Page 24 of When in December

The line went dead, along with my hopes and dreams.

Okay, maybe I had been spending too much time with Hannah in a six-by-six space. My reactions were starting to take on a flair for the dramatic.

I dropped my phone in the cupholder. When I finally arrived up the long, hidden driveway, I let out a sigh of relief.

I wasn’t sure if there would ever be a time when I wasn’t secretly shocked that I’d made it.

Today was going to be better.

When I knocked on the door, it swung open.

Aaron Hayes stood in the middle of the doorway. He stared at me as if I were number one on his Most Hated list. Or maybe he hadn’t gotten enough sleep. A lavender haze circled his warm honey-brown eyes. Not only that, but he had to be cold. From rolling out of bed with his dark blond hair sticking up in all directions, he hadn’t even cared enough to put on a shirt. Gray sweatpants hung over his hips.

I forced my traitorous eyes not to dip toward his toned stomach again, locking my stare on his so that I wouldn’t be tempted—since it appeared around Aaron Hayes, I was worse than a man.

His eyes narrowed further, as if he wasn’t quite sure where he could place me as I stood on his front doorstep.

Do you remember me?

No. He didn’t.

That was fine. Aaron not recognizing me from all those years ago could be a great thing. This way, I could focus. I could start fresh and be completely professional.

“Oh.” I tried not to appear as startled as I felt. “Good morning, Mr. Hayes?—”

“Your so-called workers are already here,” he interrupted.

“Excuse me?”

“Been here for hours, homemaker,” Aaron stated, his voice gruff with displeasure. “Maybe you don’t have this whole place under control as much as you thought.”

Stepping inside, I could hear the few voices echoing through the cabin. The workers weren’t supposed to be here for another hour, I’d thought, but when it came to this house, I should’ve known to expect the unexpected.

The fact that there were no showerheads in the showers yesterday was case in point, and it appeared that no one knew where those fixtures had gone in the hustle of them clearing out last week, which meant another order. Another change.

The door shut from somewhere behind me. I didn’t bother to take off my coat as I made my way to the group of men standing in a circle in the middle of the empty living room.

One of them turned around, moving toward the hall.

I stood a step back, trying to move out of the way. “Um, hold on a second. Excuse me.”

The man wearing a threadbare T-shirt laughed, hopefully at something his coworkers had said and not about the fact he’d almost run into me. His eyes were half lidded as he waved his hand somewhere over my shoulder. “Care to move aside so we can get finished already?”

“I apologize,” I said kindly enough, though my hands went to my hips. I didn’t move from where I stood in front of him. Hannah would be proud of me right now. I was standing my ground like the badass interior designer who would own thatsenior designer title. “I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Poppy Owens. I’m the contact person for the home design.”

The one guy raised his dark eyebrows. Dear Lord, was this area filled with men who wanted to look at me like I was some sort of confused animal wandering in here? If this was the foreman who had started on this project in the summer, he certainly didn’t have the same gruff yet kind consideration in person.

“You?” he asked. “You’re the person who brought everyone out here when we were already on a tight schedule before the holiday?”

It wasn’t right before the holiday. Near the holiday perhaps. Sort of.

The man I’d talked to on the phone didn’t sound slightly as put out.

I cleared my throat. “Yes. Me. Thank you so much for coming out after it appeared some of the work here was incomplete by the precious crew that we employed.”

“Are you lot giving this woman a hard time?” a voice called out behind me.

All attention went to an older man shaking his head until his eyes found mine. One hand reached up to scratch his thick beard. The other waved off his workers.

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