Page 58 of One Bride for Three Single Dads

They both scowl like teenagers.

“Well, do you?” I continue.

“Yeah, man, of course we remember,” Boone admits. “What about it?”

“So we’re gonna have a good goddamn attitude, you got that?”

Harrison crosses his arms over his chest and scowls. “Listen, man, we are just taking it in…”

“We have four other people relying on us!” I exclaim.

“Hey, you don’t have to—”

“And all four of them are looking to us, you see that?”

“Ambrose, why don’t you—”

“So no more complaints! No more bitching! Be a man!”

“I am a man,” Harrison scoffs.

Boone scowls like I hurt his feelings. “I’m a man too,” he pouts.

“Good! So let’s get to work!”

Admittedly, not my best coaching speech, but it seems to have done the trick. The guys stop nitpicking every tiny detail about our temporary home situation and just help me get the creaky old garage door open.

A cloud of mildew and strangely scented dust rolls over us as soon as the door is lifted upward on its creaky old hinges.

It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust, but I slowly see what we are working with. Lawn tools. Antique shovels and saws hung on the pegs on the walls. Dusty wooden shelves against a far window that is practically opaque with dust and age.

“What do you think is under there?” Boone asks slowly.

In the center of the room is a large tarp. Happily, it is a car-shaped tarp. Thank goodness. I say a small prayer of gratitude that we are not stuck on this hillside.

“Let’s find out.”

Harrison and Boone each take up a corner of the tarp and slide it backward. As soon as the Mercedes insignia is revealed, I give a happy, grateful whistle.

“Now that’s a truck,” Harrison grins appreciatively.

“I was afraid it was going to be one of those weird scooters!” Boone smiles. “You know? The kind you see in movies?”

“Yeah, it’s a truck,” I shrug as though I knew it the whole time. “Let’s go take a look at our job site.”

The keys are behind the driver’s visor, and I say another prayer of happiness when it starts up on the first try. Even though I’m driving on the wrong side of the vehicle, on the wrong side of the road, I’m going to take my own advice and not complain.

Everything is fine.

Everything is completely and utterly fine.

Chapter 25

HARRISON

Holy shit, what a disaster.

Ambrose is not going to admit it, but this is notat allthe job that was described.

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