Page 61 of His Hot Mess

It wasn’t like Graydon to reveal personal information like that. Plus, he knew I didn’t like talking about this kind of thing.

“Don’t worry, Hank knows all about woman trouble, don’t you?”

Hank frowned and glanced out at the lake as if he could forget Graydon had said anything. I suddenly felt an affinity for the guy.

Graydon must have realized by the way both of us looked like were both wishing we were suddenly anywhere else, because he said, “Ah, shit, I’m sorry, guys. I’m a little… loopy. Wedding planning is kind of getting to me. I’ve been sweating over my vows for the past few days and the line between personal and professional is starting to blur a little.”

“Hank used to date my little sister,” Graydon said to me. “So I’m used to being kind of familiar with both of you, just not together.”

I gave Hank another once over. This wasn’t the guy she’d divorced, was it? I knew Casey from Gray’s barbecues—she was awesome. We’d never really talked about personal things, but Graydon had mentioned his sister had moved back home with her kid after a messy divorce.

“Years ago,” Hank said, clearly not wanting to have this conversation, at least not right here and now.

Graydon, in his loose-lipped pre-wedding stage was oblivious. “Have you talked to her?”

Hank’s eyes jerked back to Graydon’s. “What, recently?”

“Since you’ve been back.”

“Why—wait, is she back here?”

“That’s her place right over there,” Graydon said, pointing across the lake.

“The Jones’ place?”

Directly across the water was Alfred Jones’ lake house, which was now a part of the summer camp next door—and the job we’d just wrapped up.

“Behind that,” I said. “The farm.”

The color seemed to drain from Hank’s face.

“Wait, you didn’t know she moved back?” Graydon said. “Shit, you really do have woman problems.”

“She’s married,” Hank said stiffly.

“Not anymore,” Graydon said.

I could see the guy struggling to maintain a semblance of professionalism while still clearly shaken by the news that his ex-girlfriend—from what must have been way back, given she had a seven-year-old son—was here.

Feeling for the guy, I cleared my throat. “As much fun as Graydon poking around in our personal lives is, I believe you’re here for the walk-through you offered me over the phone, right?” I asked.

Hank flipped back to me, looking relieved. “Yes. Yeah. That’s exactly why I’m here.”

Graydon looked like he was about to say something, but I shot him a look and he straightened up. Though he had to muscle his mouth around to get the grin off his face.

As we walked around the site, I worked at absorbing myself in what Hank was saying. Talking about means of egress and accessibility was an excellent distraction technique for all of us, and the next time I looked at Graydon he looked sufficiently serious again. We had our work cut out for us to make this awkward build firesafe and meeting code. I knew Graydon was dialing back on the work leading up to his wedding, so coordinating everything Hank was describing would fall on me. I’d have to rejig a bunch of trades and reorganize schedules to keep the project on track. Not to mention add several hundred thousand more to the budget for rock demo, complex electrical, and building redesign. I’d have to hustle for the next couple of weeks to make it all work.

It was just what I needed.

By the time we waved a slightly shaken but mostly recovered looking Hank goodbye, I realized I hadn’t thought about Sadie once in the last half hour.

Never mind that the sound of her still rang in my ears. That the smell of her swirled around me as if she were still here. That I still felt her on my skin. At this point, I’d count any time at all as a success.

SADIE

“There!” I said, pointing out the window at the turn-off sign.

Lucy stuck her foot on the brake of the giant truck a hair too hard and something slid in the back, landing with a dull thud behind the bench seat we sat on.

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