as hard as humanly possible to do that, other things usually suffered, like my fashion choices.
“So, I’ll come. Okay, stop. Just give me a sec and I’ll move the tables so we can push through.”
While I moved the table on the right, he took care of the one on the left. Then we pushed the chairs aside, opening up enough space for the big bookcase to go through.
“You want it to touch the wall? The dinner is at seven.”
“Yes, flush against the wall. I’ll be ready before that. Sally will drop by for a few hours tomorrow to help so it shouldn’t be a very long day like today was.”
With a small grunt from me, we started pushing again until it was in place. After putting the tables and chairs back where they’d originally been, we stopped.
I stepped all the way back to the archway so I could make sure it was centered on the wall. Jack followed and silently stood beside me.
“Thank you. That looks perfect right there.” I glanced at him and caught his small nod.
“Sally?” he asked, his eyes still assessing the bookcase.
“My employee, the second and last one. I hired her while you were in London. She’s been here a few times to talk about what we’re going to do here, and she officially starts on opening day.”
“Who is the first?”
“Oh, that would be Owen. We briefly worked together at a café before, that’s where I know him from. His pastries are amazing. He’ll be here part-time, come in around four-thirty in the morning and start on the baking before I join him. Sally will help me in the front.”
“What else needs to get done today?” he asked.
Even though the bookcase was perfectly placed, the two tables in front of it just didn’t look right where they were, I retraced my steps to move them so they’d be on the sides of the bookcase instead of in front of it.
When I looked up, Jack was already standing across from me, grabbing the edge of the table and helping me lift it. “What do you mean what else?” I asked as we put the table down where I wanted and then moved the chairs.
“What else needs to be done?”
We went to the other table and repeated our actions. “You don—”
“If you say I don’t have to help one more time—”
“As a matter of fact, I was not going to say that.” I actually was. “You should listen first before accusing someone. You’d think, as a lawyer, you’d know that.” When he looked at me, I gave him a sweet smile without teeth. He didn’t return it, of course. He wasn’t a fan of sarcastic comments; I had discovered that much on my own, which was probably why I enjoyed making them in the first place.
“I want to get this up.” I walked behind the counter and stood directly in front of where I wanted the floating shelf to be. “I drilled the holes, and the brackets are secured and everything, but it’s a pretty damn big wooden shelf, almost two feet I think, so I couldn’t lift it on my own.”
He joined me, and I moved to the side to give him space. It was a big enough area for four people to work comfortably, but still. After looking at his hands that much, I couldn’t trust myself.
“You drilled these?” he asked, inspecting the brackets.
My feet were starting to kill me again, so I leaned against the counter and waited for his disapproving comments to start. I had some comebacks still. “Yeah. I borrowed a drill from the chair guy and got them done quickly. Go ahead, tell me how bad of a job I did. I’m ready for it.”
He sighed and glanced at me over his shoulder. “Where is the shelf, Rose?”
I straightened and squatted. There was a lot of pain involved in that process. “Here.” I pulled just one side of the wood from under the counter so he could see it. He held on to the other side and we lifted it up with a small grunt from me then placed it on the counter. The damn thing was extremely heavy, not to mention expensive, but it was going to look perfect with the dark green walls.
There were a few seconds of inspection on his side then he grabbed his end again. “Ready?”
I released a long breath, nodded, and gripped the edge tighter.
He paused and gave me a new look I couldn’t interpret.