Page 7 of The Sweet Part
“We’d better check out her stuffed animals first, or she’ll hound you. No plans for a spa, but it’s a good idea. Maybe down the line we’ll offer massages. Add that to my long list of potential items for the inn.”
We get to the third floor, and May opens a door leading to stairs. We can hear Sophie banging around up there. I gesture for May to go first because I’m a gentleman.
I follow May and keep my eyes glued to her shapely ass. Kidding. I only looked once. Three times max.
When I reach the top of the stairs, Sophie yells, “Ta-dah!” Her stuffed animals are lined up on a faded red sofa. She grabs a bunny from the end and gives me way more detail than I need about how he got his name and her favorite things about him. She puts him back and picks up a yellow bear, then a red bear. My eyes start to cross from all the details on at least thirty stuffed animals. I don’t have any experience with little girls. I’m the oldest of four boys, and Mom isn’t the girly type. I have girl cousins, but when we were little, I ignored them in favor of playing with the boys.
I glance at May, who’s covertly straightening up, putting Sophie’s jacket away, throwing out tissues.
“No need to clean up for me,” I say.
May laughs and holds her hands up. “Caught!”
She stands next to me, watching Sophie proudly introducing her stuffed animal family. My senses go on full alert, tuned into May. The need to touch the soft curve of her cheek makes my fingers twitch.
Nope. No touching. Unless she makes the first move.
May lets out an almost imperceptible sigh before saying, “Time out. We’ll cover more stuffed animals on another day. Mason’s a very busy man. He needs to look at the repair work now.”
Sophie grabs a unicorn with a rainbow horn. “Then I’ll just show you my favorite—Hornbow. He’s onTwinkle Fairies. Do you like that show?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I’ve never seenTwinkle Fairies.”
May speaks in an authoritative voice. “Time to show Mason what needs to be fixed.”
Sophie tucks Hornbow under her arm and grabs my hand. “Come on. I’ll show you the dent I accidentally made in the wall.”
I follow her downstairs with May trailing behind us. Sophie talks a mile a minute about Hornbow’s time at sharing day at her school and how all her friends wanted a turn to play with him.
“Popular unicorn,” I say, stepping onto the second floor.
“I’m popular too,” she says matter-of-factly.
Sophie skips ahead to a bedroom and pushes the door open. I step in with May and inspect the wall, where it looks like the doorknob smashed into it. I glance down at a doorstop installed in the baseboard.
“Someone threw open the door before the doorstop was installed?” I ask.
May looks meaningfully at Sophie, who protests, “I didn’t throw the door. I just pushed it really fast.”
“Next room,” May says.
We continue our tour of the house. May shares her vision for the inn as we go. It’s awesome to see the passion in her expressive face, her enthusiastic voice. Sophie gets bored and makes her way downstairs to watch TV in the family room.
After I finish cataloging the interior repairs, May leads me to the back windows in the family room, where Sophie looks hypnotized by her show and doesn’t even notice us. May points out the deer-fence damage. It’s a six-foot, wire-mesh deer fence. One of the posts is askew, and the fence is flattened low enough for other deer to get in. Apparently, a deer tried to jump the fence, fell on it, and scrambled over the dented fence. No problem.
“Oh, and the light fixtures are over here,” May says.
I follow her to a corner with a collection of boxes for sconces, a couple of hanging lights, and a dining room chandelier. After she shows me where she wants everything, I’ve got a good idea of what to bring when I come back on New Year’s Day.
She walks me to the door. “Thanks again, Mason. It’ll be such a relief to finally be finished. I’m hoping to get the word out and open with a bang for Valentine’s Day weekend.”
“Valentine’s Day and banging go perfectly together,” I quip.Inappropriate. Keep it clean.
She puts a hand over her face, pink suffusing her cheeks. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
Sophie pops up by my side. “You’re leaving already?”
“Yup. But I’ll be back on New Year’s Day to start fixing stuff.”
