It had been a few weeks since she had seen Zebadiah and she wasn't sure if he was keeping his distance on purpose or if he was busy with business matters. Somehow, she felt it was the latter because he didn't strike Lucy as the type that would shy away from an uncomfortable situation.

Thomas's baby girl came two weeks early in the middle of July. Lucy was pleased to hear the news, and Thomas had sent her a photo. She knew she wouldn't be welcomed to see the baby in person, and she tried her hardest not to be disappointed by it.

He had been gone for only a week and in that short time the LeClair project had turned into a nightmare. Thomas's assistant foreman, Steve, had taken over management of the site while Thomas spent some time at home with the new baby, and Steve had no interest in listening to the suggestions that Lucy had made to Thomas at the beginning of the project. He had decided that he was going to make his own mark and impress the big boss by speeding up the progress of the work and making sure that they were ahead of schedule. He didn't particularly care that corners were being cut either.

Lucy was between a rock and a hard place. She could call Thomas and tell him what was going on and in the process, alienate Hope more because she would see it as Lucy being jealous and unable to let Thomas spend time with her and the new baby. On the other hand, when Thomas returned and realized the many accidents that were occurring and the corners that had been cut he would be mad that she hadn't called to tell him

Lucy heard a loud crash and glass breaking on the floor above her and cringed at the words that she heard ringing around the house. The workmen had been in the study installing some of the HVAC duct work, and she had a feeling that they had broken the glass on the front of one of the enclosed bookcases. The glass was original to the house and irreplaceable.

Her instinct was to run up there and stop them and had she been anyone but herself she would have. She had already tried to intercede a few times to keep unnecessary mistakes from happening, but she had been told to shut her mouth and stay out of their way or she would find herself without a job. Lucy wasn't sure if Steve could fire her, but she figured if she at least kept an eye on things she could tell Thomas all that had been done incorrectly, and she knew for a fact some of the mistakes were costly.

There was another crash and more foul language as Lucy cringed.

"What the hell was that!" Zebadiah asked from the foyer. Lucy had finished with the drawing room and had moved across the hall to the dining room. The beautiful wainscoting had all been painted white many times and the thick paint was proving difficult to remove.

"My guess is it's the glass doors to the cabinets in your study," Lucy said in a clam voice as she looked over her shoulder. It was pouring rain outside and he hadn't taken the time with a rain coat or umbrella, and she couldn't help but enjoy that way his white dress shirt was plastered against his large shoulders and arms.

"And you're just sitting there, letting them break all of that historic glass?"

"I tired to stop them earlier, I was basically told to shut up or get out. I figured if I stayed I would at least know what they screwed up so that it could be fixed." She shrugged.

"And the site, it's a mess out there, there is litter and sawdust everywhere, and who moved the port-a-lets so that they're the first thing you see?"

The sound of air compressor and pneumatic nail gun  suddenly started up and Lucy cringed at the noise.

"Where is Thomas?" Zebadiah demanded as he started for the stairs.

"He's on vacation, his wife had the baby, he's only been gone a week," Lucy defended him, and Zebadiah turned around on the bottom step to look at her as she yelled over the noise. "He put Steve in charge."

"And you didn't think to call him about this fiasco?" Zebadiah shouted.

"And have Hope track me down and kill me? No thank you," she shouted back.

When they heard a buzz saw start they both cringed, but then as suddenly as it all started it stopped as the power in the house switched off, leaving them all in the late afternoon's overcast dimness.

"There, the house took care of it," Lucy said, turning back towards her work as she heard the muffled curses from above once more. She listened as the shouting grew louder when an argument started about having too much running at once and blowing a breaker.

Lucy knew that wasn't it, it was the house, and she didn't doubt that the house wasn't going to allow the power to be turned back on until the situation was corrected.

It had been weeks since she had seen Zebadiah, and she had been nervous to see him once more because of what had happened the last time they had been together. It wasn't everyday that a man admitted that he wanted her, and she wasn't sure how she should act towards him now.

However, when she had seen him she hadn't felt the least bit awkward, and it hadn't felt as if he had been gone for over two weeks, it felt as if she had seen him only hours before.

Zebadiah let his eyes wander over Lucy in her baggy overalls before he turned towards the feet pounding down the stairs. Lucy looked over her shoulder just in time to see Steve meet Zebadiah at the bottom. It was too dark in the room to be sure, but she was thought that he had turned a vivid red.

"How is everything going?" Zebadiah asked with icy cold politeness, and Lucy had to cough into her arm to disguise a laugh. She had been, thankfully, forgotten and she watched over her shoulder as Steve looked from Zebadiah back up the staircase.

"F-f-fine," he stuttered as two other men came stomping down the stairs.

"It doesn't sound or look like it's going fine?" Zebadiah said with a tilt of his head.

She swore she saw Steve's knees shaking and she wondered how Zebadiah could make grown men shake in their boots and not frighten her in the least. In fact, she found the entire situation amusing.

