She's Got a Way (11 page)

Was she really this bad at accepting help?

“I'm not offering to bail you out because I fear for the lives of your students, no.” Luke smiled. “I'm just offering because—well, maybe because it's what I do. And honestly, I'm only offering you one day. After that, they're all yours.”

Gabi stared at the water.
One day.
“Do you truly have any experience with kids like this?”

“I've got experience with a lot of kids, Gabi.”

She heard the tone in his voice before she saw his jaw tighten, and she felt guilty. He was offering help, and she
needed
help. She just hated that she did.

She closed her eyes tightly. “One day?”

Some of the tightness left his jaw, and she saw the traces of a smile return. “One day.”

Just then, Gabi heard the girls grumbling their way toward the beach, complaining about the heat and the cold and their hair and the food … until she lost track of all the things that were already wrong with the morning. It was barely dawn, for God's sake.

She glanced over at Luke, who had his eyebrows raised, an amused expression on his face as he looked at her. It pretty much hit her from head to toe and everywhere in between. She shook her head and picked up her mug, lifting it toward his in a mock cheers.

“Luke? They're all yours.”

 

Chapter 10

Luke stood up, and Gabi did the same. Madison and Waverly immediately sat down in the chairs they'd vacated, but Luke pointed at them, hooking his thumb.

“Sorry, ladies. Sitting's for later. And from here on out, these chairs are adults-only.”

Madison rolled her eyes and sighed before she stood up, but Waverly just popped up like she'd been hooked with a crochet needle.

“All right.” Luke reached into his back pocket for a piece of paper, unfolding it as he looked at each of them. “Today we launch Operation Echo.”

Silence greeted him. Since they hadn't gotten beyond “one day,” Gabi had no idea what he was talking about. Obviously the girls didn't, either.

“I've got a list of the projects that need doing, and I've gone ahead and prioritized them, but I wouldn't mind some input before we get started on them.”

Madison crossed her arms. “Gabi? What is he talking about? Are you, like, renting us out or something? Because of one little skunk? Seriously?”

Luke shook his head. “No rent. She gave you guys to me for free.”

A sharp intake of breath made Gabi laugh, but she didn't ease their minds by arguing with him. She'd said yes for today, but he was making it sound like she'd okayed them as his work crew for the rest of the summer.

For some reason, she was totally okay with that right now.

“What
kind
of projects?” Sam's pose matched Madison's.

“The work kind of projects. Building, painting, cleaning—you know. Projects. We needed a work crew for the summer. Instead, Briarwood sent you. Maybe there was a mix-up and maybe there wasn't, but that's where we're at. You've had almost a week of vacation here in paradise, but today we get serious. I've got a list of stuff to do, and you four have
nothing
to do. It's a perfect match.
You
can be my work crew.”

Five minutes later, the girls were seated at the picnic table outside the administration cottage, their arms crossed, their faces grim as Luke tacked down four copies of the list he'd made. He handed each of them a pencil.

“All right. This is the stuff that needs doing before the end of August, but I'm going to let you help figure out what order we do it in.”

“Gosh, thanks.” Madison rolled her eyes. “And how did we end up your slaves, anyway?”

“I prefer work crew. And you don't have to vote.” Luke shrugged. “But if you don't vote, you don't whine. Got it?”

She narrowed her eyes, but she kept her mouth shut for once. He paused for a long moment, waiting her out, but finally decided she was going to stay quiet, so he continued.

“I figure we'll work out a reward system. We get the work done, we get to play.”

“Play?” Sam snorted. “We're not five.”

“Just an expression, Snarkasaurus. If we get the stuff done that needs doing, then we can take a break and do the fun stuff.”

Eve sighed, her expression bored. “And what exactly is the fun stuff?”

Luke smiled. “There's a big lake, a big mountain, and a big forest. We'll figure it out as we go. You're in paradise, girls. The fun never ends.”

