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“Yes, but it’s nine in the morning.”
“Not all of us are bright eyed and bushy-tailed first thing.”
“You used to take the train to Penn at six in the morning, so who are you fooling?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Is there a reason for the early morning house call?”
Her teeth slid over her bottom lip and tugged at the pink flesh. “I was wondering if you’d want to go get the sheetrock today. If you have plans, it’s totally fine, but the hole is making me sad, and well… I just thought if you weren’t busy, maybe you wouldn’t mind.”
He held his hand up, cutting her off. “I don’t mind.”
Her eyes lit up. “You don’t?”
“Can you give me twenty minutes so I can grab a shower and put some clothes on?”
“Well, I wasn’t expecting you to go like that.” She waved a hand at him. “Besides, all the stores have a no shirt, no service policy.”
“What about the rumor mill?” he asked.
“What about it?”
“I don’t know… last night you were freaking out that Hal was going to tell the entire town, and you wanted to go over a script on how to handle it.”
She shrugged. “I’m okay with them talking.”
“Since when?”
“Since I can’t stop staring at the god-awful hole in the wall. I don’t think my grandma would have let it go unfixed for long, and I’d like to follow in her footsteps with maintaining the house.”
“I’ll go change.”
“Perfect! And I’ll drive. Your matchbox car isn’t going to be big enough for what we need.”
“I’ll make sure to grab my helmet and knee pads.”
“Very funny. I’ll see you in twenty minutes.” She moved down the porch steps like a brush of wind that showed up just long enough to satisfy before leaving.
He hurried to shower and was out the door with a minute to spare. Isla leaned against a familiar truck; long legs sticking out of jean shorts. A navy tank top dipped low enough to remind him of what could have happened last night if the pizza didn’t show up.
She pushed off the old truck that belonged to her grandmother as he made his way across his yard to hers. “You forgot your helmet and knee pads,” she said.
“I thought I’d take my chances. Holding out hope you’ve improved in the last three years.” He nodded at the old Bronco that Mrs. Garrick used to drive onto the beach with. “Where has this been hiding out?”
“In the garage. I figured it would hold a lot more than my car can.”
“At least if you hit something, we should be okay.”
“I’m not going to hit anything.”
“We’ll see.” He went to get in the truck and stopped. “I thought you went back to work today.”
“I didn’t want to, but I asked for the morning off, so I could get this out of the way.” Isla always had a one-track mind. Until the wall was fixed, she wouldn’t stop thinking about it.
“You’re giving us a lot of credit if you think we’ll be able to buy it, cut it, and hang it before you have to go in.”
“I thought about that. But even if I just have the sheetrock and know it’s there, ready to be put up, I’ll be happy.”
“You didn’t have to take time off of work. I could’ve gone and picked up the supplies for you.”
