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Baking
Nora came backa few days ago, and things have been a bit of a whirlwind since. She and Colson seemed to have worked things out, which was a relief. I didn’t know all the details, but Nora had spent every night at Colson’s since getting back, so I assumed they were good.
More importantly, she was fine with me staying in her house. She was planning to move into Colson’s eventually but would be leaving all her furniture behind. It would do for now. If I was going to stay in Macon, I would need to find something smaller and more suited to my taste, but it could wait. I was also working on creating friendships, and with Nora back I had the perfect opportunity.
I parked in front of the soon-to-be Community Center a few blocks down from Main Street. Nora and Colson’s cars were already against the curb, along with several other work trucks. Nora had been talking about this project nonstop, and now that she was back, she needed all the help she could get. Liam had called to set up a time for me to help with the girls later this afternoon. So, until then, I was filling my time with whatever I could. Incidentally I had also baked three dozen cookies and four different kinds of muffins. Tucked under my arm was a basket full of plastic-wrapped goodies.
“Haley, you’re here!” Nora called, smiling as she headed toward me. She had gorgeous curly hair that had two forms: tight spirals or loose spirals. Today they were tight, half tossed up in a bun, while the other half hung down her back. She had big aqua eyes rimmed with dark lashes that looked too long and dark to be natural. I wondered if she’d had them done.
Lifting the basket, I said, “I come bearing gifts!”
“Perfect, you can set those over here. I know all the guys will love them.”
We walked over to a large makeshift table where coffee and bagels were set up. The room was spacious, but the walls were framed and on the verge of being ready for insulation and drywall, if my home decor show knowledge was accurate. There were light fixtures and recessed lighting being put in, with ladders set up and men working on threading the wires inside. There were a few saws going off every now and then, and the sound of power tools popping in nails every few seconds or so.
“What can I help with?”
“How do you feel about nail guns?”
I was terrified of them. “I can point and shoot whatever you tell me to.”
Nora laughed and then put her arm around my shoulder.
“Let me introduce you to Jeffery. He’s one of the foremen, and he’ll explain exactly how to use the gun without shooting yourself in the foot or anything.”
I laughed softly but inside I was screaming. Shoot myself in the foot?
Ohmyfreakinggosh.
“Jeffery?” Nora called over to a guy who had on a dark ball cap, a heavy coat, and pair of thick brown work pants. His warm brown eyes lingered a little too long on my chest and curves, but he seemed to shake himself out of it a second later with a slight flush.
“This is Colson’s little sister, Haley. She’s helping us while she can, so could you put her to work? I figured you guys could work together and she could be your shadow or assistant.”
Jeffery’s eyes lit up as he smiled. “Yeah, sure.”
Nora waved as she left us there in the open room. While several people were milling about, we were the only two in this particular room. He still hadn’t said anything, which was making it awkward.
“So…do I just start nailing things, or…?”
His face dipped as he chuckled. “Sorry. Here, I’ll show you what we’re doing today.”
He guided me toward the window. “I’m framing this window, so if you want to hold this”—he picked up a large ruler-looking thing that was shaped like an L—“and this.” He handed me a drill.
His brown eyes focused on me. “Okay, you tell me when you want to try to drill, or how involved you want to be. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
I let out a small sigh of relief.
“Thanks. This isn’t really in my wheelhouse.”
He gave me another warm smile as he began to work. He used the L thing to measure and made a marking with his thick grease pencil.
“So, what is in your wheelhouse?”
I let out a small nervous laugh. I didn’t like talking about what I did for a living. Especially with people I just met. I tried to stick to something a bit easier.
“I like being around kids. I actually just started helping with Liam Croft’s kids.”
There was a small tingle of pride in my chest at saying it out loud. I had told Colson and Nora that I was going to start working with Liam’s kids, but they both seemed more perplexed by it than anything else.
