McCormick's Creek Sweet Romance

by Jen Peters

  * * *

  Cat was checking plumbing specs the next afternoon when Todd and his mother knocked at the door. Justin came clattering down the stairs, his jaw set in stone. She sighed, stuck her pencil in her hair, and opened the door.

  Todd’s lanky figure was slumped, his head down in shame. His mother, a slight, diminutive woman, looked like she was about to rub a hole in her purse strap. She looked at her son, then nudged him with her foot.

  Todd barely lifted his head to look at Cat. “I’m sorry about stealing the boards, Miss Billings. I’ll do whatever you want to make up for it.”

  His mother nodded, lips pursed. “I raised him better than that, ma’am, and I promise you he won’t do it again. And I appreciate you not pressing charges. You work him as hard as you need to sink this lesson into his thick head.”

  Cat worked to keep a smile off her face. With a mother like this, she didn’t think Todd would forget any of it very soon. “Come in,” she said, stepping back.

  “He can carry—” Mrs. Stevens’ voice trailed off as she stepped into the foyer. “Oh my, I had no idea.”

  Cat knew what she felt like. The interior was still gutted—Justin was threading wire through the open studs and none of the original woodwork was in place—but the space still showed off its tall ceiling and airy feeling.

  “It will be beautiful when it’s finished,” Cat said. “I’ve got specialty crews working, but I’ve always got a need for a go-fer.”

  “And that’s me?” Todd said, looking around.

  Cat gave a short nod. “You’ll be here every afternoon as soon as school is out. You’ll spend a couple hours cleaning up and helping us with whatever we need—you might even learn a thing or two.” She turned to his mother. “Does he have homework? Does he get it done on time?”

  Mrs. Stevens grimaced and glared at her son, who hung his head once more.

  “Of course not,” Justin muttered from behind her.

  “All right then,” Cat continued. “Two or three hours of good, hard work, and then you’ll do your homework sitting right here. And eight hours on Saturdays. No phone, no friends, just construction work and school work.”

  Todd looked pained. “For how long?”

  Cat looked at his mother. “A month, minimum. After that, it’s up to your mother and me. And if you skip out anytime, I’ll be calling Officer Gonzales.”

  Todd stared at the floor until his mother elbowed him. “Uh, okay.” His mother jabbed him with her elbow again. “I mean, thank you. I appreciate it.”

  Cat nodded. “You’re not the first one to get an arrangement like this, and I hope I’ve read you right. Don’t abuse my trust.” Then she purposely softened her face. “Now, are you ready to work?”

  He nodded.

  “You have my thanks,” Mrs. Stevens said. “He better work hard for you.” She looked pointedly at her son. “You mess this up, and I’ll let you stay in jail a few nights—it might do that thick head of yours some good.”

  Todd swallowed hard. His mother left.

  Cat led the way to the kitchen and handed him a push broom. “First, you can do another sweeping. The whole first floor—you can start in there,” she pointed to the butler’s pantry off the dining room, “but stay out of the builders’ way.”

  He took the broom willingly enough and went to work. Cat turned back to her paperwork.

  “I still think you’re crazy,” came Justin’s curt voice behind her.

  “I know you do,” she said, not turning around. “But if he’s the type of kid I think he is, this will save him from a life he really doesn’t want.”

  “You’re dreaming,” Justin muttered.

  She heard him move away, but then he called back to her. “I’ll be watching him!”

  Chapter 13

  The mansion was finally quiet—the crews, Marty and Todd, everyone gone except Justin and Cat. With the bank calling his outstanding balance due, and he and Cat hardly speaking to each other, Justin was determined to get some extra hours in. “Why don’t you wind down for the night, Cat? You could use a night in a real bed.”

  “I’m fine.” She blew sawdust out of a fireplace carving and turned to him. “I’m not some soft little girl who needs all her home comforts, you know.”

