Page 60 of When in December

“What about it?” he asked.

“Just haven’t heard it before.” Not in a long time anyway.

“Renovation disasters bring it out in me,” he said, monotone.

I narrowed my eyes, taking another bite of pizza. Ozzy was still staring at me, waiting for his next treat. “Me, too, but I don’t think we have the same reason.”

“Probably not. Yours is probably from joy.”

“Or not to cry.”

He stopped his work to glance back at me.

I lifted a shoulder. It was a joke. And, it also wasn’t. “You think this has been the best renovation I’ve worked on? Sure,it’s my first on my own, but I’ve had to deal with an angry homeowner making the process … not ideal.”

“That bad?”

“You or the project?”

“Poppy—”

I stopped him there, but this time, he didn’t hear it.

“I think what you’re trying to do here is pretty great. I had no idea it took so much work to make all this happen. Especially now that I hear it’s a hell of a lot more than fancy place settings,” he said, a bit contrite. “I mean, you have battle scars.”

If I hadn’t already today, I might’ve fallen over at the words.

“You’re ambitious. Determined.”

“Thank—”

“Even though, as of now, I think we can both agree, you’re never going to fucking finish this place in time.”

We’d see about that.

He paused before he got back to work. Lifting another screw for my inspection. I confirmed before he drilled another shelf in. He was turning into quite the bookshelf-crafting expert.

“You really need to win this competition of yours, huh?”

“I don’t like to think of it as a competition.”

“Sounds like one to me.”

I wiped my face with the back of my fist, still holding the end of my pizza slice.

The dog, who had been waiting patiently next to me this whole time, on the other hand, wasn’t having it, huffing as he tried to nip at my fingers again.

“Shh,” I warned him as I tore off another piece. He gobbled it up in one bite. “You need to be quiet.”

“I know you’re feeding the dog,” Aaron informed me.

“And?” I asked.

He cast a look between me and Oz. This wasn’t a fight he was going to win.

Aaron stared from my eyes, down the side of my jaw, to my lips, where his gaze seemed to lock on.

My heart pounded in my chest as his eyes softened.

---