"He probably would've seen you, but I wanted to make sure you were safe."
She glances at the corner, then back at me. "I think that van was blocking his view. He would've hit me for sure if you hadn't saved me."
"Well, you seem to be okay so I'm going to get going." I pick her phone up from the ground and hand it to her. "You really shouldn't use that when you're crossing the street. It's too distracting."
"Wait!" she says as I'm walking to my truck. She catches up to me. "I need to repay you somehow. Can I buy you lunch?"
"I just had lunch." I look down and see my brownie now smashed on the ground. I must've dropped it when I ran over to save the girl.
She sees me looking at it. "Was that yours? I'll buy you a new one. I'm sure Lou has some left. I'll get you a whole dozen, or whatever you want."
"No, thanks. I'm good."
"Please." She holds my arm. "I have to do something. I might be dead right now if it weren't for you." She pauses. "Do you golf?"
"Now and then. Why?"
"My father owns the country club on the other side of town. I could get you a membership for the summer."
So that's why she has that expensive perfume. She's rich.
A membership at her father's country club is probably worth thousands of dollars, but I'm not interested. I've been to country clubs in Chicago with a few of our wealthy clients and didn't like it. Everyone there was a snob. They took one look at my cheap golf clubs and knew I wasn't one of them and treated me like shit.
"Thanks, but I won't have time for golf. I'll be working all summer."
"Where do you work?"
"I'm renovating a house over on Sycamore Lane."
"Oh." She adjusts her purse on her shoulder. "I thought those were all being torn down."
The way she said it, it's like she thinks they should be torn down, but I'm sure a lot of people think that. Even Callie thinks my house should be demolished.
"I don't know about the other houses on the street, but mine's not being torn down. Anyway, I need to get back to work." I turn and head to my truck.
"Which house is it?" she calls out.
"Freeson's," I call back, certain she doesn't know who that is. It sounds like my grandfather was a hermit, so I doubt anyone knew his name.
"I'm Katie," she says as I pull out of the parking space.
My window is down and I stop briefly and say, "I'm Nash. See you around." And then I drive off.
Normally, I'd stick around and talk to her and might even end up asking her out. She seems like a nice girl and she's definitely nice to look at, but I've got someone else on my mind right now. Callie, who is also nice to look at. She's not particularly nice, at least not to me, but she seems like someone who takes a while to warm up to people. She just needs to get to know me, which she will if she shows up for dinner tonight.
When I get back to the house, I notice how quiet it is. There's no activity on the street. Nobody around. It's almost too quiet. Growing up with three brothers and working in construction, I'm used to being surrounded by noise and chaos, and living in Chicago, I always had people around me. The house here is isolated with a forest of trees in the back and just a few houses on either side of me, most of which are uninhabited.
I put the new part in the lawn mower and it starts right up. It struggles through the thick weeds but still manages to cut them down. After just a couple passes, the yard is already looking better. I smile at that. I love seeing old forgotten properties come back to life. And I love being the one responsible for that. That's the best part of the renovation business; bringing something that's been forgotten and neglected back to life. It leaves you with a good feeling. A really good feeling.
Chapter Five
Callie
Katie Kryer has been here for almost an hour and I want to close up but Lou won't tell her to leave because her dad is rich and powerful and Lou doesn't want to piss him off. Her dad is Jonathan Kryer and he owns the country club but is also on city council, which means he can make life hell for business owners that get on his bad side. I know nothing about small town politics but when I hear Lou talk about it, it sounds like one big ongoing soap opera. Lou tries to lay low and stay out of trouble, which is why he'll let daddy's little girl sit here as long as she wants, babbling nonstop on her phone.
"Miss!" She waves her hand at me as I wipe down tables. "Just a minute," she says to whoever's on the phone.
"Yes?" I say, plastering on a smile.
"I need a dozen brownies to go." She smiles, then continues talking to the person on the phone. "Okay, go ahead."
"We're out of brownies," I say, but she doesn't hear me so I stand there and wait.
She keeps talking to her friend as she gets her wallet out. "Yeah, I know. I totally agree." She hands me her credit card.
"No, I don't need money. I was saying—" I stop when she holds her hand up at me.
"Hold on," she says into her phone, then looks at me, annoyed. "What is it?"
"We don't have any more brownies. We sold out of them an hour ago."