“Okay, people!” Bill was waving them over to the front of the house.

Julianne and Mitch shuffled back to the group of workers, Jules saying hi to a few guys she recognized from her interview with Bill a few weeks earlier. A few of them, decked out in their cargo shorts, tool belts, and T-shirts looked at Julianne with widened eyes, but mainly they nodded their heads in acknowledgment.

“Okay. First things first,” Bill started back up again.

“Jules, you already know Mitch?” Julianne and Mitch both nodded. “Great,” Bill said, adjusting his tool belt.

“Then if there’s anything you need, you can just ask Mitch. I’m sure he’ll be happy to take care of you.

Anyway,” Bill continued, “are you ready to jump into the wonderful world of bathrooms?”

“Excuse me?” Julianne asked, laughing. She plunged her hands into the pockets of her shorts and leaned back a little, waiting for Bill to clarify.

Bill smiled and explained. “The owners of this place want to see some pattern options for their bathroom tile before we start laying anything down. How would you feel about sketching some designs for them to choose from?” Julianne beamed, thrilled to have an artistic project 67

Hailey Abbott

to work on already. “That sounds fine,” she said, trying not to gush.

“Good. After Mitch introduces you to the rest of the guys,” Bill concluded, “you can head into the trailer. I’ve got you all set up.” He smiled and walked off.

Mitch and Julianne made their way through the site, greeting the other members of the crew. “That’s Jack.” Mitch pointed across the yard to a burly college guy wearing a Lakers cap and a sleeveless T-shirt. Julianne recognized him from last summer, when he had bussed tables at the Fishtail, but Mitch told her that he had also competed in the lumberjack games for three years running and was a silver-medal holder in log rolling. Tom was on the baseball team at Stanford (and, Julianne noticed, had the arm muscles to prove it). Beau was an English major at UCLA. Nick, who was Julianne and Mitch’s age, was just in town for the summer visiting his aunt and uncle; he was a snowboard pro up in Utah, where he’d be returning at the end of the summer.

Jules tried to keep her mind from wandering during the introductions, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the lines of the house, the angles, and there was a Lily Allen song playing on repeat in her head. “Sun is in the sky, oh why oh why would I want to be anywhere else?” She was still humming to herself and bobbing her head softly when she heard Mitch saying her name.

“Jules? Julianne? Earth to Julianne?” 68

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“Oops. Sorry.” Julianne blushed. “I was just thinking about my first project.”

“Yeah, sure.” Mitch smirked. “You’re surrounded by college guys and you’re busy thinking about bathroom tiles. I buy that.”

“Hey, I’m a much better multi-tasker than you give me credit for.” Jules laughed, punching him lightly on the upper arm.

“I’m sure you are. C’mon, let’s head over to the trailer.” He pointed and led the way.

“Thanks for the tour, Mitch. Let the guys know that it was great meeting them, okay?” she joked, winking.

“Later, Jules.” Mitch laughed.

Julianne walked up the steps of the trailer and knocked three times. When there was no response, she propped open the door and walked in. Then she spotted a note on one of the empty desks.

Julianne,

Unfortunately we don’t have a desk for you, so you’ll sort of be drawing wherever you can find space. The desk I’m setting you up with to start is the new project manager’s, but I’m sure he won’t mind if you borrow it for the day. He seems like a nice guy. Give a holler if you need anything.

Bill

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Alone in the trailer, Julianne stretched out, twirling her pencil between her fingers. She propped her legs up on the project manager’s desk, like the queen of the site.

This was definitely going to be a fun job. She tapped the eraser of her pencil on the vast expanse of white space on her blank page. A fresh sketchbook was one of her favorite things in the universe—so full of possibility. Still tapping her eraser against the page, she began to brain-storm about tile designs. Since it was an eco-friendly project, maybe something with leaves? Or maybe something geometric to match the lines of the house? Or something with an ocean motif, since they were so close to the beach? Dividing her paper into four quarters, she decided to give each idea a chance and then commit to fully sketching the best two designs for the owners to choose from.

Julianne was in the middle of her second sketch when the door creaked its way open. “Hello?” she called out, not looking up from her drawing. She was in the middle of sketching a line of mosaic tiles curling into the branches of a larger tile tree.

A familiar voice answered, “I didn’t know this office came with a chair warmer. Man, this job gets better every day.”

Julianne looked up from her sketch. Her stomach did a series of quick backflips when she saw the new project manager beaming at her.

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“Remi?” she said, dropping her pencil onto her—

correction— his desk.

“We’ve got to stop meeting this way.” He laughed.

His laugh was even deeper and richer than Julianne remembered, and his face was warm and bright.

Julianne swallowed hard. How could this be happening? She felt like she had somehow fallen out of her life and landed in a romantic comedy. If she just counted slowly to five, maybe Drew Barrymore would walk in and the transformation would be complete. Remi was completely decked out in preppy professional attire, but his hair was still adorably shaggy and ruffled from the breeze. He was wearing gray dress pants, shiny square-toed shoes, and a light blue button-down with the sleeves rolled up for that “casual yet approachable boss” look. Remi’s outfit amused Julianne. Even though his tie was clearly expensive, it was adorned with tiny T-squares.

She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or groan—it looked like his mother had dressed him. Still, it was impossible to ignore how hot he looked. Remi wore his authority well, and the little trailer was suddenly filled with his friendly confidence.

Smiling back without even realizing it, Julianne took another deep breath and said simply, “Hey.” 71

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!

Julianne felt like there wasn’t a single part of her that wasn’t shaking. She was being torn in a million directions from the inside out. She wanted to be mad—furious even—that Remi was here. Where did he get off interfering with her totally eco-conscious summer job, especially considering what his parents were doing? Still, whether he was the spawn of the devil or not, there was no denying that he looked like the same cute, charming Remi she’d spent the day with on the beach. Worn out from her internal debate, Julianne settled on total shock, took a deep breath, and swung her boots down off his desk. This will be fine, she told herself.

This will all be okay. I’ll just focus on what I’m doing and soon I won’t even notice he’s here.

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She pushed her dark curls back off of her face and gathered up her sketchbook and pencils. Squinting out the window at the crew working outside, Julianne thought about making a quick getaway before he could reach her, before realizing that the only ways out of the trailer were over Remi, under Remi, or through him.

There were no two ways about it; he was standing directly in front of her. She opened her mouth to speak, but Remi beat her to it.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here. It’s a nice surprise,” he said with a coy smile.

“Yeah, this is unexpected,” Julianne managed in response. Unexpected? That was the understatement of the year.