He chuckled softly. “No, I mean, I made the bed.”
“You...carved the bed?”
“There’s all these trees around here. Might as well put them to use.”
“You literally made the bed?”
“I literally made the bed. Impressed?”
“I am. Are you trying to impress me?”
“I don’t know. It is working?”
“It’s sort of working.” It was definitely working. “So...you want to get a drink later? My treat.”
Kira would be so proud of her, asking Chris out for a drink two days after being dumped.
“You betcha.”
She was officially back in Oregon. You betcha? When was the last time she heard that?
“But I have to finish up the master first.”
“Can I help?”
“You want to help?”
“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t. What are we doing?”
“Painting. I finished painting the ceiling. Gotta paint the walls now. It’s all taped off already.”
“I can paint. I’m good with the trim.”
“You start the trim, I’ll roll the walls. But you’ll need to take those clothes off.”
“Chris, we just, I mean—”
“You’ll get paint on your clothes, Jo.”
“Right. Paint. I’ll...just get my stuff out of the car and change clothes real quick.”
“Take your time. I’ll finish wiring the ceiling fan.”
“Did you make the ceiling fan, too?”
“No. But I did put on the stairs and the stair rail. It’s all pine.”
“You’re really good with wood.”
“You did that one on purpose, didn’t you?” he asked.
“Let’s pretend I did.”
Chris didn’t laugh at her but she caught him smiling as he left her alone in her new room. Well, not her room but the room that would be hers while home for the wedding. She hadn’t taken a vacation in a couple years. After everything that had happened with Ben she was tempted to take it all at once and not go back to work until after Thanksgiving. In fact, she was sorely tempted not to go back to work ever. Not there, anyway. Not if she had to face Ben.
Except she’d promised Kira she wouldn’t make any major life changes for six months. It was good advice, very wise. She had to go back to work, didn’t she? Of course she did. She was in the right and Ben was in the wrong. She wasn’t about to let him win by quitting and slinking away with her tail between her legs.
No. Stop. Joey refused to think about Ben or work or anything else as she hauled her suitcase and overnight bag up the reclaimed pine wood stairs and into the bedroom. Funny—she’d been looking forward to a quiet night alone in the cabin before facing her brother and parents and giving them the news about her and Ben. She wanted the one night to pull herself together, to figure out a story to tell her family about why she broke up with Ben that wouldn’t make her look like the worst person on earth and/or the stupidest person on earth. But hanging out with Chris and working on the house seemed like a far better way to get her head together than sitting alone in an empty cabin and ruminating on every clue she’d missed, every blind eye she’d turned. Better to work, do something, distract herself, stay busy. Painting the master bedroom with Chris actually sounded sort of fun.