Page 11 of Wandering Closer

“Did you steal Jake’s truck?” I ask, pointing behind him.

His cheeks heat, turning the cutest shade of pink. “No, this one is mine but the trailer is his. We have the same truck, and before you ask, I had mine first and he copied me.” He crouches down, giving his dog the attention she demands. “How’d you know I know Jake?”

The heat travels up my chest and into my cheeks. “Michele told me you guys were friends. She was my realtor, and is the one who gave me Jake’s contact information. We may have gotten wine drunk while she told me about all of your guys’ high school days.”

He groans as he stands back up. “That can never be a good thing.” He scratches his hands at the back of his neck. “So I did something, and I don’t want you to be upset. I just wanted to help.”

“Okaaaay?”

He shifts on his feet then walks back to the trailer. As I follow along I notice long wood planks tied to it. Spinning toward me, he says, “I know you said the deck was next on your list of projects, so I wanted to drop these off for you. I have tools youcan borrow for it, too. I’m not sure what all you have or need. I can help with all of it or just the first board or two until you get confident. I know you wanted to do it yourself, and I know you can. I just thought, I’m here and I’ve done it before…” He rocks back on his heels.

I open my mouth, then close it, at a complete loss of what to say. After one conversation, he listened and took action. Not only that, but he acted without steamrolling me and my desires. I’ve never had someone do something this nice before, and I will happily take his help. I’ll still get that same sense of accomplishment by doing it with him.

“Thank you.” I clear the emotion in my throat, “I would love your help. And I’ll pay you for the wood and your time.”

“Absolutely not. This is my thanks for helping take care of Shadow. I’ll unload all this and then run home to change out of my uniform and grab my tools. Are you okay starting on this tonight?”

My eyes rove over his work boots beneath dark green pants that hug tight to his legs, then over his green button up shirt that’s taut over his chest. Sleeves rolled to perfection showing off his tattooed forearms that flex with his movements. Forearm porn… it’s a real thing. I don’t think he needs to change. His unruly hair is mussed to perfection on top, making his rugged look that much hotter.

“I’ll help you unload your wood.Thewood, I meant the wood, not your wood.” Holy mother of god, I did not just say that.

His chuckle is deep, wrapping me in warmth. “Come on then,” he says, undoing the straps and handing me a few planks at a time. We work in tandem, getting everything laid out in the backyard, before he hops back in his truck with Shadow in tow, promising to be right back.

While he’s gone, I head inside to wash up and pull out a second steak for dinner. In the bathroom, I splash some wateron my face and try to scrub the paint off my hands and arms. My brush gets caught in the tangles of my hair so I throw it back up in a claw clip. I won’t bother changing since I’m covered in paint anyway. By the time I get myself semi presentable again, I hear him pull back up out front.

“Ready to work,” he says, holding up a tool box in one hand and a drill in the other as I step out the front door. I try to focus on the tools, I really do, but his stained dark jeans and black tee stretched tight over broad shoulders is stealing the show. Something about a man willing to get his hands dirty and that knows how to fix things just does it for me.

“Let’s get to it then,” I lick my lips, trying to bring moisture back to my dry mouth. “Thanks again, for helping me with this.” His footfalls weigh heavy as he follows me around to the back.

“Happy to. I redid my deck just last year. Not to brag, but I’m practically a professional now,” he winks, handing me a crow bar and protective glasses. “First things first, we need to move the couch and remove all the old rotting boards.”

Together we get to work, and I balk at how easily some of the boards crumble when pried up. I’m prying up my fifth board when I glance over and see Thoren isn’t wearing safety glasses like me. “Hey, where’s your glasses?”

“You have them,” he says, not bothering to look up. “I only have one pair and I’d rather protect your eyes.” He continues pulling up boards like he didn’t just blow me away again.Friends,I remind myself. I cannot get involved with anyone again. This man seems to be a walking green flag, and I seem to be great at ignoring the red ones, so I might as well ignore the green too. “I took a wild guess on the amount of boards you’d need, but counting it out now, I’ll have enough to replace the bad ones and some extra. Do you want to do it all and I can get the rest of the boards later this week?”

“No, you don’t have to do that. We can just replace the really bad ones and next summer I can replace the rest. Since I’ll practically be a pro by then,” I giggle. “We can just put the extras in the little shed.” I pull up the last rotting board, noticing that by the time I removed seven, he removed double that.

“That’s a good plan. Can you start measuring out lengths and I’ll start making cuts so we can get these new boards screwed in?”

I handed the safety glasses to him. I may not know much when it comes to home projects, but I know he needs them with a saw. He shows me how to measure each length, marking it on the wood. Surprisingly, he lets me do it alone, even when I measure incorrectly more than once.

“You’re doing great,” he assures me, grabbing another one of the spare pieces, when I measure wrong again. “Are you sure this is your first time doing this?”

This man. This dang man. “Thanks, Thoren,” I squeak out, knowing full well I am doing a terrible job. “Would you like to stay for dinner? I’m making steak and roasted potatoes.”

He looks up from where he’s kneeling, sweat dripping down his forehead, his hazel eyes locking on mine. One side of his mouth raises in a small smile, “I would love that, thanks Lily.”

He finishes cutting the last board, showing me how to use the drill. I may have to remove a few of the screws in the beginning, but by the end I have the hang of it and do half of them on my own.

The sun is starting to set now as we stand and admire our work. After a good scrubbing of the older planks, the whole deck will look good as new. I know for a fact I could never have done this on my own, even with YouTube. Thoren nudges my shoulder with his, “Look at what you accomplished today. I hope you feel a sense of pride. You did so well.” Something aboutthose words in his rough voice have shivers skating down my spine.

“Thank you,” I wipe my hands on my shirt, unable to tear the smile from my face. I do feel proud. “I’m going to wash up and start dinner. Would you like to come in?”

“Yeah, Lily, I would love to.”

CHAPTER SIX

thoren

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