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Mike forced a smile. “Hey there. I’m back.”
“So you are.” There wasn’t even a degree of malice in the man’s voice. But Bob Hanley had never seemed so intimidating as he did in this moment, and he wasn’t even trying. They both knew why Mike was here. That much was certain. Mike just didn’t know how to bring it up.
Thankfully, Bob didn’t make him work too hard.
“I’m guessing you’re here about those supplies.”
“Yes. I came here to tell you that I want to pay for them. Or if you’ve already filed a report, I’m not going to fight it. I stole them and?—”
“I’m not talking about those supplies, son. That’s all been forgiven. I thought I made that clear during our last conversation.” He tilted his head, tapping his chin with his finger. “Then again, I can’t remember where we settled. Perhaps you’d like to come work for me here and we can call the arrangement settled.”
Mike’s head was spinning, but he couldn’t tell if it was from the job offer or from Bob’s dismissal of the theft. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and glanced out the window to clear his head.
When he brought his focus back to the man in front of him, he cleared his throat. “I don’t know what my schedule is going to be like. There’s a lot of work to be done on my grandfather’s house?—”
“We’ll figure that out later. For now, how about we go over the materials I’ve ordered for you.”
“Materials…” Mike’s brows furrowed. “I didn’t order any materials.”
Bob glanced up at Mike from a notebook he had grabbed from somewhere. “No, I’m certain you did. There was a call and a message regarding the supplies you’d need to fix that roof of yours. Then the equipment rentals, as well. We negotiated a discounted price, and they’re supposed to be delivered by tomorrow. I know there’s not a lot you can do without it, but from what I heard that wasn’t a problem.”
Mike placed his hand on the notebook. “What are you talking about? I never called. I never left a message. I wasn’t?—”
“Oh, that’s right. It wasn’t you I spoke with.” The old man chuckled. “It was Miss Boone. She called and we went over everything.”
“Rose?”
“Yes. That’s right.” Bob smiled warmly. “You got lucky with that one. I don’t think I’ve met anyone as driven as she is.”
“Rose called you,” Mike murmured. “And she got you to give her supplies to fix the house?” It was a rhetorical question, but Bob didn’t seem to notice.
“Aren’t you two working on that house of yours? I can cancel the order if that’s what?—”
“No. Please don’t do that.” Mike blinked several times. “I just wasn’t aware that she’d set out a plan for the new renovations.”
Bob’s smile returned. “Like I said, you got lucky with that one. I don’t think my wife would know the first thing to do when it comes to fixing up a place, let alone the materials needed to get started.”
“Yeah, I definitely got lucky,” Mike mumbled. “Thank you.” He turned toward the door as if in a daze and then hurried back to the counter. His hands slammed down on the desk. “I swear I’m going to make it all up to you. If you need me to put in hours here?—”
Bob chuckled. “We’ll figure that out later. You head on out to your place and let Rose know that everything is scheduled to arrive tomorrow bright and early.”
“I will.” Mike nodded. “Thank you.”
When he arrived at the house, Mike couldn’t believe his eyes. There were at least a dozen vehicles parked all over, and there were twice that many men. The buzz of a chainsaw was the loudest sound, but he could hear the faint noise of hammers and a saw somewhere.
He took in the scene with awe.
Several cowboys were hard at work cutting up the tree, turning it into firewood and tossing it in a pile. There were men working at digging out the stump, as well. It looked like they’d managed to salvage the framing of the lower level, and a handful of people were tossing debris from an opening in the wall on the upper level. Even from where he stood, he could tell they’d wrapped a good part of the house in weather-resistant plastic.
He’d been gone for only a couple days. He’d fully expected the whole place to need a complete overhaul when he got back, but by the looks of it, he was going to save a great deal of time and money—all because of Rose.
His eyes swept through the group of people working, searching for the one person he needed to see more than anyone else. He had to speak to her, to apologize for what he’d said when he’d left abruptly. He had to tell her everything and pray that she would accept him for who he was.
Mike took a step toward the house but was cut off by Ethan. He skidded to a stop, staring warily at Rose’s brother. This conversation could go in any direction, and Mike had a feeling he wasn’t going to like where it was headed.
Swallowing hard to get rid of the lump in his throat, he nodded to Ethan, but his friend spoke too quickly to allow him to say anything.
“I need to apologize,” Ethan blurted.
