Troublemakers Mess With the Wrong Girls novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: No Lies

I got off work at the bakery on Thursday with butter in my hair and drove to Linden Court.

Dennis's boat dealership had a show in Sandusky that week, so the house was dark.

Caleb's truck sat in the driveway with a ladder strapped to the rack.

He was standing in the kitchen under one work light, tape measure in his hand, looking at the island.

"You said Saturday," I said from the doorway.

"I said wear boots. You're early." He glanced at my sneakers. "And you didn't."

"I'm not here to work. I'm here to see what we're dealing with."

"We."

"Don't make it weird."

He almost smiled. He turned the work light toward the cabinets so I could see.

Everything was real. The cabinets were solid maple, the pendant lights were hand-blown glass, and the wine fridge held forty bottles at two temperatures.

Caleb ran a thumb along the edge of the quartz.

"Seventy-one thousand of the eighty-six is materials. I paid my suppliers out of my own pocket. They don't care who the client is."

"That's why you came to my parents' house."

"That's why I came to your parents' house. And I'll be honest, you looked like a woman who might hit me."

"I still might."

"Fair."

I put my bag on the counter.

"I need a rule," I said.

"I'm listening."

"No lies. Not big ones, not small ones. If you're going to be an ass, I want to hear it up front. If you're going to ask me for something, tell me the price."

He looked at me for a while.

"That's a strange rule to give a man you don't trust."

"It's the only one I have."

"Then you have it." He held out his hand. "No lies. The price of everything, up front."

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