“I doubt there’s much I can teach you. You know woodwork, you know your way around a saw and hammer, and when you’re not doing that you’re making your own whiskey. Is there anything you can’t do?”
Finn pondered the question for a bit while he drank his beer. “I dunno. I’ll try just about anything. Though my grandad once had me help him put up a roof when I was a lad. Hated that. Hot as fuck up there.”
Jason took a couple of long swallows of beer, then nodded. “Yeah, I’ve done that, too. That’s like last on the list of things I’d want to do. I was glad when I bought this place that the roof had been recently replaced and it was at least one thing I didn’t have to do.”
“You’re lucky. I’d have said no if you asked me to help you.”
Jason laughed. “I wouldn’t have blamed you. Another beer?”
“Yeah.”
He turned the steaks and the corn, then went inside to put potatoes in the microwave to cook. He brought the beers outside.
“Surprised Erin’s not here tonight,” Finn said. “You two seem tight lately.”
Jason took a long swallow of beer. “Yeah, well, I’m not sure where her head’s at right now.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. One minute she wants to be with me, the next minute it’s like she can’t wait to get away from me.”
“I was in a room with you earlier, man. You do smell, so I feel sympathy for her.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t exactly smell like a bar of Irish Spring, either, asshole.”
Finn laughed. “Seriously, though. You have feelings for her, then?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s too bad. That’s gonna mess with your head.”
Understatement. When the food was done, he took the steaks and corn off the grill and they went inside. Potatoes were done so they piled food on their plates and sat at the table. They were both hungry so they dug in and ate without saying much of anything, which suited Jason just fine.
“Have you tried talking to her about how you feel?” Finn asked.
Jason pulled his attention from his plate and onto Finn. “Indirectly.”
“What the fuck does that even mean? Indirectly. You either tell a woman how you feel or you don’t.”
“It’s . . . complicated.”
“No it’s not. I don’t know how far those feelings you’re havin’ have gone, but maybe you could have it go something like this. ‘Erin, I love you. Oh, and I worked my ass off on this great bedroom so I could share it with you for the rest of my life.’ ”
He stared at his friend. “That kind of sucked, Finn.”
Finn shrugged. “Never been in love with anyone. How the fuck should I know how you tell a woman you love her?”
“Just for future reference? Not like that.”
“Whatever. If you love a woman, as long as you’re sincere and it comes from the heart, it doesn’t matter what words you say.”
Okay, he had a point there. “I’m not sure she’s ready to hear those words yet. I’m not sure she feels the same about me.”
“Is she still hung up on Owen?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. She hasn’t talked to him yet, so the fact that he’s still hanging out there, unresolved, is a big issue for her.”
Finn waved his fork at Jason. “Then you’ve got a problem.”
“Yeah.” A big one. And one that he had no control over.
He wasn’t all that damn happy about letting other factors decide his future. But there wasn’t much he could do about it other than wait.
Or maybe continue to be the friend he was to Erin before all this started between them. Because she probably needed one right now.
CHAPTER
twenty-seven
ERIN HAD JUST put the finishing touches on the financial component of a proposal for a couple they’d met with this morning when her phone pinged. She picked it up to see a text from Jason.
Feel like a picnic?
She studied her phone, her brows knit into a frown.
No, she didn’t feel like a picnic. She felt cranky and out of sorts, like she had been for the past two weeks. Even Agatha was avoiding her, preferring the much happier disposition of Erin’s father. Not that she could blame the pup.
“Hey, I was just going to ask—” Honor started, popping her head in, but then stopped and asked, “Why are you shooting an evil glare at your phone?”
She tossed her phone on the table. “No reason. What’s up?”
Honor walked in and pulled up a chair. “Don’t give me that. You