Page 30 of Upshot

“Hey now. I thought we got that overly tight sphincter loosened up at the bar last night.” I laugh. Who says that about another guy’s uptight ass? “Oh, by the way, I deposited your sister here last night.”

“How did you get in?”

“You never changed the locks. There’s been a spare key above the front door for as long as I can remember. Half the town knows it’s there. You might want to consider doing something about new locks.”

“Christ, I must be losing my mind.”

“Nah, you’ve just got a lot of shit going on.”

“Hey, hey. Anyone naked? Hopefully, Rand’s hot sister I’ve been hearing about?” I’m not sure who said it since the door opens and about a dozen men pour in. I’ll find out, though, and then I’ll kick his ass. Or judging by Pete’s glare from the kitchen doorway, he will for me.

“I’ve got to find somewhere I can print the plans out,” Pete says.

“No problem,” Reed answers. “Chad!”

“Yo?”

“Go with Chad, he’ll take care of it.” Pete looks the man up and down. Finally, he just shrugs and follows him out the door. “Okay, boss, what do you need us to do?”

I look around the room. A man whose name I can’t remember is filling my living room fridge full of beer. Toolboxes are strewn about. The room fills with noise while the men wait for me to point them in the right direction.

This is one of my favorite things to do. I like buying properties well enough, but getting my hands dirty is somehow freeing. Especially since this project is all mine. I don’t have to share it with my father or his investors.

“The grout in the kitchen should be dry. If a couple of you can start bringing the cabinets in from the garage and unboxing them, Pete should be back shortly with the layout. I’ve also managed to persuade the countertop guys to deliver this afternoon. Then we can install the fixtures and appliances.”

“Got it,” a couple of guys I’ve learned are Rafe, Paul, and Hugh say in unison. They head toward the back door.

“The dining area is ready for paint, as is the office. I’ll work on prepping the woodwork in here after I figure out what I’m doing upstairs.” I watch as the rest gather up supplies. They divide up work before heading to different rooms. That leaves me to start on the upstairs.

It’s an old house, so the bedrooms are small without much closet space. There are four of them and two bathrooms that both open into the hallway. I’ve been trying to come up with the best plan to reorganize the space.

“Knock, knock.” Brontë steps through the front door. “Mind if I interrupt?”

“You’re always welcome.” She smiles at me. “About yesterday. I just want to say—” She holds up her hand to stop the rest of the sentence.

“It’s okay. I understand. I wanted to do the same thing the first time I heard the baby’s heartbeat. It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. You might have wanted to panic, but I actually did.” The work in the living room has stopped while everyone watches our exchange. Taking Brontë gently by the arm, I pull her toward the windows where we’ll have some privacy. “I’m sorry.”

“Okay. That’s not why I came over though.”

“Just like that, it’s okay?” I’m having a hard time just shrugging it off. If the roles were reversed, I’d be steaming.

“Yes, Rand. People make mistakes. For us,” she waves a hand between us, “it’s a continuing problem. Now, do you want to hear why I came over or not?” I nod. “So I was thinking about your bedrooms.”

She takes my hand and leads me upstairs. “If we change the layout of this bathroom, we can add a door into both bedrooms and make it a Jack-and-Jill. Then, we turn this tiny bedroom into your walk-in closet. Part of it can be redesigned to turn the existing bathroom into an en suite. It would give you a larger master.”

“Damn, she’s good at this,” Pete says from the stairs. She beams at him, and a little bit of jealousy snakes through my veins. She should save those smiles for me. His eyebrows draw together in confusion when he notices my glare.

“Yeah,” I agree quickly. “She is good. What else were you thinking?”

“Well, what do you think about adding a window at the end of the hallway? It would open up this dark space. Since it’s east facing, you don’t have to worry about the afternoon sun making the hallway too hot.” She continues talking as she wanders down the hall. I try to give her my full attention. However, Pete is still staring at me.

“Huh,” he grunts.

“What?” Brontë asks.

“Oh nothing. Just realized something I hadn’t noticed before. How about we go downstairs where the table is so we can start drawing out something? Sound good, Rand?” I nod.

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