“Do you need anything else from me?” she asked, already knowingthe answer but wanting to linger a moment longer.
“No, we’re ready to get started.”
She nodded, not used to feeling unneeded. “Great.”
“I have something for you, though.” Joss handed her a white hardhat with the Bauer and Sons logo on it in deep green.
“Is this a souvenir?”
“No, it’s so you can visit the site anytime you want.” The answercame from Quinn, who appeared in the doorway, hard hat already on.
She ignored the ripple of pleasure. “I didn’t expect to see youtoday.”
Quinn looked at her feet before making eye contact. “I had afeeling you’d be here, and I thought a little moral support might come inhandy.”
“Thank you.” So similar to Mel’s offer, yet utterly different.With one comment, Quinn had managed to make her presence all about Amanda.
“It’s my pleasure.” Quinn angled her head toward Joss. “Although,I should warn you, she’s not above putting clients to work. It’s how she mether wife.”
Joss shot Quinn a look of mild exasperation. “That’s not whathappened.”
Amanda looked from Joss to Quinn and back. “Why do I get thefeeling this is a really good story?”
“Because it is,” Quinn said.
The exasperation faded and Joss smiled. “Olivia, my wife, hiredme to rehab the old farmhouse she bought. She had strong feelings about doingsome of the work herself.”
“Ah. That’s sweet. Were you already together?”
“Oh, no.” Quinn’s answer came with a snicker. “They couldn’tstand each other at first.”
Amanda had only met Joss twice now, but she liked her. “Is thatso?”
“It was mostly me.” Joss shook her head. “I was an ass.Fortunately, she didn’t hold it against me in the long run. And I promise Iwon’t put you to work.”
“That’s good. I’m pretty sure I’d just be in your way.” Shesometimes wished she was handy, but not enough to risk ruining something.
Quinn narrowed her eyes. “Do you want to be put to work?”
“Um.” She hadn’t given it any thought.
“What about some demo?” Joss asked.
Quinn offered an encouraging smile. “Impossible to mess up. And agreat way to work out aggression.”
She thought about Mel and the idea of destroying somethingsuddenly had a certain appeal. “Really?”
Joss and Quinn exchanged knowing looks. Quinn looked her up anddown. “How do you feel about that outfit?”
She’d specifically dressed for a construction zone—jeans and aUniversity of Rochester shirt with sneakers. “They’re work clothes.”
Joss grinned. “All right, then. Let’s do this.”
She put on her hard hat and Joss handed her a pair of gloves,then a sledgehammer. Quinn stepped to the side while Joss gave directions. Thehammer weighed a lot more than she thought and the idea of trying to wield itwith an audience made her self-conscious. “Maybe I shouldn’t. I don’t reallyknow what I’m doing.”
Quinn put a hand on her shoulder. A casual gesture, friendly atmost, but it sent a shiver up her spine. “You can’t mess it up.”
Backing out now would make her look like a coward, which would beworse than looking like an idiot. “Okay.”
Amanda positioned herself the way Joss instructed. She swung thehammer over her shoulder and into the wall. It broke through and lodged with asatisfying thud. Joss helped her free it and encouraged her to keep going. Soshe did. Again and again. She didn’t picture Mel’s face, exactly, but theirrecent interactions certainly fueled her.
When she stopped, a dozen holes covered the wall. Her arms achedand she was out of breath. “That might be my limit.”
“That was amazing.” Joss took the hammer from her. “You ever wantto join the crew, you say the word.”
Amanda laughed. “You’re exaggerating, but thank you.”
“You did better than I could have.” Quinn’s voice gave her astart.
She’d sort of forgotten Quinn was there, watching her. She felther cheeks flush. “I’m not going to lie, it was fun.”
“Right? Fair warning, though, your arms will probably be killingyou tomorrow.”
Despite the self-consciousness a moment ago, she couldn’t helpbut smirk. “I lift a lot of twenty-quart bowls in an average day.”
Quinn bowed slightly. “I stand corrected.”
Amanda pulled off the gloves and handed them to Joss. “Thank youfor letting me have a go. Now I’ll get out of your hair so you can get towork.”
“Don’t feel like you need to keep tabs on things, but you reallyare welcome anytime,” Joss said.
“Thank you for that, too.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Quinn said.
In the parking lot, Amanda hesitated. She wasn’t in a rush toleave but didn’t want to keep Quinn from whatever she needed to be doinginside. “Was the hard hat your idea or Joss’s?”
“It’s something Joss will do when a client is interested. Isuggested you might be one of those clients.”
For some reason, Quinn thinking about her that way made herhappy. She took off the hat and studied it. “I appreciate that. And you being heretoday.”
“Of course. I confess, I had an ulterior motive. I wanted to seeyou.”
Another shiver of pleasure. “You did?”
“Now that construction is underway, I thought we could discussfurniture.”
“Oh.” Of course Quinn would want to talk to her about the project.It was dumb of her to think otherwise. Even after that maybe almost kiss on herporch.
“I mean, I wanted to see you. I just also had a reason.”
Did Quinn mean that or did she see the disappointment on Amanda’sface and want to soften the blow? She had no way of knowing, which irked her.Why was this so complicated? “What about furniture?”
“You mentioned wanting to do antique tables and chairs.”
“Do you think that won’t work?”
“Oh, no. I think it’s a fantastic idea. I wanted to know if you’dalready been scouting them or were starting from scratch.”
The few tables she’d had in the bakery were wrought iron. Cute,but not the most comfortable. She planned to set them up outside after therenovation. They’d only be usable a few months of the year, but better thanhaving them go to waste. “I haven’t started yet. Is that a problem?”
Quinn smiled. “I don’t think so. I asked because there’s thisamazing antique show and flea market near Cooperstown. I thought maybe we couldgo together, make a day of it?”
Was this a date? Or the sort of thing architects did with
