I chuckled. “Kind of I guess.”
She slid off my lap. Her legs still lay on mine as she shifted her body to face me fully. “Okay, so you were doing a test build. Why did your day suck?”
Right, my shitty day. I scrubbed my hand across my face. “I’m an idiot and hired Caleb’s younger brother, Jamie, for a summer job.”
“Why does that make you an idiot?”
“Because I know the kid’s a clown, with ego out his ass. He’s not ready for a job like this, but Caleb convinced me to hire him.” My shoulders tightened. “I ran back to the shop, and while I was gone Jamie thought it was a good idea to show the guys his parkour skills.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh my God, please tell me he didn’t fall.”
“Yep. Shattered his ankle. Thank God, we only had a couple of logs in place, so it wasn’t that high. Fucking kid’s an idiot, but so is the rest of the crew who let him do it.” My jaw clenched. What the hell was the point of having a supervisor if he couldn’t stop the crew from being stupid? How the hell am I supposed to trust them on a job unsupervised if they do this kind of shit on site?
“Now I have to fill out a shit-ton of paperwork. I’m gonna have WCB up my ass, all because Caleb’s fucking brother thinks the rules don’t apply to him. He’s lucky all he did was break his ankle. If he tried that on a full build like he talked about, he could have died or broken his back. And then what?”
“But he didn’t.” Nat’s calm reassurance broke through the spiral running in my head. “You do a staff meeting and talk to the guys about messing around on the job site. They all learned a lesson from Jamie, and you can give a warning about what will happen if they don’t follow the rules.” She clasped my arm and squeezed it. “Ankles heal. He’s going to be fine.”
“Yeah.” The tension in my jaw loosened as she continued to stroke my arm. “Caleb’s more pissed than I am.” I’d never seen my business partner so mad before.
“So, does Jamie still have a job?” she asked.
“No clue. I told Caleb it’s his brother, he can deal with it, but I have to deal with the rest of my guys who let it happen.” I rolled my shoulders. “When I’m done with them, I can guarantee it won’t happen again,” I snarled.
Natalie chuckled. “All right, tough guy.”
I raised an eyebrow and looked at her. “What? You don’t think I’m serious?”
“No, I know you’re serious.” She shifted her leg on my lap. “But I also know you, and having a person injured on your site, even when it’s their own fault, scared you.”
“Of course it did.” I shook my head. “I hammer safety into these guys constantly, and then they let something like this happen. I don’t care if he’s the boss’s brother, they shouldn’t have let it happen.”
“And they won’t again,” she soothed.
I picked up her leg and absently stroked my hand down her muscular calf. “They better not,” I muttered. I paused when my thumb hit a knot in her calf and dug deeper. Nat groaned.
“Keep going or stop?”
“Definitely don’t stop.” She rolled her ankle.
“Is that a hint to do your foot?”
She chuckled. “Trust me, you don’t want to touch my feet.”
“Why? You have some funky toe fungus or something?”
She smacked my arm. “No, of course not. My feet are just kind of messed up looking.”
Well, now I needed to have a look. I grabbed the top of her sock and slid it down her foot.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she mumbled.
I pulled the sock completely off and dropped it on the cushion beside me. “Holy shit, Nat.” I gaped at her twisted foot. “How the hell do you even walk on those things, let alone dance?”
Clearly embarrassed, she tried to pull her foot back, but I held on. “No, don’t,” I told her. “Let me look. Give me your other one.”
Nat looked down at her lap. “I know they look gross.”
“No, they don’t.” Gross isn’t the word I’d use to describe them. Painful? Absolutely. But not gross.
