“Right. Girly stuff. I’m no longer in middle school.”
“I’ve noticed. It’s a big ask—”
“I’d love to meet her, and I promise not to feed her to the wolves. Heaven knows this town is ready for some fresh meat, and I don’t mean the tourist kind. I’ll come by later and bring Britt. That okay?”
“Sure thing. Just make it appear n-natural if you can.” Not arranged like I’m doing here.
“That’s my forte.”
“Thanks, cuz.”
We ring off and with a sigh I make peace with my tiny-house-building barn becoming a thoroughfare for the local single ladies.
Two steps forward, one step back.
It’s courting trouble, but begging Rachel, Brittany and that group of friends to come on over and show Georgiana the town is the only move I have. Georgiana needs company so that she can stay out of my hair outside of business hours.
I pocket my phone and walk back into the barn.
Georgiana stands behind her desk but doesn’t look at me. “I started drawing up the plans for your design this morning and was still busy with them when the TV crew arrived. What a mean curve ball. They keep on coming. What is it with this place? Ashleigh Lake, curve ball central.”
“S-sorry.”
“No worries. I’m becoming a specialist in dealing with them.” She shoots me a soft smile and my heart skips a beat as our gazes connect. “Now Hunter tells me you have some drawings? They might be useful here?”
It slowly sinks in that she isn’t bailing on me. Not today, at least. “M-my dr-dr-drawings are in B-Boston. F-forgot them there.” They’re more like rough sketches and with my handwriting, impossible to decipher. What I have on my computer will only frustrate her too. Except for a few lines and measurements, there’s not much going on there.
“I have no clue how you did it and how we can make this work right now.” She shakes her head and offers a small laugh, which is a first and the sweetest thing to hear. “I’ve never been on a construction site that didn’t have detailed plans. Very detailed plans. How did you even build this model?”
Now would be a good time to explain to her that my brain is a bit of a whiz-kid when it comes to anything three-dimensional. I look at things and visualize what they’re like in 3D, inside and out, without any issue, without plans, at any scale. I can create them with only the picture in my head and start-off measurements that I catalogue with the design as I add details to it. Building what’s in my head is a breeze. It’s weird and I don’t understand how it works.
In fact, nobody can figure out how my brain works, and just thinking of all the words that explanation would take clams me right up, but this is the one thing that comes as naturally to me as singing does to a popstar. This is my gift, the one that got hidden away, overlooked and forgotten, never finding its way with the others under the Christmas tree of life. Once I realized that this is my skill, it was too late to make more of it. Until now—if I don’t mess this up.
“Draw up plans, you will, for you. For the competition, you have to. I-it’s a r-requirement. I n-need to st-start b-building.”
Georgiana eyes my orderly pile of wood as she stands closer. “It would be quicker if you had help. We’re cutting those to which measurements?”
I tap my forefinger on my temple. “In here, it is.”
“All of it?”
“Yep.”
“Okay.” She bites her bottom lip, definitely suppressing a snarky retort. She clearly doubts my skills.
“I’d love to get going and do something,” she says. “Physical. Have something to show for today.”
I can relate.
For a long moment, we stare at each other, measuring each other up. We have two weeks to learn how to work together, or this is over. I press pause on all the doubts I have. If this is a truce, I’m taking it. After our bad take-off, it’s a miracle we’re still airborne. This trust thing is going to have to be earned both ways and maybe it’s time I show her what I’ve got, physically, since there’s no other way, really.
I take a deep breath. “Measure. Cut. Place. Staple. Fit. Bolt.” I pause between every word and get them all out perfectly. “How far we’ll get, we’ll see.”
“Gotcha, boss.” Georgiana nods at my minimalistic instructions. “Let’s get cracking.”
11
GEORGIANA