Page 8 of A Package Deal

“Then I’ll pay you for two hours.” He lifted his head, already starting to smile. “But you’re fired. Get the fuck out of here.”

He pouted, grumbling about me being a mean woman, but I’d had enough. Doing it my damn self was better than putting up with this guy. He sniffled and my temper flared hot.

“There’s no fucking crying in construction, Bob! Go before I rethink paying you for two whole hours when you only managed a half hour of actual work!”

The man moved faster than I’d seen all morning. Smelly came back, his thumb pointing over his shoulder. “Where’d Bob go?”

I shook my head. “And they call women the weaker sex. That’s some bullshit right there, Smelly, don’t you think?”

He twisted up his face and scratched his messy head of unwashed hair. “Uh, yeah?”

He lived up to his ineptitude, but he did help me get the entire bathroom demo’d by midafternoon. When we walked back into the living room and I informed him we were going to start stripping the wood floors, he looked like he was about ready to lie down on said floors and die instead. Then he actually dropped to all fours.

“I thought we were done for the day!” he whined, voice higher than Georgia’s when she played dolls.

Warrick poked his head in the room from the hallway, his gaze dropping to Smelly and then up to me. There was something fiery dancing in his eyes, but he stayed quiet. Embarrassed at the subcontractors I’d hired, I was more curt than I should have been.

“Get up!”

Smelly collapsed and rolled toward the front door as if he was going to roll right on out of here instead of use his God-given legs. “I can’t do it. I’m so dehydrated my muscles are locking up! I’m one squat away from dying here, lady! I quit!”

I gaped at him. When he hit the far wall, he popped up on all fours and crawled right out the fucking door. A deep chuckle from the hallway tossed gasoline on the flames dancing through my chest. I turned my head toward Warrick.

“Need some help?” he quipped.

“Arghh!” I stomped out of the living room to more laughter, intent on finding Smelly in the driveway and giving him a piece of my mind before I got my sanding tools and got busy on the hardwood floors by myself. The little man was already gone.

“Muscle cramps, my ass,” I muttered. A loud moo was my only reply. I glanced over at the cow and lifted a hand in greeting.

I had the sander in one hand and the shop vac in the other when my phone rang. I set it all down on the porch and grabbed the phone out of my back pocket, careful not to lose the check. Shit, it was the preschool.

“Em Slaywright,” I said quickly.

“Hi, Em. This is Tori from the front office. We have a bit of a situation. There’s been an outbreak of lice in the preschool classroom. Georgia seems fine, but protocol requires us closing down until we can get the classroom sanitized. Probably a few days. We need you to come pick up Georgia.”

I dropped my chin to my chest, eyes closing. Shit, shit, shit.

“Um, yeah, okay. Just give me fifteen minutes,” I managed to respond.

“Great! Oh, and we’ll have a printout for you on what products to buy and how to de-lice if Georgia shows any signs. Make sure you grab that from the office before you go.”

“Will do,” I said faintly, ending the call and shoving my phone back in my pocket.

“More problems?” Warrick drawled.

My head snapped up to see him standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe. I hadn’t heard him walk up. I should just hand him back the check right now. There was no way I’d get this project finished on time. I’d be lucky just to get the kitchen and bathrooms done in three weeks.

“Lice at the preschool.”

His face was unreadable. “You’re a mom?”

I nodded once. “Yes. To a five-year-old girl. I need to go pick her up and find a new crew. I probably won’t be back until tomorrow.” Fuck. That was assuming I’d find something to do with Georgia. Could I find a babysitter on short notice?

Warrick pushed off the doorframe. “Just bring her here. There’s plenty of animals to keep her occupied.”

My mouth dropped open but no words came out. Warrick’s eye sparkled with humor. Nothing about this situation was funny. He grabbed the sander and the shop vac from the ground and tossed his head toward my truck.

“Go get her and bring her here.”

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