“I did say no. But it’s a risk. Ashley could trash my reputation if something happens to you. So be careful, okay?”
“So you care?” One eyebrow arched.
He was pushing it. She met his stare. “I care about my reputation.”
He barked a laugh and then strode past her, opening the doors to the back porch and walking right through them.
“This is beautiful,” he said when she caught up with him. He turned, gazing out onto the dark-blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the white sand of the beachfront. The roar of the surf filled Jessica’s head, making it doubly hard to think.
“So, maybe we could schedule a meeting to talk about where my initial design went wrong. And then—”
“Let’s do it now.”
“Um, well, I’m kind of busy right now.”
“Busy doing what?” he asked, turning toward her, his blue eye like a laser.
She stuffed the bandanna into the pocket of her overalls. “I’m fixing the kitchen sink, if you must know. And really, I think we—”
“You know how to plumb a sink? Really?”
His surprise was so annoying. “Yes,” she said, overstating the truth by a mile.
In fact, when she’d arrived home an hour ago, after stopping at the hardware store for a P-trap replacement kit, she’d quickly discovered the difference between YouTube DIY videos and reality.
She’d spent the last half hour futilely trying to get the nut off the pipe. But the wrench was too big for her hands, and the nut had been tightened by someone with a lot of testosterone.
Why, in the name of creation, were nuts, bolts, plumbing, and tools designed for men? One day, some woman would make a bundle redesigning the world so people with small hands could get a grip.
But she wasn’t explaining all that to Topher, especially since he was grinning at her. Had she seen him smile like that before?
No. And she hated the fact that the smile made him sort of adorable. Or something.
Well, one thing was certain. He didn’t spark fear the way Caleb did. In fact, Caleb had so frightened her that she’d been unable to sit still, which was why she’d come home to get the plumbing fixed.
He turned his back on the ocean and leaned on the railing, folding his arms across his chest. The sea breeze ruffled his long hair and caught in the fabric of his Hawaiian shirt and baggy shorts. He looked a little like a Jimmy Buffett fan in need of directions to a Parrot Head convention.
“Okay, I’ll go. Maybe we can meet tomorrow to talk about the house. But there’s just one thing, before I leave. That stuff you said on the beach yesterday. You want to explain what that’s about?”
He had to be kidding, right? Had it been so unimportant to him that he didn’t even remember? The thought left her chilled to the bone.
“You don’t remember the day Caleb Tate pushed me to the floor right outside Mr. Bennett’s physics class and called me a slut because I had done it with Colton St. Pierre?”
“Uh, well…”
“Yeah, you don’t, do you? And I guess you don’t remember how you told the world I was doing drugs with Colton, either,” she said, her voice surprisingly low and steady given the sudden swell of anger.
He stood upright, his eyebrow arching. “Weren’t you? Doing drugs? I saw you in his car with smoke coming out of the vents. And besides, you got sent away to have his kid. I know that doesn’t make you bad, just a kid who made a—”
“What?” The ground under her feet shifted a bit, and she had to grab the railing to keep herself steady. “Where did you get the idea that I had Colton’s baby?”
“You mean it’s not true?” He seemed really surprised.
“Oh my Lord. Is that what everyone at Rutledge High thought when I left school senior year?”
“Of course they thought that,” he said.
“Unbelievable.” She whispered the word and shook her head. She was so angry, she might have done or said anything in that moment. But she held all that fury in check.
She’d learned the hard way that getting angry only made things worse for her. It was imperative to keep all that bottled up.
So she turned her back on him, stalked through the great room to the kitchen, where she picked up the big-ass wrench and went to work fixing the sink.
Unfortunately, the damn nut refused to budge no matter how many times she hammered it