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should start banging her head against the nearby post. It might do something to relieve the scream building inside her.
    “Did they give us a time frame on when they think they can do the job they hired on for?” she asked, forcing herself to speak the words instead of snarl them.
    “Nope. I’m not going to ask for one. I’ve got another crew I’m going to call, and the next time those bozos put in for a job with me I’m going to tell them to take a hike,” Noah said, an odd glitter in his eyes. Then he blew out a breath and looked over at her. “I’m really sorry, Trinity. Teddy hasn’t ever done anything like this. If I’d had any idea…”
    He had his hands hanging between his knees, fingers linked.
    “Hey…” Without thinking about it, she reached over and covered his hands with one of hers.
    The warmth of his skin was a jolt, almost electric in its intensity. She felt the buzz of it rush through her and her breath caught in her lungs.
    Wow.
    There it was again … that odd little click. Her heart started dancing around inside her chest as their gazes locked. She found herself staring into the deep, incredible blue of his eyes. They were the color of the sky just before the sun disappeared below the horizon, a blue so dark they were almost black. Incredible. Hypnotic. For one second, those eyes dipped down, lingered on her mouth.
    Her heart jumped up into her throat and then started to beat about two hundred times a minute. Jerking her gaze away from his, she pulled her hand away. Shrugging awkwardly, she said, “Look, it’s not like you planned on him winning a bunch of money and skipping town, right?”
    “Well. Technically, I think it was his girlfriend,” Noah said, his voice tired. “No, I wouldn’t have pegged him for doing this kind of thing, but—”
    “No buts.” She stood up and brushed the crumbs from the muffins off the denim capris she’d pulled on. With a forced, fake smile, she turned to look at him. “I think we have to look at this as an odd situation. It’s not like you can plan for it.”
    “It’s my job to plan for this sort of thing.” He continued to sit there.
    “Plan for it next time,” she suggested. “Let’s focus on what we need to do to get the floor fixed. I want to use that pantry.”
    Seconds ticked by, and then finally he shifted his gaze to hers and he nodded. “Let’s redo the measurements. I don’t have them handy. I need to have them on hand, get some pictures. I’m going to reach out to a friend, see if I can call in a favor or two.”
    *   *   *
    A favor or two.
    A full-on headache was screaming behind his eyes as he finished the measurements in the living room. It was the easier of the two jobs that would need to be done immediately. Other things, like refinishing the floors, could wait, but these two jobs, this repair work in the living room and the problem spot in the pantry, were going to be serious issues if they weren’t addressed. Actually, they were already serious issues and they needed to be taken care of now.
    He’d just have to go about it in the right manner when he talked to Caine Yoder.
    The good news was that Caine had seemed like he wasn’t in one of his total antisocial moods when Noah had seen him the other night.
    Sometimes talking to Caine was like talking to a wall, and if you wanted to get Caine’s men working on a project—and they were some of the best—you had to deal with Caine. He worked with a group of Amish builders out of Switzerland County. Caine was basically their go-between and handled all the business dealings. He was also a certified pain in the butt, if you wanted Noah’s honest opinion, but the man did have a soft spot for kids.
    Noah would just point out that there was a child living in the Frampton house, one who could get hurt at any point if the repair work wasn’t done in a timely manner.
    Caine would give him a hard time.
    Noah would listen to it.
    Then they’d go a few more rounds and