Page 32 of Caught in the Axe
That was until I had to work shoulder to shoulder with Owen Hebert every night.
When he wasn’t looking, I’d sneak glances at him, admiring how his ass filled out his jeans or salivating over the corded muscle of his forearms while he typed. He was strong but not bulky. Intense but not domineering. And so careful and controlled.
I couldn’t help but fantasize about what kind of lover he was. There was no doubt in my mind he was thorough and focused.
Which wasnotthe kind of thought I should be having about my ex-boyfriend’s older brother.
I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, interrupting my steady stream of obsessive Owen thoughts. It was Vic.
I stepped out into the hall. “Hey. Everything okay?” I’d been stopping by to help with deliveries as much as I could, but I had even less time than usual. The guilt was gnawing at me. There were so many people in need up here; I needed to findtime to do more.
“Yes.” Vic sounded out of breath. She was a few years older than me but had also unexpectedly landed back in town last year, so we’d become friends. It didn’t hurt that she was hilarious and one of the kindest humans I’d ever met. “Incredible, actually. I’m shaking. We had a delivery today. A new walk-in freezer, along with an electrician who hooked it up and upgraded the circuit breaker in the garage.”
“Oh my God!” I gasped. The loss of the freezer, which had been nicknamed Bubba last year, had made it impossible to keep meat and other perishables on hand. Shit, this was a miracle.
“And that’s not all. I got a call from a roofing company. Apparently, they’ll be here tomorrow to repair the roof. Labor and materials are all donated.”
“How? Who?”
“It took some digging, but I was able to determine that the donations are courtesy of the DiLuca Construction Charitable Foundation. Know anything about this?”
The tone of her voice indicated that I should, and I blushed.Owen.“I have no idea.”
“I’m going to cry again. This issucha huge blessing.”
We said goodbye, and I headed back to the conference room. What was going on?
“Hey, Owen.”
He looked up from where he was leaning over the table, hair a bit disheveled like he’d been running his hands through it and his glasses askew. He looked so delicious I momentarily forgot what I wanted to say.
I shook off the stupor and wiped at my mouth to make sure I hadn’t drooled. “I just got a phone call from Vic at thefood pantry. She was celebrating a big donation from DiLuca Construction. You know anything about that?”
He looked away and shook his head. “The company has a charitable foundation that makes significant community investments.”
I wasn’t buying his humble bullshit. “In Northern Maine? Huh.” I raised one eyebrow. “And aren’t you the CFO of both the company and the foundation?”
“Yup.”
“So you sign the checks?”
“No one actually signs checks anymore.” He was being intentionally obtuse, and I wanted to slap him. Didn’t he realize what a big deal this was? He pretended to be this grumpy businessman, but I could see right through him. He cared. A lot. And if this generosity was any indication, he understood a lot more about this town than he let on.
“I don’t know what you did or why you did it. But thank you.”
He shrugged. “It’s not a big thing.”
“Yes, it is. Maybe not to you, but to the food pantry and all the people in this county who depend on it. It’s huge.” I wiped an errant tear away. The last thing I wanted to do was cry in front of him, but I had firsthand experience with food insecurity, so the thought of other families getting what they needed threatened to overwhelm me.
“I know you hate it here. But you’ve done so much good.” I said softly.
He took his glasses off, always his tell, and gave me a kind smile. “I don’t hate Lovewell. I just resent being dragged back here. I have happy memories of this place, I’mglad I grew up here, but…” he paused as if searching for the right words.
“You’ve outgrown it.” I offered.
He nodded.
“I feel the same way. For so long I wanted out, and dreamed of going anywhere else. And when I had to come back it felt like failure. The gossip, the judgment, waking up every day to scrape together tips to try and get unstuck.”
