Page 40 of Fix Them Up
‘Oh.’ I tried to pretend I wasn’t disappointed. I’d gone from being called beautiful to being completely off-limits. Great. He clearly didn’t fancy me, which was fine. It made things a lot simpler, actually.
‘Are you sure? I’m not going to be in the way?’
‘No more than usual.’
I rolled my eyes, ‘If you are sure and only if you are sure. But I want to pay you something.’ He protested, but I shut him down. ‘Let me pay for utilities.’
‘Lydia mentioned you’re a graphic designer. That’s why you were so offended by these.’ Liam leaned forward, pulled a business card out of his back pocket and handed it to me. My nose wrinkled at the boring black card.
‘So boring,’ I muttered under my breath.
‘You’re the expert. So you can pay me back by redesigning the logo and get me some new business cards.’
I waved it in front of his face. ‘You have to admit, they are boring.’
Liam levelled me a dry look, but his lips lifted slightly.
‘We’re builders. All of our work is by word of mouth. Handing you that card was the first time I’ve ever used one of those cards. And that was only because I was worried if I didn’t provide you with ID, you’d throw another lamp at me.’
‘I didn’t have any more lamps to throw. I am lampless.’
‘Just as well,’ he muttered. ‘I think I’ve still got the bruise from the last one.’
‘Baby,’ I crooned, and surprise flooded Liam’s features at the word, his ears going pink.
Liam coughed, ‘Redesign the logo, and we’re even.’
‘I’ll do more than that. I’ll design a complete rebrand. Website, socials. The lot. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s sufficiently manly.’
Liam laughed. ‘It’s your choice. I’ll take whatever you give me.’ He nodded to the mess of my collapsed tent. ‘Have you got everything?’
I groaned. ‘My stuff’s in the tent. It’s probably soaking now.’
‘Wait here, I’ll go and get it.’
Liam jumped out of the van and returned to the tent with most of my belongings. Liam was clearly an ‘acts of service’ kind of man. I’d always wondered what it would be like to meet one of those. I’d always dated guys who could say lovely, honeyed words but then would inform the barman that we were paying for our drinks separately. Liam seemed the type to pay for the lot and help you move a sofa into your apartment on a Saturday afternoon. He wouldn’t spiral when you asked if he would come to your cousin’s wedding.
He was anall-inkind of guy.
Climbing back into the van, Liam had rain glistening on his cheeks.
‘I couldn’t rescue the blankets and towels, but I’ve got some you can use.’
Liam started the van and pulled off the drive, his words giving me a zip of excitement. I was going to see where Liam lived. He was still a bit of a mystery to me. I imagined the last bachelor pad I’d visited – a loser I’d met on Tinder. I’d taken a chance on him and had been bitterly disappointed when morning rolled around. I left his eerily bare apartment in the same clothes from the night before and a green shoot of regret in my stomach, adding a new branch to my deep-rooted self-hatred.
‘Do you have navy sheets?’ My thought-to-mouth speed was incredibly fast.
Liam arched an eyebrow. ‘You want to know what colour sheets I have?’
‘No! Not like that. It’s a thing. Men have navy sheets. I saw it as a joke online, and then it was confirmed by pretty much all the guys I’ve met on Tinder.’ My eyes widened. ‘Not that I’ve hooked up with a load of men on Tinder. I don’t go home with them until I know they won’t murder me in my sleep. I’ve listened to too many true crime podcasts.’ I stopped myself, taking a deep breath. ‘Sorry, that was a lot.’
Liam chuckled as we stopped at the red lights. ‘No, I don’t have any navy sheets. I have white ones.’
‘Shocking. I had you pegged for a navy sheet man.’
Liam glanced over at me. ‘Disappointed?’
‘Not at all; it gives me hope. One guy used empty booze bottles as decor and Fairy Liquid as a body wash.’
