Boom - Sabrina Stark Page 0,36

were rolling.

There was only one problem. When I walked out the front door of the crew house, I spotted a familiar black pickup in the driveway across the street.

It was Brody's.

I felt my brow wrinkle in confusion. He'd told me that we started at eight, but it was barely six-thirty.

Crap.

But hey, if we were going to be working together, I couldn't avoid him forever, so I threw back my shoulders and marched across the street, anyway.

When I found the front door unlocked, I walked inside and called out, "Hello?"

No response.

But I did hear activity upstairs – the sounds of footsteps and a few thuds, like someone was moving supplies or equipment.

Following the noise, I headed up the front stairway. When I reached the top, I spotted Brody in the upstairs hall. His back was turned, and he was wearing his usual outfit – jeans and a T-shirt.

He was yanking at a green garden hose that snaked from the middle of the hallway and disappeared into the bathroom – the one where he'd caught me showering just a couple of nights ago.

Several feet to his left, I saw a bucket filled with rags and a large funnel lying on its side.

Forcing a smile, I tried again. "Good Morning."

Without turning to look, he said, "What are you doing here?"

Wasn't it obvious? "I work here. Today's my first day. Remember?"

Finally, he turned to face me. With a look that was anything but welcoming, he lifted his wrist and studied his watch – a big, black thing that looked like it could take a sledgehammer and keep on ticking.

Without returning my hello, he said, "You're early." He said it like it was a bad thing.

"I know." I lifted my chin. "I wanted to take a look around."

"And you didn't do that already?"

I stiffened. I knew exactly what he was getting at. "If you mean the other night, sure I looked around, but with not with an eye toward remodeling."

He gave me a dubious look. "Uh-huh."

"And," I continued, "after you listed all of those problems, I figured I should look again, and maybe see if I have any ideas."

He eyed me with zero enthusiasm. "About what?"

"You know, like what to do with the house."

His jaw clenched. "Right."

I sighed. "Look, if we're going to be working together, don’t you think it would be better if we got along?"

"Not for me."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean, I don't care what you do," he said. "Just stay out of my way." And with that, he returned his attention to the nearest garden hose. He gave it a hard yank, and the hose's other end flew out of the bathroom.

Watching this, it suddenly dawned on me that the hoses and other stuff hadn't been here the other night, when rainwater had been pouring down into the hallway.

In fact, when Brody had hustled me away from the disaster zone, water had still been trickling down onto the wooden floor.

But sometime since then, he'd rigged up a system to minimize further water-damage.

I asked, "When did you do that?"

As he coiled up the hose, he replied, "Do what?"

"The hoses and everything. The other night, it was still raining in here when we left."

"So?"

"So…" I tried to think. "Did you come back? I mean, after you took me to the house across the street?"

He didn't pause in his work. "I might've."

I frowned. "But it was so late."

"So?" he said again.

My gaze drifted to the bucket of rags. "Did you wipe up the water, too?"

"Well, I wasn't gonna let it just sit there."

For a long awful moment, I surveyed the scene in front of me – the hoses, the rags, and the guy who'd been using them. Just how long had all of this taken?

Minutes?

Or hours?

Either way, I felt like some sort of slacker. "You should've had me help you. I mean, I was right here."

At this, he stopped working and gave me a hard look. "Yeah. And you weren't supposed to be."

As if I needed the reminder. "Well maybe I didn't know that."

"Sure you did."

"Not for certain," I said. "The last I knew, my cousin lived here. And I was supposed to meet him."

"Uh-huh."

Obviously, Brody still didn't believe me. But I continued anyway. "So like I already explained, it's not like I was squatting or anything."

With a sarcastic smile, he said, "Sure, I believe you."

"Yeah, well you should," I told him. "So who owns the house now?"

"Me. Like I said."

"You personally?"

In a tight voice, he replied, "As opposed to what?"

"Well…" I said,