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When he pushed aside the drop cloth covering the bathroom door, Cody and Spencer both looked up from their work, cutting the old tub into pieces for removal from the house. He mouthed “Maizy” and Cody pulled down his dust mask, grinned, and reached for the phone.
Spencer looked at him and lifted his chin in a nonverbal questioning gesture. While Cody greeted Maizy, Heath gave Spencer a thumbs-up gesture and whispered. “She said yes. We’re taking her out this Saturday for lunch.”
Spencer nodded but he was also frowning slightly. “She was okay with lunch?”
“It was perfect.”
Spencer let out a slow breath and nodded. “Good.”
They took a break while Cody sat on the outdated bathroom counter and chatted with her. In the hallway, Spencer stopped him. “She wasn’t just placating us was she?”
“No. Why would she? She could just as easily have said no.”
“Maybe she wants to turn us down in person.”
“No, Spence. It’s a date. And she knows about the house.”
Spencer’s frown returned. “She does?”
“She talked to Lucy. She wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable with us renovating a house for a woman we weren’t sure we’d ever find but she didn’t sound scared off by it either. I think she’s pretty level-headed. She teaches kindergarten.”
“Seriously? Wow. I never would’ve thought she’d end up being a kindergarten teacher.”
“I know. I’m feeling better about this all the time,” he added as he continued toward the kitchen.
Spencer sighed as they walked through the house. Three rooms were now painted the soft off-white color. “That’s so much better.”
Heath laughed. “I know. I hope she likes it.”
“One step at a time, brother,” Spencer said as he reached in the Igloo cooler for a Shiner Bock.
“She may come out to the club with Lucy and their friends on Saturday night.”
Spencer cracked a smile before he took a drink. That said it all. Spencer seldom ever smiled like that. Last time was when he got to hold little newborn Josh Parks a couple of weeks before.
That thought reminded him. “We got picture texts from Camilla earlier. You should check yours.”
Spencer put down his beer and unplugged his phone. He found the message and chuckled when he saw the picture. “Asleep at last,” he read aloud and then showed him the picture. It was Camilla cuddling both James and Joshua. She looked tired but happy holding both babies, who were indeed sleeping.
“Those are some beautiful kids, huh?” Spencer said as he looked at the picture and took another sip from his beer.
“Yeah,” Heath agreed. “It all worked out the way it was supposed to, I think. Well, I’m getting back to work before we start talking about our feelings or painting each other’s toenails.”
Spencer laughed and shot him the bird as he walked out of the kitchen whistling. He didn’t whistle very often either. Heath finished his beer and went back to work, looking forward to Saturday.
A sobering thought came to him when he recalled their earlier words. She was a kindergarten teacher, serving at the whim of the school board. If word got out she was dating three men, and if they were lucky, settling down with them, her job might be in jeopardy.
He had even more respect for her now, for calling them back, when the prudent thing to do would’ve been to throw that card of Cody’s in the trash and forget their encounter that morning. He recalled what Ben Lawrence had said to him when he’d asked sometime back about such difficulties.
“We do our best to make it worth the trouble to her.”
He hoped they could do the same. One close-up look at Maizy Owen that morning and he was sure. People might call him crazy but she was it for him. It was just a matter of convincing her of that fact.
Chapter Six
On Saturday, Maizy counted to ten as she let out a slow breath, inhaled, and did it again. The week had seemed even longer than she’d thought it would but not for the usual reason. It’d certainly been tiring because of school, but it had also been long because she’d been anticipating her lunch date with Cody, Heath, and Spencer. By the time she was dressed, she’d worked herself into a tizzy.
