Page 27 of Beau & Autumn

My cell starts vibrating on the countertop as I’m doing my eye makeup. It’s Carrie, and it might just be perfect timing to ask my bestie for some advice. I swipe to answer and put her on speaker.

“Hey Caz.”

“Hi babe, what are you doing?”

“I’m just getting ready for the roast over at the Bassett’s for dinner.”

“Ah, I’ll bet you’ve got your Sunday best on.” She can’t help herself.

I giggle looking down to my skinny jeans and white V-neck shirt which hugs my body. I have a faux-leather, light pink jacket to slide over the top with my black ankle boots. “I’m pretty casual as far as a family dinner goes.”

“I bet. How did the roof thing go? That’s why I was calling. You seemed pretty stressed.”

“It was unbelievable. Beau, Hudson and Brooklyn came over and did some repairs and cleaned my gutters. It should be fine for a while until I can afford the total roof replacement. I was so embarrassed about the gutters though. I didn’t know they needed to be cleaned every season!”

She laughs. “Wow, so Beau really got his hands dirty, huh?”

“Yeah. They’ve saved my hide, let me tell you. They all worked for hours. That’s after pulling an all-day shift at the distillery. I bought them pizza, I feel so lame.”

“Sorry Tom is out of town on a job, otherwise he would have gladly come to help.”

Tom is a local builder, an extremely busy one at that, but I know he would have helped out if he was able to.

“It’s okay, I totally understand.”

“And you know, Beau wouldn’t have offered if he didn’t mean it.” Then her tone changes. “Speaking of hide…”

“Is your mind always on the hot sauce?”

“Sometimes it’s on the pepperoni as well.”

I laugh as I smudge my bronze eyeshadow a little. I don’t want to go full on smoky eyes, but I’ll curl my lashes and add generous coats of mascara.

“Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“About the pepperoni?”

I sputter. “No! About Beau. Can you be serious for half a second?”

“Fine. I can even try for a full second. Shoot.”

“Well, I’ve been having these… kinda… uh… thoughts lately.”

“Thoughts?”

“Yeah. About Beau.”

“Of an inappropriate nature?” Oh, God, she sounds like my Sunday school teacher.

“Define inappropriate?”

She doesn’t even pause. “Do you want to fuck him?”

“Carrie!”

She laughs on the other end. “You asked!”

“I didn’t mean go straight to the pepperoni! I just meant I’ve been seeing him in a different light lately.”

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