by Amy Vansant
It had to be Blade, Declan’s employee. No one else was that big.
She suspected Declan had asked Blade to help him fix her leaky roof. Taking a few steps back to get a better view, she could see it looked as if half the roof had been torn away.
Wandering towards her door, her eyes still locked on Blade, she narrowly avoided tripping over a pile of roofing tiles.
“Hey, Blade,” she said.
“Hey, Miss Charlotte,” said the giant of a man, grinning down at her.
“Did Declan hire you to fix my roof?”
She heard his great baritone laugh. “Eventually.”
Eventually?
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll let him tell you.”
“Is he inside?”
Blade looked down at the roof around him and then nodded. “Yep.”
Charlotte went inside to be greeted by her bouncing Wheaton.
“I told you I’d be back. I always come back,” she said, squatting to receive her sloppy kisses.
Declan appeared at the end of her hall looking sweaty and flustered, his eyes wide.
“What are you doing here?”
She laughed and straightened. “I live here.”
“Yeah, but—”
“What’s going on?”
“Uh...” His gaze bounced in the direction from which he’d come.
“You’re fixing my roof?” she prompted, moving in to give him a kiss hello. “I mean, you hired Blade to?”
She lifted her arms to hug him and then thought better of it. His face shone with sweat and his shirt looked as though he’d just stepped out of the ocean. Tiny white flecks covered his arms.
“Why are you so sweaty?” As she said the words, she realized the house felt a lot warmer than usual. She plucked at his shirt. “What’s all this white stuff stuck to you?’
He grimaced. “Um, funny story...”
She scowled.
Something is definitely wrong.
She glanced down the hall toward her bedroom and he held up his palms.
“Before you go in there, I should warn you—”
Charlotte moved past him and strode to her bedroom. Her bed looked more like a hot tub than a bed. Water pooled in the center and dripped to the floor around it. Bedding clumped in the corner like a soggy beanbag chair. Saw horses stood perpendicular to the wall, where it appeared someone had been cutting dry wall.
The spot above her bed had been cut out in a gigantic square. She moved toward it and peered up.
She saw daylight.
Like an approaching eclipse, the daylight disappeared, replaced by Blade’s smiling face. He waved.
“Hi, Miss Charlotte.”
She turned to Declan, her jaw slack.
“What happened?”
The corner of his mouth curled up in a sheepish smile. “The best of intentions went awry.”
“You tried to fix my leak?”
He nodded. “I looked for it where you said it was.”
She pointed to the hole in her ceiling. “But it wasn’t here. I traced it along the beam in the attic. I think the real leak is closer to the peak.”
He ran his hand through his sweaty hair, leaving a spotty trail of gypsum flecks. “Yeah. Mariska let me know that. A little late.”
She looked at her bed and the bedding in the corner. “But that doesn’t explain why everything is soaked?”
“It rained while I was up there. Hard.”
Charlotte paused as she recounted their previous phone conversation. “Is that why you asked me if old men check the weather every morning?”
He nodded. “Bob and the others knew a storm was coming, but they thought it would be funnier to watch me work than to warn me.”
Charlotte burst out laughing. “He stood there and watched you work?”
“Sat. They had chairs.”
“They?”
“Bob, Frank, George…” Declan sighed and put his hands on his hips. He looked annoyed and amused at the same time. “They got me good.”
“Oh, you poor thing.” She decided to brave the sweat and give him a hovering hug. He gave her a quick squeeze back and then let her escape from his damp body.
“There’s more,” he said.
“More?”
He nodded. “In my haste to get off the roof and away from the lightning, I stepped too close to the hole and broke through a chunk of plywood.”
“Making the hole bigger for the rain.”
“Exactly. I tried to cover the hole with trashbags, but the wind made it almost impossible.”
“Not to mention the lightning,” she added.
“That too. By the time I’d bought a tarp and got back, the rain was over, and—” He spread his hands, sweeping across her watery room. “Ta da.”
Charlotte noticed a wad of trash bags stuffed inside a large bucket and he followed her gaze there with his own.
“Turns out water collects on plastic bags covering a hole until the weight pulls it into the house with one big sploosh.”
She studied the dark circles under his eyes. “You look as tired as me.”
His shoulders slumped. “You have no idea.”
She patted him on the arm. “I’m just glad you’re okay. I’m going to have a talk with Bob about leaving you on a roof in the lightning.”
Declan chuckled. “To his credit, he did check to make sure my metal hammer had a wooden handle.”
“Oh. Well in that case, never mind. He’s a prince among men.”
Declan grinned and took a deep breath.
“Anyway, Blade and I will get everything all fixed up. You and Abby can stay at my place tonight.”
Charlotte tapped him on the chest. “I think that’s been your plan all along.”
“Right. This seemed like the most efficient way to get you to sleep over.”
She laughed. “No problem. And thank you for trying. That was really sweet of you.”
He blushed. “I should have known better than to try.” He cocked his head. “So wait, why are you so tired? Anything happen?”
She was about to answer when her phone buzzed. Charlotte pulled it from her pocket and glanced at the screen.
Hunter had accepted her tracking app request.
She was still in Jupiter Beach, not far from the Loggerhead Inn.
She smiled and looked up at Declan.
“I think I have an aunt.”
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amy Vansant is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author who writes with an unique blend of thrills, romance and humor.
She has rocked water aerobics at a fifty-five plus community, but has yet to play bingo. She’s heard it’s too vicious.
To keep up with Amy visit her humor blog/author site and sign up for her newsletter at:
http://www.AmyVansant.com
Other Books by Amy Vansant
Pineapple Port Mysteries
Funny, clean mysteries full of unforgettable characters
Kilty Urban Fantasy - Romantic Comedy/Thrillers
Funny, suspenseful thrillers with a touch of romance & fantasy
Slightly Romantic Comedies
Classic romantic romps
The Magicatory
Middle-grade fantasy
