Page 3 of Lakeside Little (Pineberry Falls: Summer Daddies #2)

I thought I was pushing my luck when I asked Diego if he would help fix my dollhouse.

I’d managed to deconstruct it just fine when I was packing it away to come over here, but then when I began rebuilding it last night, one of the panels snapped and then two of the pole pieces were chipped when I tried to use them as supports.

The cabin was a mess. My clothes were everything, my dolls were in random spaces, and the half-built doll house was sitting in the center of the living room.

“I don’t want to alarm you,” Diego said, standing in the doorway. “But you might’ve been robbed.”

“I was trying to find stuff,” I said. “Leave the bucket outside, please.”I was adamant about keeping this place a smell-free zone. The last thing I wanted was any of it getting on my things.

“I’m leaving it,” he said. “And before I forget, you needed sunscreen. The sun doesn’t play around, you need to know that.”

As I kicked around my clothes into manageable piles that he wouldn’t get sucked into like the vortexes they were, I found the bottle of sunscreen hiding amongst them, as well as a smaller bag of toiletries.

It took Diego all of ten minutes to tell me I’d need wood glues and other adhesives to fix the house. It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but I wasn’t going to throw a hissy over it.

“Well, I needed to go into town anyway,” I told him.

“As did I,” he said. “If you’d like to go together.”

“Perfect! What do you need?”

“Groceries, if I’m making dinner,” he said. “Assuming we still have dinner plans.”

Was it just me, or was Diego really hot?

Like, everything about him had me want to fan myself from my pits to my feet.

And I didn’t even know if he was flirting with his dinner plans pitch.

I was very obviously gay in front of him, and he hadn’t run a mile.

Maybe he was just friendly, maybe this was being nice to a neighbor, especially one so drastically in need of a helping hand.

“You can make me dinner, but I don’t put out on the first date,” I said, throwing myself out there like I was shooting an arrow in the dark like some type of blindfolded cupid seeking an answer to the question in my tingles. And my tingles hadn’t been wrong… that often.

My cousin’s husband, Mason owned a hardware store in Pineberry Falls. It’s where we headed to as soon as I’d applied a nice layer of sunscreen. We took Diego’s car, it was a little beat up, but he wanted to drive, and he had to take those fish to his cabin for refrigeration.

Once we got to the hardware store, Mason immediately noticed me.

I carried Nory with me hooked in my arm.

His eyes lit up from behind the counter and he put down the wood and whittle he was working on.

“Oliver said you were in town,” his voice boomed.

“And—I didn’t think I’d ever see you coming in here. ”

Diego looked at me, his brows together, trying his best to figure out how he knew me. I might’ve left a couple details blank on why I kept coming back here year on year. “Hi, Mason,” I said. “I’m here because I was building something, and—”

“You should’ve asked me,” he said. “And I take it he’s with you.”

“Diego,” he said, introducing himself.

“Oh, right. This is Diego, he’s in the cabin by mine near the lake,” I said.

“And he’s helping me. Look at his hands.

” I grabbed one and yanked it forward. “He’s clearly skilled, look at these.

” I prodded at the callouses I’d been more careful with earlier.

There was something about the familiarity of being around Mason that gave me a small boost in confidence.

“They’re not that bad,” he laughed. “Just need a moisturizer.”

As they began talking about hand moisturizers and exchanging tips, I moved conversation back to why we were really here.

I needed my doll house fixed, otherwise the dolls would not get a good night of sleep, and the followers could always tell since I would post them in their beds and wish them a good night.

They’d sniff out a repost the moment I went live.

“Well, we need some wood glue,” I said. “I think that’s what it’s called. Right?”

“What are you working on?” he asked.

Diego looked to me and then to Mason, almost like he wanted to know if he could tell people. So, I beat him to it. “My doll house. It’s not the one in my house, but a travel one I keep in the spare room.”

“You mean the place you send your dolls when they’ve been bad?” he asked.

At that point, I knew Diego had so many questions, his mouth flapped open like he didn’t know what to do with it.

I nodded. “The room Oli stayed in when he came to visit. Did he show you all the dolls in there?”

Mason scoffed. “And I thought he was a collector, you know I had to build a second row of shelves for his collectables. I thought the plasterboard was going to come away from the wall with the weight of them.”

“Now I’m more intrigued,” Diego finally said. “I feel like I’ve got to see this doll prison room you’ve got, and however many collectables you’ve got that nearly had a wall come away from its fitting.”

“If you want to go look for what you need, I’ll give Oliver a call and he can show you the pictures.”

Diego puffed out his cheeks as we walked around the hardware store. “I’m impressed,” he said in a whisper. “A room dedicated to your play stuff, that’s incredible.”

“It’s actually, more than just a room,” I told him. “My entire apartment is dedicated to it. Remind me to show you pictures later. And not the pictures I post online either. Those are of small spaces in my place.”

We searched the shelves for pieces of plywood and items that we could use for the house. I also searched for small paint pots because the last thing I needed was unpainted wood. I shuddered at the thought of having something like that on my social media picture grid.

This was also a good photo op for Nory. I armed her with a small paintbrush, tucked under his doll arm and placed her near the small paint pots. She was beside pink, purple, and peach colors.

“What’s that for?” he asked.

“I’m making a poll. I want to see what viewers want to see Nory’s new wall color,” I told him. “Although I know they’re going to swipe up and tell me black. It’s Nory’s signature color, but she’s not the only one living in the house.”

After five minutes, the poll was as expected, people sending me the word black in capitals and hearts.

It was just in time for Oliver to arrive.

