Page 8 of His Hot Mess

“I don’t know what that is,” Graydon said. “Sounds like a word you kids made up.”

Graydon was four years older than me, and it was a running gag that he was the old man between the two of us.

“It means talking about sex…or maybe even having sex through texting. I think,” I said. “I may or may not have made that up.”

“Right. Well, it was good. But not as good as the real thing.”

“Who are you talking to?” came Lucy’s voice in the background.

“Wait,” I said. “Are you telling me you stood me up because you were getting it on with Lucy just now? On a weekday? A workday?”

Technically, I worked for Graydon, though I was pretty much his partner in running the business. He was also the closest thing I had to a best friend.

“Maybe,” Graydon said. “It’s not illegal to do it with the woman you love on a weekday, you know.” There was a pause, then Graydon yelped. Chris could practically see Lucy clocking him one on the arm.

It warmed my heart to see my friend so happy—especially after everything he’d been through in his life. But there had been a shadow to it recently. As happy as I was for the guy, every time his and Lucy’s upcoming nuptials came up, I felt another little twist of the knife at the memory of my own failed wedding three years ago.

I sighed. “We still need to talk about the job Logan wants us to take on out on Sapphire.”

Logan was the best carpenter in Jewel Lakes and the source of many of our mutual business referrals. We had arranged to meet over breakfast to strategize about this latest job and to see about bringing Logan in on contract going forward. Business stuff.

“Sorry man. I’ll be on site soon—can we talk about it then? I need to do something in town first.”

“Lucy? Again?”

Graydon laughed. “No. Well, maybe. But no, she wants me to take a look at Debbie’s Place—her sister is interested in re-opening it as a thrift store or something.”

I heard Sadie’s voice in the background then. “Vintage!” she corrected.

A twang of something hit my belly even at the tinny sound of her voice through my phone’s speaker.

“Right,” Gray said. “Avintageclothing shop.”

The three of them must have met up right after I’d left. For a brief moment a pang of regret hit me. Maybe if I hadn’t had my little outburst I’d be sitting with them too.

Next to Sadie.

I strained to hear what she was saying. For some reason even the barely-there sound of her voice made me sit up straighter.

“Yeah,” Graydon said, his voice muffled like he had his hand over the receiver. “She says she hasn’t heard back from the owner yet, but when they last talked it sounded like he could tour her around the store when he was in town next. Sounds like it could use some work.”

I had never been inside Debbie’s Place when it was open, but I remembered the mannequins in the window. If the dated clothes were any reflection of what the place itself looked like he bet it could use some updating.

“I can take a look,” I said. Blurted, more like.

What the hell was I doing?

“Really?” Graydon said. “That’d be great actually. After I hit the site with you today I have a shit-ton of paperwork to catch up on.”

“Yeah, you do.” I said. I knew how bad Graydon was at the admin side of the business because I was the one who tended to pick up the slack. Graydon was fantastic at getting new business, talking with clients, running trades, and overseeing some of the best construction I had seen in my lifetime. And with my prior business, I’d seen a ton. But he was absolute shit at invoicing. And filing. And anything else involving entering things into a computer and organizing them correctly.

“Lucy’s reminding me we have wedding stuff too.”

“Okay,” I said. “Well, just let me know what you need when you know.”

After I punched the disconnect button on the phone, I opened my truck window, letting the fresh spring air from the surrounding trees cool me down.

Seriously, what the hellwasI thinking, volunteering to help Sadie? I did take on lots of the estimates and side jobs—I liked keeping so busy I didn’t have time to think about much else. But I hadn’t offered to help with this one just for the hell of it, I knew. I offered because it was her.

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