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She thought about Lucas’s proposal and had to muffle a whine. Even cutting the cost down to the bone—which she knew Lucas had done because of Nicole’s friendship with Katie King—the total had staggered her. She was going to have to either take out a small home-equity loan to cover her deductible, or maybe she could work out a payment schedule with King Construction. Something to think about, anyway.
“Good.” Griffin glanced at her, then turned his attention back to the burgers on the grill. He reached for the cheese and slapped a slice on each burger. “Lucas said he could have a crew out here starting the teardown as early as tomorrow.”
“Teardown.” She sighed a little at the image those words created. Then she looked up to find Griffin watching her.
“Then they’ll start the redo,” he said softly. “Does that make it easier?”
Not really. “I suppose.”
He dropped one hand onto her shoulder and the heat of his touch sent a wave of warmth radiating through her body.
“Lucas promised to get the job done as fast as he could.”
“I know.” She looked over the fence at her house and couldn’t help thinking that it looked...lonely. For the first time in her memory, the house was empty, and Nicole’s world was still shaken. “I appreciate you getting him to do it this quickly.”
“Not a problem. I did have a hand in you needing the kitchen redone.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, “you did.”
He winced.
“But from what your friend Jim the fireman said, the wiring was poised to go at any moment.”
“Lucas will take care of that, too. He’s got a master electrician who will fix all the wiring and just tack it onto the cost of the kitchen redo.”
Fabulous. An inner shriek resounded loudly, but at the same time, Nicole had to admit that the house definitely needed rewiring. She’d never be able to sleep soundly in her bed again if she was lying there every night, terrified that a fire would erupt and endanger her son.
“Hopefully,” she muttered, “my insurance company will see it that way, too, or I’m going to be making payments to Lucas until I’m eighty.”
“No, you won’t.” He laid a few onions on top of the cheese bubbling atop the sizzling burgers in the smoke and steam. “I’ll take care of that.”
She stiffened at his presumption. It was one thing to accept Griffin’s offer of a place to stay, but she wasn’t about to let him pay for the kitchen rehab. “No, you won’t. It’s my kitchen, my house, my problem.”
He frowned at her. “Don’t be stubborn.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean it.” He shrugged. “I can afford it. It’s not like it’ll kill me to handle the cost of the redo, Nicole.”
This wasn’t stubbornness, this was pride, and hers was taking a beating at the moment. Well, she might not have as much money as a King, but she could take care of her own problems.
“I’ll kill you if you try,” she said and waited until his gaze met hers again. “I don’t care how much money you have, this is my responsibility. I can take care of myself, my son and my house.”
He frowned at her. “Who the hell says you can’t?”
“You just did,” Nicole snapped, irritation blowing through her as fast as the electrical fire had moved through her kitchen. “Or implied it, anyway. I don’t need to be rescued.”
“Look around,” he shot back. “I’m nobody’s white knight.”
“Not how it looks from where I’m standing.”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t see a horse and I’m not wearing armor.”
No kidding, she thought grimly.
Nicole took another long breath, trying to steady herself. Griffin was just trying to help, she thought. Maybe it was the overblown, high-handed, arrogant kind of help the Kings so excelled at, but he wasn’t trying to be offensive.
“Look,” she said when she thought she could speak without either screaming or gritting her teeth, “I know you think you’re doing the right thing by offering to step in and make everything okay again, but I can do this myself.”
