Page 34 of Loyally, Luke
Luke shot another gaze heavenward and pinched back a complaint.
He always appreciated God’s sense of humor inotherpeople’s lives, but he couldn’t say the same for it in his own. At least not about—he frowned—the heart.
With a few short commands, he sent the men off in variousdirections and braced himself as the orange, floral scent slipped around him at her approach.
Time to shove any ooey gooey romance thoughts into the far recesses of his mind, deep into the nothing box.
“I thought we weren’t starting until nine.” He turned to her voice, her head tipped back and eyes narrowed. “Did you tell me the wrong time on purpose?”
And he pushed his attraction to this woman into the nothing box too. “Nope, it’s just that the men all showed up early, so there was no use waiting around to start the job.”
“Well, next time I’ll make sure to arrive early too.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Now, where do I start?”
He gestured with his head toward the group of men to the right. “I’m placing you with Pete and the gofers.”
“The what?”
Don’t grin. It’s a sign of weakness.
“In a building crew, there are usually two groups. The ones who have more experience and know how to be most effective and efficient with our time, and the ones with less experience but plenty of good sense.” He raised a brow. “Well, I’mhopingthere’s plenty of good sense in our gofer crew, but I haven’t seen what sort of workers they are quite yet.”
Shucks. Why did he feel compelled to tease all the high-class right out of her? It was like his mouth didn’t listen to one word his brain was telling it.
“You’re not implying anything, are you, Mr.Edgewood?” Her brows rose, the slight tilt of her lips revealing her playfulness in the conversation.
Daggone it. A sense of humor was about as attractive as those eyes. He pushed that thought into the nothing box too... and then his shoulders deflated.
There were a whole lot of somethings piling up in that nothing box.
“No implication whatsoever,” he shot back, watching the glint deepen in her eyes. “Time will tell.”
Her bottom lip dropped the slightest bit before slipping into a smile. “Good sense learned through trial may be more my speed.”
He studied her for a second.
Hmm... there was no mistake she was trying to overcome something in her past from the smattering of remarks she’d made so far.
Nope. Stop, Luke. Don’t think beyond, “Hi, nice to seeya. Would you help carry that piece of shoe mold to the scrap pile?”
“That’s probably the best kind of good sense.”
She paused her gaze in his before dipping her chin. “Good.” She started toward Pete and then tossed a look over her shoulder. “But for proper reference, I know my way around a hammer. I may not be able to do much else as far as construction, but interior design taught me that much.”
Interior design? Hmm... then her comfort with a hammer made sense.
He pulled his gaze away from her retreating form and put his mind to task.
The process moved rather smoothly from there. Luke only had trouble understanding Ross and Gordon a few times, and they weren’t big talkers either. Sometimes he’d overhear them making comments to each other in Gaelic or Caedric—he wasn’t sure which one—but otherwise, they kept to work talk. Good craftsmen related to good craftsmen for the most part. And mostly used work talk, which suited Luke just fine. The understanding of the work and the desire to do a good job transcended different cultures and backgrounds in many ways.
It was another reason he liked working in building over accounting. He’d always been drawn to creating with his hands. Sure, it startedwith some mean LEGO skills, but his uncle had seen the carpentry gift and taken Luke under his wing. His father’s handcrafts through furniture making only enhanced Luke’s skills and interest.
His mom had said it was because Luke liked fixing things.
His gaze traveled up from his place by the window and fell on Ellie, who was carrying scrap wood from the kitchen floor out to a safe place away from the children. Pete came along and offered to help, but she shook her head, continuing on without complaint. She’d been working as hard as the rest of them all morning.
Well, Pete seemed a little distracted by one of the lower-grade teachers. The teacher seemed pretty distracted by Pete too, from the way she kept making eyes at him.
Luke frowned and returned to his work. He wasn’t making eyes at Ellie like that, was he? Oh man, that would just be embarrassing.
