Page 20 of Statler

Sometimes you just had to suck things up to successfully pull off the job at hand.

Still, Statler, looking to tweak the guy just a little, leaned across the vast expanse of wood and offered his hand.

Flazer took it with a grunt this time.

Stat considered that a win.

Although disarm-with-charm wasn’t part of the STUDS acronym, Statler had found it often went a long way toward achieving the things that were part of their creed.

Letting himself back out into the anteroom, Statler immediately felt like he could breathe again.

The man’s office had been stifling, as if he hoarded all the heat from the building for himself. Not that true winter temperatures had set in yet, but Flazer was revealing his true colors, clearly caring for no one’s comfort but his own.

“Are we ready to go?” he asked Eliza directly as he walked up behind her desk. She stiffened her shoulders, stood, and reached for a thick sweater that lay on the back of her chair.

“We are,” she replied.

“Uh, us too, boss,” Dizzy snickered, clearly amused that Statler was addressing the office manager and not the team as they all gathered around.

Asshole, Stat mouthed when Eliza turned her back.

Of course, Dizzy just grinned.

They left the office as a group, going down the metal stairs that led from the upper level down to the factory floor, then turned left to go out the large doors through which they’d originally entered.

Once in the parking lot, Eliza turned to Statler.

“What do you have for transportation?” she asked, stopping just outside the large foyer. She still wasn’t looking directly at him. It seemed she was fascinated with the top two buttons on his shirt.

“We all drove separately,” he explained. “We have two flatbeds holding our machinery, plus five pick-ups.” He then added, “We’ve already parked our flatbeds at the new site, so we’re down to sharing the five trucks.”

It would be enough for the seven of them.

The factory build was a quarter mile from the current, operating facility, which made it convenient, and within walking distance if need be.

But…

Right. Statler had no idea how close their living quarters were.

“How far is it from our cottages to the jobsite?”

“A quarter mile north,” Eliza informed him, drawing him a mental picture. “Think of it as an isosceles triangle. One point is where we’re standing, one point is the new factory, and the third is where you’ll be staying.”

Excellent. It looked like everything was just a quick jog away

Eliza continued. “Your places are pretty private though; backing up to a big, National Forest. There shouldn’t be anything but a few raccoons and bears out there to bother you,” she added, sounding not quite tongue-in-cheek.

Statler laughed. He got it.

“No worries. We’re all from Maine. We know the hazards of unexpected critters making their presence known. You can rest assured we won’t be leaving any trash out. I’m assuming there are some locking cages there to discourage any nocturnal visitors from foraging?”

“Yes. Between the cottages,” she assured him. “One for every two.”

She sighed and screwed up her expressive face. “The concrete guys we had here for the last few months were from Connecticut, and they were completely clueless.”

Finally, she looked directly into his eyes, and Statler almost flinched at the intensity of her bright blue gaze.

Stunning.