Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 61851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Avery laughed, which did not improve Jessica’s mood. “Yeah, uh, I think he kind of misunderstood the point of you giving him that list.”
“You think?” Jessica glared at the images on her phone screen—mainly, at her brother and Derek, who looked like they were on a relaxing vacation. “Why are men so damn obtuse?”
“Because, well, they’re men, and being dense when it comes to what goes on in the female mind is part of the territory.”
Jessica couldn’t argue Avery’s logic. “Well, then I guess I need to enlighten him, don’t I?”
Chapter Five
Everything was going as planned. Better than planned, actually, Derek thought as he checked to make sure things were getting done the right way.
While the various contractors Derek had hired to complete the tasks on the list Jessica had given him bustled around her small house—more like a cottage, really—he did his best to tune them out while going through his work emails on his laptop. Nothing important or critical—just things that he needed to address that didn’t require much concentration.
All the noise was distracting as hell, but he couldn’t wait for Jessica to get home and see how much had already gotten done. She was going to be thrilled with all the progress, and he could already imagine her delighted smile and her gratitude for his assistance in contacting the companies and organizing the work. At this rate, everything would probably be finished by tomorrow, well ahead of their three-day time frame.
He glanced up from his laptop as a guy pounded a nail into the board he was securing to the new fence post and caught sight of Ben rounding the side of the house. He strolled over to where Derek was sitting on a lounge chair, his best friend’s expression amused as he took in the activity going on around him. From the look of things, Ben came bearing gifts, a six-pack of Coronas in hand.
“Hey, what brings you by?” Derek asked when Ben was close enough to hear him over the noise, surprised to see him there.
The corner of Ben’s mouth twitched with a wry smile as he sat down on the lounge chair next to Derek’s and set the six-pack on the small table between them. “I thought you might be thirsty and could use a cold beer from all the hard work you’ve been doing all afternoon in the sun, but clearly, I was wrong.”
“You’re not wrong,” Derek said, grinning as he closed his laptop and set it aside. “A cold beer sounds fantastic. It’s warm out today.”
They both grabbed a bottle and twisted off the caps. After a few long drinks, Ben’s gaze wandered from the landscapers and painters and other workers back to Derek. “I have to say, this isn’t what I expected to find when I got here today.” He gestured toward the laborers with his free hand.
“Impressive, right?” Derek asked, not giving a shit if he sounded proud of himself for orchestrating so many different crews in such a short amount of time. “I’m going to knock out everything on Jessica’s list in no time at all.”
Ben tapped his fingers against the side of his bottle of beer. “Uh, yeah . . . I don’t think hiring all these contractors to do the work is what my sister had in mind.”
“Of course it is,” he scoffed, wondering why Ben was being so ridiculous. “You saw the huge list of things she wanted to get done around here.”
Ben gave him a speculative look, then finally said, “You know why she’s doing this, right? Why she gave you a list of ‘chores’?”
He found chores an odd word choice. “Yeah, I owe her for bidding on me at the bachelor auction and saving me from ending up with Claire for an excruciating weekend at her high school reunion.”
Ben slowly shook his head. “No . . . you owe her from a long time ago.”
His friend was confusing the hell out of him. “What are you talking about?”
“You know, it’s not my place to say,” he replied cryptically. “And if it’s an issue, then it’s going to be up to Jessica to set you straight.”
Derek had a feeling he was missing something important, but since Ben refused to elaborate, Derek didn’t press the issue. Instead, he said, “Trust me, she’s going to be thrilled.”
Except when Jessica showed up half an hour later, she looked anything but delighted with his ingenuity. She walked out of the house to the backyard, using the cemented pathway to make her way to where he and Ben were sitting by the pool, completely ignoring the hustle and bustle of activity going on around her—though it didn’t escape Derek’s notice that a few of the workers stopped what they were doing to crane their necks and openly eyed her backside as she strode determinedly toward him and Ben.