He Swapped Himself Out at the Altar, So I Married the Honest Stranger novel · Chapter 4 of 24
Chapter 4: The Boat Shop
Cal's boat shop sat at the end of the harbor flats, a long tin building with a wooden launch up on stands in the middle of it.
The launch had no paint on it, only ribs and pale planks, and the whole place smelled of cedar and varnish.
A white envelope was taped to the big door, with the Sandberg Development name printed in the corner.
Cal peeled it off, read it standing up, and folded it into his back pocket.
"Lease review," he said. "Thirty days to show them my paperwork."
"Cal. That's because of me."
"It's because of a man who likes a lease." He shrugged. "My landlord signed a ten-year renewal in March. I have the copy. Gene just doesn't know that yet."
He didn't hum while he said it, and I noticed.
"Don't touch the hull," Cal said, carrying my tuning case in one hand and my duffel in the other.
"The glue is still curing, and it takes a month to fix a thumbprint."
"I tune pianos. I don't touch things I don't know."
"Good."
He led me up a steel stair to a room over the shop floor.
There was a cot, a lamp, a small window facing the lake, and a space heater that already glowed orange.
A folded quilt sat at the foot of the cot.
"It was my mother's," Cal said. "It's clean."
"Where do you sleep?"
"The loft's over the stove." He pointed to a ladder. "It's warmer than it sounds."
I set down my case and stood in the middle of the floor.
It was strange to be in a man's home and not know what his face looked like.
I knew the rest of him already.
His boots had a heavy left step and a lighter right one.
He hummed through his nose when he was thinking, and he stopped when he was embarrassed.
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