“Is it done yet?” Junior was apparently oblivious to the stacks of timber and packets of screws still littering the side yard.
“Nope. Soon.” Jacob patted his head. “Thanks for the water, kiddo.”
“I wanna help,” Junior demanded, apparently in no hurry to get back to the house.
“Let the big people work,” May said, voice weary. She’d probably been preaching patience to Junior all morning.
“It’s okay.” Linc held out a hand for the kid. “You want to leave him out here? He’s big enough to sort screws for me, hold some boards.”
“Really?” May’s eyes brightened, the same way Jacob’s sisters’ always did at the prospect of some kid-free time.
“Sure. I’ll watch him too,” Jacob offered.
“That would be great. Junior, you be good for your uncles.” Step lighter, May headed back to the house.
Jacob was supposed to be shingling the clubhouse portion of the structure, but he kept getting distracted by watching Linc with Junior, the patience he displayed as Junior’s arms wobbled holding a cross-brace for him.
“That’s it. Great job. Soon this’ll be the monkey bars.” Voice encouraging, Linc worked quickly with the wrench. “You’ll get to test everything out.”
“Before Brayden and the other cousins?” Junior’s eyes went wide as he forgot again to keep holding on, but Linc didn’t get mad, just steadied the board himself and went on with his work.
“Yup. You’ll be first.”
A few minutes later, sorting piles of screws, Junior looked up with a pleased smile. “We make a good team, huh? Don’t we, guys?”
“Yeah, we do.” Jacob’s throat was strangely tight. But he’d had the same thought himself several times already that day. Like on the job when Linc wasn’t freaked out, they worked well together, no awkward power struggles or bumping into each other, rather each of them doing what was necessary, often without needing to talk it out. Linc was great at instinctively figuring out what Jacob wanted next, and Jacob liked to think he wasn’t half-bad at that either. Despite the hard work and often obtuse directions, they hadn’t argued at all. And now, they’d incorporated Junior into their tasks, easy as if the three of them did things together every weekend. “Thanks, buddy.”
Easy was the last word he’d ever thought he’d be able to apply to Lincoln Reid, but it simply fit the past twenty-four hours. After their contentious talk in the truck on the way to Bend, they’d settled into some sort of truce, where they didn’t talk about the future. Instead, no matter whether it was a date or not, they’d had a truly pleasant dinner followed by a dessert of sex, Linc seeming way more driven than usual, keeping Jacob in his bed until sleeping over was only practical.
“If anyone asks, I’ll say I had too many beers with dinner, slept it off on your couch,” he’d offered as Linc had made them both scrambled eggs in the morning.
“Sure.” Linc didn’t seem particularly concerned, which was a nice change. And that same easiness had kept up all day.
“You regretting turning down Portland now?” Linc laughed as Jacob straightened yet another shingle.
“Not one bit,” Jacob answered honestly, even with Junior right there. “Nowhere I’d rather be.”
“Well, I’d rather be watching TV.” Junior stretched like he was eighty, not five. “I’m going back to Mommy.”
“You do that.” Linc gave him a fond look before hollering back at the house that Junior was coming back so that the women knew where he was. Dropping to his heels, Linc watched him walk away with a strange expression that Jacob couldn’t quite make out.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing. Just...he looks so much like Wyatt sometimes.”
“Yeah. I forget that you guys were around his age when you met. Before my time.” He laughed and tried not to get jealous over all the years Linc and Wyatt had had that he wasn’t a part of, stacks of memories that forged the bond that Linc refused to break. “I need to hunt down a kindergarten pic of the two of you.”
“Ask your mom. Anything like that at my house got ruined or thrown out after Mom died.”
“That sucks. But we might have some old videos even—I remember Dad getting an old-style camcorder at some point, and I know Mom kept the tapes. You were around here so much that I’m sure you’re in at least some of them.”
“That I was.” Returning to his part of the monkey bar assembly, Linc had a wistful air about him, voice sounding far away. “I owe your family a lot.”
“Not that much.” Jacob didn’t particularly want to resurrect their argument from the day before, but he was damn tired of Linc playing the martyr. “You’ve done a ton around here too. I doubt there was a major remodel project after you were thirteen that didn’t have you helping. You’ve done more than Jon probably, and more than the sisters and me for sure. We’re the ones who owe you.”