Page 121 of Summer with the Single Dad

“Not often or heavy enough.” Jagger opened the door as pings and vibrations on both their phones echoed around the room. “Sounds like the cavalry is awake and voicing their opinions.”

Bennett grumbled and swiped to unlock his phone to read the text messages.

Jagger hung out in the foyer with the door open, his hand on the knob, waiting for Bennett to read the text messages so he didn’t have to.

“Wyatt says it’ll be tight, but he figures if he puts in the orders for all the food this morning, they will be here by next Saturday. He’s going to talk to Willy Reilly about crab, Dorian Jazz about white fish, and Fitz Plamondon about salmon. Hopefully, they can provide catch of the day.”

“This chick sounds like a piece of work.” Jagger hiked the big sherpa blanket he wrapped around himself like a cocoon, up over his shoulders so it hung like an oversized scarf.

“Just think about the money. That’s what I keep telling myself. They’re paying for the restoration of cabin five—and then some.”

Jagger grunted. “Let me know what you need from me to make it happen.”

“Just help with the cabin, and then I’ll put you on day-of shit too.”

Nodding, Jagger hung his head, scratched his hairy chest, and left, closing the door behind him.

Now, Bennett needed to figure out a way to tell Justine that her two worst nightmares were arriving early to terrorize her and the rest of the island.

If he had to stick his head between her legs before he broke the news, then so be it.

A smile crossed his mouth and he licked his lips, still tasting her.

Yeah, maybe that’s exactly how he’d tell her. Mid-orgasm so she was feeling good as he made her feel bad.

“It’s not level,” Cameron said with a grunt, later that day on Monday. “It needs to be level.”

“It’s going behind the bed,” Jagger argued. “What does it matter if it’s level or not? It’s the fucking baseboard trim and nobody is going to see it.”

“We either do it properly or we don’t do it at all,” Cameron snapped.

Jagger rolled his eyes. “Fine. How do I pull out the nails?”

“You’ve gotta pull the trim away first, using a putty knife and a hammer, then a pry bar. Then pull out the nails with linesman pliers—gently, so you don’t damage the paint job.”

“That’s a lot of fucking work for trim nobody will ever see.”

Cam didn’t say anything. He just leveled his hawk-like amber eyes on Jagger and kept them there until Jagger growled, nodded, and picked up the hammer and putty knife. “Fine.”

Cam nodded, then moved over to where Bennett was laying the new laminate in the bathroom across the hall since the old stuff was severely warped from the water. “How’s it coming over here?”

“Pretty good, boss,” Bennett said. “Just measured it—twice, and I think I’m ready to cut.”

“Did you add six inches to your final measurement?” Cam asked.

Bennett’s head snapped up from where he’d been sweeping debris from the subfloor. “No. Why?”

Cam exhaled, but he knew Bennett and Jagger weren’t professional construction workers, so he stowed his impatience. “You need to add six inches because you want your end trim to be clean. If you cut to size, it won’t fit. Trust me. Vinyl also expands, so give yourself extra so you can make a nice clean cut with the hook blade.”

Bennett nodded and reached for the tape measure. “Okay. Vinyl’s in the living room.”

Cam’s head bobbed, and he followed Bennett out of the bathroom into the living room, where the vinyl that Cam said was left over from another project and he “donated” to Bennett and his brothers, sat folded up on the kitchen counter.

“There’s enough vinyl for the bathroom,” Cam said. “But you just need to make sure you don’t cut it too short.”

Nervous energy coursed through Bennett’s body. He didn’t want to fuck this up. Yes, in some ways he agreed with Jagger that they just needed to get this cabin done so they could move on, and the bed was going to hide the shoddy baseboards, but he also agreed with Cam. It wouldn’t just be Beelzebub and his Lady Unfair staying in cabin five. There would be other less loathed guests in it, eventually. They needed to do a good job the first time.

Cameron left Bennett to remeasure and went to work installing the new lower kitchen cabinets. Luckily, they managed to get the identical Ikea kitchen cabinets as before and they were picked up by a friend on Thursday last week when they made a run to Seattle. The bathroom vanity cabinets were another story, but there were fewer of those to worry about. Bennett just tossed new cabinets into his Ikea cart and figured they’d make them fit.

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