Page 25 of Sunshine
“Let’s just work.”
It’s true that all my interactions with Tessa have been shitty, and yeah she pisses me off, but I don’t hate her. And I did push her buttons. I don’t even know why. I want to work things out with her, make our relationship less hostile, if not neighborly, but every time she gets all Ms. Snooty- Pants on me, I have the inexplicable need to ruffle her feathers. And apparently, I have poor impulse control.
So yeah, maybe I deserve her wrath. Which is why, despite her unreasonable demand—and threat, I have the guys start with some quieter jobs this morning. It’s also why I order some professional-quality noise-cancelling headphones and have them delivered to her place.
The crew is having lunch a week later when I learn that warming my neighbor toward me isn’t going to be as easy as a fancy set of headphones.
A hush falls over the worksite, but it isn’t until Mack says, “What the hell does she think she’s doing?” that I take notice. Turning around, I see Tessa walking straight at me, her sore ankle not slowing her angry stride.
“Jesus,” I mumble and drop my half-eaten sandwich onto the wax paper the deli wrapped it in.
“Tessa,” I say, rising. “We talked about this.” I point to my hard hat as I lean over and snatch and extra out of the back of a pick-up. “If you’re going to come storming over here, you better be wearing this.” She’s still fifteen feet away, so I walk toward her, reaching out to hand her the yellow hard hat. “That’s an order.” Her gaze drops to my hand, and she narrows her eyes, stopping in her tracks.
“I don’t plan on having to come over here again.” She reaches her arm back and tosses something at me.
There’s an audibleoohas the headphone box hits me square in the chest with a soft thud. I watch the box fall the ground before lowering to scoop it up. Ignoring the eyes on me, I shove the box into my back pocket and shake my head. It’ll take a lot more than a small gesture of kindness to win over Tessa Harlow, I guess.Brat.
“Don’t set foot on this site again without a hard hat, Tess Harlow, I mean it.” My firm words are spoken to her back as she shoves her way angrily through the overgrown grass. My stern tone doesn’t have its intended effect because she turns and gives me the finger.
Damn woman needs her ass spanked.
And that’s how it goes over the next few weeks. I get strongly worded letters (usually set under a rock on Reece’s playhouse), livid glares, and sharp words whenever I pass by her place in the evening, even though I attempt to at least push the heavy equipment use until after ten am.
I remain friendly, and Tessa hostile. But at least she hasn’t followed through on any of her threats, and there have been some doozies. That’s probably the only thing keeping me civil now, because dammit, I’ve tried, and this woman is fucking impossible. Lily said she was stubborn…but what a fucking understatement.
As I pass the cottage on my way to the site Friday morning, I glance at the porch. The warm days are winding down, but today is nice and I expected her to be outside, but there’s no laptop and signature fancy teacup out on the deck. I know she’s not sleeping because Jake still crows every morning at first light like a fucking drill sergeant waking me for my morning workout.
I’m still wondering, and if I’m honest, growing a bit concerned, when I pass Reece’s playhouse. As usual there’s a letter, this one more than just a handwritten note on piece of personalized notepaper. Grabbing the typed letter, I read it quickly.
Looking up, I crunch the paper in my fist.
The crew’s trickling in, getting themselves coffee from the canister in the back of Mack’s truck and their work orders for the day while I spend the next thirty minutes online.
I hand Mack the now smoothed out paper as I pour myself a coffee. “Gonna be gone for a bit, Mack.”
“What the fuck she do now?” he says without reading the paper.
“Evicted me.”
His brow raises. “Woman’s got fucking balls, Case. Why don’t you just tell her you’re about to be the local law? That’d stop her bullshit.”
“Nah, that wouldn’t be nearly as fun,” I say, looking down at the email that just popped into my inbox.
“This is fun?” He scoffs at my back as I head back toward Tessa’s place.
“The force frowns on you using your power for intimidation. But it’s all good. I got her beat.”
I hear him snort behind me, but he doesn’t reply. “Give me twenty and I’ll be back.”
“Let me know if you need a tarp and a shovel.”
When I stomp up Tessa’s back porch, it hits why she isn’t outside this morning. She’s hiding from me. She’s upped her game and doesn’t want the confrontation.
“Open up, Sunshine,” I holler as I bang on the door. I’m surprised when it opens quickly. Maybe she wasn’t hiding after all.
“Mr. Biker.”
I smile. “Good morning, Tessa.” My eyes wander down and my smile falls away, my mouth drying at the sight of her. She’s wearing one of those kimono things. The deep-red and black silk seems to caress her body, showing too much and not enough all at the same time.
