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He said nothing as Luke stomped over, sipping his coffee and checking the place out. He scanned the worksite and its scattered projects with the practiced eye of being familiar with everything he saw. Someone who’d done a lot of manual labor.
“So this is your dad’s old place, huh?” Luke asked.
Adrian didn’t reply. He only stared back at his friend coldly.
“Our girl here says you could use some help.”
“Our girl has a big mouth.”
Luke laughed. “Ain’t gonna argue that one. It’s a pretty mouth though,” he said, winking at me and clapping his hands together. “So where do we start?”
The property belonged to Adrian’s family, I knew that much. It wasn’t the house he’d grown up in, though. In fact, it wasn’t technically even in town. But when he admitted to me that he was fixing it up so his father would have a place to stay? Well… that part made my heart melt. As for the others, for the past two weeks Adrian had told them he’d found a temporary construction job.
Which, of course, wasn’t exactly a lie.
“C’mon man,” Luke said. “This looks like a lot. Let me help you.”
I settled back in silence, wondering what would happen next. The way I figured it, there were pretty much two ways things could go. One was spectacularly bad. The other…
“Can you sweat a copper pipe?”
Luke’s laugh was the same one Michael Jordan might give if someone asked if he played basketball.
“Is a frog’s ass watertight?”
If Adrian thought the joke was funny, his expression remained unchanged. His mouth stayed tight.
“I need some three-quarter copper changed out at the water heater,” Adrian said, “and the discharge pipe is leaking. Wanna start there?”
Luke nodded, giving me a quick sideways glance. “I’ll get my tools.”
He stomped away, leaving Adrian and I alone. I wasn’t sure if he was grateful or still pissed at me. Or maybe both.
“Thanks,” he said finally, looking slightly away. “You know I’d never ask, but—”
“You needed the help.”
He nodded solemnly. “Yeah.”
“Good,” I said, turning one corner of my mouth into a smile. “I’m glad this worked out. I’m also happy you settled things with your father,” I added carefully. “Or maybe you’regoingto settle them. Either way, this is a wonderful thing you’re doing for him. He should be very happy.”
As usual, Adrian greeted the subject of his father with even more cold silence. This time there was a chink in the armor, though. A tiny crack in his expression that told me he was close to saying more.
I didn’t press. Instead I melted into him, letting my hand wander its way across his thick, warm chest.
“We can still do ‘lunch’ you know,” I said slyly. “I can pick up some food, we can eat it real quick… and then the two of you can spend the rest of your lunch break wearing me out.”
A sudden sparkle in his eye told me he wasn’t opposed to the idea. He slid his ungloved hand downward, letting it settle heavily over my ass.
“And who’s to say you wouldn’t wearusout?” he asked gruffly.
“Well that’s always a possibility too,” I winked back.
Forty-One
ADRIAN
The day I met Ross was the day my life ended, at least the life I knew. I didn’t have time to regret the decision. That would come later, during years of self-reflection and regret. During long nights of going down roads that dead-ended in ‘what if’ and ‘could’ve been’. But those dead ends were unavoidable now, and my regrets amounted to nothing.
