“Oh, if you’re the designer, we definitely need you for our next flip.”
“You have another one in the works?”
“Not yet, but I am hoping Luke will consider having me on for his next project.” She smiled at Luke. “Oh, but we can talk about it later. We should all go out and celebrate this weekend.” She leaned toward Josie. “The house is finished and Luke got his broker’s license.”
Josie wrapped her arms around herself and glanced from Lia to Luke. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
He wanted to ask how she had done on the test, but thought it best that she be the one to offer the information in case it wasn’t good news.
“I love what you’ve done in here.” Josie tapped on her watch and stepped toward the door. “I actually have an appointment to get to.”
Lia and Luke backed out of the bathroom to let Josie out. He hadn’t meant to make her feel uncomfortable.
“This house is amazing.” She glanced back at Luke as she opened the front door.
When she stepped onto the porch, Luke followed her out, closing the door behind them. He wasn’t ready to let her go.
“Hey, Josie, was there something you wanted to talk about?”
Josie turned to face him. His heart began to pound as her beautiful eyes met his.
“Oh, I don’t want to get in the way of your plans. I…” She spread out her hands. “I might be crazy, but I actually came to tell you I bought a house.” She pulled out her phone from her purse and brought up the photos she’d taken. “Let me show you.”
Luke stepped by her side as she scrolled through the photos. His shoulder tingled as it brushed hers. “Wow, it’s…nice, Josie.”
Josie chuckled at his sarcasm. “Isn’t it great? It’s a foreclosure property.”
“That looks like rabid raccoons threw a party in there. This will be a good one, I can tell.”
“I’m so happy to hear you say that. Hopefully not all of it is sarcastic.” She lifted an eyebrow at him.
“The worse they look, the more incredible the transformation.”
“I have very little idea of what I’m doing and I…I wondered…” She took a small step to the side and faced him. She gripped her purse to make sure her hand wasn’t shaking.
Luke folded his arms and his lips curled up on one side. “Do you need some help?”
“Yes, I really do.” Joselyn took courage from his little grin. “A recommendation for a contractor, for sure. I don’t know what else right now.”
He watched her breathe in deeply from her nose and stand a little straighter. Their eyes locked.
“Would you be interested in partnering with me on this?”
Luke’s heart skipped a beat, and he didn’t even think before he said, “Absolutely.”
Her smile threatened to melt him to the floor.
“I’m more than happy to help, Josie. We’re ready to put this place on the market”—he pointed to the porch floor—“and it’s the perfect time to start a new flip.” He hesitated and rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Why don’t we meet over at the house tomorrow and go over the details?”
“Sure.” She glanced at the wooden boards under her feet, then breathed in deeply and met his eyes. “I’m really sorry I left Serenity Shores without saying goodbye.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Don’t apologize. I’m sorry I got you fired.”
“I’m sorry we both did. But I really think it’s for the best.” She forced a smile that she hoped looked natural. “I made broker too.”
“Really? Congratulations, Josie. You absolutely deserve it.”
“Thank you. I’m really happy for you too.”
“Yes, things are working out well.”
“It will be fun to work with you.” Luke held out his hand and she took it. He gave it a firm, very professional shake. “It’s really good to see you again, Josie. I’m glad you came by.”
Warmth from her hand traveled up his arm, and he reluctantly released her. “It’s good to see you too.”
He watched as she went back to her car and drove away. Like a piece of his heart had returned and left again. Was it really only a professional relationship she wanted? He would try his best to help her any way she wanted. She was really testing him. As much as he wanted to be with her, he didn’t want to push her if she wasn’t ready.
Lia stepped out onto the porch. “Let’s get this place on the market, shall we?”
“Definitely.” Luke walked with her down the porch steps and tried to bring his mind back to business.
Joselyn hadn’t stopped thinking about Luke since she saw him yesterday. It was true she needed help with the house, but she also intended to feel out the situation to see if he was open to more than a business relationship. Seeing if he wanted to talk to her at all after she had left without saying goodbye was the first step.
Now he was on the way over to meet her at the foreclosure house, and her nerves were tangling themselves into knots. She arrived first and spread out the flooring samples she’d brought on the horrible orange carpet.
The door needed to stay open so the smell was tolerable. The people who lived in the house had animals who didn’t seem to be house-trained.
Luke walked in and waved a hand in front of his nose. “Whew!”
“It’s pretty bad, I know. The carpets have more than one reason to go.”
“That lovely shade of orange was once a trend. Sadly, now it looks like a dog threw up a tangerine.”
“Lovely thought. Thank you for that.” They both laughed and Joselyn pointed to the flooring samples. “What do you think of these?”
He stepped beside her and she tried to concentrate on the floor instead of his proximity to her. She rambled on about each flooring option and wished he would stop her. Why was she so nervous?
“What do you think?” She turned to him and waited for his response.
His face turned red. “What did you say this one was?” He pointed at the darker wood.
“This is luxury vinyl plank, the water resistant one. Were you listening?”
Was my rambling understandable?
