Page 37 of Healer’s Betrayal

He glances over at me. “Again, your confidence is really lacking.” His voice is flat, and I can’t help my laugh.

“I’m sorry. Keep going. I really do want to know; you just surprised me. So, you own the company. Obviously, you don’t build the house all by yourself. How many people work for you?”

He drops one hand to his lap and keeps the other on the steering wheel. “Ransom works with me. He's my partner, but he wanted the slightly smaller portion so I technically own the majority share. We have a team that works for us, and then we contract a lot of work.”

“What kind of houses do you build?”

“Mostly log cabins.” I laugh; I can’t help it. “What?” he asks.

I put my hand over my mouth. “Sorry. I just...it totally fits you.”

“What fits me?” he asks, obviously confused.

“The full beard, long hair, the flannel shirts you wear even in the middle of the summer? Building log cabins? That just fits the stereotype.”

“What stereotype?” he asks.

I shake my head and face the front again. “You totally have the mountain man thing going on.”

“Mountain man?”

“Yep.”

It’s quiet a beat. “Well, that tells me one thing,” he says.

“What’s that?”

“I need to find a barber.”

I laugh again and look over my shoulder at Noah. “Sounds like somebody else I know.”

Jackson looks in the rearview at Noah. “You need a haircut too?”

“Kayla cuts my hair,” Noah says.

“Yeah?” He glances over at me. “You ever do anybody besides Noah?”

“Oh,” I say in surprise. “Uh, that would be a no.”

“Want to give it a try?”

I laugh. “No. Absolutely not.”

“I’ll pay you.”

That makes me pause. “How much?” I can’t help but ask.

“Name your price.”

“Fifty.”

He nods. “Okay.”

I scoff. “Just like that, you’re going to pay me fifty bucks to cut your hair? I’ve never even done a man’s hair before; I’ve only done Noah’s.”

He shrugs. “It can’t be any worse than what I have going on now, and don’t forget the beard.”

“Yeah.” I start to backtrack. “I really don’t know anything about beards.”