Steve looked over Zebadiah's shoulder to the front door as if judging his chances to make a clean getaway.

"Leave the site, everyone!" Zebadiah insisted in a hard voice, and the three men needed no further encouragement. "And don't return until you hear from Thomas that it is alright to do so," he said as they disappeared around the corner.

Lucy waited silently as she heard Steve shout something over the rain at the few other men working on the site. When she heard their cars start up one by one and leave the site she stood, placing her five in one tool on the floor beside her.

"Would you mind if I have a look at the damage, or would you prefer me to leave as well?" she asked calmly.

He stood back from the stairs and motioned for her to proceed him. There was a window with a window seat at the top of the first landing and she took a moment to look at the torrential rain falling outside the window.

"Is Etta alright with all of the rain? She's not going to float away, is she?" he asked, moving to stand behind her and look out the window. She could feel the heat from his body and she swore she felt his hand brush hers.

"She's fine," Lucy assured him, knowing that Etta had survived much worse than a thunderstorm in her house.

She continued up the stairs and her shoulders fell when she saw the mess in the study. She rubbed her forehead as she looked at the two busted cabinets, even the mullions that held the glass had been broken. There were large holes in the plaster ceiling that were obviously much larger than the vents that would be placed there, and she couldn't help but wonder how they had planned to patch them, and absolutely everything was covered in plaster dust.

In all, there were six broken panes of glass and the mullions would have to be custom made.

"I'm sorry Zeb," she said, kneeling to pick up the worst of the glass.

"Don't Lucy, you'll cut yourself. Besides I want Thomas to see this mess in all it's glory." Zebadiah said as he pulled out his phone.

Lucy wandered over to the window doing her best to ignore the pane of glass that was covered with plastic. She listened to Zebadiah call Thomas, insisting that he come at once before ending the call.

"There, now he can deal with it and you won't have to be the bearer of bad news, so Hope can't blame you," Zebadiah said, leaning against one of the unbroken cabinets, watching her.

"No, but Thomas will," Lucy said sadly, and Zebadiah didn't disagree.

"Why didn't you want Dr. Brown to report my bullet wound, that is what it was, right?"

"Yes." He looked at her as if debating how much he wanted to say.

"You don't still think I was a part of it, do you?" she asked in a wavering voice.

"No, I don't," he assured her. "I didn't want Holden to report it because I wanted my private security to look into it before I told the police. Especially because I think it might be a police that did it," he explained.

"You think it was Joel Brantley?" she asked with a shiver.

"Possibly, but there are a few other choices, I have a lot of enemies." He shrugged.

"And a lot of ex-lovers," Lucy supplied.

He grinned. "Yes, there are a few of those, and you did cause quite a stir at the gala," he agreed.

"That's what I like best about you Zeb, you're so humble." She laughed.

"I was paying you a compliment," he said with pretend hurt.

There was a heavy pause between them and his eyes narrowed. "Why do you call me Zeb instead of Zebadiah?" he asked suddenly, completely throwing Lucy off balance.

"I don't know, it's just how I hear your name in my head," she explained. "Why? Would you like me to stop?"

"No, only a few people call me Zeb," he explained without really explaining anything.

There was a tense silence between them once more and Lucy realized that he didn't let just anyone call him Zeb, and she couldn't help but wonder what that meant.

She cleared her throat after a minute. "I have some extra panes of glass that we can use to repair your bookcases," she offered.

He didn't say anything, he only continued to stare at her until she couldn't take his intent look any longer. "What!" she insisted.

"I'm just wondering if you realize how lovely you are?" he asked.

Lucy blushed at his words. "Don't say things like that," she begged, moving towards the door to get away from him, but he reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Did you miss me this week Lucy? Because I missed you." His voice dropped to a warm rumble and Lucy felt it in her tummy.

"Why are you doing this?" she hissed, desperate to get away from the affect he was having on her. "I thought we agreed that this wasn't going to happen, that there would be nothing between us?"

"I don't recall agreeing to such a thing, I do recall apologizing for my earlier offer of an affair, but that is all that I recall." He rubbed his thumb against the inside of her wrist and he had to be able to feel the pounding of her heart.

"It meant the same thing." She pulled her arm out of his grasp as she heard Thomas shout up the stairs.

Zebadiah must have seen the look on her face because he gave a wicked smile. "Saved by the bell,"

Thomas entered the room and couldn't help but pick up on the tension in the air. He looked between the two of them before the room around them caught his attention.

"What the hell happened here!" he shouted.

"That's what I want to know," Zebadiah said, taking one last long look at Lucy before he turned his attention to Thomas.

"I'll be downstairs if anyone needs me," Lucy excused herself, making her getaway, much as Steve had done earlier.

"Don't go too far Lucy," Zebadiah said without looking at her.

It made Lucy want to run as far and as fast as she could.