Page 8 of All of Me

My whole world was fucked. My body was a mess, and I was obsessed with someone I wasn’t sure even liked me beyond what he classed as obligation.

And yet all my worries paled into insignificance at the sight of a donkey wearing a straw hat, standing in the middle of the flower bed by the front door. I seemed to remember there had been yellow flowers in there yesterday.

The only ones left were the ones sticking out from her mouth as she chewed.

Chapter Four

Drake

I groaned. Loudly. “Fucking Dolly.”

Shae swung his head around sharply. “Dolly?” I didn’t answer, just took my seat belt off. “Dolly the donkey?” Shae clarified, his eyes lighting with humor, and for a moment I had to swallow another groan. When Shae lit up like that he was stunning.

I opened my door before my body got any other ideas, just as I heard the footsteps and spotted Moira huffing a little as she tried to run. “Dolly, you naughty girl,” she scolded, and I grinned as Dolly, who was a regular escapee from her field, remained unrepentant even as Moira clipped a short rope on her halter. “I’m so sorry, Drake.” But then her eyes widened as she took in Shae, who had just gotten out of the truck.

“This is Shae,” I waved to him. “He’s a friend.” I added vaguely. I glanced at Shae, but he hadn’t moved from the truck. “This is Moira from next door.”

“Ma’am,” he mumbled, but kept his gaze lowered.

“Dolly won’t hurt you,” I assured him, in case that’s why he wasn’t coming any nearer. “She’s just a stubborn ass.”

“Donkey,” Moira corrected, her lips twitching. It was an old joke. I glanced at Shae again, but he wasn’t looking at Dolly. He shot Moira a nervous look and didn’t come closer and I wanted to slap myself. Shae was enhanced. He had a huge scar on his face. He was used to people being frightened of him, often downright hostile. “The police came and told us your house had caught fire, but you’d already left in the ambulance. A nice young man named Diesel called us to say you were fine.” She glanced sharply at both of us as if checking for injuries. “Are you both okay? I’m sorry I couldn’t help. I’m afraid I have to sleep on the other side of the house because of Albert’s snoring, and with his pills it would take an explosion to wake him.” She snorted. “And probably me.”

“We’re fine,” I assured her, knowing the damage was on the back of the house and not obvious. I smiled at Diesel being called a nice young man. “Shae loved the chicken last night.” Moira’s face lit up and, practically throwing the rope at me, she walked toward him with her arms outstretched. Shae stepped back in alarm, but the truck was behind him, and Moira had her arms around him before he got the chance to escape. She stepped back after a hug where Shae remained frozen, then clasped one of his hands and patted it with the other. “I’m very pleased to meet you.” Not letting go, she turned to me. “Shame on you, Drake Starr. The poor boy looks half-starved.” She turned back to Shae. “Never you mind. I’ll send Albert over with some peach pie when it comes out of the oven.” She frowned. “I’ve time to put some cookies in, and the ice cream should be ready as well.” She beamed, patted Shae’s hand again, then let go and stepped back to me, nodding at Dolly. “Put her in the backyard, there’s a good boy.” And with that, she left.

Shae’s mouth was hanging open in shock and I chuckled. “Come on, I might as well show you where Dolly lives. Putting her back there is a regular occurrence.”

He moved quickly, a small smile on his face, and came up to the donkey, reaching out a cautious hand and petting her neck. Seeing as how Dolly had finished the flowers, she was quite happy to go home. I handed Shae the rope and unlocked the gate and opened it, scanning the fence line looking for a break, but of course there wasn’t one. Dolly was creative. She could undo the original gate, so we changed the lock. She kicked at a fence post until it fell over, and then she stepped over the wire. She gotintothe field with the horses without any of the horses getting out, and we had no idea how she managed that one. Over the years, she’d never gone any farther than either of our yards, so after a while, Moira and Albert just stopped trying to corral her.

I shut the gate behind me, but we didn’t bother locking it anymore. Shae and I walked back home, just in time to see the truck from Anderson Construction pull in. I hadn’t even had a chance to look at the damage yet myself, so I was surprised that Roy was so quick. It was Kenny, his son, who jumped out, and I quickly introduced Shae. Shae shook hands this time and followed us as I explained what had happened last night.

“Damn, that’s messed up,” Kenny said and for the next hour he examined the damage, noting the worst damage was in the bedroom Shae had slept in. He gave me a price and I asked him to look at the kitchen. Between what Shae had said and my sudden determination not to let Ryan get his hands on Ellie and Jim’s legacy, I wanted to start the projects as soon as possible.

He opened cupboard doors and examined the pantry. “What sort of look are you going for?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it, then looked at Shae for some reason.

He’d been watching and listening to everything after he’d originally said he was leaving us to it, and I said I would appreciate another opinion.

“I can make this very modern,” Kenny started with, and I caught the wince from Shae. I raised an eyebrow.

“What do you think?” I prompted. If Kenny was surprised I was asking Shae’s opinion he didn’t show it.

Shae hesitated but then shrugged. “I don’t think modern fits the house.” He walked to the old butler’s sink. “This is history. Can you update without it feeling different?”

I smiled slowly, and Kenny nodded. “Of course. Are you replacing the range?” It hadn’t worked for some time.

“Yeah,” I said, liking the idea of restoring this house to its former glory, even though the devil on my shoulder asked me what the point was when I was hardly here, and it wasn’t like I had any family. Regret burned at me briefly until I got distracted by Shae asking questions about types of wood for the cabinets like he was really interested.

I leaned back and listened. Kenny had been a little hesitant at first. Maybe it was the scar, maybe it was Shae’s age. I’d kept my personal life private. Not that I’d ever dated much, and I certainly hadn’t ever brought someone here. It seemed like Kenny had been pushing his dad to specialize instead of trying to keep up in a very competitive market, and custom cabinetry was one of his ideas. He and Shae agreed that cherry was expensive, and oak was easier to source and waterproof. Kenny’s eyes dropped to the vinyl flooring, and he glanced at me. “Can I?”

I nodded and he went to the corner and peeled a small piece back, then whistled appreciatively. “Pretty sure this is the original oak flooring underneath.”

“It would look fantastic, stripped back,” Shae agreed.

I stared at him in shock. I knew Shae’s background, so where the hell was all this coming from? He saw me looking andflushed. I agreed quickly, as I didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable, or think that I doubted him.

“You have any experience with this sort of work?” Kenny asked, picking up on Shae’s enthusiasm.

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