Page 10 of Just Breathe

“I’ve got to go take these to her. If not, you know she is going to complain and then she probably won’t do it. I’ve invested too much time for her not to do this project.” Aiden looked like he had the world on his shoulders.

“We have another trailer of supplies coming in. Nathan and I can only do so much before they start bitching that we are taking too long.” Callum wiped his face with a handkerchief, looking annoyed. “Is it really worth us doing just her cabinets? You know she needs to have those counter tops replaced and that back splash. We’re gonna spend more time than usual making sure we don’t fuck up those old countertops.”

“Well, if that’s all she can afford, I can’t force her to spend more money,” Aiden snapped at Callum.

“I think she can afford more; she’s just being a stickler and I honestly think she likes those awful counter tops.” Nathan put his two cents in between bites of chips.

“I’ll try to be back as soon as possible. Maybe I can get her to say yes to new counter tops.” Aiden took his shirt from his back pocket and shook it off.

“I can go drop off the samples and see why she doesn’t want to do the countertop?” I offered. All three of them looked at me like they’d forgotten I was there.

“See. Perfect solution,” Callum agreed with me while still snacking. “Let Jane go, and we can finish this shit.”

Aiden looked at me, conflicted. “I can’t ask her to do our work for us.”

“I honestly don’t mind. Like I said, I’m here for two weeks. Keeping myself busy is exactly what I need.” I tried to give him a smile to reassure him, noticing Nathan looking at me with an odd expression.

“She might respond well to Jane. You know older women are always wary of being taken advantage of and this way if she sees a woman helping, she might move forward on the project.” Nathan nodded his head, like he was working the scenario in his head.

“Jane, I can’t really ask you to do this for me, as much as I appre…”

I held my hand up to him. “Aiden, you would be doing me a favor. I want to be kept busy. I’m offering my help and it’s just leaving some cabinet samples. I would literally just be going to my rental to do nothing but sit around a think about my sad situation, so please just let me help you out.” I wasn’t one to use a puppy dog face or bat my eyelashes to get what I wanted, but I attempted it, probably looking like a cracked-out woman, but I think it was working.

He rolled his eyes. “You play dirty, Jane.”

Callum and Nathan snickered. I couldn’t help but laugh a little too, but I knew if I hadn’t played the dead husband card, he might not have gone for it.

I shrugged, trying to stay a little innocent. “Don’t complain about help. Now give me her address and any estimates you might have given her, so I don’t flub or say something stupid.”

“I have some pricing for her in the truck. The estimate has her address.” Nathan motioned me over to their big truck.

“Mrs. Montgomery is a finicky old woman, so don’t be surprised if she’s curt with you.” Aiden really looked worried about me going. “She’s also a widow, lost her husband at the end of last year.”

“I’m sure she’s an amiable woman. You just think that because she probably doesn’t eat up your good looks.” There I go, putting my foot in my mouth. I pretended like I didn’t just call him good looking or that it didn’t matter. I also needed to change the subject of her being a widow and how much that made my heart hurt for her.

“I think that’s exactly why Aiden gets frustrated with her. She doesn’t eat up at your good looks.” Nathan turned around and raised his eyebrows like he was insinuating something else.

Aiden barked out a laugh. He smirked at me, telling me he didn’t miss me calling him good looking. My face got hot in embarrassment.

“I’ll remember that next time I have to deal with her.” We stopped at the truck, letting Nathan go through some papers.

“Here’s the estimate of just the cabinets. This one’s for the cabinets and the changing of countertops.” He showed me the estimates but took one back and wrote something down on it. I looked over his arm to see what he was writing, and we softly brushed against each other. I quickly pulled back when I realized I was way too close to this man.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, feeling like my body was doing its own thing with these men around. I was getting way too comfortable with them.

“It’s ok. I was just writing the cost of each sample we got for her.” He gave me a small, shy smile. It was refreshing seeing this man shy and almost unsure of himself. I liked it.

“Oh, great.” I skimmed the estimate for her address. “Wow Nathan, you have great handwriting.”

“Thanks.” He looked a little embarrassed.

Butterflies danced in my chest at how adorable he looked. “Alright boys, wish me luck!” I walked back to my truck before I did something stupid, and Aiden followed me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him ball his fists in his pockets. He looked nervous all over again.

“Don’t look so worried. What’s the worst that could happen?” I joked as I got to my car.

“Are you sure about this?” His emerald eyes found mine and our gaze locked for what felt like forever. “I know you said you need to be kept busy. I just don’t want you to feel that you have to help me or feel obligated to.”

He looked genuinely worried, like he suspected I might go off the rails at any moment. Did I look like someone in self-destruct mode, like someone on the brink of a nervous breakdown? I hoped not.

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