“Where’s mom?”
“I don’t know, little man.” I keep staring out the front window, wondering the same thing. She’s been gone a long time. No way is she still picking paint samples out at the store. My girl’s too decisive.
Maybe she went for a drive to clear her head?
Shit, I can’t believe the day she had. I’m so pissed about her interview and what that cocksucker said to her, that I’ve spent the better part of an hour imagining all the ways I’d like to kill him. They all involve slow torture, a spoon, and a chainsaw.
I’ve tried calling Erin’s cell twice now, and both times it went to voicemail.
Something’s not sitting right with me. What if something’s happened to her?
I call her again, and again, I get no answer.
Trey: You okay?
I’m left on delivered.
My chest hurts. I don’t like this one bit.
“Can we eat without her?”
“How about you go ahead. I’ll sit with you.” I ease into a chair and position myself to see out the front window the whole time.
Just as Beetle finishes his third slice of pizza, Glitch’s car pulls into the driveway. I’m up and out the door the second I see Erin in his passenger seat. I run to her side and get the door for her. My relief having her home, safe, is short-lived when I see her face. “What happened?”
She winces as she gets out of the car. “I’m fine.”
“The fuck you are!” I hold her shoulders and take in every scratch, scrape, and bruise. “If he did this, I’m going to kill him.”
“It wasn’t him,” she says in a low voice.
Beetle comes outside. “Mom?” He runs at her and hugs her middle. “What happened?”
“I was just in an accident, sweetheart, but I’m alright. It looks worse than it really is.”
Glitch’s eyes are hard, his mouth forming a tight line as he waits for us to all head inside. “She refused to go to the hospital to get checked out.”
“I’m fine, Glitch.” It sounds like she’s said this to him a dozen times on the way home with the tone she’s using.
I don’t waste another minute to give her comfort. Scooping her into my arms, I head up the porch. “Get the door open for your mama.”
Beetle dashes in and holds it open while I carry my girl inside. I place her gently on the sofa then get an ice pack for her head.
Glitch is already laying out the pillow and blankets I used last night. “I don’t like this, Er. You need to get checked out. You could have a concussion.”
“I just want to be home, Glitch. The EMT checked me out and said I should be good to go.”
“He should have taken you to the ER anyway just to be double sure.”
She rolls her eyes at him.
“What happened?” I feel like it’s the question I’m forever asking. Always the last to know, the only one out of the loop.
“I wrecked my car after someone else wrecked theirs in front of me and then someone else smashed me from behind afterwards. Good news is, no one was really hurt. Bad news is my car is smooshed and the air bags deployed. That’s why my face is so fancy.”
I’m wrapping my queen in bubble wrap from this day forward.
Beetle sits down next to her and puts his hand on her leg. “You’re gonna be okay though, right?”
“I sure am,” she says with a smile. It splits her lip more and blood wells.
I scrub my face with both hands and head into the kitchen for an icepack, meds, and whatever else she might need. I feel sick that I wasn’t there for her. I should have driven her to the store myself. I should have insisted we stay together. Why didn’t she call me?
Glitch comes into the kitchen. “I’m going to head out.”
So soon? “Okay.”
“She’s going to be okay. Even if she’s a stubborn mule for not wanting to get checked out at the hospital, it really does look worse than it is. Her car’s probably totaled though.”
Glitch rubs the back of his neck. “Christ, that must have scared her. She was silent the whole way home.”
I bet this accident rattled her in several ways, especially considering how their parents died.
“You know the drill—vomiting, confusion, all that shit, get her to the ER. Drag her by her feet if she protests.”
“I heard that!” Erin yells from the couch.
“Good!” Glitch hollers back. Then he tosses me a small smile. “You sure you can handle a woman like her?”
I huff a laugh. “Guess we’re about to find out.”
Once he leaves, I bring Erin a bag of frozen peas for her face and over the counter generic pain meds I found in a cabinet.
“Beetle, can you grab me some more pillows off my bed, please?”
He races up the steps on a mission.
Crouching down in front of her, I rub her leg, grateful she wasn’t more hurt. I wish she’d called me and not Glitch. I know that sounds selfish and dumb, but it’s how I feel. “I’m not leaving until I know you’re okay.” I was supposed to go home tonight.
“I don’t want you to leave at all,” she says quietly. Then she stares off and I see a tear fall down her cheek.
She wipes it away before I have the chance to do the honor myself.
“I wanted to call you and couldn’t remember your number,” she says. “Isn’t that awful? I don’t have your number memorized.”
“It’s understandable. I don’t have yours memorized either. You’re saved in my favorite contacts.”
“I couldn’t find my cell after the crash. I had to use someone else’s to call my brother.” She pulls the blanket around her more. “I didn’t even make it to the damn store for the paint. Now how am I going to change my life around?”
“Change your life around?” I sit down next to her. “Baby, paint isn’t going to make life better.”
“No. But you do.”
Her words catch me off guard. “Do I?”
“Yeah.” She tucks her hair behind her ear. “And I don’t want this to derail us. I’ll be without a car for a while, but I don’t want to stop seeing you. I also don’t want you to always make the trip to see me. That’s not fair either.”
I shut her up with a kiss. “I’m not going anywhere unless you want me to, got it? I’ll stay if you want. Shit, I’ll rent an apartment close by if I have to. Don’t worry about how we’re going to make the commute to each other.”
“For a moment,” she says, slowly, thoughtfully, “I thought about moving far away. From here. From… everyone.”
