Page 115 of Sweet Home Louisiana

“We have a proposal,” Juliet said, drawing the attention back to herself.“The damage Chase caused must be rectified.However, he needs to report to school in two weeks.”

“The estimated amount to do all repairs was in the report we sent,” Bennett said.

Again, Maddie was grateful to have him.He’d handled a lot of the communication with their insurance company and had pulled strings—or maybe flashed a check—to get three bids on the repairs within twenty-four hours.

“Yes, I got that,” Juliet told him.She started to write something down on the page in front of her but suddenly there was a small puddle of ink spreading over the page.“Dammit,” she muttered, picking up the pen that had, somehow, exploded.She bent to dig in her purse and by the time she sat back up with a new pen and a tissue to blot the leaked ink, there was a streak of black on her tank top.She noticed, started to blot the spot with the tissue, forgot she was still holding the broken pen, and simply succeeded in making it ten times worse.

Maddie shot Owen a look.He was watching Juliet with a confused, but slightly amused expression.

“But we’re not just going to pay the estimate,” Juliet told Bennett without missing a beat.It was almost as if she was used to these things happening.

“You’re not?”Bennett asked, seemingly distracted.

Maddie watched the other woman.Was this just a technique to keep the people around her off-kilter?

“No.Chase is going to work the amount off.”

No one said anything for a moment.Then Josh asked simply, “What?”

Juliet turned slightly toward him in her chair.“Chase is going to work off what he owes you.He can help rebuild the dock for starters.He doesn’t know anything about boat repair, but he can do other things that will add up to what the boat repairs come to.”

“Oh.”Josh blinked at her.Then he looked at Chase.Then back to Juliet.“Does he know how to…build things?Use tools and stuff?”

Juliet didn’t seem offended by the question.Neither did Chase, as a matter of fact.

“Actually no.He’ll need some training.And so will I.”

“Or you could…just pay us for it,” Owen said.“We could do the work.”

“Wecouldjust pay you,” Juliet said.“But you shouldn’t have to do the work.And it’s important to us”—she gave her brother a look—“that this not be that easy.Chase needs to get his hands dirty.He needs to see what goes into rebuilding what he broke.He needs to help make it right.”

“But he doesn’t know how to do the things we’d need him to do,” Owen pointed out.

“No.But we’re both quick learners and it would be a great chance for us to do something new.”

Owen frowned but Maddie was the one that asked, “You?Both of you?”

Juliet nodded.“I’m coming, too.Having two of us will make the work go twice as fast.”

Josh coughed and Maddie could read that it was a “yeah right” cough.

“But you’ll both need training?”Maddie asked.

“Yes.Though I’ve already started researching.”

“Researching?”Maddie asked.

“How to build docks.What kind of materials are needed, how they go together, that kind of thing.”

Maddie elbowed Owen before he could reply.“Oh, okay, well, great,” Maddie said.

Building a dock wasn’t like building a house or something.It was essentially a bunch of wooden slats hooked together and stuck on posts.The girl would need to know how to use a saw and hammer, but neither took a college degree.Though for some reason the idea of Juliet swinging tools around and using sharp things seemed like a bad idea.

“Like I said, Chase needs to be ready to start classes in two weeks.So we’ll both come and help work off what he owes you,” Juliet said.

Finally Bennett leaned in.“You would have to make something like four hundred dollars an hour to pay off what you owe in two weeks.”

Juliet looked at him, as if expecting him to go on.

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