“But it would be better if I did ahead of time.”
“There is nobetter—”
“Would Cody have copies?”
“I can certainly give them to him.”
“And he could give them to Justin?”
“If you like. I can give him an envelope so he doesn’t have to see your form.”
“Yeah.” I let out a breath. “I mean, I might not even see him…”Like if he googles me and decides I’m not worth the risk.
“That’s fair. I’ll print out a copy and give it to him with an envelope. If you see him and you’re comfortable filling out the form, then you can. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll get you one on Tuesday night before you see Justin. It’s all good, Lorcan. Perhaps you might give me your email anyway? And your phone number? In case I need to reach you.”
“Uh, yeah. Okay.” I provided her with both. “Oh crap. I have to go back to work.”
She laughed. “You go. We’ve got you.”
“Okay. Bye.” I cut the call.Damn. Too abrupt.
Except she sounded really sweet—like she would understand.
I exited my truck and headed back to the house I was working on. I’d finished the drywall in the primary bedroom today and was tackling one of four other bedrooms.
Five bedrooms.
This place felt…beyond luxurious. Almost ostentatious. A word I really liked. Because I could compartmentalize. Other people lived ostentatious lives. I’d lived a pretty simple one. We’d had a nice house on a nice street in a nice neighborhood in a nice small town. Hell, the mortgage had even been paid off.
I’d been forced to sell it—along with just about everything I owned. And that was just to pay the back taxes to the government.
The taxes my ex had told me were being remitted but hadn’t been. More money he’d siphoned off to do God knew what with.
“Hey, Lorcan.” Riley made her way over to me.
The day was overcast, but not raining.
Yet.
“Uh, yeah. Everything okay?”
She grinned. She had the loveliest smile. Her pale-green eyes shone and her black hair was in a thick braid down her back. Like the rest of us, she wore a hard hat. Like the rest of us, she worked her ass off. Her being a nice person made me want to do my very best work.
“Everything’s fine. You’re doing a great job. I’m so glad you were available to join the crew. Look, we’re heading over to the Springs after work. I can only stay for a bit—my pooch Samson hasn’t seen much of me this week, and he’s disgruntled.”
“I didn’t realize you had a dog.”
“Some kind of terrier mix. He’s adorable but also grumpy if he spends too much time at doggy daycare. He’s into people—notother dogs. So being surrounded by a bunch of yappy little shits isn’t his idea of fun.”
“Oh.” Because, really, what was I supposed to say?
She grinned. “I didn’t mean to imply the other dogs are anything less than wonderful. His view of other dogs is definitely jaundiced.”
“Ah.” Again, I wasn’t clear what the correct response was. “So, the Springs?”
“Yeah. You’ve had a good first week. A drink with us would be a nice treat, right? I mean, some of us don’t drink alcohol, but they’ve got some cute mocktails. Or low-alcohol beer.”
“I won’t get drunk.” Because I felt like that was important to put on the table.
