Page 38 of Only One I Ever Wanted

I felt a bit guilty leaving Danny with my parents for the night, but when I turned up on Nora’s doorstep, she was wearing those damn cutoffs and a threadbare tank top—with nothing else—and I swiftly got over it.

Soothing myself with a quick FaceTime call, I let myself take some time for me. I didn’t want to screw up with Nora by working myself into the ground like I usually did.

Nora made us BLTs, and I thanked her by helping her christen her big, circular chair.

As well as the couch, and her wrought-iron bed.

It was hard as hell to leave her, but I finally dragged myself home to start it all over again.

I was going to make this work if it killed me.

Chapter12

Nora

April went outwith heat and a lot of sweat. Mostly thanks to the clever and very talented Sully. I tried to convince him working on my place wasn’t as important as the other jobs he had, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

Even if he passed out cold in my bed most nights.

Danny started coming with him, slowly learning how to both cook and help Sully with easy tasks like putting up shelves for me and painting the ugly paneling in the four seasons room. The kid soaked up information like a sponge.

Ripley and Kai had jumped in to help, but even with the three of them, the jobs were actually multiplying instead of clearing, which was good for his business. The only problem was watching Sully try to handle everything, including spending every minute he could with me and Danny.

I helped out with paperwork when he would let me, but it was getting to the point where the Murdock Brothers’ business needed a full-time office manager.

My own jobs were starting to pick up, due to the local shops catching on to Sullivan’s viral moment. I helped Sweet Beat, the bakery, with a rebranding to make use of the vinyls she had hung on the walls. Records were having a moment again, and Mercy Hart had such a cool look, I knew I could help her.

I just had to convince her to use the Murdock Brothers for her makeover.

Hopefully.

But that was a problem for another day. Right now, I was going to surprise Sully at his job site. He was working at Valley Realty with Kai on a big paint job.

I stopped at Bite Me for a few sandwiches on the way then I pulled into the small parking lot beside the building. I grabbed my thermal bag of food and hurried up the sidewalk to the front door.

I opened the front door, my eyebrows shooting up as voices rose from inside.

“If you grope my ass one more time, I’m going to staple it to the desk!” A pretty brunette held a stapler up like a weapon.

The man in question lifted his hands, his cheeks flushing. He was lanky with a patchy beard, wearing an ill-fitting suit. “I did no such thing!”

“Once, I can understand but four times! That’s on purpose, you pig!”

“Everything okay?” I asked as I hustled through the cubicles.

“It’s fine.” The man’s voice was closing in on a squeak.

The other cubicles were empty, which probably gave this jerk the balls to cop a feel.

“What’s going on out here?” Sully came out from the back with his brother, Kai on his heels. Both of them were smeared with dove gray paint.

The man glanced at the Murdock brothers with a sneer. “Go back to work, this doesn’t concern you.”

Kai moved around Sullivan, his shoulder back and his hands in fists at his side. His face changed into concerned lines when he looked at the dark-haired woman. “Is that you, Lexi?”

The woman blushed. “Been a long time, Kai.”

He glanced over at the guy, his hands still balled. “Is this guy hassling you?”

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