  “I know that all too well,” he said, smiling at her familiar stance: hands on her hips and her jaw thrust sideways. He’d love to take her tools away and kiss her thoroughly, but this arrangement with Todd had him on edge. “I’m probably going to work through the night, though, and you wouldn’t get much sleep with me clattering around. So let me go home and feed Pip, then I’ll be back and you can go.”

  Cat shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat. I’ll probably take a run with Bella and check on you later.”

  When he got home, Pip was bouncing all over him, eager for attention. He threw the squeaky ball until his arm fell off, but still couldn’t resist Pip’s pleading look when he went to leave. So he scooped the little furball up, grabbed his water dish, and headed back down the hill.

  “So you’re a softie about dogs but not people?” Cat said when she saw Pip under his arm.

  “Go on, I’ve got work to do,” he muttered.

  So Cat left, and Justin settled down to work. Pip followed him everywhere, flopping down in just the wrong spot, making Justin maneuver around him as he moved from spot to spot. “You’re such a big help, Dog,” he said more than once.

  It was nice to have Pip to talk to though, especially when he scraped his hand against an outlet box when the wire wouldn’t pull smoothly. Someone who didn’t scold him for cussing, just looked at him with soulful black eyes.

  Justin was on a ladder, arms half-tangled in coated wire, hands full of pliers and stripped copper ends, when Pip gave a sharp bark and trotted away. “Huh?” It took Justin more than a minute to get unwrapped and follow.

  “Justin?” his sister called. “You up there somewhere?”

  “I’m here,” he said, coming onto the staircase landing. “What are you doing here so late?”

  “Hah! I could ask you the same thing.” She placed a pie on a worktable.

  He eyed it with relish. “I, obviously, am working. And you ought to be home by now.”

  She put her hands on her hips just the same way Cat did. He’d never noticed the similarity before. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I outgrew my curfew a few years ago. And Mom sent you a chocolate silk pie. So why are you working so late?”

  He came down the rest of the way, grabbed the pie, and sat on the bottom step. Pip immediately scrambled into his lap. He scooped a finger into the filling and moaned with delight. “Just trying to catch up. I’m a couple of days behind with the wiring.”

  Robin furrowed her brow. “So? The world’s not going to end if you’re two days late, and you won’t get fired—you’re the contractor.”

  Justin shook his head slightly. “Just trying to get ahead on some bills.” It wouldn’t do for her to find out—she’d just run straight to Mom.

  She shrugged. “None of my beeswax, I guess. I’ve got money troubles of my own.”

  “You? What’s going on?”

  “You tell me and I’ll tell you,” she teased.

  Justin just stared at her while he scratched Pip behind the ears.

  “All right, I give up,” Robin said. “Mom says not to eat the pie all in one sitting.”

  Justin grinned and scooped another finger full of chocolate creaminess.

  Ah, quiet once more. Robin was gone, the pie was gone, and Pip was curled up on his sleeping bag. Justin had more to do on the top floors, but without the chaos of workers in and out during the day, now would be a great time to do the wiring for the central chandelier.

  “Measure twice, cut once,” he murmured to himself as he marked the boards to frame the chandelier support. Between the table saw and the nail gun, he quickly had the framework inserted between the rafters. He only needed staples to hold the wire in place, but moving the ladder every few feet was
a royal pain. He installed the box, then ran the wire back down to the switch. Done.

  The night grew quiet as traffic vanished from the streets of the small town. He wasn’t usually out in the wee hours of the morning, but occasionally he’d sit out on his deck and watch the stars. That was one advantage of living in the mountains—he had a whole lot more stars to see than the poor folks down in the cities.

  He hoped Cat was enjoying sleeping in a real bed again. They’d brought in proper air mattresses, but spending nights at the mansion had been no fun. Well, it was nice to chat and get to know each other, and they’d watched a few movies and played some killer Monopoly, so it wasn’t all bad. And he definitely wouldn’t give up watching her snuggle into her pillow before he headed for his own. But neither had felt like they could leave the mansion empty after dark so it had put a damper on any proper dates.

