Page 51 of Tell Me Again
Ben scoffed. “Mini, my ass.”
“What the hell is a saucy dangle?” Ty asked, wide-eyed.
“Go ask your fiancée,” Sam told him. “While you’re at it, tell her thank you, but I can manage my life just fine.”
“I’m here for the appliances,” Ben told her, a clearly placating smile plastered across his face.
Trevor leaned closer to him. “What about the ass kicking?”
“I think you’re good.”
Trevor didn’t need either of these men’s approval, so the softening in his chest felt strange, yet somehow right.
Obviously not to Sam. She let out a frustrated growl. “You know what, have it out for all I care. I don’t have time for any of this stupid... testosterone.” She hissed the last word then turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.
There was silence for several seconds then Trevor chuckled. “You two think I’m in trouble. You’re dead men walking.”
“I’m stopping for flowers on the way home,” Ty answered immediately.
Ben nodded. “I’ll do chocolate.”
They glanced at Trevor. “I’m about to start ripping up the floor,” he said, gesturing to Ty. “So you can get married here.”
Ty nodded and began to roll up his sleeves. “Tell me where to start.”
“I like how you think,” Ben said and pocketed his watch. “Let’s get to work, Kincaid.”
“I’m getting to work,” Trevor told the two. “My remodel. My ticket out of the doghouse.”
“Let’s face it, we’re in the pound and it’s all or none getting out.”
Trevor ran a hand over his jaw but threw each of them a pair of gloves. “We’ll see who gets his ass kicked today.”
All three of them were tired and sweaty by the time Ben and Ty drove away in Ty’s black truck two hours later. They’d worked in silence for the first hour but eventually they’d started talking, mostly about sports and the best mountain bike routes in different parts of the state. Then Ben had mentioned his frustration with his niece and her sudden interest in a certain boy at school. Trevor had shared his experience with Grace and how he grounded her from social media for Snapchatting a boy in her class.
Trevor had friends he worked with and parents he knew from Grace’s school, but he’d never felt comfortable sharing the trials and tribulations of raising a teenage girl with any of them. Grace had changed so much since his grandmother’s death and he sometimes felt like the biggest idiot on the planet trying to read her moods and decipher the subtle variations in her vast vocabulary of eye rolls.
It was good to know he wasn’t the only idiot parent out there. He found out Ben was actually raising Claire and her brother, Austin, because his brother was in prison. The celebrity chef, as famous for his temper as for his skills in the kitchen, had changed his entire life to take care of his two young charges.
Although he was reluctant to discuss it, according to Ben, Ty had walked away from a wealthy and powerful family because of his father’s corrupt business dealings, eventually exposing him in order to save the heart of a community south of Denver.
Sam had good people who cared about her. Trevor had to admit he was quickly coming to respect her friends.
That’s what he intended to tell her as he made his way up the path to the office. The door was partially open and he knocked at the same time he peeked in. She was seated at her desk but didn’t turn around even when he called her name twice. He walked forward and saw her head was bent in her hands, her shoulders trembling.
He was on his knees at her side in an instant, turning her chair to face him. Her fingers were soaked with tears and she seemed not to realize he was there.
“Sweetheart,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. The guys and I didn’t fight. You put us in our place. You must be epic at taking care of rowdy kids during the summer.”
Her answer was a sob that racked her body and made his heart clench. “I don’t take care of them,” she whispered, her voice a miserable whimper. “I can’t take care of anyone. I fail them all.”
The hair on the back of Trevor’s neck stood on end at the devastation in her tone. “Sam, look at me.” He pried her hands away from her tearstained cheeks. Her eyes were red, swollen, and full of sorrow as she gazed at him. “Tell me what happened.”
She bit down on her lip and closed her eyes.
“Talk to me,” he murmured. “Please.”
“She died. I couldn’t save her, Trevor. Just like Bryce. I couldn’t save her.”
