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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“That’s my car!” Kevin shouted through the window of Tim’s truck as the Camaro whipped around them and kicked up dust on the way out of Shora.
“So it is.” Tim released the parking brake and put the truck into gear. He needed to get Kevin to his probation officer by four-thirty and had already lost half a day of work to ridiculousness. One of his shit-for-brains supervisors thought that day would be a fantastic time to demand a raise and threatened to walk out right when they needed to get two boats off the line.
Tim had fired him. No skin off his teeth, really, because the guy had been on his second warning, anyway, but it meant Tim would have to spend a bit more time on the floor until he figured out who got promoted. He liked being able to get out there and reinforce what the Dowd brand was to the builders who may have forgotten why they’d signed on to work there, but Tim also needed to keep new business coming in and he couldn’t do that if he wasn’t at his desk or out making sales calls. There was only so much that glossy print advertising could do for him.
Kevin gave his armrest a thump with his fist. “I still can’t believe she gave my car away.”
“It was your mother’s prerogative to do as she saw fit with the car. If it’d been—” Tim slowed as he approached the office to wave at Valerie, who was walking with a young family toward a station wagon parked out front.
Her return wave came slowly—as if she didn’t recognize him—but he didn’t really know what else to expect from her, anyway. She was becoming not much more than a fond memory for him.
Kevin rolled down his window and shouted to her, “You on-site on Monday?”
Tim stopped the truck and waited for Kevin to get his answer, curious at the discussion. Apparently, Kevin interacted with her more than Tim did.
Valerie jogged over, tucking her loose hair behind her ears and looking lovely as always, but…tired. There were bags under her eyes and her usually glowing skin looked a bit sallow.
She looked unrested.
Someone needs to take care of her.He’d thought that someone should have been him, but he couldn’t force himself into her life, even if it were the best thing for her.
“No, I’m not going to be here on Monday,” she said to Kevin when she approached the window. She gave Tim a small wave, and he tipped his chin to her, intrigued.
“When do you think you’ll be back?” Kevin asked.
“Wednesday morning, I think. It just depends on how much aggravation my bosses are going to give me. Might be later if I have to throw everything at the kitchen sink at them. Earlier if they decide to cut me loose.”
Cut her loose?
Tim couldn’t see that happening. He’d done his due diligence on her in between bouts of cursing her name and bemoaning her rejection. She was a talented architect. Her name was dropped into trade articles posted all over the Internet, and there were people watching on her, waiting for her to leave her current firm. She had to know that.
“Are you gonna be able to write that letter for me?”
“Yeah, no matter what happens. Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of you.”
That should have been Tim’s line toher.
He let out a breath and shifted into first gear. “Kevin, we gotta go.”
“Well, you heard him,” Kevin said to Valerie. “I’ll see ya.”
She waved.
Tim put his foot to the gas pedal again and stole a glance at Valerie in the mirror as he headed toward the highway.
She stared at the retreating truck, wringing her hands.
Tim fixed his gaze on the road. “What kind of letter do you need from her?”
“It’s nothing.”
For God’s sake.
Tim growled softly and thumped the steering wheel with the fleshy parts of his fists. “You know you can tell me, right? You can tell me things and I’m not going to get on your case.”
“Why do you even care?”
