Page 190 of A Merry Mountain Christmas

“Hey,” he says. “I thought it was you.” He grins. “Cal Reynolds. We met a few months back at the McGruff job site. Remember?”

Cal Reynolds. This is Mary’s sister’s boyfriend.

Shit.

My old boss Mitch Pincher got into a dispute with Cal over some scrap wood on a job site. They were working on adjacent properties, and Mitch tried to claim the stash belonged to him.

It didn’t.

I reach out and shake his hand. “Sorry. Haven’t had enough coffee yet. Hope you don’t hold all that against me.”

“What? No,” he scoffs. “Pincher is an asshole.” He looks at the lumber on my trolley and the small piece of plywood. “Whatcha making?”

I rest my hand on the handle. “A cat tree.” I’m not sure why, but I add, “For my neighbor’s cat, not mine. Bingo would turn up his nose at any perching spot that wasn’t the back of my sofa or, in the middle of the night, my chest or the top of my head.”

Cal laughs. “And that’s why I have a dog.”

I laugh too, but although Bingo is a pain in the ass, he’smypain in the ass.

“Chuck tells me you’re working for him now,” he says. “I also heard Pincher let you go.”

I draw in a breath.Great.Does he know I’m helping Aidan? Does he plan on telling Mary to keep me away from them?

“Pincher is an asshole and an idiot. Everyone in construction around here knows that Trey Miller is a drug addict and steals from job sites to support his habit.”

My mouth parts in surprise.

“Say,” he says in a hopeful tone as he rubs his nose. “I know Chuck has big plans for you, but are you looking for any side projects?”

I stand up straighter. “I could be.”

“I need some help with a special project I’ve been working on. You can put in time on the evenings and weekends, whatever you can fit in. I just want it done by Christmas.”

Which only gives us a few weeks.

“Sounds interesting,” I say. “What is it?”

“It’s a house remodel.” He pauses, turning up a sheepish grin. “For Molly and me. I want to surprise her for Christmas, but one of my guys broke his leg roller-skating with his kid last week, and another guy moved back to Michigan to take care of his mom with Alzheimer’s. Neither of them meant to leave me high and dry, but it means I’m behind on some paying jobs, which doesn’t leave me much time to work onourhouse. Especially since I’m trying to keep it a secret from Molly, which is next to impossible. She already suspects I’m up to something.”

I could definitely use more money, but I also respect Cal. Rumor has it he treats his crew well. Plus, there’s a stupid part of me that wants to do this for Mary’s sister. “I’d love to help.”

He glances down at my cart. “Are you too busy to come take a look now? You can even work on your project at my house if you’d like. You live in an apartment, right?”

I frown. “Yeah, how did you—?”

“Molly,” he says with a grin. “One thing you need to learn about the O’Shea sisters is that they usually tell each other everything.”

I doubt Mary tells her younger sisterseverything, but she must have shared my address with them during the whole Cleo search. They’d both offered to help, something that had surprised me, because my own sister wouldn’t have lifted a finger unless there was something in it for her.

“Mary says she helped find your neighbor’s cat.” He points to the wood. “I’m guessing this is for the same cat?”

“Yep.” I tilt my head. “Did Mary happen to mention how we got Cleo back?”

“Just that one of your neighbors found her after someone posted on the Nextdoor app.”

I grin. “Molly’s sister is a badass. This tough guy was holding Cleo hostage, and Mary marched up to the door and demanded that he release Cleo or she’d have him arrested for felony theft.”

Cal’s eyes bug out. “Marydid that? Mary O’Shea?”

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