“I’m sorry, I actually like them all. But choosing a floor isn’t our first step.”
“Yes, I figured that. It’s fun to see the possibilities here.”
“There is a lot of good potential in this place. I called my contractor over to walk through. He’ll be here in a few hours. Let’s just make some notes on things we’d like to change.”
“Great, yes. I’ve got plenty of paper.” She pulled out a notebook from her large purse and a red pen.
“How can you write in red?” Luke’s lips curled upward.
“I bought this pack of pens that has every color.” She shrugged and chuckled over his quirky expression. “Does red bother you?”
“It looks like you’re writing in blood.”
“Ick. Do you watch a lot of creepy horror movies?”
Luke shook his head. “My grandma loves them.”
“Are you serious?”
“I am. I just dropped off some more to her on my way over.”
“Oh, that is so sweet. My grandma didn’t like movies; she only watched the cooking channel.” Joselyn scribbled his name across the paper in large letters. “What if you walked in this empty house in the dark and saw this…” She held the notebook in front of his face.
He flinched, then snatched the notebook. “Saw this where? On the wall in the dark?”
“I assume you wouldn’t walk into a dark, empty house without a flashlight. I mean, get your phone out or something, man.”
Luke howled with laughter, and she joined in. After a moment, he wiped a tear from one eye and pulled a pen from his back pocket. “Humor me and use this.”
Joselyn took the black pen from him and their fingers brushed ever so slightly, sending a quiver through her hand.
Fortunately, Luke got down to business. “Let’s have a look at this place.”
&n
bsp; They walked through to the kitchen.
“If this wall came down, we’d have a large open-concept kitchen and living room.” Joselyn pointed at the wall in front of them. “We could put an island here instead.” She waved her hand around in a circle where she imagined it going.
“We’ll need to find out if it’s a load-bearing wall, but I’m sure we can get rid of it.”
“We can look at the numbers when we have an estimate and decide, but I think it would be worth it.”
They toured the rest of the rooms and Joselyn made plenty of notes. She sketched a few diagrams of how she envisioned the master bathroom layout.
“Let’s go outside and get some air,” Luke suggested, opening the front door. “I’d love to leave all the windows open if I didn’t think vandals would take advantage of the opportunity.”
“I know, the smell makes me want to rip the carpet out myself.” Joselyn eyed the floor.
“We could, if you’d like. It’s good for stress to rip a house apart.”
“I’ll bet.” Joselyn hesitated. Their eyes met and she stared a few heartbeats, wondering what he was thinking. Was he suggesting they rip out the carpet to save money or to spend more time with her? “Let’s do it.”
Luke had a tool bag in his SUV and they got to work with all the windows and doors open. Working alongside him was a lot of fun. He played some tunes on his phone and sang along badly. Probably on purpose. At least she hoped.
He was adorable when he sang. Especially when they were the wrong words.
Pulling the carpet up was pretty easy, but the tack strips along the baseboards that the carpet hooked onto had to be popped out with a hammer and a crowbar. The first time she tried, Luke stood behind her as she crouched down on her tiptoes in front of the tack strip. Copying what she’d seen Luke just do, she slid the flat edge of the crowbar under the board against the nail and hit the other end of the bar with the hammer. The nail popped up and one side of the tack strip was free. On the other side, she had to hit it a few times and the last time even harder. She lost her balance and fell backward into Luke’s legs, dropping the tools on the concrete floor. Luke’s arms were around her shoulders before she knew it and he pulled her to her feet.
She turned around, breathless. They were face to face and all the muscles in her body were weakening.
“You okay?” he asked so quietly it was almost a whisper.
She could barely speak, but she squeaked out, “Yeah.”
A pounding on the door made them both jump. Joselyn’s heart had already been running away.
Luke hurried over to open the door. It was the contractor, a middle-aged man wearing a backwards baseball cap.
“Hey, Hank.” Luke shook his hand and waved a hand toward her. “This is Josie Bell.”
“Nice to meet you.” Hank shook her hand and they proceeded to walk through the house again with him, explaining their plans while he made notes on a clipboard.
Joselyn tried her best to concentrate on the task at hand, but she couldn’t help wondering what would have happened if Hank hadn’t chosen just that moment to knock on the door.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Once the estimate from the contractor came, Luke called Josie to make sure she saw the email he’d forwarded.
“Oh, this is bad.”
He could hear her taking in a few deep breaths over the phone. “Breathing is a good idea. Are you sitting down?”
“No, but that’s good advice.”
The house needed new pipes, new wiring, and a new roof. It was a lot for anyone, and he could tell she was overwhelmed. He loved that Josie seemed to have let it all go to start something new and she’d come to him to get started on a house flip.
“There is some good news.” Luke scrolled through the estimate. “I asked Hank to check for animals in the attic and there is nothing living up there. Unless you count spiders.”
“That is good. But, now I’m not sure if we will make any money off this place.”
“I suggest we may want to see if Lia is interested in investing here.”
Joselyn paused.
