Page 46 of Midnight Valentine
Grinning, Theo lifts his hands in surrender. Through my embarrassment, I find myself grinning back. Though rare, his smiles are infectious. Hopefully, now that he’s getting what he wants and is working on the house, they’ll appear with greater frequency.
I’m not holding my breath, but one can hope.
“I’m going to take a shower. You guys good for half an hour or so without me?”
Theo nods, waving dismissively. Apparently finished with the conversation, he strides off without waiting for me to say anything else.
“And a good morning to you too, Sunshine.” I listen to the thump of his boots recede toward the back of the house. For some reason, I find the sound comforting.
Because you haven’t had a man around in a hundred years, girlfriend.
Under my breath, I tell my uterus to shut the hell up. Then I head back upstairs to the shower.
* * *
“There she is!” Straightening from his inspection of a hole the firefighters punched in the baseboard of the living room, Coop beams at me like I’m his long-lost sister. He’s wearing a red-and-black flannel shirt rolled up his thick forearms along with a pair of dungarees. His resemblance to a lumberjack is uncanny. “How’re you doin’, Megan? Happy to see me?”
“Gee, everyone’s in such a chipper mood this morning,” I quip, trying to keep a straight face. I’m the boss here, after all. I can’t let all these big, burly men think they can get the upper hand on me by acting like some giggly teenager. “Theo actually smiled at me earlier. Did you guys smoke some dope before coming to work?”
“Naw, it’s just a beautiful mornin’ is all!” He props his hands on his hips and looks me up and down. “And you look prettier’n a new set of snow tires, if I might say so.”
Blushing, I run a hand over my damp hair and look down at my jeans and blue sweater. “I’ve never seen snow tires, but I’ll take that as a compliment. Thank you.”
“Never seen snow tires?” He looks horrified, as if I’ve just told him my parents were siblings. “Where’d you grow up, the moon?”
“The desert, actually. Before here, I never lived anywhere but Phoenix.”
Coop thoughtfully rubs his beard. “Been to Phoenix once. Hot as hell and dry as a nun’s cooch.”
“Thank you for that disturbing visual. Is there some paperwork I need to sign? A scope of work or whatever?”
“Yeah, Theo’s got the contract all worked up. He left it on the kitchen counter for you.”
“Okay, thanks.”
I turn to head into the kitchen, but Coop says, “Megan?”
I turn back. “Yeah?”
He hesitates for a moment. “I just wanted to say thank you.”
“For what?”
“For this.” He gestures to the house. “For givin’ Theo a shot. He really needed it.”
“Needed what? I’m not sure what you mean.”
Looking over my shoulder, Coop lowers his voice. “This house is kinda…important to him. Don’t ask me why, ’cause I don’t know, but he’s been obsessed with this place for years. I think it’s been a dream of his to get it back to its former glory.” His blue eyes grow a shade darker. “Like maybe fixin’ the house will fix him.”
What is this tremor I’m feeling, this fluttering of butterflies in my stomach, this jangling of nerves? Empathy? Anxiety? I’m not sure, but this is the first time I can say with confidence that Theo Valentine and I have something in common.
“We only agreed he’d do the electrical, Coop. We’ll see how it goes over the next few days. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.”
Coop chuckles. “Too late for that. I haven’t seen Theo this happy in a long time.”
I say sourly, “Great. So no pressure on me to keep him on the job, then. What if I’m not satisfied with his work?”
Coop looks insulted on Theo’s behalf. “Tch. You’ll be plenty satisfied. He’s the best, and that’s no exaggeration.”
