Plain Jayne

by Laura Drewry

  Her next appointment was with a local graphic designer, who’d gone ahead and mocked up a few ideas for the store, even before Jayne had confirmation on the name. They made arrangements to have the chosen design printed on the front window and for a wooden sign to be hung from the overhang. They’d email her the JPEG so she could get business cards made up, too.

  There were still a few hours before she had to be at the bank, so she took her list of measurements and drove straight to Home Depot, where she spent an agonizing amount of time picking out new appliances, fixtures, flooring, and finally, hardest of all, new paint.

  By the time she pulled her car into the spot behind her store, Dandelion Books was an official business with a license and twenty whole bucks in the bank. Now all she need do was pass inspection and hit every yard sale in the western hemisphere to find stock for the shelves.

  “No problem,” she snorted as she reached for her phone and dialed the pizza place near Nick’s house. “No problem at all.”

  Todd was just rolling up the extension cords when she walked in.

  “Wow!” she gaped. “You got a lot done.”

  He shut the music off and bobbed his head at nothing in particular. “It’s coming along.”

  “The appliances and flooring will be here tomorrow, is that too soon?”

  “Nope, but the flooring guy might have to work around the electrician if he’s still here.”

  “Is that bad?”

  “Not usually,” he laughed. “Depends on how big your coffee-and-doughnut budget is.”

  “Big.” Jayne grinned. “Huge, actually.”

  “It’s all good then.” He set the cord next to the skill saw and nodded. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

  Jayne spent a few minutes looking around the apartment. Nick and his crew were good, no question, but this was going to take a small miracle. They had less than a week, and after that, she’d either be watching Art Hague hang caution tape around her building, or she’d be moving into her apartment.

  After locking up, she picked up the pizzas she’d ordered and parked beside Nick’s truck at his work site. From the outside, the house almost looked done; the siding was up, the roof was on, and the doors and windows were installed. Inside the garage, though, buckets of joint compound sat next to stacks of gypsum board, and a broken set of metal stilts lay in the corner beside a pile of leftover bits of board.

  “Hello?” Loaded down with pizza and water bottles, she stepped inside and followed the echoing sound of the screw gun.

  “In here!” Nick called back from what looked to be the living room. He was holding a giant piece of board over his head while another man, who she assumed was Delmar, shot a screw through it. “Do I smell pepperoni?”

  Jayne lifted the lid of the first box and waved the lid up and down. “And sausage and bacon and extra cheese.”

  “Hold still,” the other guy grunted. His longish dark hair was covered in drywall dust, and he teetered slightly on his stilts. “Straighten it out.”

  Nick adjusted the board a little to the left and held it steady while the rest of the screws were fastened.

  “Now you can go eat.”

  “Jayne, Delmar. Delmar, Jayne.” Dirty hands and all, Nick reached for the biggest piece in the box and stuffed the pointy end in his mouth. Still chewing, he leaned over on his stilts and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you.”

  She tried to quell the flush creeping up her neck, but it didn’t work.

  “Hey, Delmar,” she said, trying to pretend she didn’t catch the look he shot Nick. “Help yourself.”

  “Thanks.” He wiped his hands against his jeans and grinned as he leaned down and lifted a piece out. “Sharice’ll kill me but damn, that smells good.”

  “How are you guys making out?” She set the boxes on the nearest sawhorse, then took a piece of plain cheese pizza from the second box. When Nick crinkled his nose at her, she just stuck out her tongue.

  “So far, so good,” Nick answered. “Have a look if you want.”

  Jayne wandered slowly from room to room, running her fingers over everything as she walked by. So many different textures, from the slightly chalky gypsum to the smooth panes of glass to the sometimes rough, sometimes even, grain of the studs.

  It must feel great to know you’ve built someone a home; a place for them to raise their family. Granted, Judy and Ross didn’t have kids, but it would still be their home. They’d make memories there, and Nick was making that possible for them.

