Читать книгу Sweet Home Colorado - C.C. Coburn - Страница 14

Chapter Five

When Grace arrived at the house at eight-thirty the following morning with Marcie Mason in tow, Jack had already replaced the broken windowpane, ordered the materials necessary to start the job and was just signing for a consignment of oak to fix the broken stair treads.

He gave one of his men a list of door and window locks to order, then went to meet the two women.

“Hi!” Grace greeted him as she alighted from her sleek red rental. “You fixed the window already!”

Jack ignored the instant effect Grace had on him, instead giving her a rundown of what had been achieved so far. “I’ve marked the steps that need replacing,” he told them, “but be careful. If you don’t mind, I’ll leave you ladies to it, while I get on with making the new stairs.”

Grace led the way to the second floor, chattering with Marcie like they were old friends. Satisfied, Jack set to work, doing a final measure of the treads.

Twenty minutes later, the two women were moving about the main floor, taking measurements and discussing color schemes.

Marcie disappeared into the kitchen, and Grace paused beside Jack. “She seems very competent,” Grace said.

“More so than you,” he said, nodding at her outfit. “I thought I told you to come dressed for work.” He regretted the words the moment he said them. Being rude to Grace to cover his discomfort wasn’t right.

“I was meeting an interior designer! I didn’t want her getting the wrong impression of me.”

“And what impression would that be?”

“That I let my contractor boss me around?”

“I’m so glad you made that a question,” he said. “Once she leaves, you need to go buy a pair of boots like these.” He indicated his heavy, steel-toed work boots.

Grace stared at them in horror. “You must be joking!”

“Nope. They’re a health and safety requirement. And my requirement—which you agreed to, is that you pitch in and help. Remember?”

Grace screwed up her face. “Stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“Yup. And by the way, here’s my estimate. In spite of your haste to get me going on this project, I think it only fair you should know what to expect.”

Jack pulled several sheets of printed paper from his pocket and handed them to her. He watched as Grace scanned the pages, taking in all that needed to be done.

She looked up at last and said, “That’s an awful lot of money. More than I expected...”

“This is an awful lot of house that hasn’t been touched since it was built—apart from that eyesore of a seventies bathroom and kitchen renovation. This is the bare minimum it’ll cost to renovate the place into something you can be proud of. If you want a cheap job, there are contractors who’ll do it for you, but it won’t be me.”

“I don’t remember you being this forthright at school.”

“School was half our lifetimes ago. A lot has happened to both of us since then.”

* * *

IT SURE HAS, Grace thought. I had our baby, gave her away, then capped it off by marrying a complete Svengali—all to get away from my family, and what have I got to show for it?

“Something wrong?” Jack asked.

Grace snapped back to the present. “No, everything’s fine. Just don’t order me around too much, okay? I need to find my own pace.”

Jack frowned, but before he could ask about that revealing statement, Marcie reappeared.

“All done,” she said. “I hope you accept my estimate, Grace. It’d be an honor to work on this place. It might even get a mention in the Digest of American Architecture.”

Jack groaned.

“What’s wrong with that?” Grace demanded. “It’s a very prestigious publication.”

“Sorry, Jack,” Marcie said. “I forgot about the fallout the last time you were featured in it.”

Intrigued, Grace glanced from one to the other. “What? What?” she demanded.

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Marcie said, packing her notebook and tape measure into her briefcase. She waggled her fingers at them as she dashed through the front door.

Grace spun around to Jack. “Well? What was that about?”

“I got a bunch of, uh, fan mail when I was in that magazine a few years back.”

“Which must have led to a lot of work for you. That’s good!” she said, immensely pleased that her contractor was so talented he’d been featured in the magazine. Just wait until Edward and his horrible family saw her home in an upcoming issue! He’d tried to have their house highlighted several years ago, but the publication had rejected his bid. Probably because their mansion was more like a mausoleum than a home.

“All it led to was a lot of work dodging enthusiastic women. And some men,” he said.

Grace started to giggle.

“Don’t laugh! It was really distracting when so many people showed up at the work site asking for me. Luckily, Al fended most of them off.”

“Most of them?” Grace nearly choked she was laughing so hard.

“Why is this so funny?” he demanded.

“Because you seem so unaware of your looks,” she responded. “I guess I missed that issue. Tell me how they posed you for the photograph.”

Jack widened his stance and crossed his arms.

Grace flushed. Jack’s biceps, broad shoulders, black hair and vivid blue eyes made a pretty devastating combination. “I can see why you got so much fan mail,” she said.

Jack scowled. “I wasn’t posing like this,” he said. “I’m crossing my arms because I’m refusing to discuss it.”

“Wow! That must’ve been some photo,” she said. “I’m going to look it up online.” Grace slung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the front door.

“Wait!”

She turned to see Jack blushing to the roots of his hair.

“It was that good, huh?” she teased.

“No, it was stupid. The photographer asked me to change. The photo they published was of me taking off my old shirt. It looked like a cheesy striptease.”

Trying to lighten the situation she said, too flippantly, “No wonder you got so much attention. From both sexes.”

“It wasn’t funny at the time. And it still isn’t. I take my work seriously.”

Grace schooled her expression. Jack really felt hurt and she needed to respect that.

Changing the subject, she asked, “So, how are the rashes this morning?”

“Much better. I’ve quit the orange juice, and the cream is giving me a lot of relief.” He rolled up his sleeve to show her. “Looks fifty percent better already.”

