Page 13 of I Choose You
“Oh, yes. I know all about that.” Charlie’s eyes danced with amusement.
“Dad, your dinner’s getting cold. You should get going.”
Charlie ignored Reid’s comment, continuing to talk to me. “How are things going over there? Reid been treating youalright?”
My gaze found Reid’s. We both knew that Reid had been dismissive, cold, and sometimes downright rude to me, but I wasn’t going to tattle on him to his dad. Especially not after he’d bought me pizza and wine and shared his sweatshirt with me.
“Reid’s been great. This project is a really big deal for both of us, and Reid’s been a great resource to me. He’s really been, ah, great.” I smiled brightly at Charlie. Was that too many “greats”? That felt like too many “greats.”
Charlie’s deep chuckle shook his entire chest. “That’s kind of you to say, even if it is a lie.” His demeanor changed, a serious expression coming over him. “Reid could use a little more kindness in his life right now.”
“Okay, Dad. Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your night. Tell Sheila I said hi.” Reid’s rapid-fire words made Charlie shake his head with a smirk on his face. He patted Reid on the shoulder and nodded to me.
“It was nice to meet you, Claire,” he said before taking his leave.
“You too.” I turned to Reid, “He seems nice. I’m guessing you don’t take after him,” I teased.
“He’s nosy, and he goes out of his way to embarrass his kids,” Reid said with a roll of his eyes. His lips turned up in a smirk. “But yeah, he’s pretty cool. And way nicer than me.”
“Clearly,” I laughed.
Reid’s smile at my teasing lit me up with pride. He had a great smile, and I resolved to make him smile more just so I could see it.
5
Reid
“Put everything in the old Children’s Center for now,” I told Shawn as we started unloading the supplies. We were finally at the stage where I got to start building things. All of the demo was completed. Broken furniture was removed, floors were ripped out, the basement had been remediated and repaired. Now, we were getting to the good stuff.
Claire walked up to the truck, a tray of coffees in her hands. She wore a pair of wide-leg jeans with a top that was skintight but somehow still looked classy and not trashy and a tan trench coat open over it. Her work boots made me smile. She hadn’t worn a single other pair of shoes since that first day; didn’t matter what outfit she wore, it was always paired with those work boots. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was pulled off her face and clipped back.
Ever since that night a few weeks ago when we got pizza together, it was like something had shifted in me. Maybe it was seeing her outside of this building or hearing about her shitty ex and even shittier parents, but I didn’t feel as inclined to push her away anymore. I even found myself kind of… not hating her.
“Do you guys need any help hauling things inside? I’ll drop the coffees off in my office and be right back,” she said.
“Nah, we’ve got it covered. Thank you though.”
Just then, Richie and Dale came out of the library from their first trip.
“Ah, coffee! Thank you, beautiful.” Dale was already reaching for his cup with the Flour Power Café logo on it before I cut him off. Until Claire started bringing coffees in, I hadn’t so much as seen one of those cups in months. A product of my avoiding the places where I might run into Kayleigh, and as her place of work, Flour Power Café was top of the list.
“That can be your prize after you’ve earned it. We’ve barely gotten started. It’s not break time,” I snapped at him.
I felt everyone’s eyes on me, but I refused to look at anyone. I wasn’t usually like that with my crew, especially not Dale or Richie. They’d been at this game a lot longer than I had. They worked for me, yeah, but they still taught me things all the time. Shawn, well, he could be a different story sometimes.
“Well, I’ll just put these in my office for whenever you guys are ready for them.”
Claire walked inside, and I started to grab more lumber, loading up my arms with as much as I could carry.
“You good?” Richie asked quietly.
“Yup.” I didn’t elaborate or explain my sudden outburst. I couldn’t even if I wanted to.
After the third or fourth trip, I let everyone off the hook so they could grab their coffee before it got cold.
Claire’s office was toasty warm, her small electric heater cranked up. Music was playing from her computer, a poppyhit song from the ’90s that she was singing along to.
The guys all shuffled into her office together to pick up their specific drink orders that she brought in every morning. She knew that she didn’t need to butter them up, right? They already loved her.
