Page 116 of Sweet Home Louisiana

“No offense, Ms.Dawson, but I don’t know that I believe your carpentry skills are quite up to that level.”

Juliet tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled at Bennett.“Of course not.I’m much better with depositions than drills.But we’d like a chance to work off what we can and then talk about paying the difference.”

Okay, so she was realistic about her skills.And she was a pretty quick thinker.Maddie liked her.

“I think it’s great,” Maddie said.

“You do?”Owen asked.

She elbowed him again.“I do.”

Bennett gave her a look.“I think we need to talk about it.”

Juliet dug through her accordion file and pulled a page out.“Here we go,” she said.“There was a case in Oregon where a couple of twenty-one-year-olds stole a car and drove it into a play structure in a public park.The judge ruled that they could do jail time or rebuild the structure.”She looked up.“So there’s some precedent.”

“No judge is ruling in this case, though,” Bennett said.

“We were hoping to avoid that,” Nate said.“If we can settle this and Boys of the Bayou drops the charges, then there’s no need to involve a judge.Saves us all time.And money.”

“I think we need to—” Bennett started.

But Maddie interrupted.“Guys, can I talk to you in the hallway for a second?”Maddie stood and started for the door before they’d even answered.

“Wha—” Bennett started, but then he got up and followed when he saw that Josh and Owen were already out of their chairs.

They all stepped into the hallway and Josh pulled the door shut behind them.

“This is a…surprise,” Owen said, pushing a hand through his hair.

Maddie nodded.“I know.We should totally do this.”

Josh frowned.“Do this?You mean let them come down and work off the damages?”

Maddie nodded.“As much as they can in two weeks anyway.”

“Why?”Bennett asked.“Why would you want that?”

“There’s no way they’re going to be any help at all,” Josh said.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Maddie said.“I think she’s perfect.”

“She’sperfect?”Owen asked.“What the hell for?”

“Sawyer.”

They all just stared at her for a second.

Then Josh asked, “What?”

Maddie nodded, completely sure of her plan now.“Look, Sawyer is going to insist on overseeing, hell,helpingwith the rebuilding, no matter who does it.”

Since the accident at the dock, Sawyer been even worse about trying to keep an eye on everything and everyone in line.Maddie hadn’t thought that was possible.

“He’s talked to Skip and Tanner about it already,” she went on.“But they’re charging us extra because they know he’s going to be a pain in the ass and we all know they’ll end up quitting on day one when he starts bitching at them.But Juliet and Chase willneedhis help.They know that.They’ll listen and let him be bossy and they can start right away.”Skip and Tanner couldn’t start the project for at least two more weeks.

“But they don’t know what they’re doing,” Josh pointed out.

Maddie shrugged.“Come on.It’s not brain surgery.Sawyer can show them what to do.And,” she added.“Juliet seems really serious about wanting Chase to make up for his mistake.We all know how it feels to mess something up andnotbe able to make it right.Let’s let them do this.”

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