He walked right up to me, pulling his sunglasses away from his face in a dramatic fashion and gasped.

“You know it has to be black,” he said. “Nory wouldn’t—well, maybe a mauve, or dark purple, but come on, you can’t give her such a light color. ”

“Get in line, Oli,” I laughed. “The doll house isn’t just for her; she has her castle of darkness back home anyway.”

It was shortly after that; I decided which color from the poll she was getting for the house. The peach, it complemented the rest of the doll house nicely.

“You didn’t say you were bringing a man by?” Oliver said seeing Diego by my side, looking through the small bag of wood and glue I’d bought.

“Didn’t Mason tell you,” I said.

He looked him up and down, humming. “I thought you were still single. I was gonna try and set you up,” he said, although the last time he’d tried setting me up, it was with another little and while some might’ve been into that type of relationship dynamic, I wasn’t. “How long—”

“Oh no, no,” I said before Diego could say anything, although that sun kissed redness on his skin seemed to suggest he was too polite to say anything bad anyway. “He’s in the cabin next to mine. And he’s going to help me fix my doll house.”

Oliver sighed. “Hi,” he said. “I’m the town mayor, Jack’s cousin, and Mason’s husband.”

He waved over at him as he picked his whittle back up to chip away at more wood.“Don’t look, I’m busy making something. It’s a surprise.”

“I know what it is,” Oliver whispered to me. “They’re little birds to go on top of the bird house. Anyway, Deigo, tell me more about you. What brings you to this lovely little town?”

Diego puffed out, almost deflating those big muscles he had going on around his neck and shoulders.

“Honestly, there was a Groupon for the cabin when I booked, and it was right by the lake. I couldn’t turn it down.

Besides, I was desperate to get away from Philly.

I—I just lost my job, so I needed somewhere to recoup myself and get back on the horse, so to speak.

” There was a sadness in his eyes, it made me want to wrap him in a deep embrace and squeeze all the sadness right out of him.

“Pineberry is the perfect place for that,” Oliver said. “And Jack will definitely keep you busy, especially if you’re good with your hands.”

He laughed, raising his hands. “And I’ve got the callouses to proof it.”

“Yeah, he really does,” I said.

Oliver cooed. “Ok, well, I should get back to whatever I was doing, and you two should go and—you know, bond .” He winked right at me, and Diego definitely saw it.

“Oh, and don’t forget, this weekend the town is hosting a craft fair, so if you really are good with your hands and want to show off, you might want to grab a table. ”

I looked at Diego, trying to figure him out. He shook his head. “I wouldn’t know where to start,” he said. “But I’ll definitely come by. Is that what—” he nodded to Mason, “he’s doing over there?”

“Oh no, that’s supposed to be a surprise for me,” Oliver whispered. “He’s already crafted a couple of trinkets. Speaking of, if you’re looking for someone to help build you a new doll house, you could call on him.”

“Diego already promised me,” I said. “Besides, he kinda owes me.”

“Owes you?”

“I do?” he asked, his big eyes staring at me. “Oh, right. Yeah, Jack helped me catch a couple fish earlier. So, I do owe him. Did you know he could fish?”

Oliver looked horrified, his hands at his neckline as if clutching pearls. “I cannot imagine that at all. Were you forced into it?”

“No,” I said, unable to stop laughing. “My mom’s ex used to take me out fishing all the time when I was a teen.”

“Oh, him,” Oliver rolled his eyes. “Right. Well, I would’ve paid anything to see him fishing.”

I scoffed. “That is not happening again. I’m not going close to the water, unless I’m in a boat, in which case, I could be persuaded.

” I looked to Diego, tying to gauge his reaction, hoping it was something that would look like he was going to ask me to go on a boat trip with him and fish.

I’d mentioned it earlier, so it was still fresh in my mind.

Oliver shook his head slowly. “Mason has that small boat, you can borrow that.” Almost like he was reading my mind for the situation I was hoping to be put in with Diego.

“Really?” Diego asked. “Because I think I’d be able to catch more fish out in the middle of the lake.”

“Yeah, absolutely,” he said.

“Then I’ll be in touch,” Diego said.

“And we need to get back so I can have my doll house fixed and built,” I said. “Nory is getting antsy, and you know what she’s like when she’s antsy.” I sighed.

It wasn’t until we were back in Diego’s van that he let out another little laugh, holding a smirk. “I’m beginning to see the bigger appeal in this town,” he said. “And I need you to tell me what she’s like when she’s antsy.”

I stared at Nory; her hair not fully recovered from being dunked in the lake. I covered her ears with my thumb and finger around her head. “She’s a bit of a B-I-T-C-H,” I whispered.

“Can she not spell?” he asked. “I’d be afraid of her. She looks like a friend’s ex who put holes in his wheels.”

My eyes widened, still holding Nory’s head to keep her from hearing. “She did that already,” I said. “And of course she can spell, but I’m covering her ears anyway, so I don’t want her to come after me next.”

“If I didn’t know she was a doll, I might be scared for you.”

I giggled, hugging her to my chest. “She loves me really, and she’s the best doll, but don’t tell any of the others that. I do not want to deal with a civil war from my suitcase.”

Diego reached out, rubbing a thumb against the back of my hand. “Sorry, you had a bit of paint on you,” he said. “Sometimes that stuff can break people out in rashes. I didn’t want you getting sick.”

Reeling from the soft, warm touch on my hand, I internally squealed. The proximity to this man had me feeling certain things, but I didn’t want to stop feeling them. He could touch me again, if he wanted. I nearly verbally invited it but stopped myself. I’d only known him one whole day.