  By the time she made it back to the first room, Nick and Delmar had ditched their stilts and had eaten through most the first pizza.

  “Little hungry were ya?”

  Delmar swallowed a mouthful of water, then swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “Captain America here didn’t think we needed to stop for lunch today.”

  “Him? No lunch?” Jayne laughed. “Maybe you should go work with Todd and Kyle; I hear their new boss is much more reasonable.”

  “Cuter, too.” Delmar tossed his empty plastic bottle in the bin with the rest of the recyclables and grinned. “I’m outta here. See you tomorrow.”

  “But we’re not done,” Nick mumbled over his mouthful of pizza, then gave up and waved Delmar away. “Later.”

  Jayne tossed her crust inside the empty box and pulled out a second piece.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Didn’t mean to scare him off.”

  Nick didn’t seem bothered. “He should have gone home a couple hours ago. How’d they make out at the apartment?”

  “Great! Insulation is in and they just started the drywall.”

  He nodded as he guzzled the rest of his water. “Did you get everything sorted out with Martin?”

  Jayne filled him in on her appointment, as well as everything else she’d done, laughing when she told him about her plain Jane appliances.

  Nick didn’t laugh.

  “Oh, come on,” she said. “It’s a little bit funny.”

  “No it’s not.” He tossed the empty pizza box in the bin, then handed her the other as they walked toward the garage. “I don’t know why you—”

  His phone buzzed in his pocket, cutting off the rest of what Jayne was sure would be the same mini-lecture she’d heard a hundred times. Taking advantage of the pause, she lifted the box in a halfhearted salute and headed toward her car.

  “See you later.”

  “Thanks for the pizza.” He turned back but his voice carried back to Jayne as he answered his call. “Hey, sweetheart. How was your day?”

  * * *

  “Your lady friend seems nice.” Delmar waited until Nick had the board held tight in place against the studs, then drove in the first few screws.

  “My lady friend?” Nick shifted his hold farther down the board to give Delmar room. “You mean Lisa?”

  “I mean Jayne. Can’t very well call her your girlfriend, so what am I supposed to call her? Your roommate?”

  They finished hanging that board and carried over the bottom one. Nick slid it into place, then tucked the lifter underneath and pressed his foot down on the lever until the board was tight against the first one.

  “She’s just a friend.”

  “Mm-hmm.” Delmar fastened his end, then moved around Nick to get to the other side. “Never seen you kiss any other friends.”

  “I didn’t k—” Nick stopped, sighed. “Her head, for God’s sake. It’s not like I stuck my tongue down her throat.”

  “No, you didn’t.” Delmar never looked at him, just kept working. “But no guy goes from being a miserable son of a bitch all day to suddenly grinning like you did unless—”

  “What?” Nick hoped he sounded more convincing than he thought. “I was hungry, she brought food. It made me happy. Seemed to perk you up a little, too, there buddy.”

  Delmar set the screw gun down and poured some coffee into the lid of his thermos.

  “Okay,” he said, clearly not believing a word Nick said. “But rumor has it you’re buying her
flowers and—”

  “One time!” Nick barked. “One time I gave her flowers. Is that a crime?”

  “Nope, and you know I don’t go making your life any of my business. Just want you to be careful is all.”

  Nick took a second to reign in his irritation. Why was he getting so pissed off, anyway?

  “There’s nothing to be careful about,” he finally said. “We’re just friends.”

  “Does she know that? Does Lisa?”

  Nick froze, his coffee cup half way to his mouth, and stared back at Delmar. “Are you shittin’ me right now?”

  “Hey, I’m just asking.” Delmar lifted his hands, palms out. “You are living together, after all.”

  “We have separate rooms.”

  “You’re having Todd and Kyle fix up her store.”

  “She’s paying for it.” When Delmar cocked a brow at him, Nick sighed in resignation and set his coffee aside. “Okay, she’s paying for some of it.”

