Page 23 of Don’t Go Breaking My Heart

“You’re all moony-eyed over your high school sweetheart,” Luke said with a laugh. “Merritt certainly turned out to be a looker, didn’t she?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said flatly, though I couldn’t stop the smirk tugging at my mouth.

“Uh-huh, sure,” he replied, rolling his eyes at my denial. “The way you were looking at her?”

“I was not.” I attempted to sound irritated, but he knew me too well.

I bent down and picked up bits and pieces of drywall. I carried it outside and tossed it into the dumpster that had been delivered twenty minutes ago. A big job like this needed a big trashcan.

Luke was an employee and a friend but I wasn’t about to spill my guts and tell him all my thoughts.

When I walked back inside, I was intent on getting the job done. I didn’t want to discuss Merritt or our past. We had our hands full with her house.

The structure was sound but needed serious work if she was going to sell it and make any kind of profit. I was going to ask her what her plans were for the place, but we didn’t seem to be clicking. I rubbed her the wrong way.

“She doesn’t seem to think too fondly of you,” Luke said while we continued to work. “You got her pretty fired up. You think it was us waking her up at the asscrack of dawn?”

I laughed thinking back to the look on her face when she opened the door. He wasn’t wrong. Merritt had gotten all kinds of pissed, and hell if I didn’t enjoy every second of it. Always had. Her fiery little temper was one of the easiest buttons to push. I wasn’t above giving it a good poke.

“You should’ve seen her face when I told her to trust me,” I said, chuckling. “Thought she was going to spontaneously combust on the spot.”

“Look around,” Luke said. “We don’t usually come in so strong with the demolition. Is that why you had us attack that wall like it owes you money?”

I flashed another grin and winked. “She needs to understand the full process. I don’t want her thinking this is easy.”

“You want her to thank you,” Luke said. “You want her to be grateful and maybe willing to show you her gratitude.”

I picked up another armload of debris. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing.”

Luke snorted. “You’re living dangerously, Kannon. Keep that up, and she’ll either kiss you or kill you.”

“Both, probably,” one of the guys added, shaking his head with mock disapproval. “I don’t know that woman, but from what I saw, you’re poking a bear, my friend.”

“You know me, always ready to play with fire,” I said, earning a chuckle from the crew.

Luke grinned. “I thought you didn’t want to talk about Merritt.”

“You’re right.” I nodded at the hammer in his hand. “Get your ass back to work.”

I wasn’t really mad. They were just busting my balls. It was rare for me to show any cracks in the veneer and they were having fun with it. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, they were also right. Merritt was never far from my thoughts, though I tried to focus on other things.

Merritt was Merritt. Even after all these years, she had a way of getting under my skin and staying there.

Pushing her buttons? That was just my way of evening the score. Just a little.

Wes glanced over. He’d been working with me for years. We went to school together but we didn’t hang out in the same social circles. He had taken a rougher road and landed himself in jail a couple times, but he was a good guy who had kept out of trouble for years now.

“You even know what she’s been up to the last ten years?” Wes asked.

“Bits and pieces,” I said after a pause. “Heard she got her business degree, top of her class. Figures. Always was the overachiever type.”

“Where’d you hear that?” Wes asked. “Have you guys stayed in contact?”

“No,” I replied. “She left and didn’t look back. Gary always talked about her.”

The mood shifted slightly, though the guys kept their mouths shut. They all knew about my visits to the hospice facility, even if we never really discussed it. Gary had been in and out of clarity those last years, but sometimes, he’d come out with something real. It wasn’t always easy to decipher what was real and what was a fantasy conjured up by his muddled mind.

“Gary?” Luke asked. “I don’t know if you want to rely on his recollections.”