Second Chance Mess (Bad News Billionaires #1) - Lucia Jordan Page 0,39

had listened to it. And I was putting it inside this house for her.

“Did it seem like she liked him?” I asked.

“How was I supposed to know? The guy literally just walked up before I left.”

“You didn’t stay around to watch them a while?”

“Of course not,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because I’m not a creeper. Besides, you can’t expect Brooke to wait around on you forever.”

“I’m not asking for her to wait forever, just for like another week,” I said. I was moving on things as fast as I possibly could.

“Have you texted her at all?” Max asked.

“No, have you?”

“No.”

We went back to focusing on work because there wasn’t much that either of us could do about the situation currently. The build was coming along, and the sub-contractors were working at record speed. We had made it to the part where we could start putting some of the finishing design touches in the house, and Max’s doodles had helped a lot with that.

This tiny house was going to be a materialization of all the things that Brooke likes, and it would show her how much she mattered to me. I was so excited to see her reaction.

I made the purposeful choice to build it right here on my own property, next to my house. If Brooke loved it and if she heard my explanation about the photo shoot, then I was going to ask her to move in with me. The modular home that we are building for her right now could be added to my existing house, which would make the entire structure even cooler and more unique, and it would give Brooke her very own wing of the house that belonged specifically to her.

I know that Max was really rooting for this to work, too. We were taking painstakingly good care and detail with everything in the little home to turn it into something truly beautiful for Brooke.

“I’m proud of you, man,” Max says as we get ready to lift up the completed stained glass piece for the install.

“Yeah, I had no idea that I even knew how to install stained glass, either,” I said, quite pleased with how it had turned out.

“Nah, that’s not what I meant. I’m proud of you because I think you finally understand what I was trying to tell you before. That it’s about the gesture and the meaning, not the price tag, I can see that you finally get it now. That’s why you’re working on this yourself instead of the Spokane project, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “I’m sorry that it took me a while to actually hear you, my friend. But I do get it now.”

Max helped me lift the stained glass panel as we set it into the hinges on the door. We worked together until well into the evening, long after the sub-contractors had gone home for the night. Without Max, none of this would have been possible.

“What do you think she’s going to say?” he asked me while we were having a drink out by the fire again.

“About what?”

“About the home. When she sees it, what do you think Brooke will say?”

I realized as I was getting ready to answer him, that I didn’t really know what she was going to say or how she would respond. All that I knew was what I hoped she would say. I hoped that she would love it, and that she would see how much I love her, and that she would love me in return. That’s what I hoped for.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “I don’t even know how to get her to come back out here with me again.”

Max laughed so hard that he spit bourbon into the fire, which sent up a burst of scorching and popping embers into the air.

“You might want to get that part figured out soon. Otherwise, all of this will have been a giant waste of time and money. Except for that stained-glass bumble bee door—that I’m taking home with me if Brooke doesn’t like it.”

I laughed, too. It was good to joke around about some of it. Otherwise, the seriousness of it all, including the stakes I was risking with the Spokane project, all became too heavy.

“Hey, Max,” I said as the thought occurred to me. “How long has it been since you’ve had a girlfriend?”

“A long time,” he chuckled. “But that’s just fine with me. I see how much you and Brooke struggle to have a relationship, and I see how much other people