  He measured the next wall, then marked the length on a piece of gypsum board. Delmar held it up while he set his T square and ran his knife down the mark. He snapped the end piece off and set it aside so they could hang the cut piece.

  “She’s a fine-lookin’ woman,” Delmar said, reaching for the screw gun. “And I’d bet there’s a whole bunch of fellas who’d give their right nut for a chance to get close to her.”

  “Your point?”

  “It’d be a hell of a lot easier if a guy didn’t have to trip over you to get to her.”

  “Jeezus, Delmar—I’m the one who set her up on a date, remember?”

  Delmar stared at him with such a look of disbelief, Nick stepped back. “You set her up with Martin.”

  “I didn’t know he was gay!” Nick yelled. “What am I supposed to do—ask everyone I meet what side of the plate they swing from?”

  Delmar’s look held. “Come on, man. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure this out.”

  “Figure what out?” Whatever Delmar thought he knew, he was wrong. And the fact Nick couldn’t bring himself to look him in the eye anymore meant nothing.

  “Really?” Delmar blew out an annoyed breath. “Okay, how about you set her up with Martin because he’s gay and you knew nothing would happen between them?”

  “Jeezus.” Nick dropped his end of the board, where it crashed to the floor and bashed up the whole corner. He didn’t care. All he cared about was getting away from Delmar before he did something he’d regret. He slammed the toe of his boot into the tub of screws, sending them sailing across the room in a hundred different directions, then stomped down the stairs to the front door.

  “Where’re you going?” Delmar called after him.

  “Lunch,” he yelled back.

  “It’s not even ten o’clock!”

  Nick slammed his truck into gear and pealed down the road, going nowhere. His first impulse was to drive straight to Jayne’s store, but wouldn’t that prove everything Delmar had just said?

  He scrubbed his hands over his face and growled. What the hell was wrong with him? He didn’t get pissed at Delmar, it just didn’t happen—until today. And why? Was it because Delmar was wrong, or was it because he came a little too close to the truth?

  Nick pulled into his driveway and shut the truck off. He sat there for a long time, his hands folded over the top of the steering wheel and his forehead resting on his hands. He and Jayne were friends, that was it.

  Was he happy she was back in his life? Yes. Did he think she was smart? No question. Funny? Nick smiled at nothing. Definitely. Was she a good-lookin’ woman? No, she was freakin’ hot. And was there a guy out there who could make her happy? Sure.

  But did he want that guy to be anyone besides himself?

  “Shit!” He sat up straight and slammed his hands against the steering wheel. Why couldn’t he just say yes to that question, too? It didn’t mean anything; it was just having her back, having her in the house and spending so much time with her. Once things settled down he’d have a proper answer to that question.

  After a long while, he cursed again, fired up the truck, and headed to see the one person who was always nice to him.

  “Nick.” Lisa greeted him with a soft smile and a warm kiss. “Come on in. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Sure.” It wasn’t often he needed a drink, but now was definitely one of those times. It wasn’t until she set the glass of lemonade, complete with lemon wedge, on the counter in front of him that he remembered it wasn’t even noon.

  “You don’t usually come by this time of day.” She wrapped one arm around his waist and pressed her free hand against his chest. “Is everything okay?”

  “Just needed to see a friendly face.” Her place was so quiet; no TV blaring from another room, no music, no nothing.

  “What happened?” Her eyes, the color of spring moss, stared up at him with genuine concern, sending a giant wave of guilt crashing through him.

  They were good together, they didn’t fight, and God knows she couldn’t be sweeter if she tried. He might not be ass-over-earlobes in love with her, but they were happy, and everyone deserved to be happy.

  Especially Jayne.

  And if Nick was getting in the way of that, then something had to change.

  “Nick?”

  “It’s nothing.” He pressed a kiss against her forehead, and tried with all his might to keep her face at the front of his mind. “What are you up to?”

