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Milo waved as Mathias drove away, then turned to look at the house. “Thank you, old girl, for not costing me a fortune.” He sat on the front porch, which had two plastic chairs, and took out his phone. He dialed Gentry’s number.
Gentry answered, “Hey, my current favorite brother.”
“What did Abe do now?”
“Abe is being Abe, Luke is out sick, and Wes is on his honeymoon.”
“What about Justin?”
“I guess you and Justin are tied. What’s up?”
“I just sent the guy who is going to work on my roof to you for pizza.”
“Jeffers?”
“No. Not Jeffers. The man is still holding a grudge, and he’ll charge me double what the job is worth.”
“Okay, so who then?”
“He’s new in town. His nephew is in my class.”
“So, the next guy who walks in that I don’t recognize?”
“He’s an inch or so over six feet, dark hair, wearing a Carhartt jacket.”
“That should be enough. What about him?”
“Put his pizza on my tab.”
“Your tab? The ‘I eat here for free tab?’”
“Yeah, that one.”
“Okay. Are you trying to butter him up in hopes of getting a decent quote from him?”
“No. I just think he’s a good guy.”
“That works for me. Anything else?”
“I’ll be in around 6:45 for a medium sausage, bacon, and mushroom.”
“Ah, dinner with Rachel.”
Chapter three
“A man needs his space to bro out.”
Milo ran the sander over the massive oak mantel above the fireplace. Two grown men could easily kneel inside the stone fireplace opening, and Santa would have no trouble making his way down the chimney, bag and all.
When Rachel came up behind him and tapped his shoulder, he jumped and turned around. “Holy crap!”
“Sorry.” She laughed. “I knocked on the front door.”
Milo turned off the sander, set it on the floor, and put a hand over his heart. “Next time, yell.” The sander collected the dust particles, but some always escaped, and he wiped his hands on his jeans.
“Will do.” She looked at the oak floor and moss green floral wallpaper. “This room is something. Are you keeping the wallpaper?”
“I want to keep it as original as possible, but I think I might draw the line at the wallpaper.”
