Page 12 of Dandelion Sighs

Now I was going to pass it and hear that sound she made. I wasn’t normally like this. I was helping her. I was her employee. I might be sexually deprived, but I wasn’t going to keep lusting after her. It would be rude and creepy.

I’d get back into work. That was safe. “Office supplies first?”

“Yes. Thank you for letting me tag along. Remember to turn in your mileage.” Her eyes got the slightest pinch at the corners.

Was she stressed about paying for mileage? It wouldn’t be much. Sheridan Bishop was going to do everything she wanted with this place. I’d make sure of it.

Chapter Four

Jasper

A week had gone by, and while Sheridan insisted I didn’t have to work weekends, there was plenty to do while the weather cooperated. I had reinforced the roof of the shed and then found some clearance shingles to replace the tattered ones.

The days after that task were the first in months that I had woken up pleasantly stiff and sore. Finally, some real work to do.

Today, I was in a guest room, changing out the faucet. It had rusted. All of the faucets were in rough shape, and it showed in the performance and in the reviews. Rural water had been piped in several years ago, but the damage from the hard water before then had been done. Sheridan’s mom had likely wanted them all replaced, but the shed roof wasn’t the only thing that had needed something new. Three years ago, a bad storm came through and hailed out the roof of the resort. That cost was what had likely put Bishop’s Landing behind.

“Hello, Jasper,” Constance crooned from behind me. I bit back a groan. She was like my shadow when I worked indoors. It didn’t matter what room I popped into, she was there. Did she have a secret panel of cameras to monitor my movements?

Other than feeling like I was being stalked, each interaction with Constance reminded me of the time one of my mom’s friends used to hit on me and Alder when we were in high school. Mom kicked the friend to the curb when she caught an innuendo for the first time.

Sheridan should do the same to Constance.

“What’s up?” I asked, focused on putting the knobs in place.

“A toilet is leaking in Josh’s room.”

It took me a minute to register which room she was talking about. Why would I know which room was Josh’s? But she meant the Josh Duhamel room. For marketing a few years ago, Sheridan had explained her mom had followed the trend of naming rooms after famous people from the state: Sakakawea was the most notable, especially to the area. Then Angie Dickinson, Lawrence Welk, Wiz Khalifa, and Louis L’Amour, among others. I was in the Virgil Hill room.

“That’s the one in the corner?”

“Yes,” she purred and leaned against the frame. “I told Sherry she needed to get new insides for all the toilets. It’s just Whac-A-Mole at this point.”

“Who’s Sherry?” I knew what game she was playing, but I refused to join in. Sheridan cared about this place. Constance cared about herself.

She smiled like she was abashed. “Sheridan. Sherry.”

I continued my work. “After I’m done here, I’ll head to Josh’s room, Connie.”

“Constance.”

“Sorry.” I used the same tone she had, and she stiffened. She left, and I grinned to myself.

When I was done, I fixed the toilet. Constance was a pain, and she thought she was the owner of this place, but she was right. All the toilets needed new insides, and in the Alan Ritchson room, the whole toilet should be replaced. I put it on my list.

When I was leaving with my tools, Sheridan was turning into the Sitting Bull conference hall. Other than the day we met, I hadn’t seen her outside of her resort attire, and today was the same. Same long legs on display. Same square shoulders. Same no-nonsense walk.

I morphed into a moth, and she was my own personal flame. I followed her right in.

She had her hair pulled back and it formed a puffball in the back of her head. She took a rag hanging from the back pocket of her slacks and dusted the artwork in the room. Constance likely ignored this room since it looked clean enough.

Sheridan glanced over. “Oh, hey.”

“Hi yourself.” That might’ve been too flirty. I was out of practice, but I wasn’t here to build a relationship.

I liked this space the most. Set up like a conference room had a baby with a mini museum, the walls were full of the region’s native history and the different peoples who had been part of the land.

I stopped at a map of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara earth lodges, looking over it, but kept her in my vision.