“Good, I guess. She’s skittish, with one foot out of town already. But I offered her a job.”

Luke arched a brow. “No shit. Did she accept?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re going to try and get her to stay.”

“I don’t think anyone can convince her to stay. If she does, it’ll have to be her idea. I just figured she might want to linger for a while. Test the waters of Hope.”

“And then you’ll get her to stay.”

Carter shrugged. “We’ll see.”

“I like you two together. So does Emma. She thinks the two of you are destined to be together, or some such female bullshit.”

Carter liked him and Molly together, too. As far as destiny? He didn’t much believe in that. Molly was going to do what Molly decided was best for herself. He knew better than to interfere in that. He was just offering her something to do while she was here.

And hey, it benefited him. She was organized, and he needed that. He refused to think his offer of a job was a way to keep her in town. His heart knew better.

The door opened and Molly came out.

“You’ve got a great mess going on in there. And you got a lot accomplished.”

“Yeah, the demo is pretty much done.”

“Too bad. I would have liked to wield a sledgehammer.”

He cocked his head to the side. “I’m not sure you can pick up a sledgehammer.”

“Oh, now you’re challenging me. Give me something to destroy.”

Luke nudged him. “Yeah, Carter. Give her something to destroy.”

Carter raked his fingers through his hair. “Okay.”

They went into the house, and Carter took a look at the bathroom, then at Molly.

“How do you feel about pulling up floor tiles?”

She grinned at him, then rubbed her hands together. “Excited.”

He shook his head. “Now you sound like Luke.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Luke said. “It’s fun, dirty work.”

“That’s what I’m thinking. I just need one of your old shirts, since this one is one of my favorites.”

“Right side of my closet,” Carter said.

“I’ll be right back.”

Carter shook his head, and in a few minutes Molly came back wearing one of his oldest, paint-stained T-shirts, which was miles too big and too long for her, but he had to admit, she looked damn hot in it.

In fact, he’d like to see her wearing just his T-shirt and nothing else, but that was a thought for some time when Luke wasn’t giving him an I-know-exactly-what-you’re-thinking look, so he shrugged it off and handed her some tools and work gloves.

It turned out Molly was fairly adept at pulling up floor tiles, and between the three of them they had the floor up in an hour. Then they cleared out the debris and swept the room clean.

“If I’d known it was going to be this easy, I’d have called you both over when I started.”

Molly blew a stray hair out of her eyes and leaned against the wall. “Luke’s right. That was fun.”

“See?” Luke said. “Told you.”

“You’re only saying that because you haven’t had to do an entire house,” Carter said.

“Emma wants to redo the guest bathroom at our house, so this was good practice.”

“Did I hear my name?”

Luke stuck his head out the bathroom door. “You missed it. There’s nothing else to destroy in here, so don’t ask.”

She laughed as she surveyed the wreckage of what was once a bathroom. “Looks appropriately demolished in there, and I’m not about to volunteer. I’m exhausted after spending the day with a post-op dog and cat.”

“How are they doing?” Molly asked.

“They’re both fine, and their owners picked them up, so now I’m free.”

“You look like you could use a glass of wine,” Luke said. “I should take you home.”

“Or, we could all get cleaned up and go out to dinner,” Carter suggested. “It seems like everyone worked hard today.”

“I like that idea,” Emma said. “We should probably stop at home and check on the dogs first.”

“How about we meet somewhere in an hour?” Molly suggested.

Emma nodded. “That sounds good to me.”

They made dinner plans, and Luke and Emma left. Molly scanned the bathroom, then turned to Carter. “Clean slate. Does it give you ideas?”

“Always. I want to do a big shower in here.”

She shook her head. “I disagree. You already have a big shower in the master. You have to think about your future, and guests. You need a tub/shower combination in here, so someone can take a bath. Plus . . . future kids will be sharing this bathroom. And you need a bathtub to bathe your babies . . . you know, whenever you have them.”

He thought about it for a minute, reconsidered. “You’re right. Double sink vanity, a lot of cabinets. One of those rain showerheads.”

She smiled. “I like that idea. And deep sinks, but spaced out nicely in case you have more than one girl.”

“Yeah.” He leaned against the wall, staring at her. “Want to go shopping with me?”

“For bathroom stuff? I’d love to.”

“Good. How about tomorrow?”

“That sounds fine to me. I can get away on the weekends when Dad is around.” She swiped her hands on his shirt. “I should go home and take a shower.”