Page 23 of Grin and Bear It

“Keeps us in work though,” Lin said with a smile. “We get to come through afterwards and do it right.”

“So that’s what you do?” I asked, then peered at the utes parked out on the road. “You restore houses?”

“Among other things.” Tyson shouldered forward, moving into my space in a way I would have read completely differently if I didn’t know his relationship status. Same with that lazy smile. “Nash is a plumber and refrigeration mechanic by trade. I’m an electrician.”

“Cole is a painter,” Lin said with a nod of his head in the other man’s direction. “That’s why he’s so fucking temperamental.”

“And you know how to knock nails in wood,” Cole shot back. “Probably because you’re as thick as two planks—”

“So, I appreciate that you must be looking at this place and seeing the dollar signs,” I said, stopping the banter cold. “But I’m not in a position to do much. I need to get the plumbing working because we can’t live without it, but beyond that—”

“Give us a go,” Tyson said. “We’ll give you a quote and then you can decide what you want or don’t want to do. You’re in control.”

I was, I knew that, so why was he reminding me of that? I frowned slightly so Lin gave him a shove.

“OK, so did we need to wait for Nash—?” I asked.

“He’s picking the boys up so he wanted to make sure he’d be there in plenty of time,” Cole said. “The lines out the front of the school get pretty intense.”

“You’ve been doing the pickups and drop-offs?” I asked him, remembering what Nash had said last night. “That’s pretty nice, to step up like that for kids that aren’t blood relations.”

“They’re ours.” Cole frowned slightly then, those blue eyes flashing, but he seemed to remember himself. “I mean, we’ve been in the boys’ life since they were little tackers.”

“So you’ve been together for that long?” I blurted out, then wished to hell I hadn’t. It was none of my damn business and if the guys were trying to make an unconventional relationship like theirs work in a very macho industry, that would be challenging. “I mean, you… Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

Cole looked at the others quizzically then back at me.

“We grew up together, me, Nash and Lin. Ty came along when we were teens.”

“Sent out from the States,” the man himself explained. “I was having some… issues with my family at home, so they decided to see if sending me Down Under would straighten me up. I met these idiots.” He shrugged. “And the rest is history.”

“Oh, well, I apologise,” I said. “You’re obviously close to the boys.”

“We were looking after them…” Lin’s voice trailed away and then everyone went quiet.

Fuck, way to make shit awkward, El, I told myself.

“I’m sorry,” I said finally, a pat phrase but I tried to inject real feeling into that. “I’m sorry it happened and I’m sorry you guys have to go through this, but if it's any help…” I don’t know why I put my hand on Tyson’s arm. Somehow I felt like this needed a human touch, literally, but when I did both of the other men stared at my hand on their partner. “I think you guys are doing a great job.”

“We can do the same for you.” I jerked my hand back when Cole blurted that out, his cheeks flushing when he realised what he’d just said. “I mean for your house. Did you want to take us inside? We can take some measurements.”

“Yes,” Lin said with exaggerated care, “taking measurements will be very important.”

I didn’t bother engagingwith that, walking over to the front door and unlocking it before I inadvertently brought their attention to the first issue.

“Door’s sticking,” Tyson said, pushing past me and then shoved the door open, moving it back and forth as the hinges creaked.

“I can see that.” Lin had the distracted air of someone who was utterly focussed on the job. “Looks like the door has swollen a bit over time. We could replace that, take out the old hinges and then refit the door.”

“With deadbolts,” Cole said with a frown, before glancing back at me. “You need something more secure than this.”

“I figured anyone trying to break in wouldn’t get too far,” I replied with a shrug, then wove my way between them before dropping my bag and marking onto the dining table.

Of course, as soon as I did, I noticed all the doom piles on top of it. It drove Coll nuts, but I’d start on an organisation bender, sorting things into piles, getting some sort of order in it all before… I turned around abruptly, putting my back between them and the table with a fake smile. Before all that energy would just evaporate and the prospect of looking at the table would fill me with pure dread.

“So the plumbing is what we were going to focus on…”

“New flooring.” Cole scuffed his boot across the carpet. “This is like vintage 1960s—”

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