Page 165 of Share with Me

Chapter Fifty-One

Monday couldn’t get here fastenough for Brinley. She was at her new house bright and early to wait for the movers to get her truckloads of furniture from the storage compound in Brunswick all the way to her new oceanfront retreat.

She had given Tobias and Meg four days to finish up and yet they were still late by two days due to various “unforeseen” circumstances. As promised, she had called Alonzo Vega to supervise the bickering duo, more to keep her word and irritate Tobias at the same time than to get any work accomplished.

She knew Tobias was going to hate her for a while, but eventually, he was going to thank her for making his dad feel useful and for giving them father-son time that Tobias had been lacking.

See, I know my old friend more than he thinks.

Before she could unlock the front door, it swung open.

“Morning.” Tobias looked like what the cat dragged in. Red bloodshot eyes, tousled hair, crumpled plaid flannel shirt with a button missing, jeans with paint all over them.

“Just morning? Notgoodmorning?”

“Technically, it’s not a good morning. Didn’t want to give you the wrong impression.”

Brinley tipped her coffee mug at him. “I’d offer you coffee, but I don’t share cups.”

“I’ve had too much.” Tobias limped away, his leather tool belt dangling around his hips.

“Why are you limping, Toby?”

“Tobias.”

“Tobias, old friend, why are you limping?” Brinley followed him up the stairs. A sonorous and reverberant snoring cacophony increased as she climbed.

There, inside the door of her guest bedroom, Alonzo Vega was sleeping on the hardwood floor, a corner of the drop cloth as his blanket.

“When your dad wakes up, tell him he’s fired for sleeping on the job.” Brinley sipped coffee.

Tobias laughed so hard he dropped the roller from his hand. Fortunately it was clean. He caught it before it hit the floor, though.

“Good catch, Toby. Might have a career in baseball after all.”

“That ended in high school with a torn ACL, Brin.”

Brinley nodded. “I know. Is it bothering you now? Is that why you’re limping?”

“Nah. A hammer fell on my foot this morning. Last night. Whenever.” He opened a can of paint.

Brinley stopped him. “Toby, look at me.”

“Got work to do.” He was about to pour the paint into a tray.

“Stop, Toby. Now.”

Tobias looked up. “Don’t tell me it’s the wrong color. I’m not repainting the wall again!”

“Toby.” Brinley took the can of paint from him. It was pretty heavy. She replaced the lid. “I want you to go home. Get some sleep. Nobody is going to stay in this guest room for who knows how long. Maybe my brother will stop by, but it won’t be in the next few weeks or even months. So go home, get some sleep, and come back tomorrow.”

“I’m not going to get fired?”

“Not today.” As the sun shone in, Brinley thought that the white tones on the wall had a warm and soothing feel to it. “If you take your dad with you.”

“I told you hiring him was a mistake.” Tobias arranged the paint rollers, brushes, and paint cans against the wall.

“What mistake?” Alonzo’s voice was raspy and came from behind them. He was sitting up.

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