Madison scanned the list, landing her finger on an item halfway down the page. “You can't be serious. You think building a new bathroom is the tenth priority on this list? Behind repairing the dock?”

Luke shrugged. “You disagree?”

“Are you
kidding
? A bathroom—with an actual toilet—is definitely top priority.”

“Everybody else agree?” The other three girls nodded as Luke pointed to each of them in turn. “Gabi? How about you?”

Gabi rolled her eyes, trying not to think of how many types of insects she'd seen in the outhouse over the past week. “A bathroom would be nice, yes.”

But wait a minute. There was no way they could build an entire bathroom in a day. She narrowed her eyes. That had to be at least a week-long project. Had he snowed her into turning over her girls so he could have free labor?

She tried to feel mad, but was sobered to realize that all she
actually
felt was relief.

“All right. Bathroom it is.” Luke gathered the lists and rolled them up, then stuck them in his back pocket. “I'll give you girls fifteen minutes to go do—whatever girls your age need to do in the morning. Report back here at nine sharp. We've got a lot of lumber to haul.”

The girls sat still for a long moment, like they couldn't quite believe they'd been hired out—for free—as Luke's personal work crew, but when Gabi didn't intervene, they mumbled and muttered as they unfolded themselves from the picnic table and headed down the pathway toward the tent.

Gabi studied Luke as he leaned over to scribble on another piece of paper. “Did you really think a bathroom was the tenth priority?”

“Nah.” He slid his pencil behind his ear as he turned to her. “Just thought it'd help to give them something to agree on for at least the first day. Figured the thought of a toilet and shower would be a good carrot to get them through our first project.”

“
First
day?
First
project?”

He smiled. “We'll see how it goes. I might not know squat about girls, but I do know they love a good bathroom. It's a start, right?”

“Sure.” She crossed her arms. “Any chance you've thought through exactly how you're going to teach
this
crew how to build a bathroom?”

“Nah. We'll figure it out.” He winked, motioning her toward his truck, which she could now see was laden with lumber. “Come on, Gabi. We've got a team to build. By the end of the day, these girls will be too tired to give
any
of us any crap. That's gotta be worth some level of trust, right?”

Gabi took a deep breath, uncrossing her arms. “Okay, I'm going to trust you, but if anybody cuts off a finger or anything, we're both dead.”

“Won't happen.”

“Have you
met
these girls?”

He leveled her with a look, and this time all traces of humor were gone. In their place was a jaw set against any argument she might come up with.

“Trust me, Gabi.”

*   *   *

Four hours later, the girls had hauled an entire truckload worth of lumber to the site of the new bathroom, complaining and whining the entire time. Two hours in, Luke had promised them lemonade at lunch if they would just shut up for ten straight minutes.

He stood on the cement foundation he'd poured last week, watching as the girls slowly stacked the lumber and turned around to get more from the truck. His early assessments of them were spot-on, if he did say so himself.

He was pretty sure the last time any of them had done manual labor was … never. They were clumsy, inefficient, and oh-so-angry about the whole thing, save for Eve, who just tried to stay under the radar. If he hadn't been so amused by the efforts of the other three not to cooperate, he would have been really ticked off that it was taking them so long to empty the truck.

He'd known damn well they'd all choose the bathroom project first. Had counted on it when he'd bought the lumber last night and had it ready and waiting in the parking lot this morning. He and Oliver had already finished the pipework to the septic. All that was left was to frame in the building and do the internal plumbing. It was the perfect project, since pretty much anything that needed doing required at least two sets of hands.

Yep. If the girls wanted to pee on a throne or take an actual shower this summer, they were going to have to work together, whether they liked it or not.

He tried to keep his eyes on the teenagers, but to his consternation, his attention kept drifting to Gabriela. When she'd seen the enormous pile of lumber, her eyes had widened, and she'd looked at him like he was crazy.

“They're not heavy,” he'd said.

