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“Well?” The suspense was killing her, so she forked up a bite of her own.
The peaches were amazing, though the crust seemed a little off. Too stiff or something. Not flakey enough.
Cal frowned. “I can’t decide if I should be honest or uncharming.”
She felt disappointed. “I’m not going to put Char-Pie out of business, am I? You can be honest.”
“Seriously? It’s fantastic. And Everett’s going to love it.” He took another big bite.
And, really, was there any better endorsement than that? She couldn’t deny a rush of pride in doing something well. For all that she was pleased with the progress of Hailey’s garden, and that the bees seemed to be thriving in her care, those rewards weren’t quite as fulfilling having someone tell her she’d done a good job. She’d grown accustomed to being harangued by her mother, who was never satisfied with a task unless Josie had managed to accomplish it without spending a cent. Cal’s heartfelt praise was…nice.
They finished off their slices at the kitchen counter and caught up on news. She told him about the bee transfer to the watermelon fields, and he explained why the ceiling fan job was tricky. She even talked him into letting her help with replacing it since she knew far more about installing fixtures than he would ever guess.
Besides, she wasn’t offering to lend a hand just so she had an excuse to linger here with him, although she couldn’t deny she’d missed seeing him. She still nursed a hope that if Everett saw she worked hard and was capable, he might offer her some kind of seasonal employment that could get her on her feet again.
Following Cal into the living area, she listened to his explanation about wiring the ceiling fan to work with the switches. He’d made a careful diagram for himself with notes about what colors connected where in order to make the light and fan options work with the switch.
“The trouble is, the old mounting system doesn’t have the brackets to balance the fan.” He pointed to the original woodwork around the old fixture, which he clearly hadn’t wanted to ruin. “In other words, I’m stuck trying to hold it high enough to wire it and still having enough hands to connect everything.”
“So I’ll hold it and you wire.”
“It’s heavy though,” he eyed her dubiously. “And it might take me a few minutes, so you’d have to hold it for a while.”
“If we take the fan blades back off, it’ll be lighter,” she suggested, taking in the fully assembled unit on the ladder. “Removing the light kit would help too, and it’s probably easy to put together once you have it up there.”
She knew for a fact that it was, since she’d made the same rookie mistakes installing ceiling fans for Mrs. Wolenski, one of her favorite tenants who baked cookies every week to share with neighbors. But she hated to be too specific about her experience since the last thing she needed was Cal poking around her past.
If there were charges against her in Florida for doing contracting work without a license, she didn’t need anyone in Last Stand to know about it. It wasn’t some federal offense that would get her dragged back to her home state. But it would be endlessly humiliating. She’d debated calling the code enforcement officer back home and asking about it, but would that only draw attention to her mother’s building? Stir trouble where maybe there was none? She knew it was wrong to just bury her head in the sand, but she wasn’t ready to make those phone calls yet when she felt like she was finally shaking off some of the frustrations of her past.
“It will be a piece of cake to do it that way.” Cal grinned at her, dazzling her a little with the magnitude of his smile. His very masculine appeal. “Good thinking.”
She watched as he used a cordless drill to remove the extra hardware, stripping down the unit to something more manageable for her to hold. Once he was absorbed in the task, she sneaked a peek at his wiring diagram to be sure it made sense since he’d admitted he’d had trouble making all the functions work from the switches. While she was still comparing his notes to the directions that came with the unit, Cal grabbed an extra stool from the kitchen for him to stand on so they could work side by side.
“Are you ready?” he asked once he had everything prepped. “I can carry it up there so you don’t have to juggle the base while you’re on the ladder.”
“I’m ready.” She approved of his wiring diagram, and she noticed he carefully taped it on the ceiling for easy reference. “You’re sure the power is off?”
He’d told her that’s why the air conditioning wasn’t on, but she flipped a switch just to double-check.
“Positive. I want to get this finished up before Everett gets home so the place can start cooling down.” Cal stepped onto the stool while she climbed the ladder.
Once they were both in place, he passed over the ceiling fan base.
“You’re sure you’ll be okay?” he asked, before giving her the full weight of it.
A shiver of awareness passed through her at the brush of his hands on hers. The concern in his green eyes made her belly flip.
“I’ll be fine.”
She cradled the unit against her while he connected wires and screwed on wire nuts. It was a chance to watch him up close and unobserved, and she let her gaze roam from the muscles in his arms to his broad shoulders and chest. She was close enough to breath in the scent of his soap, to see the sheen on his skin from the heat of the day.
“There,” he announced. “It’s all wired. Now I just need to fasten it up there.” His gaze slid over to hers, where he may have caught her ogling him.
She snapped her attention back to his eyes. “You don’t want to flip the power on to make sure it all works first?”
His gaze never wavered.
“Everything works,” he assured her, the air between them heating up. “We just need to fit things together.”
