Page 17 of Snowed In With the Maverick
Chapter Seven
Andrea stood staring at the gap between the fresh drywall and the baseboard trim that she’d been trying for the last two hours to fit flush against the wall, but despite her best efforts, once one side was aligned, the other would pop off, and she was so frustrated she wanted to break the trim over her knee in two pieces.
She took a deep breath. She’d known, starting this project, that there would inevitably be parts of the renovation best left to the experts, and she’d reached that point. She wanted the finishes to be perfect. Knowing it was a bit off might not matter so much to her guests, but she would always know it was there, and it would be like an itch forever unscratched.
She dropped her hammer to the ground, then looked around for her phone so she could check the hours for Tenacity Feed and Seed. Dammit. Closed on Sundays. It would have to wait until tomorrow.
Unless…
I’m sure my brother knows some people in construction in the area,Seth’s voice sounded in her head.I could give him a call.
She hesitated for a moment, then dialed Seth’s number. He picked up after one ring.
“Hey, Seth,” she said.
“All set for tomorrow?” Seth said.
“All set,” she said. “But actually, I was wondering—you mentioned your brother might have some contacts in construction. I’m looking for a contractor who might be able to come by and do some baseboard finishing. Turns out it’s a little more precise than I’m able to do.”
“Let me look into it,” Seth said. “Have you got the materials?”
“Yep. Just not the attention to detail,” she said, running her fingers along the edge of the trim she’d just been wrestling with.
“I’ll make some calls,” Seth said.
“Thank you.”
“See you tomorrow,” said Seth. “You take milk, right?”
“Milk?”
“I’ll grab us coffees.”
She warmed at the fact that he’d remembered. “Milk is great. See you tomorrow.”
Andrea hung up and stared at her phone. Asking Seth for help wasn’t exactly a huge deal, but still—there was something about it that didn’t sit entirely right. She was here to help him with his project, sure, but now she was asking him for a favor in return. Was it really that simple? A little quid pro quo?
She spent some time tidying up the workspace—no more progress was going to be made today—and heated up a pot of the butternut squash soup she’d made the day before.
Just as she was swiping some butter across a toasted piece of sourdough to have on the side, a knock came at the door.
A middle-aged man with a thick beard and a toolbox stood on her doorstep. “Andrea Spence?” he said. “Seth Taylor asked me to drop by and have a look at your baseboards.”
Andrea blinked. She’d called Seth just over an hour ago, and there was already someone here to do the work? Her phone pinged and she looked at the screen to see a text from Seth.Jesse Larson. One of my ranch hands. Today’s his day off. Super skilled, trustworthy.
“You must be Jesse,” she said. “Come on in.”
Ten minutes later, Jesse was working on the baseboards with Andrea watching. He showed her how to use her miter saw to cut the corners with precision and make sure each angle had perfect fit. She contemplated offering to take over—surely Jessie had other plans for his day off—but he was making such fast work of it, and of exceptional quality, that she decided to enjoy her toast and soup in the kitchen.
“How much do I owe you?” Andrea said, after Jesse had packed up his toolbox and had called out that he was going to be on his way.
“Seth took care of it,” said Jesse.
“Oh, but I—”
“Not to worry. Seth made sure to tell me not to accept any payment.” Jesse looked around. “Nice place you’ve got here. If you need anything else, just give me a call.”
And just as quickly as he’d arrived and solved her problem, Jesse was gone, and Andrea was left standing in her newly trimmed foyer, feeling a mixture of appreciation and—what was it—annoyance?—that Seth had gone and arranged a service for no charge without giving her the opportunity to weigh in.
