Page 17 of Love, Always and Forever
Ricky ducked behind Jay. “No fair ganging up on me like this.”
Jay sidestepped him. “Don’t involve me in your family squabbles, kid. I’d suggest getting to work and hoping for the best. But if things do go badly for you, can I have your game collection?”
When his uncles both cracked up, Ricky flung his hands in the air. “No way, not if you won’t defend me from such abuse.”
Mikhail ruffled the boy’s hair. “Get to work or I’ll show you what abuse really looks like.”
Acting much put-upon, Ricky immediately joined Amy at the woodpile. “See what I have to deal with?”
She patted him on the shoulder. “Well, as the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”
He rolled his eyes as he reached past her to pick up a board. “Yeah, right. I swear they taught us in my AP History class that child labor had been outlawed in this country.”
Tino walked by carrying a second nail gun. “As I seem to recall, you were asking your dad for a chance to earn extra money. Something about wanting to buy a car of your own.”
Ricky perked right up. “Wait. I’m getting paid? With real money and not just pizza?”
Mikhail was carrying a second load of stuff from the SUV. “Yes, with real money. That was the deal. And, by the way, I’m paying you a flat fee, not an hourly rate. So no dragging out the job just so you can earn a few more bucks. It won’t do you any good, and it will just piss me off.”
The teenager stumbled back a couple of steps with his hands over his heart. “I’m devastated that you’d even think such a thing. I’d never do that.”
“Not unless you thought I wouldn’t notice.” Mikhail gave his nephew a narrow-eyed look, but the boy only laughed as he picked up another board and headed off to where Tino stood waiting in Amy’s backyard. Evidently they were going to work on both fences at once.
Jay stared after the teenager. “You know, I’d really like to think we were never that mouthy when we were his age, but I was worse.”
Amy carried a board over to him. “My brothers were all just like him, and they turned out okay. You obviously did, too.”
“There are some that would argue that point, but thank you for that.”
Where had Mikhail disappeared to this time? Maybe she was imagining things, but it felt like he was avoiding her. She also wanted to know why he’d asked the guys to come help today. After making sure Jay had a ready supply of the boards, she went in search of her elusive neighbor and spotted him coming out of his back door with a cooler.
She closed the door for him and waited until he set it down. “You didn’t mention anything about Tino and the others coming over today to help.”
Rather than meet her gaze, he stared over her head toward the back corner of the yard where Tino and his nephew were hard at work. “I found out that Ricky was needing some extra cash. I thought he might jump at the chance to help out.”
Yeah, right. She’d seen how excited the kid was to be there. He might not mind helping out, but she’d bet her bottom dollar this wasn’t the boy’s first choice of how he wanted to spend the day. Besides, he’d been genuinely surprised to find out he was getting paid.
“And Jay and Tino? Neither one had anything better to do with their time?”
He finally looked directly at her, his expression flat. “I wanted to make sure we got the fence done before you bring the puppy home.”
“We have another week to work on it.”
By now, Mikhail was shifting from foot to foot as if he was one second away from bolting. It didn’t take long for her to figure out that one plus one added up to two people kissing.
“Is this because of last night? Are you sorry?” She kept her voice low, but injected enough temper into her words to make sure he’d answer. “And here’s a hint: I’m not talking about the barbecue or peach cobbler.”
Mikhail took her by the arm and all but dragged her into his house, obviously wanting to make sure they continued this conversation out of hearing of the others. Once they were inside, he stepped back to put some distance between them.
“I’m not sorry.” He ran his fingers through his hair, clearly frustrated. “Okay, that’s not true.”
She winced, his words stabbing her straight in the chest. “As I recall, you kissed me first.”
“I did, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed each and every one of them.”
Frustrated with a conversation that was going nowhere fast, Amy put her hands on her hips and glared up at the man she thought had become a friend. “Then what is your problem? It’s not like I’m naïve enough to think a few hot kisses constitute a commitment of some kind. I had a great time last night and thought you did, too.”
She paced across the width of the kitchen and back. “No, I take that back. Iknowyou did. There was no mistaking some pretty hard evidence at the time, if you catch my drift. Besides, you even said so. So what’s changed since last night and this morning?”
