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On-screen, the puck slides across the crease and a winger sends it into the open side of the net. The crowd erupts with all the enthusiasm of people who don’t know this happened more than a decade ago.

Liam points his drill toward the television. “See?”

“Yes, congratulations. You successfully predicted history.”

He looks down at me from the ladder. “I’m trying to help you understand the game.”

“I understand the game. The men on skates are attempting to put the small black disk into the net.”

His eyes narrow.

“Sometimes they punch each other,” I add. “And every so often, one of them follows me into an aisle here at the shop and likes to do this thing where he starts kissing my neck and then…”

“…that happened once.” His voice is low and firm, but his grin is teasing. “But, like this game, we can do it again.”

“Ah, that’s where we’re different.” I shake a finger his way. “It was memorable—once.”

The corner of his mouth lifts before he turns back to the framed print I’ve asked him to hang above the new-release display.

Could I have done this myself? Yes. I own a hammer. I own several screwdrivers. I once assembled an entire bookcase using instructions written exclusively in Swedish and drawings of a smiling cartoon man.

But after seeing what Liam can accomplish with a toolbox and an idea for Thomas’s squirrel house, asking him to hang one frame seemed sensible.

Also, he arrived wearing a fitted gray T-shirt, showing off that fine shape of his, and carrying a drill.

I’m only human.

“A little to the left,” I tell him.

He moves the frame.

“No, your other left.”

“This is my only left.”

“Then a little to the right.”

Liam looks down at me. “You told me left.”

I shrug. “Changed my mind.”

“You’ve changed your mind four times.”

“It’s always a woman’s prerogative to do so, please don’t forget it.”

He mutters something I can’t hear.

“What was that?” I ask, using my sweetest, kindest, most annoyingly charming voice.

“I said I love helping you.”

“Excellent answer.”

The bell above the front door chimes a very real ding, also thanks to Liam since he replaced it, and Owen walks in.

“Hey.”

“Hello.” I wait, but that appears to be the full extent of his announcement. “Why are you here?”