Chapter Thirty-Six

Remy gave Jules an hour to simmer down—always wise, he figured. Then while making a sandwich and coffee he didn’t really want, he fretted that she’d think he lacked passion because he hadn’t followed her immediately to duke it out. Yeah, he’d been to Italy and witnessed some really public shouting matches between lovers both in person and over cell phones. Remy, the ever cool one, didn’t think he had that in him, not on a job site and not at home. Were they really compatible? He had to hope opposites attracted.

Back at the Queen, he searched the site for Jules, but found only her uncles working on crack repairs in the lobby walls. An impressive scaffold like some kind of complicated jungle gym reaching much higher than the one in the ballroom filled the center of the vast space. He approached Sal setting up a patch for a wider area. “Have you seen Julia?”

“You better believe we have. She threw her stuff in the motorhome and put clean sheets on the overhead bunk. What did you do to piss her off?”

He couldn’t truthfully answer nothing—but a complicated issue like this wasn’t meant to be shared. When Remy failed to answer, Sam said, “Yeah, Julies is pretty even tempered most of the time, but when she blows up, it’s big.” He cupped his lips and shouted, “Fire in the hole!”

“You do realize I can hear every word you say up here. This dome is like an echo chamber.” Julia rolled to the side of platform where she’d been lying on her back taking pictures of the fruit and flowers plaster medallion in the ceiling and peered over the edge.

Remy moved toward the scaffold. “Do you have your lifeline attached?”

“I will when I stand up to start the cleaning.” She shoved herself upright. A whiskbroom in her hand fell free.

Remy jumped back. If it had hit him, not much damage would have been done, not as much as say one of her pointed metal finishing trowels plummeting toward the floor. He couldn’t help but remember how she’d handled the crowbar and hammer when he came across her trespassing, how magnificently unafraid she was. That time, he’d held a shotgun. This seemed like a similar standoff. She had the height to her advantage.

“You need to put up some nets if you keep dropping things,” Remy shouted.

“Not like Jules to be so clumsy,” Sal remarked.

“Sorry. I usually have Todd to pick things up. Put it in the bucket. I’ll hoist it.” Julia’s voice reverberated in the dome.

She sure knew how to push his buttons. If this was a test, Remy planned to pass with high grades. “I’ll bring it to you.”

If it wasn’t, for certain she couldn’t run out on him again. While he didn’t fear heights, Remy preferred the solidity of a bucket truck when he did inspections that many feet off the ground. Regardless, he placed a foot on the built-in ladder and scaled it to the top.

“Oh-ho, look at him go,” Sammy shouted, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.

Jules sat cross-legged waiting. Remy ducked under the guardrail. He cocked his hardhat back and squatted in front of her. “Your whiskbroom.” He offered it to her as if holding a dozen American Beauty roses bouquet.

She accepted it like it was—only a whiskbroom. “Thanks. You can leave now. If you stay here, better get your lifeline on.”

“You are my lifeline, my partner in this and all projects to come.” He put the warmth of hot lime into his words.

Far below, one of the uncles said, “Aww, ain’t that sweet?”

Julia remained unimpressed. “Very romantic. Todd’s line is hooked on right over there. Use it.”

“You brought Todd up here?”

“In the ballroom. I wanted to show him some things—and don’t even let your mind go there. What is your problem with the guy?’

“I told you. It’s all the time you spend with him—and the absolute fact that he is in love with you. I know that feeling well.” He would have said, “I love you too” if the uncles hadn’t been eavesdropping.

“I’d describe it more as admiration, hero worship if I were a man. I sent Todd away to keep the peace. Regardless, I’ll be seeing him tomorrow. Some of the casts for the ballroom ceiling are finished. I need to take a look and bring a few back to see how they fit.”

“I’ll go with you. I want to see your operation.”

“If this is really about Todd…”

“No, it isn’t.” Maybe it was a little bit, but he didn’t have to admit that. “What time do you want to leave?”

“Five a.m. I can get there and back the same day even if I’m ambushed for lunch or dinner by my mom.”

“I’ll be ready to go. Your truck or mine?”

“Mine. I’ll pick you up.”

“Won’t you consider coming back to the Box tonight?”

“Like I said, I need to think. See you tomorrow, five sharp.”

“I’ll be ready.” He cast Todd’s lifeline aside and climbed down. As he passed the highly amused uncles, he muttered. “She’s tough.”

“You better believe it. That’s our Jules,” Sal said, knowing his niece heard.

Sammy whispered in his ear, “But so worth the effort.”

Remy nodded and went about his business for the day, checking the framing of the doorways and bathrooms on the upper floors. He found a couple of doorframes so poorly done he summoned the foreman. “This is crappy work. The lintel isn’t even level. Rip this mess out.”

“Sorry. New apprentice. I’ll make him do them again and stand over him while he does.”

Apprentices, the bane of Remy’s existence right now. He’d like to take the hide off this Todd substitute, but wisely left it to the foreman. “I’ll be back to inspect again before I leave for the day.”

He took himself off to supervise the laying of the slab for the new kitchen and hoped that would take his mind off of Julia for a few hours. He knew he wouldn’t sleep well tonight, not without her within his arm’s reach, her warmth burning off the chill of their argument. Five a.m., he’d be ready to go.