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“Okay, I’ll go first.” I tossed the small pebble to him, and he caught it with one hand. “Do you have any pets?”
He shakes his head no. “Sometimes Beau is like a Golden Retriever.” I giggled because that was the most accurate description of his coworker.
I cupped both my hands and gestured for him to toss the pebble. He took the bait and lightly placed it in my hands.
“How many siblings do you have?” Now we’re getting somewhere. I gave myself a mental high five, knowing my game worked.
“I’ve got two older brothers, Jack and Weston. Jack is about fifteen years older than me, and Weston is ten years older than me.” His eyes spread a little bit in surprise.
I was used to the reaction of the age gap between my brothers and me. What could I say? Yeah, it’s pretty clear I was an accident.
I handed the pebble back to him. “Where did you graduate high school?” His loose posture tensed, and he froze in place.
“No. I, um. I didn’t get to graduate.”
I tilted my head in confusion. Clues to the mystery known as Grant Dawes.
“Why not?”
He picked at the label on his bottle, “Nope, it’s my turn.”
I rolled my eyes but agreed, not wanting to push further. I held out my hands, gesturing for him to hand me the pebble.
“How did you get into teaching?”
I smiled, thinking about my class and the students in it. “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. My whole family is in the medical profession except for my grandmother and me, so I guess it was like following in her footsteps. I’ve just always wanted to work with kids.”
The edges of his lips curled up in a slight grin, and he said, “I’m sure you’re a good teacher. To be fair, you’re good at talking like a six-year-old.” I laughed at his sarcastic compliment, glad he was giving me more than a couple of words.
We went back and forth with the pebble, asking question after question. We each sipped on our drinks, and I felt my cheeks warming up. Grant asked me questions with easy answers, and I figured it was just because he wanted the game to be over.
I drank a large gulp of the wine in my glass, leaving only a few drops. “So, what made you get into remodeling?”
Aka: What are you doing in Lakeshore?
At that point, I’m pretty sure I had lost the pebble.
“I guess it was natural. I had left school and found a local builder who took me under his wing. He taught me everything he knew. By the time I was twenty, I could fix about anything you can think of in a house.”
“That’s endearing that he showed you all of that.” I took my last sip of wine, feeling myself easing up more. I think he was too.
“Yeah, he’s a good guy. He taught me everything he could.” He fiddled with his beer bottle. Finally getting into a comfortable position, I uncrossed and crossed my legs to shift into the couch. I caught Grant’s eyes trailing up my legs, but they stopped when he saw me looking at him. Maybe I should’ve worn something longer.
“How did you meet Beau if you’re not from here?”
He sighed and looked deep in thought like he was searching through a filing cabinet of memories.
“He worked for the same guy, he just had a commute every morning. When the boss retired, I decided to start my own and moved here so I could make it easier on him.”
His dedication to his coworker/friend made me feel guilty about my earlier assumptions of him being some pompous ass.
“Wow. That’s really sweet of you.”
He rolled his eyes and gave me a look that said please don’t call me sweet. With no pebble in sight, our game was still going.
“What kind of stuff do you volunteer for?” I could tell he was reaching out, trying to pull more information out of me, same as I was with him.
“I guess it depends, mostly charity events for the school. Like, in less than a week, I have a bake drive, and I volunteered to bring four dozen sweets. I guess I didn’t realize how much it was to tackle. Also, my oven stopped working last week, so I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to make that happen.”
