Tyler just smiled. “Let’s get this stuff unloaded. Where do you want it?”
By the time the materials were unloaded, the remainder of the crew had arrived. Gathering around the blueprints he’d drawn up and printed last night, the team listened as Brody laid out the plan of attack. It felt good to have his hands back in design, to figure out what could be salvaged and how the details could be tied back to the original concept. The end result wouldn’t be seamless—not on the schedule they were running—but it would be functional and, more to the point, safe. That would buy them time to save the theater by their original plan. And then…well, they’d see what happened.
“Okay, so everybody’s got their work assignments. Any questions?” A hand shot up in the back. “Yes, Paul?”
“You sure you still remember how to do this? I can’t remember the last time you picked up anything heavier than a pencil.” Paul’s mouth twitched. They’d worked together on jobs from coast to coast over the last five years, with Paul preferring to keep his hands directly on the pulse of the projects, even as Brody climbed the management ladder.
Brody cupped his ear. “Methinks I hear a challenge.”
“Calling it like I see it, Jensen.”
“Before either of you hauls off to prove your manhood,” Tyler interjected. “I feel compelled to point out that you aren’t lumberjacks and you won’t be chopping down trees.”
Paul made a sound of mock disappointment. “And what will you be doing, little lady? Making sandwiches? I notice Brody didn’t include you in the work assignments.”
Brody braced himself, waiting for Tyler to pop off, as she’d been wont to do back in the day when those on a job insulted her abilities.
She cut her eyes toward him, and he caught the glint of amusement as her lips curved into a sweet smile. “I’ll be making that router table and table saw sing sweet, sweet hymns to match the vintage, custom moulding.”
Paul blinked. A few of the local men, who knew Tyler, chuckled.
Brody crossed his arms. “Tyler’s fifth generation of a lumber family and the owner of our biggest supplier. There’s nothing she can’t do with wood.” Someone choked on a laugh. If any of them thought of offering up some rejoinder to that vaguely suggestive statement, they wisely kept their mouths shut. “Now, if that’s all, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Hop to it.”
He helped Tyler haul in the remainder of her tools from the truck before diving in to his own assignment. It was easy to lose himself in the symphony of power tools, the dance of teamwork. They demoed the remainder of the ceiling beneath the balcony to expose the joists and struts. Most were blessedly intact. Plans were adjusted slightly to accommodate additional replacement, then they began tying in new joists to the existing supports, framing out the rest of the balcony. It was heavy, brutal work, and Brody loved every minute of it. He’d forgotten exactly how much he loved the physicality of turning blueprints into reality with his own two hands.
He moved in and out of the lobby over the course of the day. Each time he caught a glimpse of Tyler, she was bent over her machines, face fierce with concentration. The pile of moulding continued to grow at a steady pace. He didn’t interrupt, not wanting to disrupt her progress, but the sight of her caused a pleasant little kick in his chest.
“Bet you’re gonna miss that on the next job,” said Paul, ambling up and offering a bottle of water.
Brody took it and pretended not to understand him. “Miss what?”
Paul just arched an eyebrow and looked back toward Tyler. She shoved her safety goggles into her hair and stared critically at the match up between two pieces of moulding. “Very easy on the eyes,” he pronounced in his thick Brooklyn accent. “Damned talented, too. I’d even let her get her hands on my…tools.”
“Watch it,” Brody growled.
Paul just laughed. “What’s the deal with you two? You a thing?”
Resigned that he couldn’t avoid this conversation, Brody said, “We used to be.”
&nbs
p; As if sensing their eyes on her, Tyler turned. Catching his gaze, she smiled, really smiled, with the kind of unrestrained pleasure of their youth. The sight of it lit him up inside.
“Used to?” muttered Paul.
“It’s complicated,” said Brody.
“Jensen, I get you’re a detail man. You think of all the angles, all the ramifications, all the possible outcomes. That makes you damn good at the job. But if you’re thinking about all that with her, then you’re over-complicating shit.”
“She’s too important not to think about all that.”
“Even more reason to keep it basic. You dig her. She digs you. Work with that.”
Brody kept that in the back of his mind through the rest of the work day. And when they wrapped, the full framework of new joists and struts installed, he headed to where Tyler was packing up her gear.
“Looks good,” he said, picking up one of the pieces of moulding.
“It all needs proper sanding yet. I got the sanding blocks made, but it’ll be tomorrow before I can finish that part.” She tossed a tape measure into her tool box and rolled her shoulders.