“Damn, Kath. You look good enough to…see this cookie?” he asked her, grinning, cocky as anything.

“Yeah.” She chuckled. “I see the cookie, Drew, and if that sentence ends with ‘good enough to eat,’ you’re speaking my language,” she told him, both laughing together while I stood there, trying not to show my distaste for their exchange.

She slipped her purse down her arm to set on the counter, which was covered with a fine layer of sawdust. I went to grab it before it could hit, but Drew was there before me.

His thick arm darted out in front of mine to grab it. “I’m thinking you don’t want dirt and shit on that nice, leather purse.”

“Thanks for that, Drew.” She was quick with her reply and just as quickly asked, “So, what’s going on? Anything I can do? I see you’ve got the big shop vac. You know, I can vacuum like a motherfucker,” she offered with a tentative smile.

Drew was a mountain. His brother, Cam, wasn’t a small man by any means, but Drew was even bigger, broader, and though I was tall, this man, in his tan work pants, leather boots, and navy blue tee that said “Muir Bros” in bold yellow letters…if we both had our eyes on the same woman, his masculine build and confidence was going to win her.

And at that moment, unfortunately, I knew I’d been defeated before I even threw my hat in the ring.

“Sure you can handle it?” he asked her and teased, “Suction is pretty powerful.”

It was at that point, I casually walked into the back and looked at the manhole above the storeroom. Cam, being the professional builder he was, went through the entire space and showed me all of its potential. He assured me the roof could hold tables if we wanted to expand the shop up there. It would be an extra expense, but I didn’t care about that. I wanted to have somewhere for Katherine, myself, and our future employees to have some time out. A couple of chairs, a few plants, somewhere to keep a surfboard or two...a  place of peace and quiet from the hordes of customers I was anticipating. I came back into the main room to hear Drew make his next move.

“I’m staying at Cam and Tori’s next week. Buddy of mine is back from England and organized something called a ‘pub crawl.’ You should come. I mean, heard you got rid of that asshole, so I won’t have some moody art guy trying to kick my ass, right?”

I noticed her body change. She’d been relaxed before, but now she stood there stiff, and her voice went quiet when she said, “Sounds like you’re asking me out, Drew.”

He scratched the side of his head in an animated gesture. “It does. Doesn’t it?”

She recovered and laughed as she pushed past him to the shop vac. “I don’t really drink like I used to,” she explained, unwinding the cord, “so a ‘pub crawl’ doesn’t sound like a good time for me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to feel something long and hard in my hands.”

She had a beautiful, teasing smirk on her face as she held the long hose of the vacuum in one hand and the plug in the other. When she finally turned it on, Drew casually moved to me.

“Dude, you cool?” he asked.

I smiled and prepared myself, because I liked this man. Earlier, he’d mentioned how much he wanted to learn to paddle board, and that was something I knew how to do. I was also short on quality people in my life, friends, since I’d rid myself of everyone I knew.

“Of course,” I lied and changed the subject. “I was hoping you could make sure we’ll have some kind of deck upstairs. Just for the employees, somewhere to keep my boards and wetsuits actually.”

“Yeah. No probs. While Princess Sucksalot cleans up, I’ll check it out. But, I’m taking another cookie with me.”

He disappeared to the back, and when I knew he was out of earshot, I went to Katherine’s side, causing her to jump.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, still holding the nozzle.

I suppose the look on my face, if I had to guess, did not bode good things. But I put my mouth to her ear and said, “You didn’t have to bake. This place is yours, too. Do whatever you want. If it involves power tools and you don’t know how to use them, ask me or…ask Drew.” It killed me to suggest him, but I did, and what I said next also killed. “You should give Drew a shot, Katherine. He seems the opposite of your ex in every way.”

That was when she turned off the vacuum, and, still not facing me, she whispered, “I’m not gonna fuck the brother of my best friend’s husband.”

“I didn’t say anything about fucking, Katherine—”

“I know what you were saying,” she abruptly returned.

We stood there, almost cheek to cheek, feeling the heat of her body so close to mine, the feelings that had been developing were no longer a question on my part. They were certain. But that realization was moot when she said, “And I’ve been thinking…it’s better, like you said, we keep things between us professional. The cookies…I bake when I need to get out of my head. I didn’t make them just for you guys. I made some for Dee and Ruby, too.”

When Drew came back into the room, I guess he felt the sudden tension and waited for one of us to say something.

“Hey,” Katherine asked him. “How much more sanding and shit is happening? I think maybe I should just do a huge clean when you’re done sawing and making a mess.”

“A few weeks. Tops. We’ll need two cleans: one after we do all the internal stuff and your beer garden upstairs…”

“Beer garden?” she asked, eyes straight to me.

“More like a rooftop patio. Just for staff, not customers. Did I get that right?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I replied, my eyes on Katherine.

“Then we’ll need to clean for my buddy, Darren. He’ll install the floorboards, industrial, already sanded and stained. When that’s done, I’m sure the dust will really have settled. Then it’s all yours, Goldie.”

She closed her eyes to his compliment and began to wind the cord back into the vacuum. “I’ll be creating crap with Ruby, working on signage and what have you. I still need to go to the antique shop, too.”

She grabbed her purse from the clean part of the counter, slipped her sunglasses back onto her face…

And left.

“I was gone for a whole minute. What the hell happened?” Drew asked.

“I…” I began, but Drew felt the need to share his newfound wisdom about women with me.

He folded his arms, grinned, and nodded as he said, “The Notebook.”

“As in, the film, The Notebook?”

“Yeah. I used to date this chick. She begged me to watch it with her. Said her dream was to have a guy like Noah. Argued with my brother about it, who told me to take a page out of Noah’s book and watch the women swarm. But I get it now. Didn’t want to watch that movie, but not because it’s bad, and don’t ever tell my bro I admitted that,” he said with a pointed finger aimed at me. “It’s because you watch that movie with the woman you want to be Noah for. Whether it’s watching a movie you can’t stand, whatever it is, you do it because you want to for her.”

I gave Drew a relaxed half-smile. “And is she that girl?” I nodded toward the door Katherine had just exited.

“Unfortunately for me, I’m thinking, no. Doesn’t mean I won’t try.” He grinned.

She was right though. It was all for the best. Keep things professional. Strictly business.

Too bad I wasn’t going to do that.

Katherine

That could’ve gone better.

Maybe it was too soon to see Holst after seeing…all of Holst. Whatever, I was probably in the way at this point, so I’d wait until I was given the high sign, then get to work. In the meantime, I marched up the stairs behind Coastal Ink and right into Paper Petal.

Ruby was, quite simply, a younger and cuter Martha Stewart, though they looked nothing alike; Ruby was petite and blue-eyed with dark brown hair, almost black. She could bake and craft like nobody’s business. Tori hired her to help hand-address invitations and make favors to match the wedding invitations, kind of a full-service invite package. Each display had the invite, envelope, RSVP card, place card, and a beautiful favor to match. The shop was basically shabby chic style, completely finished by Cam, who guessed what Tori would love and guessed right. Not only that, he bought a chair from the shop where she used to work. It was so freakin’ bright, I joked it was the envy of flamingos everywhere.