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Everyone except for the older one of the bunch.
Maxine.
“Hey, Maxine,” I said. “Could you point me to the utility closet? I’m going to be doing some maintenance on the lights and a few spots that need repaired wall-wise.”
Maxine looked pleased about these ‘fixes.’
Too bad I couldn’t actually fix the lights.
I could do a lot of things, but electricity wasn’t one of them.
I acted like I knew exactly what I was doing, though, when she led me to the utility closet.
When she got me there, she turned and surveyed me for a long second before saying, “I don’t know you, but I feel like I need to reach out and let you know that some of the girls that work here are terrified of men. You will need to be slow and softer spoken around them.”
I felt a twinge in my gut at that news. “Yeah?”
She nodded.
“Which ones?” I asked.
She fidgeted with her hands, making me wonder if she was going to tell me.
But eventually she did.
“There are two blondes. One of them has curly blonde hair, about five-foot-six or so, and has a beauty spot on her chin.” She pointed to the area on her own face. “The other has straight hair almost down to her back when it’s in a ponytail, which is how she wears it the majority of the time. She has pale blue eyes, and you’ll know it’s her almost instantly because she’ll turn into a frightened cat.”
I nodded. “And the boy that I saw around here? He acted pretty skittish, too. Does he belong to one of them?”
I mean, it was a perfect opportunity to ask.
“Oh,” she frowned as she stared at me for a long second. “You saw Topher?”
I nodded. “Out front by the picnic area.”
I hadn’t seen him there, actually. I’d noticed him in the parking lot playing in between cars.
I’d thought about telling him that wasn’t very safe, but then I’d noted a few of the ladies standing somewhere off in the distance, and thought to leave him alone.
I did make note of the two ladies, however. I wanted to know if they were ‘Topher’s’ mom.
Though that wasn’t specifically my objective for the day, I was still planning ahead.
We were also running out of time.
There was more like six days until Crew was expected back, and things needed to be figured out.
“Oh,” Maxine nodded, as if that made perfect sense for Topher to be out there. “Yes, his mom is one of them.”
I tilted my head.
That was the first time I’d heard that.
Crew had questioned them all, and not a single one of them had shared any information. Yet I asked Maxine, and she answers me?
“Makes sense,” I said. “The kid was terrified of me and hid under a truck.”
“Topher’s been through a lot,” Maxine said. “In fact, it’s honestly quite sad everything he’s been through. His father just died, too. He used to be the owner of this place.”
She gestured around her.
I took it in, acting like it was the first time I was seeing it, instead of having combed over every square inch of it only hours before the place had opened for the night.
“He’s a good kid, but man, his parents. This whole thing with him has been a nightmare.” She looked cagey for a second, likely realizing that she’d said too much. “Well, I’m glad that Crew could find you a job. I like Hades a lot, and she lit up like a firecracker when she saw you coming toward her.”
Had she?
That was news to me.
Though I’d been watching her, my eyes had been focused on what her hands were doing, not her face.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “She was talking you up all morning, too. Couldn’t shut up about you. Even when one of the ladies told her to shut up because ‘not everyone is insanely happy like you.’”
That made me smile.
Of course, we’d talked about what our game plan was, but I hadn’t expected her to talk me up that much.
“I’ve gotta go,” she sighed. “You sure are pretty to look at, aren’t ya?”
Before I could reply to that parting comment, she was bustling her wide ass hips out the door.
Twenty years older and I might find the woman attractive.
But I wasn’t, and the only woman on my mind lately had long, straight black hair and blue eyes that looked more and more intense each time I looked into them.
Heading into the maintenance room that I’d known where it was all along, I closed and locked the door behind me, then got to work on the sound system that I hadn’t gotten to earlier.
After about two hours of work, I came back out of the room drenched in sweat and looking like I was actually doing something.
When I wrenched the door open, the first thing I did was breathe deep.