“From me?”
She shook her head. “No. Not you. But I did consider taking your brother up on his offer. Even if it means moving to the bay and being several hours from Glitch.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think that’ll fly for him or Beetle.”
“What won’t fly?” Beetle asks, carrying a stack of pillows. “I wasn’t sure how many, so I grabbed all of them.”
Erin laughs when he dumps them beside her. “Thanks, buddy.”
Not to get off track, I refocus the conversation. “I’ve been thinking.” I place one pillow under her head and readjust her blanket. “How about I hire you?” She’s already about to protest when I add, “Hear me out first then you can argue with me about it, okay?”
She pauses. “Yes… Sir.”
Fuuuck, this woman better not get me going with that mouth of hers. Now isn’t the time.
“I still want to flip houses, but I’m not going to be able to do both my office jobs while living in a house three hours away, hammering floorboards. I planned to do a lot of the demoing myself, but knew I’d also have to hire a general contractor.”
My dad’s taught me a lot about the construction business.
“How about I just hire you? Think about it. It’s close enough for you to drive to. You can make your own hours, which means getting Beetle from school won’t be a problem. We don’t have to start this project until after summer, which means you’ll have a new car by then.” Even if I have to buy her one myself. “I can pay you to oversee everything and work your magic.”
“I’m not taking handouts, Trey. I appreciate the offer, but no.”
“It’s not a handout. It’s a chance to make a change. It’s a chance to make a lot of money, too.”
“I know, but I can’t just let you pay me to do that.”
“Why not? I’d have to pay someone else to do it if you don’t. I know my limits, Er, and taking on a project like this, while still maintaining my other jobs and spending time with you guys will put me beyond my max. The last thing I want is to spread myself thin and ruin what matters most to me.”
She licks her lips, and I hope that means she’s thinking it over.
“I’ll buy the house and give you all the money to hire out whoever we need to make the flip happen. You’ll be doing me a favor,” I say. “I trust you, Erin. Who knows what kind of dumbass I’d end up hiring if you shoot me down.”
“There are a lot of dumbasses out there.”
“See what I’m saying? Spare me the headache. Take my money and help me.”
She frowns again. “I need a job with healthcare, Trey. Flipping houses is great, but not unless I can have healthcare coverage too. I can’t do this.”
Now isn’t the time to propose, no matter how badly I want to. Shit, I’d marry her on the spot, if I thought she’d be cool with it. Then healthcare wouldn’t matter because I can put her on my family plan.
But there’s more than me and her in this relationship and I’ve got work to put in with her son if I want to make Erin and Beetle my family. So for now, I say, “I’ll pay you enough to cover healthcare on your own.”
“That’s outrageous!”
“So will the payout, once we start flipping houses.” I think I might have her. “Because this isn’t a handout. You’re going to work and earn every penny I pay you. And when we sell that house, you and I can go in fifty-fifty with the next one if you want. Then we’re going to build your business from there.”
“My business? This isn’t my business!”
“It will be.” I roll my shoulders back and look down at her. “What do you say? Want to make every realtor in the tristate area’s mouths water? I think you’re more than up for the challenge, mama.”
“And I think you’re the one with the possible concussion.”
I’m not letting her walk away from this opportunity if I can help it. “Give it a try. What’s the worst that can happen?” She won’t fail. And I won’t fail her. If Erin’s willing to give it a go, I’m all for supplying her with everything she needs to make this a success. “It’s a win-win. We’ll spend more time together, make money, and you’ll get your dream job interior designing.”
“The start up money for something like this is so much.” She shakes her head. “Trey, I can’t even come close to contributing.”
“Your time and expertise are all the contribution you need to make. I’ll handle the money aspect.” Does this mean she’ll say yes? “I can accept that position with Reid. It might make things a little chaotic at first, but the money will more than pay for everything you’ll need to see this project to completion. And I can come down on weekends to spend time with you and Beetle. Help lay carpet, smash some walls, whatever needs to be done.”
We can do this. Yeah, it’ll be crazy for a bit, but Erin’s a leader and I’m a work machine. Besides, we’ve done this long-distance thing for two years if you think about it. And now that we’re out in the open with our relationship, and I can come down on weekends or any other time I want to see her, it’s a major step up from what we’ve been doing. It won’t feel like we’re losing time with each other because with our history, we’re actually gaining more time instead.
“Come on, mama. What do you say?”
Erin’s thinking about it. Her eyebrows pinch together, and she chews on her lip. “What if it all flops? What if the market crashes or the profit margin is too small, and you don’t make your money back?”
“I will. And if I don’t, that’s a risk I’m more than willing to take. But what if it doesn’t flop? What if we become the next hot couple on HGTV?”
That earns me a glorious laugh. “Oh my god, you are concussed. Brendan, call 9-1-1, this man’s lost his damn mind.”
“I think you should do it, Mom.”
We both look over at Beetle at the same time and I smile at him. I’m glad he’s on my side. “Say that again?”
“I said I think you should do it.” He shrugs and grabs the remote. “I mean, what’s there to lose? You keep saying you wish you could be like that girl on TV. If Trey can help you, take the help and do it.”
Erin’s brow furrows. “Why does he make it sound so logical and simple?”
Because it is that logical and simple. When your dream is dead ahead of you, within reach, all you have to do is grab it.
And that’s exactly what I do as I take my girl by the shoulders and dip my head to stare into her gorgeous eyes. “Is that a yes, Erin?”
