Page 27 of Delay of Game
“Because my mom thought you needed help.”
I cocked my head, eyes narrowing on his. “But you don’t want to?”
“Who the hell wants to help someone else with their house repairs?” He scoffed.
“That’s a good point.”
“But trust me, it’s better for both of us if you let me help you out. I’m not fucking with any wasps, but show me around inside, and I bet there are a few things I can get off your to-do list.”
“It’s a pretty big to-do list,” I admitted as I slotted my key into the door. “I can just tell your mom you offered to help and I turned you down. I’ll lie and say I got a general contractor.”
He snorted. “You can’t lie worth shit.”
“I can, too,” I said, more convincingly. It’s not that I couldn’t lie, I just didn’t. I didn’t have any reasons to lie.
“Lie to me.”
“What would that prove?” I asked. “If you know I’m lying.”
“Good point,” he conceded, raking his hand through his hair. “Two truths and a lie, then. If I guess a truth, you can lie to my mom. If I figure out your lie, I help you with the house.”
“I don’t want to lie to your mom. I just could.”
He shook his head with a bemused smile on his lips. “So, what is it? Two truths and a lie or are you handing over that list?”
He distilled my options into two, both not great. I certainly didn’t want to lie to Gloria. She was a good friend of Aunt Mercy, and I liked her. Sure, it was a harmless lie, but the guilt would eat at me, especially since I’d be seeing a lot of her this year.
But Rob wandering around my house? In my space? Working alongside me? He was temperamental at best, and despite the few occasions when we’d had a pleasant conversation, I couldn’t shake our first meeting. Or the way my entire body seemed to tense around him.
“I went skydiving for my twentieth birthday. I dressed up as a sexy bunny for Halloween last year with a friend. I’m allergic to strawberries.”
His eyes narrowed on mine, studying my face with an intensity that made my cheeks flush and my entire body hot. “Sexy bunny?”
“My friend dressed like a sexy turtle. It was her idea,” I said, belatedly wishing I’d picked any other fact except that incredibly inappropriate fact.
His mouth narrowed to a thin line, and he nodded. “Okay. So, you’re lying to my mom?”
I worried my bottom lip, eyes darting to the open door. “Come on in. Let me show you my list.”
TEN
ROB
Astrid did not havea to-do list.
She had a book.
Based on the list, the house was a disaster.
I sat across from Astrid at a small but solid oak table situated in the middle of the cozy and incredibly dated kitchen. The cherry-pink accent wall hinted Astrid could paint a room, and the appliances were top of the line with a Sub-Zero fridge and an O’Keefe and Merritt gas range that had survived past looking dated into vintage.
I forced my attention on the well-worn yellow notepad and not the light dusting of glitter on Astrid’s nose or the way her cheeks flushed pink every time I held eye contact or the thought of her sexy bunny costume. Flipping through the notepad, I read every line item on the first three pages before abandoning that to find out how many pages of repairs she had.
Twenty-three.
Twenty-three pages of single-lined bulletin points starting at the top line and ending at the bottom.
“And you think you’re going to have this done by when exactly?” I asked.
