Death by Demo by Callie Carpenter

Author:Callie Carpenter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CROOKED LANE BOOKS

* * *

The next morning, Jaime was up and out of the apartment before dawn. Lara had headed over to her fiancé’s place after the spreadsheet session, and Jaime didn’t expect to see her again for a couple of days. She sipped the coffee she’d brewed and knew that the bowl of cold cereal she’d shoveled down wouldn’t see her through until noon, not if she was going to be on her feet all day, working.

But that was one big advantage of going to her parents’ house to use her dad’s workshop. The kitchen was always stocked with snacks for her brothers and their families.

She parked in the street, to stay out of the way of any and all departing vehicles, and went in the front door. “Morning!” she called. “Anyone home?”

Her mother appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Did you eat? And before you say a word, a bowl of cereal is not a proper breakfast. That stuff is half a step above cardboard.”

Then again, there were disadvantages. “Thanks, Mom, but I’m fine. I will take more coffee, though.” She followed her mother into the kitchen. “Did I tell you I can get back to work on the house?”

“Hmm.”

There was that “hmm” thing again. Jaime wondered if Lara had learned it from her mom, or if it just came naturally to some people. “Hmm, what?”

“Nothing.” Her mother folded her arms and watched as Jaime topped off her coffee. “It’s just that you’re going from doing nothing to going all out in nothing flat—that’s a big, fast change.”

Jaime’s mouth flattened into a straight line. For months her mother had been at her to “do something.” To come home. To enroll in college courses. To look for a job. To find a new hobby. And now that she was doing something, she was getting criticism? Seriously?

“Restoration is what I love to do,” she said, screwing the lid back onto her travel mug so tight it would take a pair of wide jaw pliers to get it off again. “You know that.”

“But you’ve never done it on your own before. Before, you always had—”

Jaime whirled around. “Had what, Mom? Before, I always had Henry around to do the real work? Before, I always had a man on hand to take care of things? Is that what you’re saying? That I can’t do this on my own?”

“So early, yet so loud.” Her dad came into the room, buttoning his dress shirt. “Can you two leave it until I get some caffeine in me?”

“Before,” her mom said, with steel in her voice, “you always had crews. A staff. Hands to help. I don’t care what gender or shape they are, before you had people to help. I don’t like the idea of you being over there alone all the time.”

“I know how to do this,” Jaime said, biting off the consonants. “I give workshops on construction site safety, remember?”

“Yes, but it’s different when you’re working by yourself. It’s easy to get immersed in what’s going on.

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