2 Timers by Amaleka McCall

Author:Amaleka McCall [McCall, Amaleka]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-11-11T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Harmony

Harmony groaned as she lifted the heavy bucket of mold remover paint.

“You shouldn’t be trying to lift that.” The deep baritone voice sent shockwaves down her spine.

“Oh my goodness, Captain Bird . . . I mean . . . Blake,” Harmony gasped, fussing with her frazzled hair, trying to smooth it back from her face. “I wasn’t expecting you.” She used her forearm to wipe the sweat and grime from her face. Her heart was pounding. Her cheeks flushed red, and her toes automatically curled inside her sneakers.

“Your contractors should be doing this. That’s what you pay them for,” Blake said, flashing his perfect teeth. He walked over and lifted the bucket from her arms with ease. “I thought during our last conversation we talked about this.”

As promised, Blake had helped Harmony deal with the insurance adjusters and to find a contractor that could complete the work the fastest for the least amount of money. They usually scheduled their meetings in advance, and Harmony made sure she looked decent each time they met. Today, Blake had caught her off guard sans makeup with her hair resembling a bird’s nest, and no time to remedy either situation.

Harmony adjusted her raggedy, paint-stained T-shirt and tugged on the waistband of her dirt-covered sweatpants. It was no use. She looked a mess, and there was no fixing it. Blake, on the other hand, looked handsome dressed in a pair of neatly starched Dockers and a three-button Polo that hit his chest in the right places. His freshly lined up haircut accented the one patch of gray in the front of his head. Harmony thought the gray made him look distinguished.

“All you should be doing is supervising the contractors and telling them what to do,” he said, arms folded across his chest.

“I know, but with everything going on here, I’ve been trying to do as much as I can myself to keep the costs down,” she confessed. “Without being able to hold the dance and theatre classes, things are looking . . .” Her voice trailed off, and she shrugged. She had said too much already. She didn’t want him to think of her as a charity case. “I shouldn’t be bothering you with this stuff,” she said, rubbing her sweaty palms on the front of her sweatpants. “You’ve done enough already. I still think it was your report that helped me get as much as I did from the insurance.”

“It’s really no big deal. I tell you what,” Blake said, lowering the bucket to the floor. “I’ll let you hold your recital rehearsal classes at the firehouse—you can use it as a makeshift studio in the short term. I’ll get some of my guys to come over during their downtime to help you with other tasks—especially ones involving heavy lifting. They can log it as community service hours. We’ll make sure you get your place up and running without having to cancel the recital your students have worked so hard for all year. That’s a win-win, right?” he said with a grin and wink.

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