Page 21 of Better Together

With the public voting for the best house, it was important to create a sense of connection between the audience and the crew. They needed to deliver their A game when the camera rolled. He needed to figure out how to get Alexis to loosen up.

“What’s up?” Alexis asked as innocently as she could muster. She didn’t need Zeke to point out that she sucked in front of a camera. She always had.

The last time she’d been forced to perform in front of an audience was the production of The Nutcracker Suite in the fourth grade. She remembered it as if it were yesterday. She was cast as a Russian dancer. The night of the performance she’d been nervous, but her dad told her to focus on him the entire time she was onstage and to forget everyone else. She had done exactly as he suggested, and it had worked for a while. She and a dozen of her classmates were lined up across the stage with arms crossed, squatting and kicking their legs to the melodic music, when halfway through the dance, a classmate’s dad stumbled into the auditorium, making a lot of noise and breaking her concentration. Her focus shifted from her father to the packed house. She grew so nervous she fell into the girl next to her, knocking her off-balance and making the entire line topple over like dominos. The parents chuckled, and by the time the dancers righted themselves, their song was over and they hurried offstage.

“What’s going on in there?” Zeke asked. “You barely answered when James started filming.”

She placed her hands on her hips. “I’m busy, I have work to do.” She looked down at her scuffed-up work boots.

Zeke took her hands in his and ducked his chin to make eye contact. His thumbs massaged circles onto the backs of her hands. “Hey.”

His touch calmed her nerves. She swallowed and tried to regain her composure.

“You are strong, independent, and a kick-ass contractor. Not to mention beautiful and smart as hell. You know more than all the guys working for you, and some of them have been at this a lot longer than you have.”

She leveled him with a stare. “You don’t understand. I’ve never done well in front of a camera.”

“Then pretend it’s not there.”

“Yeah, easy for you to say. You’re such a ham.”

Growing up, Zeke had always loved the camera, his specialty being elaborate, acrobatic jumps into the lake.

His deep dimples made her stomach do flips. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, opening them again when Zeke spoke.

“I want you to go in there and show James what you’re made of. Show him what this town and your friends see in you . . . what I see. Someone who knows her shit.”

Holding Alexis’s hands had Zeke wanting more. However, this wasn’t the time or the place to confess his feelings. He looked down at their clasped hands and let go. He stuffed his hands into his front pockets. “Now, we’re going to go back in there and I’m going to ask you some questions. I want you to focus on me and answer.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”

James kept the camera trained on them as they walked back into the kitchen.

Zeke asked Alexis, “What are we working on today, boss?”

“Umm, we’re tearing up the linoleum and . . . well, we’re hoping, umm . . . to find hardwood floors below.”

Alexis pointed to where she’d peeled back several layers of linoleum from the kitchen floor. “We’ve got some rot. We see this a lot in older homes. It looks like the ancient dishwasher had been leaking for a while.”

Zeke walked to the area Alexis indicated. “How extensive do you think it is?”

“I’ll need to replace the subfloor.”

She swiped a lock of hair behind her ear. “Zeke, why don’t you walk James through the house and explain the demo that happened yesterday. I’ll continue the tear-up.”

“Sure, yeah. No problem.”

Zeke smiled at the camera. “Alexis is a little camera shy, but she doesn’t shy away from hard work or from volunteering her time. She belongs to the revitalization committee here in Deer Creek Falls. This community is her home, and she wants it to thrive. Unfortunately, many homes and businesses have fallen into disrepair. It’s the committee’s mission to help bring the town back to its original glory. You’ll notice, thanks to volunteers, there are baskets of flowers and banners lining Main Street. First impressions are important.”

Zeke tripped over a stack of baseboards, lost his balance, and grabbed onto the temporary workbench. The sawhorse gave way on one side and knocked down a sheet of plywood and various tools. The sound was deafening in the empty house. He regained his balance and with a ta-da, straightened like he’d just landed a perfect dismount off the pommel horse. He should have been looking down instead of at the camera.

“Maybe don’t use that part.”

CHAPTER TEN

With a full thermos of coffee, Alexis headed for the Elmhurst house. The four hours’ sleep she’d gotten each night over the past week was beginning to take its toll; hopefully the coffee would do the trick. The sun wouldn’t appear for several hours. She yawned. With the noise ordinances, finishing the ramp outside would have to wait. For now, she’d concentrate on the kitchen. The hardwood floors throughout the rest of the house would be beautiful after her flooring guy sanded and sealed them, but unfortunately, after removing the linoleum, it had become clear that a few of the joists in the kitchen needed replacing. Maggie had chosen a new plank-style vinyl flooring Alexis would install this morning.

She drove up the asphalt driveway to the one-car garage. A concrete sidewalk led to the patio. The floodlight came on as she climbed the new deck. After they completed the ramp, the outside would fulfill the accessibility requirements of the contest.