The next day, Lindsay weaved her dark flame-colored hair into numerous braids and ate breakfast by herself.  For work, she dressed up in an old concert tee, some jeans she would have rather not wrecked, but she had traveled light from the mainland and she needed the job more than she needed the jeans.  Construction work paid more in an hour than the price of the pants.

Gavin greeted her at the loading dock and took her down the hall to their first bathroom.  The tub, sink, and toilet had already been removed and they were pulling down all the drywall.  He gave her a facemask, safety goggles, and a pair of work gloves.  

They ripped the old drywall loose together and then she carted the remains in a wheelbarrow to the dumpster bin in the back of the hotel while Gavin tore out the ceiling.  

The time went by quickly, and soon it was time for lunch.  They went to a grocery store and bought sandwiches there.  She was going to buy strawberries and cantaloupe instead of a sandwich, but Gavin stopped her.  

“You can have that if you want, but you need to put fuel in your body if you’re going to work alongside me.  Get a sandwich.”

She chose one, but it was a little deviled egg sandwich on multigrain bread, unlike what he bought, which was a sandwich that had been built inside a loaf of French Bread as big as the Bastille.  

In the afternoon, Gavin gave her a hammer and had her remove all the loose nails, while he took care of other things.  

By five in the afternoon, she was completely bushed.

When she took her mask and goggles off, she found Oliver leaning against the railing by the bay water.  He hung his cast hand over the rail and waved his good hand at her in greeting.  “Hey,” he said pleasantly as she approached.

“Is Ricky working?  Is that why you’re here?” Lindsay asked.

“Yes.  She’s working.  But she loaned me her truck if you have any more errands that need to be run after yesterday.”

“Hmm…” Lindsay contemplated.  “Actually, yes.  I could really use a trip to a thrift store.  We went to one yesterday, but I didn’t get everything I was hoping for.  I was told there are dozens of them here on the Island.”

“There are,” he agreed.  “We can do that.  Do you need to buy any more groceries?”

Lindsay nodded.  “Yes.  I bought the necessities when I was out with Gavin yesterday, but I wasn’t thinking about baking and you’ll never guess what I have.”

“What?”

“An oven,” she said, gloatingly.  “I’ve never had an oven in my life.  I’m gonna make cookies and cupcakes and…”

“You’re going to have me over, right?”

“Sure.  Except I don’t have a couch.  You can come over as long as you don’t mind sitting at the breakfast nook, which I only got to keep because it’s attached to the house.”

“That’s handy.  Can we go now, or do you need to tell Gavin that you’re clocking out?”

“Oh, he already told me to leave and go have a shower.”

“Do you want to do that before we go shopping?” Oliver offered.

She made a face.  “Now that you mention it, I don’t have any towels.”

He put his arm around her.  “We need to go now.”