Page 40 of Chalk It Up

I’m addicted to Evie because even after spending the entire evening together, I wanted another late night conversation on my porch, but we both needed the sleep for what is definitely going to be a long week ahead of us. So I drove her back to her house after we finished some very colorful desserts that I don’t remember the name of but plan on attempting to bake one day.

The guys and I are at the school now finishing up the set for the program that’s happening in a couple of days. Sometime this week Larissa is going to storm into my life and Evie has her inspection. Regular life cutting into our time together has me feeling just slightly irresponsible and I think I love that Evie brings out that carefree side in me. We’re basically done with the set, so everything today is to make sure the structures are sound and no one is going to get hurt. And we’ll meet with Evangeline and Mrs. Wandering-Married-Eyes one last time to make sure everything looks great.

“What’s got that smile on your face?” Emmett saunters over to where I’m running my hand over some wood we used as a backdrop and making notes on a clipboard.

“I don’t smile.” The last few weeks, my persona as the grumpy boss has been slipping, but it’s as impossible as holding back the tide to keep a grumpy face on while I’m thinking of Evie. And more likely than not, I’m thinking of Evie. She has taken the two warring parts inside of me and melded them into one person, and that feels liberating.

“You do and have been since my date with Evie.” I chose, with great difficulty, to ignore how much I loathe the sound of her name coming from another man’s mouth. “Does the misery of me striking out cause you that much joy?”

“Do you actually care enough that you struck out?” I find I need to know the answer to that question more than I realized. Emmett is practically my brother and while I’m not going to stop seeing Evangeline, I need to mentally prepare if this is going to be an issue. I thought they had ended things mutually and amicably, but it’s very possible I misread the situation.

“Nah man, not even a little. But I can tell you’d be upset if I did care.” Emmett nudges me while we walk together checking out different parts of the set. “Is someone becoming the teacher’s pet?” His grin couldn’t be bigger if you taped the two sides of his mouth up his face.

“I wouldn’t exactly put it that way.” Well, not out loud anyway.

“But you totally are!” He turns toward me and shoves me in excitement, but I’m big enough I barely move. “Good for you, man. Happiness looks good on you. Glad you’re fairing better than I did. She’s better as a friend for me anyway, we just didn’t click.” I’m happy to hear that from his mouth. The last thing I want is family tension especially in a situation I don’t intend on changing anytime soon, or at all.

“Thanks, man.” We finish our walk around just in time for Evie and Mrs. Johnston to arrive. Her walking into this gym short-circuits the hardwiring in my brain, and I have to muster all of my self-control to not hug and kiss her right here and now, but my eyes never leave her.

“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been outside of raising Addie.” I tack on at the end even though the conversation felt over. Someone needed to know how I feel and I’m glad it’s Emmett.

“Hey, the set looks fantastic! This is exactly how I pictured it.” Evie’s praise shoots straight through my entire body and causes my stomach to flip erratically. Making sure to not treat her like my…girlfriend–whatever she is to me–is proving to be a remarkably difficult task.

“Thank you, Ms. Jake.” She shoots a little smirk at me and I file it away for later to call her ‘Ms. Jake’ more often. “The guys did a great job. I’m excited to see all the kids using it soon. I know they’re going to have an incredible time.

“Well, yes. This all looks acceptable.” Mrs. Johnston seems less than enthused, but I think it’s because I made my eye-claiming of Evie less than subtle when they walked in. She’s not the only one that can communicate entirely with her eyes, and I was effectively telling her to keep hers to herself from now on, while doing the complete opposite.

“Of course. Well my men and I are going to pack up our equipment and get out of your ladies’ hair if there’s nothing else you need from us.” Evie sends me a suggestive little flirty look like there is more she needs from me and I’m physically pained attempting to act like that look doesn’t bring me to my knees.

“I think we’re done here. Right, Mrs. Johnston?” Evie double checks out of respect for her boss even though this program is her baby.

“We sure are.” Her words seem to carry more meaning than just this set, but I choose to ignore it. I feel badly for her poor husband that she gets this bent out of shape when a man is no longer single.

The men and I pack up the last of our supplies into the work trucks they brought over and I hop into my SUV so I can swing by the office, grab my equipment, and actually get some of my own work done that I haven’t really touched since we started working on this set.

My work is important and needs to get done, but thankfully I can get a lot done in a short amount of time if the weather conditions are favorable for a drone. And we’re having a surprisingly mild day for November so I was able to quickly get more footage than I really needed onto my drone.

Once I’m back into the land of cell service and internet near where my car is parked, my phone is relentlessly vibrating with texts from Evie. That’s strange. I’m working late today and her class should be out already, but she doesn’t usually text me this much.

I scroll through our thread seeing countless texts about her car being broken down, again, and that she needs a ride. I quickly call her to see if she still needs help, and she picks up on the first ring.

“August! Hey, are you okay?” I really hate that her first instinct is to make sure I’m okay. Her ex made his needs and emotions so much more important than her own that she doesn’t even think of herself first.

“I’m good, baby. What’s going on?” She’s so frantic I’m already rushing to pack my car so I can get to wherever she is. Thankfully my SUV is equipped to drive quickly on these wooded service roads. I jump in my car and start speeding off before she even has a chance to answer me.

“I’m fine. Kind of. Well, I’m stuck and I guess my inspection got moved to today and I have to be there for it.” She’s shooting off information faster than the rocks I’m kicking up under my tires. I’m already exiting the service road and onto the main highway before she can shotgun more information to me. “I really need a ride back to my house and I tried calling Thea but she said she’s stuck dealing with some personal issue and I didn’t ask questions. The only other person here is Mrs. Johnston, and I can play nice when I have to, but over my dead body am I going to ask her for a ride home.” Context clues tell me she’s at the school so I start heading in that direction.

“Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll get you to your house. Are you at the school right now?” I say over my bluetooth that connected immediately once I turned my car on.

“Yeah, I am. I can wait out front.”

“Princess, it’s November in the mountains. It’s freezing outside. Just wait inside and I’ll be there soon. I don’t want you to get sick.” Not that I wouldn’t care for her entirely if she did fall ill, but I’d hate to see her that way. I pull off the highway in time for her to agree to wait inside and for us to hang up the phone.

I park at the curb outside of her classroom door and she darts over and hops in the passenger seat. “Wow, you got here really fast.” And I swoon a little at her slight compliment. I hope that means she finds me reliable because there are no lengths I wouldn’t go to for this woman.

“You needed me.” I say resting my hand on top of hers which has quickly become my favorite way to drive my car. “Let’s get you to that inspection.”

We get to Evie’s cottage in record time, but it doesn’t look like we’ve beat the inspectors or the rental company. Their cars are parked outside each with decals indicating their companies, but there’s one unmarked car that I don’t recognize sitting in her driveway as well. I hop out first and round the car quickly to help Evie out and down. I shut the car door behind us to the sound of multiple voices coming from the open door of her house and Maple barking inside. She must have crated Maple today just in case her inspection came early.