Page 6 of Love, Always and Forever
The man in question gave the kid a look that promised retribution. “I might be the runt, but better that than the baby of the family.”
Mikhail shot him a dirty look. “How many times do I have to remind you two that there’s a grand total of ten months between the three of us? We’re all the same age.”
Jack clearly wasn’t buying it. “Tino, help me remember. As I recall, you and I graduated at the same time, but blondie here graduated a year later.”
“Yep, that’s how I remember it, too. You and I were both off having grown-up adventures while he was still doing homework and chasing cheerleaders. I still feel bad about that because that’s how he screwed up and enlisted in the marines. If we’d been there, we would’ve made sure he picked the right door when he went to sign up.”
Something in what Tino said perked Ricky right up. “Did you ever catch any, Uncle Mikhail? You know, any cheerleaders?”
Mikhail actually blushed, giving away the answer without him speaking a single word. He glanced in Amy’s direction, looking a bit flustered—or maybe guilty—before turning his attention in another direction. “Jack, you might want to rein in your kid before I start sharing some stories from your past with him. I’m not saying I have pictures, but I’m not exactly saying I don’t.”
By that point, Ricky’s eyes were round and his mouth was hanging open. Tino reached over to chuck his nephew on the chin. “Chew with your mouth closed.”
“But I don’t have any food in my mouth.”
Jack glared at him. “Then take a bite of something. Anything to keep you quiet for a few minutes.”
Ricky picked up his sandwich, but before digging in, he grumbled, “You guys always shut up right when the conversation gets interesting.”
It was hard not to laugh, but maybe she should change subjects. “It looks like you’ll finish installing all the fence posts today.”
Mikhail nodded. “That’s the plan. If we get them all in place fast enough, we might even start hanging the rails. If we don’t, it’s no biggie. I can handle that much without them.”
He paused to smile at her. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you want to help, though. I wouldn’t want the money you spent on that shiny new hammer and fancy pink tool belt to go to waste.”
This time, she was the one blushing. “In my defense, I didn’t buy them. My youngest brother has a rotten sense of humor. He said he thought I might want to hang a picture or two once I moved in.”
“Little did he know that you planned to demolish a fence single-handedly.”
She managed a small laugh, but a flash of fear left her lunch feeling a little bit unsettled. The last thing she needed was for anyone in her family to find out what she’d been doing. She’d fudged a bit when she’d told her father that she was having her fence built by a contractor. Technically, she hadn’t actually lied. She just hadn’t told him the whole truth.
And if that was okay to do, why did she feel so guilty? Her family had spent years worrying about her. This move to another city had been hard on them all, even though she still believed it was the best thing for all concerned. A little time and distance would go a long way toward convincing them that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself these days. Of course, none of them would buy into that idea if they found out she was doing construction work.
Please, God, don’t let any of my family get the crazy idea to drop in on me unexpectedly. That could prove disastrous.
Hoping she sounded more calm than she felt, she asked, “So when will you have time to work on the fence again?”
“I plan to work on it part of tomorrow, but I have to get some other stuff done before I go back to work on Monday. I also work another twenty-four-hour shift starting Wednesday, so it will depend on how busy we are at the firehouse that night. If all is quiet, and I get to sleep, I can start back on the fence late Thursday morning or early in the afternoon. If it’s another rough one like the night before you and I met, it could mean I’ll come home and crash for the entire day. In that case, it will be Friday.”
He paused to take a long drink of water. “Does that work for you?”
“That’s fine. Just give me a call when you’re ready to start.”
The entire crew was about finished eating. Someone had trained them well, because as soon as the guys were done, they started stacking the dishes. Ricky and Mikhail helped carry everything inside the house. It was all she could do to shoo them back outside to let her clean up the kitchen by herself. Considering they were all working for the cost of sliced ham and fruit salad, she wasn’t about to let them do dishes, too.
Luckily for her, the window over the sink faced the backyard, offering her an unobstructed view of four men in the prime of life sweating in the sunshine. It was tempting to snap some pictures to post online, but she couldn’t risk it. Even if she limited access to a couple of her closest girlfriends, there was always a chance they would tell someone in her family about it.
No need to go there. None at all.
Still, it was tempting to snap at least one of Mikhail for the scrapbook she was putting together to document this major move in her life. He happened to glance at the window right then. Oops, caught staring again. What could she do but wave with a sudsy hand and then get right back to work scrubbing dishes? She felt his answering grin right down to her toes.
If it was this hard to pretend he was just another one of the guys today with his brothers and nephew underfoot to serve as a buffer between them, what would it be like tomorrow when it was just the two of them? She didn’t know, but she couldn’t wait to find out.
