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“Dammit, Charlie’s calling. I’m on my way to the site. Can we talk when I get there?”
“Yep.”
“Be there in a few,” he said before quickly hanging up. Smirking, I once again shoved my phone in my pocket and got back to work. I wasn’t surprised he hung up when Charlie called. She was his whole life, and with a baby on the way, he jumped when she called.
About twenty minutes later, I heard my name and looked over my shoulder. I was surprised when I saw Ben and Jake making their way around the room, checking our progress. Turning off the saw, I set my shit down and cleaned the sawdust off my hands.
“This looks great,” Ben said.
“Thanks.”
“Everything good here?”
I crossed the room until I stood in front of them and put my hands on my hips. I knew Ben was referring to Bailey. “Yep.”
“Anyone being a dick?” Jake asked, and I grinned. Leave it to Jake to get right to the point.
“Been keeping a close eye. I haven’t seen or heard anything new.”
Ben nodded. “Keep that up. I don’t trust this shit is over.”
“Got it.” I gestured toward Jake. It was odd for him not to be on a site of his own. He hated the office shit and was always overseeing crews instead. “What are you doing here? I thought you were handling the crew at the Palanski house?”
“Found a leak this morning so we had to shut down until the plumber can come back tomorrow.”
“Sucks,” I said, but it wasn’t unusual. Shit happens in this business, and I’ve come to understand setbacks are just part of the job.
“So what’s up?” Ben asked.
“Need some time off tomorrow morning.”
“You got it,” he replied immediately. I was a little surprised by his abrupt reply, and that must have shown in my expression because he chuckled. “You’ve been working nonstop, man. You want time off, take it.”
“Appreciate it. I should be back midmorning.”
Jake grinned. “You should probably take the whole day, brother.”
I looked back and forth between them. “Why?”
Jake snorted. “You can’t just drop them off and leave.”
Looking at them, I saw they wore matching shitty expressions and realized they already knew what was going on before I even mentioned it. “How the fuck do you know?”
Jake laughed. “Lanie was getting her hair cut at the salon when Becs got there.” He slapped my shoulder. “You forget how small this town is or what?”
That was why it took her a while to answer. She was talking to Jake’s girlfriend, Lanie, about it.
Chuckling, I rubbed my hand over my chin. “Guess I did.”
“You need more time off this week, take it.” Jake gestured around the room. “We’ll be at a standstill anyway at the other house, so I can pull my crew over here and get ahead of schedule.”
Looking a little more closely, I saw concern in Jake’s expression. “What’s going on?”
Jake sighed and ran his hand over the back of his neck. “Lanie told me that Becs confided in her about the depression and shit. She told Lanie she’s feeling a lot better, but this is gonna be hard for her. I just remember how hard it was when I got full custody of Bray, and he wasn’t a premature baby with health issues. Think you may wanna be there.”
I jerked up my chin at Jake because I appreciated the advice. He’d been through a lot before he met Lanie, so if anyone knew how hard it was to be a single parent, he would. And the truth was I had already been thinking about it, but I wasn’t sure she’d want me there.
“Bear might already be planning to be there.”
