Page 35 of Hold

“Yeah, I know you would. But people can hurt themselves anyway. And your mom wouldn’t like it much if I brought you back extra-crispy from an electric shock. But I tell you what.” Benji looked at him with so much hope, it made Liam’s heart ache. How much had he already inserted himself into their lives? What if things didn’t work out with Thea?

Still, he was here now. And he knew he’d always be there for these boys, if they’d let him. “The siding on the house? By the air conditioner?” Benji nodded. “Next week sometime, will you help me replace it? The air con leaked on it, and it’s all rotten.”

Benji was beaming again, a mini-Fielding smile. “Do I get to use the nail gun?”

He didn’t have to look at Thea to know the horror on her face. “Better. You get to use the drill and the electric screwdriver. It’s got twenty-one clutch settings.”

Benji’s eyes were huge. It didn’t matter that he didn’t have a clue what a clutch was. It mattered that he thought Liam thought he knew. “Okay,” he said.

“Great,” Thea said. She’d put on a pair of ballet flats and had her purse in one hand and Benji’s backpack in the other. Her hair was back in a ponytail again, and Liam missed the silk of it against his wrist. “We have to go get the bus for day camp, and I have to get to work. Jake’ll be down in a second. You good?”

“Yeah.”

“There’s coffee in the pot, a couple of muffins, and I made Jake a sandwich.” She was walking and talking, throwing the last few words over her shoulder as she hustled Benji into her car.

“I want Liam to drive me!” he heard the boy say as she buckled him in.

“Nuh-uh. That blue monster baby probably wouldn’t make it up the street.”

Blue monster baby?Liam was offended, but then he looked at his pride and joy. It kinda fit. “I’m right here,” he called. “And so is my truck. And she can hear you.”

Thea giggled and closed the door on Benji’s echoing laugh. “Bye,” she said, getting into the driver’s seat.

“Thea,” he said. She rolled down the window. “Thanks. For trusting me.”

A moment of stillness from her, in which he could take in how beautiful she was. “Thankyou,” she said. “Good luck. And please, don’t bring out cranky Liam today.”

Before he could answer, she was backing up and out of the bumpy driveway.

Liam went inside. The house was messier than he was used to seeing it, with clothes hanging on chairs, several pairs of sneakers at the door, and a half-eaten banana flopping on the coffee table. He appreciated anew how much work Thea had to do by herself. She must have needed a lot of time off work to clean up before they had their study group here every week.

“Jacob?” he called. No answer. Liam picked up the banana, brought it into the kitchen, and began to clean up the mess left over from breakfast. The coffee smelled good, so he poured himself a cup, even though he had his own in a thermos in the truck.

“Holy crap.” Her coffee was amazing. Now he really might be falling in love with her.

“Jacob!” he yelled again, harsher this time. That wasn’t a road he was going down yet. There was optimistic, and there was foolhardy.

“All right, all right,” a morose voice said from the top of the stairs. Jake came down wearing a pair of skinny jeans that sure as hell weren’t going to let him squat down to remove a wax ring or snake a drain. His hair was in those black spikes again. He must have gotten up early to fix them.

“It’s not a fashion show, Jacob,” Liam reminded him. “You’re going to get some crap on your pants—possibly literally.”

“Oh, God, really? Gross.”

“Yeah, well. Luckily for you, I came prepared.” Liam reached for the bag he’d brought in and gave it to Jake, who pulled out a pair of Pat the Plumber overalls as if they were a tutu and high heels.

“I really have to wear this?”

“You’ll thank me later. Go put them on now while I finish up here. Put shorts on under. It’s going to get hot today. And be quick about it. Our first appointment’s in thirty minutes.”

He put the kitchen to rights as best he could, went out to his car to replace his coffee with Thea’s heavenly brew, and changed into his own overalls in the bathroom.

Jake schlumped down the stairs again, looking older and more professional in his overalls, and they left the house. Jake at least remembered to lock it on his way out.

They swung by Liam’s father’s office to pick up a van, then went to a house with a leaking showerhead a couple of towns over. Liam was methodical in his instructions to Jake, explaining tools and pressure and exactly why he was doing what he was doing. Jake was almost silent, but he looked as though he was listening.

On the way to the next scheduled call, Liam’s cell phone rang. It was Laurie, the dispatcher. “I’ve got an emergency,” she said when he put it on speaker. “You’re in Needham?”

“Yep.”

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