callum suddenly looked sheepish, scratching the back of his head. “We eventually figured out the previous owner wired the outlet to a light switch in the guest bathroom on the other side of the house. Brock was so mad he wanted to charge extra for the stress and waste of time alone but I thought it was kinda funny.”

“It is funny,” I laughed. “That must've been a while back, huh? I can't picture Brock Lawson now wanting to sue for being made to think a site was haunted. I thought he'd rather try and rush the ghost.”

“He probably would've still tried,” Callum admitted. “It wouldn't have been the first time.”

“Okay now this one you have to share.”

He told me more stories of the jobs they finished over the years they'd worked together, some so funny they made my stomach ache with laughter, others so disastrous I almost dropped whatever I was holding at the time.

But yet they'd never left a job incomplete. That was one thing that came through every single anecdote no matter the flavor. When Brock took on a project, he stuck with it.

Seeing the faith and trust Callum put in him set me at ease knowing my own house was in his hands, and I could feel the tension ease from my shoulders and neck as I continued to learn more about a history I hadn't been privy too. But even between all that, I noticed that Rafe's name hadn't come up once.

“And what about Rafe?” I asked casually, trying to strain any unnecessary emotion from my voice. A look of surprise flashed over Callum's face.

“What about him?” he asked.