Page 57 of Thinking It Over

“Thanks, Mom. Will do.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yes,” I answered, “definitely.”

Once we said our goodbyes, I finished off with my task, giving a quick scan over to ensure I hadn’t made a mistake. Satisfied, I shut down my laptop and gathered my belongings.

I planned to head straight to Austin’s, rather than get sidetracked and head to his office. The less distraction I gave, the sooner he’d be home too.

It didn’t take long before I was pulling up and knocking on the door. While I knew where the spare key was and had been given permission to use it, Billy was at the house, and it felt a little weird just letting myself in.

The door opened, and the man himself smiled, which was quickly followed by an eye roll. “You know, one of these days, I’ll just keep you waiting. Just use the damn key already.”

I laughed as I followed him in. A couple of stepsinside and I was pounced on by Penny. “How’s your day been?” I asked Billy as I fussed over Penny. The whole time I attempted to venture toward the kitchen. I was craving a coffee, or beer, or wine, but coffee would be the sensible option since it had only just turned four in the afternoon.

“All good here,” Billy said, indicating the coffee machine, which made the best coffees.

“I’d love one please, since you’re offering.” I grinned and sat down at the counter.

“Tanner, your friend, right?”

I nodded in response.

“He came by today to drop off some material. I’ve stored it in the shed.”

“Fantastic. I know Austin will be pleased it’s getting closer for Tanner to begin work.”

“Yeah, definitely. He also had to do some measuring up or something. I left him to it,” he said, and I imagined that was rare for Billy, giving strangers free rein. I suspected it was because Tanner was such a good friend of mine. I was pleased he had faith in my judge of character.

“He also asked me about the style of the fascias he’s replacing and left image samples. I’ll get them for you.”

Surprised, I opened my eyes wide. “Me?”

Billy paused, his whole attention zooming in on my face. “Yes.”

“But—”

Billy’s sigh cut me off, and he shook his head. “It makes sense for you to get a head-start. There’s no way Austin will be making this decision without you.” When he tilted his head back and mumbled something at the ceiling, my confusion made way for my amusement. “Since you’ve known the man, has he ever given you an indication that he doesn’t value your opinion?”

I shook my head. He was absolutely right. I asked him for support and advice all the time, and in the grand scheme of things, it tended not to be work-related, as we both made a concerted effort not to talk shop if we could help it.

“Right, so what makes you think he won’t want your input with this?”

“I know he’ll ask,” I admitted, “and I’ll always give my honest opinion, but it’s his home, not mine.” Fully knowing I wanted that one day, I hung back, not wanting to back myself into a corner.

Billy huffed out a breath. “I do as much of your laundry as his, you know.”

Horrorstruck, I blanched. “Oh shit. I’m so sorry.” Humiliation was never pretty.

“Don’t be a dick,” he said, seemingly exasperated. “That’s not what I meant. I feel like we know each other fairly well, so you should know if I had an issue, you’d be the first to know.”

“True,” I said with a small smile. “You tend not to pull punches.” It really was true. He was honest and open about pretty much everything. “But still, I’m sorry. I do try to remember to take my stuff home, but with spending so much time here….” I ended with a shrug.

“It’s virtually your first home these days, right, rather than your second?” he said. A look of glee entered his gaze, and this time I squinted, understanding fully what he was talking about.

It should have felt odd that we were talking about this, but Billy had that way about him. There was something intimidating about him, no doubt something that he’d perfected when he’d been a cop, but along with that, he instilled trust, making it easy to spill all. I paused at that thought, saying, “I bet you were a genius in the interrogation room.”

He laughed, and relief rushed through me. Billy usually shut down all talk of his police days, and Austin had let me know Billy wasn’t comfortable discussing his past. I respected the hell out of the man, so the last thing I ever wanted was to offend him.

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