Read Online Saving Scott (Kobo) by Terry Odell - Free Book Online Page B

again.
    Willie
turned. “Afternoon, Miz Eagan.” He spoke slowly. Everything Willie did, he did
slowly. “If we’d had ‘em sooner, we coulda stained ‘em first. They gotta dry.
This way, we can get everything done today. We’re gonna finish before we go,
even if it’s late.”
    Ashley
wondered how Carl was handling overtime. Not her problem. They had a contract,
and labor was included in his bid, so if he had to pay his workers more, it was
out of his pocket. If he’d asked her for more money, she might have suspected
he was trying to pad the bill by staging accidents, but he hadn’t.
    She stepped
into the kitchen area and stopped short. It looked—almost done. The appliances
had arrived in all their stainless steel splendor. They stood there, as if
waiting to be put to work. Tall racks for cooling and storage lined a wall. She
merely stared. It looked like a kitchen. A real kitchen. Her kitchen. Tears
burned.
    “Looks good,”
Scott said.
    She nodded,
afraid to speak for fear her voice would crack, if she could talk at all past
the rising lump in her throat.
    Scott seemed
to understand. He didn’t speak, merely rested a hand on her shoulder. Gave a
gentle squeeze.
    She swiped
at her eyes. Cleared her throat. “We should get out of the way. Plus, I need to
shop so I can bake for your office party.”
    “If you need
someone to sample, I’m your man.”
    She smiled. “I’ll
let you know.” What she wanted to do was go home and shout. Dance. Heck, jump
up and down and clap her hands like a kid at Christmas. But not yet. They were
close, but there was plenty more to do. She’d save the happy dancing until they
passed the final inspection.
    Someone
pounded on the back door. “I’ve got it,” she said, not wanting to disrupt the
smooth rhythm of the workers. She sidestepped past the table saw, dodged other
construction tools and debris, and yanked the door open.
    Scott
followed, waiting at her side while Ashley signed for the UPS delivery. She
checked the return address and her heart raced.

Chapter 7
     
     
    “Need some
help?” Scott asked as Ashley took a large carton from the delivery man.
    “It’s not
heavy,” Ashley said. She set it down and clawed at the tape.
    He
immediately went on full alert. She’d talked about sabotage.
    “Were you
expecting this?” he asked. When she said yes, he backed off. “Hang on.” He went
to one of the workers and borrowed a box cutter. Ashley took it from his hand
with trembling fingers. “Don’t cut yourself.” Well, that was brilliant.
Handling knives was probably something Ashley did often. And well. Yet
something about her had all his protective juices flowing.
    Regroup. “Is your restroom hooked up?”
    “It was
working yesterday. Can’t promise more than that.” She gestured across the main
space. “Over there.”
    When he
returned, she knelt over the open box. Her shoulders shook. Crying? What the—?
He approached slowly. As a cop, he’d seen more than his share of tears, but
that was part of the job. Had something in the box upset her that much? He
envisioned another accident. Broken dishes, or the wrong coffee cups? Some
other snafu? He’d known her only a couple of days, but she’d already become
someone he wanted to protect from harm. And not in a cop way. If she wanted to
be alone with whatever was upsetting her, he’d respect that.
    He cleared
his throat. “Ashley?”
    She snapped
upright. Tears streaked her face, but beneath them she was smiling. She reached
into the box and pulled out some chocolate brown fabric. As she shook it out,
he recognized it for what it was. One of those chef’s coats.
    “I can’t
believe it’s real,” she said.
    “Hey, put it
on. Let me be the first to see you in uniform.” He closed the distance between
them and took the coat, holding it out for her. She slipped her arms into it,
smoothed it over her torso, buttoned it up and tugged the sleeves.
    “It fits,”
she said, as if she didn’t believe