Grace brushed his inner elbow with her fingertip. She noticed him flinching. Surely Jack wasn’t that unused to a woman’s touch?

A sudden wolf whistle surprised her and she jumped back from him, searching for the culprit.

“Tyrone!” Jack shouted.

A lanky black youth sauntered over, grinning from ear to ear. “Yes, boss?” he said.

“Don’t ever do that to a client again. In fact, to any woman. It’s disrespectful. Now apologize to Dr. Saunders.”

The kid raised one finger to his head in a salute. “Sorry, ma’am.”

Jack turned to Grace. “This is Tyrone. He’s one of my apprentices, and since he’s only been here a couple of weeks, he hasn’t been fully house-trained yet.” He cuffed the kid gently on the shoulder and said, “Get back to work.”

“Sure, boss, and sorry again, ma’am.” Tyrone went back to planing some timber.

“Actually, I wasn’t all that offended. Especially since he’s just a harmless kid,” Grace said.

“Ten weeks ago that kid was serving time in juvie for pulling a knife on a shopkeeper.”

Grace paled. “Oh.”

Then she glanced around at the rest of the young men working on her house. They all seemed a little rough around the edges.

“I can see your mind working,” Jack said. “Let me assure you that underneath the tough exteriors, they’re just kids who need a chance.”

“And you know this because...”

“So far I’ve trained about forty kids who were either homeless or headed for jail. All of them now have jobs in the building trade all over the States. Some have even started their own businesses.”

“I had no idea you did this.”

Jack shrugged. “Why would you?”

“I, uh...” Grace’s life suddenly looked awfully shallow from where she was standing. What had she ever done to give back to the community? “Am I taking you away from helping them? By hiring you to work on my home?”

“Nope. This is the perfect project for them. Come and meet the rest of the guys. They don’t bite.”

Grace stayed where she was. “I feel a little foolish dressed like this when I’m supposed to be part of the crew. Should I change into work clothes first?”

“No, it’s better they meet you in all your prissiness, and then when you get changed they’ll realize you’re human, too.”

Grace rolled her eyes at his mild chastisement. “Okay, then. Lead the way,” she said.

They went inside and up the stairs where one of the boys was working on her banister railings.

“Dr. Saunders, meet Zac. He’s been with me for over a year and is shaping up to be a fine carpenter.”

“Please, call me Grace,” she said, offering her hand to Zac, a short, bespectacled kid whom Grace couldn’t imagine ever being in trouble with the law. He seemed too...normal. Or was she just seeing the glasses and equating them with being studious?

He shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. Jack said you’re going to pitch in around the job site.”

He looked a little too long at Grace’s totally inappropriate attire and she felt it necessary to joke, “I guess heels are a no-no?”

Zac shrugged. “Whatever the boss says.”

Something crashed downstairs. She and Jack raced to the first floor to find dust billowing out of the kitchen. As it cleared, Grace saw that half the cabinets had been torn from the wall.

A huge man stood in the midst of the debris.

“This is Ace. He specializes in demolition,” Jack said with a wry smile.

“Grace,” she said, shaking hands with the tall, well-built young man sporting tattoos on his arms and shoulders.

“This your house, ma’am?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, taking in the wreckage. The old seventies cabinets were hideous, but at least they’d hidden the wall. Now that it was exposed, she could see it was covered in years of built-up grime.

“Ace has only been with me a couple of weeks, so I’m not letting him near the power tools yet.”

Ace grinned, revealing a missing front tooth. Grace feared he’d be missing some digits if he went anywhere near a power tool.

“My other two apprentices have a couple of days off. They’re my most experienced men, and one of them will be taking Ace under his wing.”

“I thought you were going to be working on my house,” Grace said.

“I will. But I’m a contractor, which means I have a lot more to do than hammering nails and cutting lumber. I teach the guys and do the finer work myself. Al is the foreman and he keeps an eye on them. Don’t worry, your house is in good hands—the entire crew just finished building a new house. Renovating a Victorian is a real challenge and they’re all up for it.”

They walked outside, escaping the sound of more crashing as Ace got back to cabinet demolition.

A truck with a Dumpster on its flatbed was looking for a parking space farther down the street.

“It would help if you moved your car,” Jack pointed out. “Go change and I’ll see you back here in an hour. No later, okay?”

“Who exactly is the boss here?” she demanded.

“I am,” Jack said unequivocally. “And what I say goes. You’re just the owner. Now get going.”

If he hadn’t said it with a smile, Grace might have been offended. Instead, she bustled to her car and waved at the Dumpster delivery guy to indicate he could have her spot.

* * *

JACK SHOOK HIS HEAD as Grace drove away. Already he regretted his request that she roll up her sleeves and pitch in. Working in such close proximity with Grace wasn’t one of his best ideas. Yet from the moment he’d laid eyes on her again, he’d wanted her back in his life. But he needed to forgive her first.

Forgiveness didn’t come easily to Jack, in spite of his time in the seminary. It might have had something to do with the two weeks he spent on life support after being assaulted and knifed by gang members. The memory of Jayden Tyler, the kid he’d tried so hard to save from the gang, walking away from him as he lay bleeding in that L.A. alley, had never stopped haunting him. The fact that someone he’d put so much faith in could be so callous still burned his guts.

Pushing the memories away, Jack went inside and ascended to the attic to check the roof for leaks.