“I, uh...” Grace’s life suddenly looked awfully shallow from where she was standing. What had she ever done to give back to the community? “Am I taking you away from helping them? By hiring you to work on my home?”
“Nope. This is the perfect project for them. Come and meet the rest of the guys. They don’t bite.”
Grace stayed where she was. “I feel a little foolish dressed like this when I’m supposed to be part of the crew. Should I change into work clothes first?”
“No, it’s better they meet you in all your prissiness, and then when you get changed they’ll realize you’re human, too.”
Grace rolled her eyes at his mild chastisement. “Okay, then. Lead the way,” she said.
They went inside and up the stairs where one of the boys was working on her banister railings.
“Dr. Saunders, meet Zac. He’s been with me for over a year and is shaping up to be a fine carpenter.”
“Please, call me Grace,” she said, offering her hand to Zac, a short, bespectacled kid whom Grace couldn’t imagine ever being in trouble with the law. He seemed too...normal. Or was she just seeing the glasses and equating them with being studious?
He shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. Jack said you’re going to pitch in around the job site.”
He looked a little too long at Grace’s totally inappropriate attire and she felt it necessary to joke, “I guess heels are a no-no?”
Zac shrugged. “Whatever the boss says.”
Something crashed downstairs. She and Jack raced to the first floor to find dust billowing out of the kitchen. As it cleared, Grace saw that half the cabinets had been torn from the wall.
A huge man stood in the midst of the debris.
“This is Ace. He specializes in demolition,” Jack said with a wry smile.
“Grace,” she said, shaking hands with the tall, well-built young man sporting tattoos on his arms and shoulders.
“This your house, ma’am?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, taking in the wreckage. The old seventies cabinets were hideous, but at least they’d hidden the wall. Now that it was exposed, she could see it was covered in years of built-up grime.
“Ace has only been with me a couple of weeks, so I’m not letting him near the power tools yet.”
Ace grinned, revealing a missing front tooth. Grace feared he’d be missing some digits if he went anywhere near a power tool.
“My other two apprentices have a couple of days off. They’re my most experienced men, and one of them will be taking Ace under his wing.”
“I thought you were going to be working on my house,” Grace said.
“I will. But I’m a contractor, which means I have a lot more to do than hammering nails and cutting lumber. I teach the guys and do the finer work myself. Al is the foreman and he keeps an eye on them. Don’t worry, your house is in good hands—the entire crew just finished building a new house. Renovating a Victorian is a real challenge and they’re all up for it.”
They walked outside, escaping the sound of more crashing as Ace got back to cabinet demolition.
A truck with a Dumpster on its flatbed was looking for a parking space farther down the street.
“It would help if you moved your car,” Jack pointed out. “Go change and I’ll see you back here in an hour. No later, okay?”
“Who exactly is the boss here?” she demanded.
“I am,” Jack said unequivocally. “And what I say goes. You’re just the owner. Now get going.”
If he hadn’t said it with a smile, Grace might have been offended. Instead, she bustled to her car and waved at the Dumpster delivery guy to indicate he could have her spot.
* * *
JACK SHOOK HIS HEAD as Grace drove away. Already he regretted his request that she roll up her sleeves and pitch in. Working in such close proximity with Grace wasn’t one of his best ideas. Yet from the moment he’d laid eyes on her again, he’d wanted her back in his life. But he needed to forgive her first.
Forgiveness didn’t come easily to Jack, in spite of his time in the seminary. It might have had something to do with the two weeks he spent on life support after being assaulted and knifed by gang members. The memory of Jayden Tyler, the kid he’d tried so hard to save from the gang, walking away from him as he lay bleeding in that L.A. alley, had never stopped haunting him. The fact that someone he’d put so much faith in could be so callous still burned his guts.
Pushing the memories away, Jack went inside and ascended to the attic to check the roof for leaks.
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