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“I guess that depends,” I answer, giving myself away.
“See? I knew it!” Charlie exclaims and I laugh at him.
“Nothing to tell, Charlie,” I say. We joke around as we get shit cleaned up.
“Moore!” I turn, ripping my rag out of my pocket to wipe my brow. “What the fuck are you doing?”
I step up near him where he stands, hands on his hips while looking over the literal backbreaking work we’ve been doing. “We cleaned up some of the trash and rubble over here, sir.”
He doesn’t seem to like my answer as he scowls at me. “Who told you to do that? Where are the rest of the crew?”
“I don’t know where everyone is, sir,” I answer, standing straighter and reminding myself I call him a respectful name because that’s how I was raised, not because he deserves it. “The others that did the siding never showed, so we took over the cleanup.”
He scowls at me some more and I rein in a sigh. Fucking hell, this guy.
“Well, we’ve got to get the other guys back in here. That’s their work to do.” He turns and stomps off, Don scoffs behind me, and I turn.
“The guy acts like he didn’t just show up to his jobsite at two thirty in the afternoon.”
“Seriously, what a dick,” Charlie murmurs and grabs a bottle of water. “I hate that guy. I wish we didn’t have to put up with him.”
“The homeowners are pissed,” Don tells us, giving me his eyes. “They hate him too, if you want my opinion. They were supposed to do a final walk-through three weeks ago and we’re just now getting the plumbing done.”
“What’s his issue?” I keep my voice low, not wanting him to overhear me, Don and Charlie move in closer.
“I think it’s drinking,” Don muses, but he looks like he doesn’t want to talk about it. I get it, he’s an honorable guy, doesn’t want to be a rat to his boss, but when you’re not going to get paid because your boss isn’t doing his job, honor is kind of a moot point.
“It’s definitely drinking. I got chewed out by him last week and could smell the whiskey from a mile away.”
I shake my head and sigh. “Shit. Has anyone told Mr. Blake?”
“Nah, I don’t want to lose my job, man,” Charlie says, scratching his neck.
“Henry is a good guy, but he never comes to the site and I don’t have his number,” Don agrees and I hold in a pent-up sigh.
Probably why most of the guys gave me a hard time when I showed up and Henry was here waiting for me specifically. I looked like the teacher’s pet.
The thing was though, when you were in your thirties and ready to make serious moves in your professional life, you went full throttle.
“I’ll handle it,” I tell them, unsure how I was going to do so, but knowing I couldn’t mess this up when I was just getting started.
Chapter Thirty
“It’s so amazing how, even when you have an awesome family, you can add to it by befriending some amazing strangers.” – Enzo
VIVIANA
I take in the summer breeze and breathe a sigh of relaxation. It was nice to get away from the city.
CT and Cal both join me on their porch, Cal with his trusty binder and CT with a tray of lemonade and cookies. They were freaking adorable, and I want to pinch both of their cheeks.
I refrain, of course, this was a professional meeting.
“This looks amazing. Thank you for being so accommodating,” I tell them, reeling from a crazy week.
I was supposed to be up here yesterday to go over everything and spend the weekend at the lodge that some of their friends in town had built. But Archer had gotten held up at work and we weren’t able to leave last night, then he dropped the news that his foreman was making him work on Saturday as well.
I didn’t know the details because he told me not to worry about it. But he had to bail on the whole weekend I had already planned. It wouldn’t have been a big deal and I would have moved it to next weekend, but I’d promised CT I would come up so we could get some details hammered out. He also asked me about adding in branding to his business and that was something I wanted to show him in person. I wanted to see his genuine reaction when I showed him what I came up with.
