Page 25 of The Reno
“And your cousin wasn’t in the best mood,” Liam said, sarcasm dripping from his words. He turned to Lydia. “Before you mither me, she’s gone with someone else.”
I bit my lip. “About that. See, I made some calls today. And it seems like everyone else is booked up.” I breathed. “I’m going to struggle to find someone in time.”
I glanced up at Liam, trying to assess his reaction. He just watched people filing in for the members’ meeting.
I cleared my throat. “Liam.” His eyes flickered to me and then away again. “I was wondering if you might be able to look into it.”
He took a sip of his drink. “Look into what?”
The bastard was going to make me ask. Or beg, maybe. His expression was neutral and utterly infuriating. Lydia’s eyes werewide, bouncing between us like it was the final at Wimbledon.
“If you could look into helping with the house,” I said through gritted teeth. “Please.”
The last word was hard to get out.
Liam’s eyes were indecipherable. Clearly, he didn’t like me, but I waited patiently for his reply anyway.
Come on, give me something. Anything. Just don’t say no.
Liam and I locked into a staring contest. In my periphery, I watched his chest expand with each breath. His hands were clenching and unclenching at his side. His face gave nothing away. It wasn’t until he took a deep breath that I knew what was coming.
He exhaled, delivering the final blow.
“No.”
SEVEN
“Liam!” Lydia said. “Come on. Don’t be such a knob.”
My eyes stung, and my head lowered, hanging off my shoulders in defeat. Why was I even doing this? Why didn’t I sell as my mum had suggested? Did I care all that much about my dad’s legacy anyway? He’d been AWOL for most of my life, for fuck’s sake.
It’s because of the funeral.
I felt so much shame and anger at myself for fucking up at my dad’s funeral that renovating the house felt like a path to some sort of redemption.
And now that was pointless.
Because it was impossible.
Without Liam, it was impossible.
Lydia continued with her campaign to convince Liam, but I ignored it. I was just trying my best to hold myself together. To come up with a new plan. I could sell it. Yeah, it wasn’t that big of a deal, right? I would sell and move on. If I went home tomorrow, Mum wouldn’t even have to know I’d fucked up. I could just get the train back and forget any of this happened.
“What renovation?” Jack asked.
“It’s Kat’s house,” Lydia explained. “She was… left it recently and wants to renovate it.”
I was grateful she left out the dead dad details. I didn’t need to see more pitying looks today. “It’s a 1930s semi. It’s a fixer-upper, but it has tons of potential. But Kat has a tight turnaround to renovate it before she moves back to London. She wants to buy there.”
I coughed, my voice croaky. “The market is a nightmare, so I need as much cash as possible.”
“How tight a turnaround?” Jack asked.
“Two months.” I shrugged. “That’s how long I’ve been given off work. I might be able to stretch it a bit, but not much more.” The thought of keeping this a secret from Mum and Graham for over two months made me feel sick.
Liam huffed a laugh. “Two months.”
Lydia frowned now. “Is that not possible? There isn’t any major structural work to do.”
