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CHAPTER THREE
That’s the last of it.” Thatch slid the box of vinyl plank flooring out of his pickup and set it onto the leaning stack inside the rec center’s main door. “Hard to believe we’re ready to start the interior work.”
“About time.” Silas cut open the box and inspected one of the planks. “Leave it to us to do most of the exterior work in the winter.”
“At least we had a crew helping on the outside.” Aiden assessed the open room that would eventually serve as the main lobby. “Finishing off this much square footage is going to take us forever.”
“Nothing we can’t handle.” Thatch was up for the challenge. When the town council had approved the new rec center project, Cowboy Construction had gone from mainly doing odd jobs around town to looking like a real professional outfit. “The detail work has always been our specialty.” They’d developed a reputation in the region for being the best with interior renovations. Besides, therewas also another potential employee he hadn’t told them about yet. He still didn’t know what he was getting himself into with this Franco kid, but he couldn’t tell Lyric no. Not when she’d looked at him with those imploring dark eyes. So he’d better get Aiden and Silas on board with the new hire.
“I may know someone who could help with the grunt work.” When he’d called the school, the guidance counselor had been ecstatic to hear that they were interested in an intern. He believed the woman’s exact words were “Franco could use some special guidance.” Which gave Thatch the feeling that bringing the kid on might be more work than he’d bargained for. Whatever trouble the arrangement brought into his life might be worth the effort, though. Especially if this act of goodwill could help convince Lyric that Thatch was worth a yes. Not that he’d ever admit he had ulterior motives.
“Who’s gonna help with the grunt work?” Aiden took a swig from his water bottle.
From the other side of the boxes, Silas was giving him a skeptical glare.
“There’s this kid. Franco.” He had to be careful about what he said. He couldn’t tell them about his deal with Lyric, or they’d find out he was going to yoga on a regular basis, and he didn’t feel like explaining that. “I was thinking we could give him an internship, teach him the ropes. He could help with the measuring, cutting, and painting.” Those were good skills for anyone to have going into adulthood, right?
Aiden shot him a suspicious frown. “How do you know this kid?”
“I don’t know him. Yet.” Shit. He really should’vecome up with a solid cover story before springing this on them.
“Then why would we give him an internship?” Silas demanded. “We’ve already got enough on our plates with this project. We don’t need to be babysitting some kid you don’t even know.”
When he put it that way, this arrangement sounded like the last thing Thatch wanted to do. He’d never babysat anyone. But the deal was done. “I’ll supervise him.” That was all Lyric had asked him to do anyway. To keep an eye on the kid. How hard could that be?
“This makes no sense.” Aiden marched up to him with a familiar glare. “Why would you want to take on a kid you don’t even know?” His friend knew something else was up, so there was no point in denying it.
“Lyric knows him. Or knowsofhim.” His tone wrote the definition forcasual. “She said he could use an internship. That he has potential.” Not exactly her words, but telling them the kid might be trouble would not help his cause.
“Ah.” Silas’s head tipped back slightly, as if it all made sense now. “Lyric asked you.”
“You could’ve just said that in the first place,” Aiden added with a laugh. “Why don’t you ask her out already instead of taking on an intern for her?”
Thatch ignored the question and ripped open a box to start unloading the planks. He’d asked Lyric out. He’d put himself out there and approached her at Aiden and Kyra’s Christmas party. He’d had a whole spiel and everything. Told her he was attracted to her. That he loved how she was so good with people, kind, and thoughtful. Hell, he’d spent ten minutes going over her attributes before gettingto the point. Then when he had, she’d said thanks but no thanks. Yet here he was still trying to impress her.
“You should ask her out.” Silas echoed Aiden, opening the next box.
Those two didn’t know how to let something go. “I’m not into Lyric.” He didn’t look up from the planks he was stacking. More accurately, Lyric wasn’t into him. Yet.
“Bullshit.” Aiden stepped into his line of vision. “You can’t lie to us, Hearst. We’ve got too much history together.”
They were also worse busybodies than the elderly ladies who gossiped at the salon. “Seriously.” Thatch tossed the empty box into a corner. “Maybe I was into Lyric at one time, but I’ve moved on. She wasn’t interested, and I’ve got other things to focus on. Don’t really have time for being so tied down like you two are.” He kept going before they could get a word in. “Speaking of, do you think you can actually grab a beer tonight without the wives?”
His two friends shared a sheepish look.
“It’s country-western night at the café,” Aiden said.
Thatch served up a smirk in their directions. “So that’s a no then.”
Silas shrugged. “Tess has been looking forward to country-western night all week. You know how much she loves to dance.”
“And Kyra’s been so busy at the clinic lately that I’ve hardly seen her,” Aiden added.
“Another time then,” he said drily. He didn’t really mind that they’d rather be with their wives than him. That was how it was supposed to be, but he couldn’t resist giving them shit and distracting them from all the Lyric talk. Hell, he’d like to distract himself from thinking about her.
“We can still have a beer at country-western night.” Silas tossed another empty box out the door.
“I’m not going to country-western night.” Thatch had made that mistake once and had been passed around as a dancing partner to every woman over age fifty in Star Valley—from Doris to Minnie to Nelly and every other member of the Ladies Aid Society.
