Page 38 of In at the Deep End

Good.

Making that smile appear was becoming one of his favourite things.

Matt let out a sigh. Owen hadn’t been kidding.

He wasn’t impractical—he was hopeless.

They’d spent the better part of an hour assembling a single bookcase. So far, Owen had fitted the back panel on the wrong way round. Twice. He hadn’t checked the frame was square before tightening it, producing something that looked more like a parallelogram than a rectangle. And somewhere along the way he’d attempted to put one shelf the wrong way up, which until then Matt had always thought was an impossibility.

It probably hadn’t helped that he’d been holding the instructions upside down for a good five minutes.

Matt coughed politely. “Can I make a suggestion?”

Owen dragged his attention away from the Allen key. “I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“Go and make us tea.”

He stared. “Am I being fired from my own bookcase?”

“No.” Matt bit the inside of his cheek. “You’re being… redeployed.”

A blink. “‘Redeployed’?”

“To the refreshments department.”

Owen narrowed his eyes. “I make a very good cup of tea.”

“I know. That’s why I’m promoting you.”

There was a beat before Owen snorted. “I see where this is going. Next thing I know, I’ll be carrying timber while you do all the clever bits.”

Matt smirked. “I hadn’t planned that far ahead.”

“Liar.”

He grinned.

With exaggerated dignity, Owen placed the Allen key on the floor. “Fine. But when this bookcase is standing proudly in the lounge, I expect my contribution to be acknowledged.”

“It will.”

“Oh?”

“I’ll tell everyone you made an excellent pot of PG Tips.”

Owen pointed at him. “Mock me all you like. At least I know how to boil water.”

Matt waited until Owen had disappeared into the kitchen before laughing aloud.

Poor bloke.

He’d built a successful career, travelled the world, somehow accumulated hundreds—maybe even thousands—of books and films…

And yet a flat-pack bookcase had defeated him in under an hour.

“You see all those boxes piled high in the dining room?” Owen called out from the kitchen.

Matt glanced at them. There had to be at least twenty that he could see. “Yeah.”