Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97409 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97409 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“Sounds good.” I take the phone out of my back pocket and see her name in the middle of the screen.
“Email has been received.” I smile at her before getting up to my feet. “I’m assuming there is no reason for me to go to my office.” I motion with my chin to the stairs that lead to the two offices we have upstairs. One is Caleb’s, and when I decided to stay in town with him, he immediately had an office set up for me.
“Only if you want to choke on the dust,” she laughs at her joke. I must have been in there a whole five times since he’s done it. And that is only because we had family come to town to visit and check in.
“I shall leave that for another day”—I nod my head at her—“and bid you adieu.”
“I don’t even want to know which girl you got that saying from.” She shakes her head. “Just don’t use it with me.”
“I have not been on a date in over eight weeks,” I tell her, and she gasps. “I know, you and me both.”
“Well, now that you’re back home, I’m going to bet you one hundred dollars that you have a date by Friday.”
“It’s Wednesday.” I shake my head.
She leans back in her chair. “Yes, but tomorrow is Thursday, and you usually hit up Thatcher’s. Then you’ll look over at one of the girls who is visiting for the weekend, and you’ll have a date.” I smirk at her. “Don’t give me that smirk, you’re wasting your time.” I clap my hands and throw my head back, laughing out loud. “So, a hundred bucks, you have a date Friday night, followed by breakfast Saturday morning.”
“Well, prepare to pay me a hundred dollars because I plan on resting and relaxing this weekend.” I grin at her and run my hand through my hair. “I accept cash and cash. No credit.”
“We’ll see tomorrow.”
“You never come to the bar,” I point out to her.
“I do when I’m about to win a hundred dollars,” she snaps back at me, and I just shake my head and walk out the door.
“Call me if you need me.” I slam the door behind me and pull up Officer Burke’s number. I’ve seen him a couple of times at Thatcher’s when he was off duty. I think he just got divorced. From what I remember of the gossip, she cheated on him and is set to marry the other man soon.
He answers after two rings. “Hi, Officer Burke. This is Theo Williams from CW Construction.”
“Hey, Theo, what’s up?”
“I was wondering if I could pass by and see the garage you are looking to renovate. Are you free now?”
“I’m on call,” he says, “but I’m at the house, so you can swing by at any time. If anything happens, I’ll have to leave.”
“Got it.” I make it to my truck, stepping up to get in. “I should be there in about twenty minutes.”
“Sounds good. If I don’t answer the front door, you can come around the back.”
“Great, thank you.” I’m about to disconnect the phone when I see I have an incoming call from Caleb. I switch the calls and then put the phone on speaker.
“You miss me already?” I joke.
“No.” His voice is tight. “Listen, I just got off the phone with Carl.”
“The wood guy?”
“Yeah.” Carl does all our wood cabinets and recently did library shelves for Caleb’s girlfriend, Sierra. A truck door slams on Caleb’s side of the phone. “Listen, I can’t explain now, but he’s on his way here. I just left the barn job.”
“Got it,” I confirm. “Do you need anything from me?”
“Not now.” I can feel he’s keeping something from me just by his tone. “But I’m going to need you to go to the site and see if anyone needs anything.”
“Yeah.” I pull away from the office. “I’m going to meet Burke now, and then I’ll swing by.”
“Sounds good.”
“Hey.” My voice goes low. “You okay?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later,” he deflects, “but so far so good.”
I have a funny feeling in my stomach.
“Talk later,” he says and hangs up the phone.
I stop at the end of the street, turning right, and head over to Burke’s house.
Burke’s brown front door has a peephole and a brass knocker. I walk up the steps and see the swing on the side sway softly with the breeze. I ring the doorbell and wait a couple of minutes before walking back down the steps and toward the back. I can hear an electric saw. I knock on the fence and then open it, stepping in. Burke looks up from what he’s doing and gives me a chin lift.
“Hey,” I greet, seeing the pieces of wood all around the yard, “what’s all this?”
“Playhouse,” he answers. “Sorry, treehouse.” He takes off the protective glasses he’s wearing and tosses them aside. “Thought I would surprise Asa. Told him about the one I had growing up, and he asked if I could make one for him.”