“I can see that.”
“I guess we didn’t have a chance to actually meet before.” She held out her hand. “I’m Audrey Young.”
I took her hand in mine. Her skin was soft, her grip firm. “Josiah Haven.”
“Yeah, I know. Sorry, that sounded weird. I just mean I remember you. From high school.”
My brow furrowed. Was that why she seemed familiar?
“Oh, no, I didn’t go to Tilikum,” she said, as if I’d asked a question. “I went to Pinecrest but I was a cheerleader and we played you guys in sports a lot. So I remember you and your brothers.”
A cheerleader? No surprise. She still had that bubbly, happy girl thing going on, like at any moment she might do a cartwheel and end with her arms in the air, wiggling her fingers.
Bubbly girls were not my thing, no matter what they looked like naked.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, hoping to end the conversation quickly. “You can let Annika know if you need anything for the house.”
“Oh, thanks. She’s your sister, right? She’s so nice. She called me this morning to explain – well, you know – you.”
I furrowed my brow even deeper. “She explained me?”
Audrey smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Just so you know, we’re fine. About last night, I mean. It’s no big deal.”
“Did you get hurt?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“No, not really. I might have a bruise or two.” She twisted one arm to examine her elbow. “But I’m fine. That’s sweet of you to ask.”
It was not sweet of me. I was not a sweet guy. Instead of replying, I just grunted.
Her dog—Max, apparently—dropped a ball at her feet. I hadn’t seen him go get it, but I hadn’t really been paying attention to him.
Without missing a beat, she picked it up and tossed it toward her house. “What are you doing over there? Remodeling?”
I glanced at the other house. “Yeah. Just getting started.”
“I was wondering about the big dumpster. This thing is huge.”
Max came back and dropped the ball. She picked it up and threw it.
“It’s a gut job,” I said. “Outdated everything.”
“Did you remodel the house I’m in?”
“Yeah. It’s what we do.”
“You, meaning you and your sister?”
“She works for us, but I partner with my dad.”
“Do you keep them all as rentals when you’re done remodeling?”
I picked up another chunk of flooring and tossed it in the dumpster. “Why are you asking so many questions?”
“I’m just curious.”
She had brown eyes but despite their dark color, they were bright, shining with pleasant interest.
It was frustratingly endearing.
“Depends on the property.”
I’d meant for that to be the entirety of my answer but she kept looking at me with cheerful expectancy while she threw the ball for her dog again. It was like she was drawing me into a conversation against my will.
“We’ve flipped a few over the years but the market has been slowing down so it’s generally better for us to keep them and rent them out.”
“Is it frustrating?”
“Is what frustrating?”
She shrugged. “Being a landlord. You have to deal with tenants all the time, fix broken stuff, chase them down for late payments, that sort of thing.”
“Annika deals with the tenants.”
“Right, because you’re bad with people.”
“Is that what she said?”
“Something like that.” There was that cheerful smile again. Was she teasing me? “You did a great job on the house next door. It’s really nice.”
“Thanks.”
“Sorry, I should quit bugging you. I’m sure you have a lot of work to do.” She picked up the ball but kept it tucked against her chest while Max did a circle around her. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah, see you.”
Flashing me another big smile, she turned and walked back next door. Her overly excited dog was as bubbly as she was. I was surprised he didn’t do cartwheels around her.
It took me a second to realize I was watching her as she left. I shook my head to clear it and went back to tossing old particle board into the dumpster.
There. That was over with. We had a tenant in the two-bedroom and Annika had smoothed things over after my screw up last night. I didn’t need to worry about her.
Or think about her in those shorts.