  They moved into her office area where she showed him three corkboards and explained in detail what was going on with each. The first was covered in everything wedding: pictures of flowers, gowns, and cakes, pieces of different colored fabric (none of which Nick liked) and business cards for photographers and caterers. The Harvek-Robinson wedding this weekend would be simple, but tasteful.

  The next board was similarly set out, but instead of wedding stuff, it laid out timetables for speakers, sponsor information, meal breaks, and hotel accommodations for a hundred pharmaceutical reps.

  By the time she got to the third board, which laid out every hour of their trip to Montreal, Nick had forgotten what the first board was for.

  “We’re all set.” Her smile, soft and slow, sent a whole new wave of guilt chasing after the first one. “It’s going to be amazing. Old Montreal, the Underground City, Notre-Dame Basilica.”

  “Yeah,” he nodded absently. “Sounds great.”

  Great? It didn’t sound great. In fact, he’d give his left kidney to get out of it. He’d scraped by with a C– in French, had no interest in sightseeing, and as for the cathedral … Father O’Keefe would laugh his ass off if he knew Nick was voluntarily going inside a church.

  But Nick owed Lisa this trip. She put up with a lot, especially with him spending so much time with Jayne the last few weeks, so if it meant he had to spend a week in Montreal nodding and saying oui over and over again, then that’s what he’d do. It might be just what he needed to appreciate what an amazing woman Lisa was.

  “You’ve been working so hard,” she said quietly. “It’ll be good for you to get away.”

  Nick had no idea what he mumbled in response to that; he barely recalled getting in his truck and leaving. He did, however, remember the state he left Delmar in when he stormed out like a spoiled six-year-old, so he couldn’t very well go back empty-handed.

  Delmar looked up as Nick walked in and immediately reached inside the doughnut box for an apple fritter.

  “Next time, how about not kicking over the only tub of screws we have?”

  “Look, man.” Nick set the box on the sawhorse and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

  But Delmar held up his hands. “Forget it. None of my business anyway. She seems like a nice girl, though. They both do.”

  “Yeah.” Nick couldn’t stop the grin that muscled its way to his mouth. “It’s a little complicated.”

  “Seems pretty simple to me.” Delmar swallowed the rest of his doughnut and reached for another before grinning back at
Nick. “Can we get some work done now?”

  Chapter Twelve

  You know, maybe it doesn’t happen all the time, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t right. Doesn’t mean you can’t try.

  Blane McDonnagh, Pretty in Pink

  “Hey, Boss.” Todd was coming out the door as Nick pulled it open to go in. “We were just on our way to meet you guys for a beer.”

  It took a second for Nick to clue in that it was Friday afternoon. “Delmar already went home.”

  “We could go to Chalker’s.”

  “Sorry,” Nick said, but didn’t really mean it. “I’ve got work to do.”

  “Come on. One beer.”

  Nick shook his head. “Not tonight. Where’s Jayne?”

  Todd stared back at him with blank eyes. “Upstairs.”

  “You guys around this weekend if we need you?” He was already heading for the stairs, so he missed exactly what Todd said, but he heard enough to know it had something to do with the leash Jayne had Nick on.

  The little shit.

  Nick turned on the step to go back, but Jayne’s voice stopped him.

  “Hey.” She stood at the top of stairs, smiling down at him. “How’d it go today?”

  Screw Todd, Nick had better things to do. He grinned back and continued up, eyeballing the newly laid laminate.

  “I haven’t killed anyone yet, so I guess it’s good. How about here? Floor looks good.”

  “Isn’t it great?” Dressed in her old sweats, with her hair pulled back through her cap, she seemed to be having a hell of a lot more fun than most people who went through renovations. “Come on, come look.”

  Jayne led him from room to room (all four of them) where he oohed and aahed as expected. The laminate was a good color, not too light, not too dark, and he had to admit he didn’t mind the linoleum she’d picked out for the bathroom, even though he would have gone with tile.