Page 28 of Crossing the Line
It had been so long since she'd felt like this about him.
Hell, about anyone.
"I was talking to Hank."
"Hank Ford?"
She grimaced.
She knew she'd kind of pushed in before he was done talking, but she'd just blurted out the first question that had popped into her head.
He smiled then and nodded. "Yes. Hank Ford."
"Ah..." she nodded. "Sorry."
Bixby shook his head. "I was talking to him about your coop. He has some plans he drafted when Jenny was thinking about getting some chickens."
Janice felt her eyes widen at his words. This was news to her.
"He even put together some schematic drawings because he was... How did he say it?" She watched him nod as his brain searched for the information. "Oh, yeah. He said he was on a roll."
She felt her grin stretch then. "I bet he was. He probably thinks about building projects the way you think about new product ideas, and I think about the displays in my half of the market."
His brows rose thoughtfully and then a few seconds later, he nodded. "Maybe."
She felt her whole body lift with joy, rising up on her the balls of her feet in her sneakers.
"So, he said if you want the plans for your coop, he'll send it to me."
Her smile brightened for a moment before reality came crashing down on her.
"You... you don't have to use it," he took a step back, making it harder to see his face.
"No, wait." She reached out and put a hand on the top of the fence. "I... I'm not saying I don't want it. I just don't know when I'm going to have someone to build it."
So," he was almost smiling, "you might want to use his plans?"
"I'm sure his ideas are better than what I found online. I just don't have... someone to build it. And unless it comes in a box like a Lego set, I won't be able to-"
"I'll call Hank." He nodded and turned toward his door.
Before she couldn't gather her words, he opened the door and stepped inside.
"Ahh... Okay?"
She rocked back on her heels and tried to replay his words in her head.
It was a struggle.
When she'd first told Bixby about her plan to have chickens and build a coop in her backyard, he'd given her that one-raised brow stare and let out a sigh.
He hadn't argued with her, but he hadn't been all that excited about it either.
There was a universe of levels between those two. She was really curious where it fell.
Even more interesting was how she'd wanted to keep talking to him.
She'd expected more tension between them, especially because he didn't seem that enthused about the idea earlier.