“If that’s not okay—”
“No, it’s okay,” she said hurriedly.
“But I still think we can make some good money off this place.” Luke switched to another window on his computer. “I just looked at the other recent sales in that neighborhood. I’ll email you. This isn’t anything we can’t handle.”
“Thanks.” Her voice was still nervous. “I hadn’t checked the most recent comps. All these repairs add weeks to our reno estimate.”
“Yes, it will take a little longer, but that’s okay. New pipes mean it’s not a big deal to change the bathroom layouts like we wanted.”
“I suppose.”
“Josie, we got this. I promise, it will be fine. We survived a shark attack, remember?”
That got her to laugh. “You need to go to the aquarium so you can see a shark you don’t have to be afraid of.”
“Sure, but I’m still not getting back in a kayak. Why don’t you go with me?” The words were out before he thought better of them, and his tongue suddenly felt like sandpaper.
She wasn’t speaking for the space of two heartbeats and he froze…he’d probably made her uncomfortable. He’d been so close to kissing her at the house before Hank arrived; that was too far. She’d come asking for professional help, not more.
“Why don’t we go to celebrate once we finish this house?” Then they wouldn’t be working together anymore. It would be better for both of them.
“Oh, okay, sure. Sorry, I was swallowing something right when you asked.”
Maybe that was true. Or an excuse. Josie had been stuck with a front row seat for the grand finale of the mess he’d made mixing love and business.
“We make a great team, Josie. I’m glad we’re friends again.”
Friends…that incredibly annoying word. He wanted to put her at ease but regretted saying it already.
“Me too.”
His heart slumped. “I’ll give Lia a call and text you what she says.”
“Great. Thanks.”
“Talk to you later.”
He ended the call, wishing he could rid himself of the disappointment stewing in his chest.
Josie wrapped another plate in bubble wrap as she gazed around Samantha’s barren walls. Her small apartment was filled with boxes.
“I’m so excited about your new job, Sam,” Josie said as she took another dish from the cabinet. “But I sure am going to miss you.”
“You’ll have to come down and see me when you’re ready for a vacation, Josie. I really like that new nickname, by the way.” Samantha closed up another box and slapped a strip of packing tape over the flaps. “I loved everything about Serenity Shores when I went down for my interview. It was so good to see Chris again. I still can’t believe he remembered my cooking from so many years back.”
“You’ve always been an amazing cook, Sam. And now you’re about to be Serenity Shore’s new head chef. I’m so proud of you.”
Samantha blushed. “Thanks, sis. Why don’t you drive down with me this weekend? I could use some company driving that truck. I’ll help fly you back.”
“Well, I suppose I can…there isn’t much left to do with the house. The contractor scheduled the final inspection.”
“How are things with Luke?” Samantha stacked the box she was working on atop two others.
“Going great.” She and Luke were on the phone with each other almost every day. He met her at the house one day after the new drywall went up in the hall to choose paint colors. They stood so close together at one point she wanted to turn into his chest and steal that kiss they’d almost had before the contractor interrupted. But perhaps it wasn’t a near-kiss experience to Luke. He’d never brought it up. Samantha didn’t know about that.
“He’s been there with me through this whole process. It’s an overwhelming project at first, but having him work with me…I know I’m not alone.
”
Samantha grinned and her brown eyes sparkled. “Are you going to tell him how you feel?”
“I came to him for help flipping the house. Other than that, I’ve been…seeing how it goes.”
“Yes, but you’ve been at that for nearly a month. How is that working out?” Samantha lifted an eyebrow.
“It’s going well. We’re really good friends. We joke around and have fun. He watches horror movies with his grandma and it’s pretty easy to startle him. Especially if we go over there in the evening and the house is making strange noises.” She laughed while she fiddled with the tape gun. “I told him I’d researched the previous owners of the house and I tried to convince him the house was haunted.”
“Did he fall for it?”
“He started to, but he isn’t that gullible. He’s on to me and my sense of humor.” She pulled a long strip of packing tape over the box and ran her hand across it. “Luke likes to do a lot of work himself and he’s been showing me how to lay tile. It’s really awesome.”
“You mentioned that. And that you’ve been hiding snacks for him to find because he forgets to eat when he’s on a roll.” Samantha placed a hand on one hip. “You haven’t failed to bring him up every time you and I have talked over the last few weeks.”
“I haven’t talked about him that much.” Josie felt her cheeks warming. “Flipping a house is a lot of work, Samantha.”
“Are you going to tell him how you feel?”
Josie didn’t want to answer that one. “Did I tell you I’m thinking of starting my own real estate company after this house sells?”
“You should totally go for it, sis. But you’re not getting away with changing the subject. You’ve been feeling out the situation with a guy you’re in love with. Just tell him already and he’ll be thrilled.”
“It’s not that simple, Samantha.”
“Are you sure?” She raised an eyebrow at Joselyn as she stacked the box she’d been packing on top of another one.
“I came to him with a professional proposal.”
“You keep saying that. But so what?”
Resorting to Romance Page 15