  If she ever relaxed again, he’d like to take her out to the overlook—a great place for stars—and show her how a valley opened up where you wouldn’t expect. And if she were inclined for another kiss, well, the overlook was the spot. But not until they caught the thieves, not until the work was further along.

  By 3 a.m. Justin wished he could join Pip on the sleeping bag, but one more hour would let him finish the upstairs bathrooms and then he’d grab some shuteye.

  * * *

  There weren’t any sounds coming from the mansion when Cat arrived the next morning. Inside, she found both Justin and Pip snoring softly. They actually looked kind of cute together, with Pip curled up under Justin’s chin and his arm thrown protectively across the small white dog. Pip opened his eyes at the sound of Bella’s toenails on the floor, but they fluttered shut again.

  When he wasn’t frustrating her, Justin tugged at her heart in ways Cat had never expected. She knew men didn’t stick around, as proven by her mother’s many boyfriends, and true love stories only happened in the movies. She could shrug off the attraction between them as simple desire, but Justin looked into her eyes and knew her. She didn’t really believe in soulmates, but he completed her somehow.

  She knew him, too—honest, funny, stubborn, protective. Even if they were working on different floors, just knowing he was in the same house settled something in her. She was falling for him, had already fallen for him, and she may as well admit it.

  And yet…

  A tendril of disbelief still curled in her stomach. He had secrets he wouldn’t share, he was obsessed with strict justice and punishment and was still furious that she’d kept Todd out of jail…what would he think if he knew her own background?

  Pip snuffled and Bella stretched out next to him. Cat tore herself away from Justin’s sleep-softened face and went to browse his nighttime work.

  Fifteen minutes later, she was fuming. If Justin thought he could get away with cutting corners on her job, he had another thing coming. She didn’t care how much of a hurry he was in or what his money problems were, he hadn’t even met minimum standards, let alone the quality she was looking for.

  She clattered down the stairs from the third floor. By the time she was taking the curve to the entryway, Justin was sitting up.

  “Hey, Cat,” he said, blinking bleary eyes. “What time is it?”

  “Time for you to get something through that thick skull of yours,” she retorted. She stood over him, hands on her hips, feeling like a high school principal. “You said you could work up to my standards. You agreed no shortcuts.”

  He rubbed a hand across his face. “Yeah, I did. So what’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Her voice was in the rafters, and she took a deliberate breath and lowered it. “What’s wrong is that you knew the chandelier needed extra bracing, and you skipped it. What’s wrong is that after I specifically said the bathrooms had to be wired for a four way switch, you took a shortcut there too. Did you honestly think I wouldn’t notice you left out the heat lamps?”

  “Left out…” He shook his head slowly.

  “Left out,” she repeated. “You can read blueprints, can’t you?”

  Justin scrambled to his feet. “Look, you can leave your attitude back at Mrs. Vanderhoof’s. I’ll fix it, okay? It won’t take very long.”

  Cat glared at him. “I don’t want you just patching in a few more wires. They need to be pulled out and done completely over, the right way this time. The chandelier support, too.”

  He huffed. She didn’t think people actually did that, but he did. He huffed. Then he drew his shoulders back and said, “I’m the electrician. I don’t do anything that’s not up to code. And redoing the whole set of wiring isn’t necessary to meet code.”

  She stepped up to him, wishing she was tall enough to look him straight in the eye. As it was, her nose was level with his chin, and she had to tip her head back farther than she wanted, but it didn’t matter—she was in the right. “It may not be necessary to meet basic code,” she said, “but it is necessary to have an easily reparable set of wiring later, and that’s what I promised Mitchell Blake. Quality, not slapdash speed. Got it?” She put her best glare on while those forest green eyes of his threatened to burst into flame.

  Justin finally stepped back. “Aye, aye, ma’am. Whatever you say, ma’am.” He gave her a half-salute, grabbed his tool belt, and stomped upstairs.

