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“She will absolutely be there; she’s helping us set up,” Nora said as she picked through the samples. Rae and I watched her until she noticed us.
“Sorry, I hope you don’t mind being a part of our little group. It’s sort of out of your control. We like you, so you’re with us, whatever we do.”
Rae chimed in with a lift of her shoulder. “It’s true.”
My eyes felt a little watery, but I pushed them back and just smiled.
“I’m in, and I’ll absolutely be there to help you set up.”
Nora skirted the table. “Maybe we can do a little planning session, first? Haley needs to see your house anyway, Rae.”
“Yes, a thousand percent yes!” Rae said, smiling at me, “We need to do margaritas!”
“Awesome, let’s plan on this weekend.” We were talking about the plans when Jeffery wandered out of one of the classrooms that were being renovated. His golden hair was covered by a backward-facing hat and his thick brown coat was replaced by a dark hoodie, but it had white smudges from paint, same with his jeans and boots.
“Hey, you made it,” he said warily, eyeing the two women beside me. He was probably wondering why I was over here talking when I had agreed to come and help him.
Nora and Rae both stopped talking and swung their gazes to Jeffery and back to me.
“Yeah, I was just catching up with them, but I’m here to help.”
He gave me a warm smile and lifted the hammer in his hand.
“Perfect, I could use your help holding some of these boards in place while I drill, and then I can teach you how to hammer if you want.”
Rae bit her lip, watching the two of us. I knew what they were thinking, but for some reason my face still heated like I was a teenager caught flirting. I had to cut this off, so I walked away from their table and followed Jeffery into the room.
We worked side by side in the chilly room. The window was covered in some kind of industrial plastic, but the winter air still made it through the cracks.
“So, you were busy this morning?” Jeffery asked, looking over his shoulder.
I gripped the wood he’d indicated for me to hold in place, keeping my eyes on the line he’d drawn with his pencil.
“Yeah, I was training with Liam at his gym.” I would never be that girl who lied to people just to make them feel better. I had no reason to. I owed Jeffery nothing.
His hum and the gruff way he pushed the nail gun against the cut made me wonder if that response hit wrong, but I brushed it off. It wasn’t my problem, even if it did.
We stood in silence for a few more minutes while he worked his way down the wood, the sound of the air compressor going off every now and then, filled the space in between the sound of the punch of the gun.
Jeffery’s long legs ate up the space of the room as he walked down it, and I tried to keep up.
“So, you almost came into McGrady’s last night…” He trailed off, giving me a lopsided smile.
I nodded, giving him a small laugh. “People don’t really like me around here because of my California plates. Even without those, most people here seem to know where I’m from, and make assumptions about me.”
A grunt came from my side as he continued to work.
“Well, only way to get past that is to show that you don’t care.”
That was true, except I did care.
“Want to come out tomorrow, try it out?” His brown gaze shifted over to catch mine.
My chest did a little panicked squeeze. I didn’t want to lead him on, but I also didn’t want to ruin it by assuming that’s what he wanted. This was just going out with one of my friends…maybe I could see if Nora or Rae wanted to go too.
“What time were you thinking?” I asked, keeping my eyes forward.
Our first row was done, so he twisted and grabbed another board.
