Page 87 of Morning Glory Girl
The corner of my mouth turned up. Maybe I should be taking Drew’s relationship advice after all.
31
Luke and I watched Luna until she disappeared inside the tennis center before pulling out of the crushed shell parking lot. He’d invited me to check out his housing project site with him today.
Within two days of mentioning it to her last month, Francesca had secured the Daniel Fisher House—one of the Vineyard Preservation Trust’s most beautiful properties—for the fundraiser on a Friday night the third week of August. She even convinced them to cut the reservation fee as a contribution to the cause. Ticket sales were off to a great start. Francesca was handling almost everything, but she kept me in the loop. I’d gone with her the other day to seek donations and ticket purchases from some local business owners. Not everyone was an affordable housing enthusiast per se, but most people agreed they’d prefer their favorite restaurants and businesses on the island be open seven days a week and recognized the need for more housing options to achieve that.
I was holding my breath now that we were alone in his truck. It made me think of the night he took me to Menemsha in pieces and brought me back feeling more whole.
I glanced at his profile. The angular nose, full lips, long lashes.He’d always been incredibly handsome, but now that I knew him—how beautiful he was on the inside—he was devastating.
“Whatcha thinking about?” he asked, his deep voice carrying easily over the tones of the classic rock song on the radio.
How good-looking you are.
Some women would say it. But I wasn’t a confident flirt like that, despite the numerous indications he’d given me that he was interested. Despite what my brother said about the way he looked at me.
It’d been almost two weeks since Luke visited me in the hospital and I told him Max and I were over. He hadn’t done anything. I wasn’t surprised. He didn’t seem like the type to move in on someone who’d only been single for a couple of weeks. I tried not to let it make me think there weren’t feelings on his side. It wasn’t like he had many opportunities while I was spending so much time with my family over the past week. But in quieter moments, I’d begun to question whether he reciprocated my crush after all.Maybe he’s just a good friend. Maybe he isn’t looking for anything right now.I couldn’t let my mind linger on those thoughts for long, though. The disappointment was too overwhelming.
He stole a quick look at me in the passenger seat, reminding me he’d asked me a question. “I’m excited to see the site!” I said finally.
He chuckled. “I appreciate the enthusiasm. The model home is just a slab foundation and the frame right now, but I can walk you through what it will look like.” A lock of hair fell into the middle of his forehead, and he pushed it back reflexively.
Within five minutes, we pulled up to the construction site. It was tucked in a neighborhood off the main road, perfectly situated just outside of town and along the bus route. We climbed out of the car—Luke tucking his hard hat under his arm—and walked over to the only structure on the site. Three men in yellow hard hats, jeans, and T-shirts boasting theKaras Constructionlogo lugged two-by-fours and power tools to different spots in the structure.
Luke grabbed an extra hard hat from a folding table set up outside the framed-out door opening. He motioned me to him with his hand, and my body obeyed. He lifted both arms to place the hat on my head, and the motion brought me back to that night alone in his shed for a second. I tucked my light brown hair behind my ears and looked up at him from under the little brim. He was already looking at me, and our eyes locked.
He shook his head almost imperceptibly as the corner of his mouth lifted, revealing his dimple under his freshly trimmed beard.
What?I almost asked him, but he was already turning to enter the site.
When I looked up, all three of the workers were watching us. “Hey, boss,” one of them called.
“If I hear one whistle, you’re all fired,” Luke said.
My cheeks flamed as I looked down at my outfit: a V-neck T-shirt, a tennis skort, and sneakers.
“Alright, boss,” the same worker said, winking at me.
“I don’t even know how to whistle,” another one called from the far corner.
“Shut up, Tony!” Luke and the third worker said in unison. Luke was shaking his head, but a smirk tugged on one of his cheeks.
I smirked, too. They clearly had a good rapport.
“Alright, so, this is the front, obviously. We’ll hang a bunch of hooks here and build a closet here.” He gestured to each side of the entry. “The first bedroom is right off the entry to the left. If you walk straight back, there will be a kitchen and living room that spans most of the back of the house, full bathroom in the far corner where Tony’s working, and two more bedrooms off this hall with a Jack ’n’ Jill bathroom in between. Oh, and a deck off the back of the kitchen. And that’s it.” He spread his arms wide in what will be the kitchen area. His words were humble, but his excitement was as clear as day.
This is what it looks like when you love what you do.
“I like the layout. It’s going to be so nice. You have me wishing I was twenty again with a job here for the summer. I’m jealous of these future renters.”
“Me too, honestly. You should have seen the place Jeremiah and I rented. It was…not nice.”
I giggled at his tone.
“Wanna see the rest of the property? Most of the other lots are cleared.”
“Of course.”