  That was more like it, Cat thought. She’d always known jobs worked better with just one person in charge. She should have pressed Mitchell Blake about it in the first place. But now…now she had two puzzled dogs staring at her, heads down and eyes peering up like they were the ones in trouble.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, kneeling and rubbing both their heads. “Raised voices are a bit unsettling, aren’t they? For me, too, actually.” She could say it aloud to them, if not to anyone else. She leaned back and they clambered into her lap, Bella taking most of it but leaving a smidgen of room for Pip.

  She rubbed their heads, thinking how different Bella’s smooth fur was from Pip’s curly coat, and letting her heartbeat get back to normal. She rarely let loose like that, even when project pieces needed do-overs. So why did Justin’s mistakes get to her so much?

  Because she loved him. She did, against all her rules, but that just made it more complicated. More than that, it came down to a power struggle between people with different agendas.

  He wanted to finish the job as fast as he could, although he’d refused to say why. And her…this was her reputation on the line, her chance to break free and do more fulfilling work. She was good at the project management, but the time she spent working on the fireplace and helping Marty with the staircase—this was what gave her joy.

  Unless she wanted to go back to low-end houses, she needed this to finish properly. Needed this for her soul as well as her bank balance. Justin was a complication she couldn’t afford.

  Chapter 14

  Justin stomped to his truck after the long, beastly day, yanked the door open and put his hand right into yesterday’s burger. Yuk—congealed mustard and catsup-y tomato and lettuce. His lip curled and he searched for a rag to wipe his hand on, finally giving up and smearing it on the bottom of his pant leg. He shoved the truck into gear and spun out.

  It wasn’t just the cold, slimy burger. How could he have been so wrong? Cat’s charms had gotten to him in a way he thought he was immune to. Her sense of humor, her sass, the laughter in her voice—they had all helped open his heart even though he needed to keep it shut down. He had even entertained hopes that something real might come of it, dreaming ahead occasionally, picturing the two of them together.

  But even if he had the time and inclination to get involved, to think about the future down the road, he should have known it wouldn’t work. She was a harridan, a shrew with a whip to crack, and if you didn’t measure up to her expectations—hers, not a reasonable person’s—you paid the price. He had spent the entire day rewiring the bathrooms and rebuilding the chandelier support, grumbling all the while at the wasted time.

  He hadn’t meant t
o take shortcuts, but could he get a word in edgewise to tell her it was just because he was tired? Oh no, every time he approached her, she glared again and thrust the blueprints at him. And then she spent the afternoon on the phone to suppliers and subcontractors, leaving him no chance to explain. By six p.m., she was still on the phone, and he was out of there.

  Justin drove on autopilot, his head pounding with indignation. For all Cat’s by-the-book building principles, she didn’t even have the guts to press charges when Todd-the-delinquent confessed to his crime. Showing mercy was fine, but all mercy did was give someone the chance to take advantage of other people somewhere else. The law required justice, and justice meant that when you did something wrong, you had to pay the price.

  And now she’d given Todd a job in the same place he’d stolen from! He really didn’t understand Cat—not her short fuse, not her business practices, not her missing respect for justice.

  Somehow Justin ended up in the restaurant parking lot. His mother wouldn’t be there, but maybe Robin was working the evening shift. He went in and plunked himself down in a booth.

  “Hey, Justin! What’s up?” Robin came over with the coffee pot and a mug.

  He could only shake his head. “Just frustrated with a grizzly bear who over-uses rules sometimes and skips them completely at others. Come on, pour me some.”

  Robin raised her eyebrows. “On a short fuse tonight, are you? I wouldn’t want to be him.”

  Justin grunted.

  Robin studied him. “Or her. Have you finally let yourself get caught, Big Bro?”

  He huffed. “Not hardly. Especially not now.”

  “Oh come on,” she said, glancing around the nearly empty room before sitting in the booth across from him. “It’s been way too long since you had a girlfriend. Since you had a date at all, I think!”