Page 39 of Writing On The Wall

Her eyes roam again while she chews on her top lip.

A noisy puff of air escapes before she looks back to the camera. “Mmm…I removed some of the cabinets. Some of them came off fine. And some of them didn’t. There may be a few new holes to fill and a couple spots where the floor needs attention. I’ll tell you, though, cabinets areheavy.”

I scratch my chin while I nod, processing the two-person project this woman attempted by herself. “Cabinet removal isn’t a solo job,” I verbalize my thoughts, careful not to sound irritated this time.

“Hence my Bat-Signal.”

I’m surprised she managed to limit herself to the one scrape on her forehead. Although, Icanonly see her from the waist up. It would be weird to ask for a slow pivot, right? Yeah. Let’s not do that.

“I’m in Frisco,” I admit, cringing apologetically.

“Oh, I thought your bedroom looked a bit dull. I mean…more dull than I expected of a man…such as yourself. Okay, I’ll just be going now. Things to do?—”

“Ivy—”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll save you some brownies. Have fun in Frisco.”

“Ivy!”

My chin drops to my chest. She hung up.

I open her text thread and press record to leave her a voice note.

“Ivy June, you probably won’t answer if I call. If I were in town, I’d be heading over already. But I’ll be back in Aster tomorrow. I’m only going into The Adventure Project office two days next week. The rest of the time, I’m yours—I mean, I’m—I can help you whenever and work on the house while you’re at school.”

Smooth, King. Playing it real cool right now. I roll my eyes at myself.

“Don’t do anything else with the kitchen. Or anything high up…or dangerous. Just…be careful. I’ll see you soon.”

Way to be chill, man.

I send the message before grabbing a pillow and burying my face in it.

This woman has me turning down dates, giving up my Saturdays, and sounding like a teenager on the phone.

What will I give up next?

And what the heck have I gotten myself into?

CHAPTER TWENTY

IVY

“So you’ve picked a venue?” I glance at Ember before turning onto her street.

“Yeah. It’s bigger than I wanted. But I’ll just deal with it.”

I snort out a laugh. “That’s what she said.”

“I walked into that one,” Ember replies with an eye roll. She leans forward in her seat, scrutinizing the area ahead of us. “What are Opal and Gail doing hiding in the hedges?” She scrunches the side of her mouth as I park outside her apartment. “Are they pointing a hose at that old lady?”

My head falls onto the steering wheel with a groan. Ember doesn’t look away, tapping my arm while I try to gather the energy to deal with this. “Hey, why does that look like your Gran?”

“Because itismy Gran.” I lift my head and sigh.

“Oh.Well, this is about to get interesting.”

“Yup.”

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