“But there are a gazillion of them,” she'd answered.

“So it'll take a while.” He'd shrugged, and she'd shaken her head, but she'd buttoned her lip and let him direct the girls. He was pretty sure it was killing her to turn over control, but it was clear she was well out of her element here, so she didn't have a lot of choices.

And now, four hours later, almost the entire pile of lumber had been moved, and after lunch, they'd be able to start the actual building part.

“Will this be ready by tonight?” Eve asked.

“Well, depending on how well you guys do, there may be walls, but you'll still be able to see through them. No plumbing, though. This stuff takes time. Look how long it took you just to unload the truck.”

Madison and Waverly arrived with the last two-by-four, collapsing onto the pile as soon as they'd placed the board on top.

“Please tell us we're done for the day.” Madison wiped her forehead, then pulled her hand away and looked at it in disgust, like she couldn't fathom how all of that dirt had gotten there.

“Done for the morning, yep.” Luke pointed toward the dining hall. “There's a sink right outside the kitchen. Go wash up. Piper left lunch stuff out on the counter for you. We're back here in thirty minutes.”

“Half an hour? That's
it
?” Waverly whined.

As the girls stumbled toward the dining hall, Luke heard “slave driver” come out of someone's mouth, but it only made him smile.

“Are you trying to kill them?” Gabi's voice wiped the smile clean.

He turned toward her. “Nope. Why? They look dead to you?”

“I'm never going to hear the end of this, thank you very much.” She put her hands on her hips, and he hated the sudden urge that struck him—the one that made him want to kiss the frown right off her gorgeous face.

He smiled, almost reaching out to wipe a smudge of dirt from her nose, then stopping himself because
what the hell
?

“Gabi, I guarantee you that by the time you're alone with those girls in your tent tonight, they will be too tired to give you any shit at all. Eight hours of manual labor will do them in. Guaranteed.” He put down his tool belt and stood back up. “You know, I'd have thought you'd be the first one to want them put through as much hell as possible, given that they got you sent here, instead of Bermuda.”

“Barbados.”

He shrugged. “B-something.”

She paused like she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure if she should. Then she went ahead. “Just to be clear about something, I've let you be in charge this morning because—well—I've never built a bathroom from scratch. But despite what you're telling them, I'm not turning them over to you long-term or anything.”

“Good. I don't want 'em. And you only agreed to trust me for the day … so far.”

He saw a tinge of pink color her cheeks, and for a moment, he didn't know if it was anger, embarrassment, or fear that put it there.

“I'm sorry,” she finally said. “I do. Trust you, I mean. I just pretty much suck at it.”

He laughed, and this time he did reach out to wipe the dirt from her nose. “We can work on that. But first, we'll spend the afternoon making these girls regret they messed up your vacation, okay?”

She started to speak, but he put up a hand to stop her. “In a perfectly safe, nonthreatening sort of way.” Then he winked. “They might even accomplish something, if we're not careful.”

 

Chapter 11

Early the next morning, Gabi settled into one of the Adirondack chairs beside the dock, reveling in the muted beauty of the sunrise, even though her back was screaming in pain from all of the lumber-hauling she'd done yesterday.

“Morning.” Luke's voice came from behind her as he strode onto the sand, then sat down in the matching chair. “Sleep well?”

He looked just-showered delicious, not at all like he, too, had suffered through hours of manual labor just yesterday, even though he'd carted far more boards than she had. Meanwhile, she'd made do with a lightning-fast dip in the lake, one that had done nothing to ease the pain she was suffering from yesterday's exertion.

“I slept perfectly, thank you.” If she was careful not to shift her weight right now, he'd never see her grimace as every muscle in her body screamed for mercy.

He looked at her, his eyes tracing her face slowly. “Bullshit.”

“Yup.” She bit her lip as she crossed her legs slowly. “You wouldn't happen to stock Advil here, would you?”

“Oliver might have some. Not sure.”