CHAPTER TWO #2
Then he winked at this man, dark and dangerous, who scared most of his workers just by his sheer existence, and had winked at him. Rhett figured he must be losing his mind. This can't be real; he must be imagining things.
Damien patted Rhett’s knee and suggested another walk-through.
Rhett didn't see where it was necessary, but was thankful for the opportunity to hopefully walk off his intense feelings. This would get him focused on the job and clear his head. Then he noticed that he still had his hand on Rhett’s knee.
Rhett set his cup and thermos aside, along with the remains of his cookies, and jumped from the tailgate. The loss of his touch was felt, but Rhett had to clear his head. He didn't know what the touch meant, but his mind was more than eager to paint many interesting possibilities for him.
“The men should be back soon. Andy broke them for lunch until two.” He explained and took a look at his watch, which read one fifty-five. There should be sounds of people arriving, but there was only silence. Andy should have returned by now, but he was also absent.
Rhett tried not to make too much of it and took Damien around once again, explaining plans and showing progress.
He glanced at his watch again, and now it was nearly two thirty, and still no one had returned.
"Excuse me for just a moment." He said and pulled out his phone, dialing Andy.
He noticed Damien giving him some privacy and walking over to the remains of the bar.
Rhett turned his back and spoke forcefully yet softly into the phone. “Where the hell are you?”
“We’re at another site. We were called away for a job we started last week.
I told you that the crew and I were working for Henry Properties.
He called and needed us to finish last week’s project immediately.
We'll be back as soon as we're finished here. It shouldn’t take but a couple of hours.” Andy acted like it was no big deal, but Rhett was furious.
“You didn’t think to call and let me know?” He barked louder than he intended.
“I apologize," Andy said without conviction. “I got caught up in the job. It won’t take long, I’ll see you soon.” Rhett did not comment, simply closed the call, and took a deep, aggravated breath.
He turned around to see Damien looking at him with those eyes, and his heart once again began to pound.
Things were screwing up spectacularly, and still, all he really wanted was to walk into that man’s arms and stay there for a day or two.
He shook his head and stared at the ground between his feet for a few moments.
When he looked up, Damien was standing in front of him with a look that conveyed concern and sympathy, not what he had expected from an exacting manager.
"I'll let you get back to work, and perhaps we can talk later.” Damien was mercifully giving him time to figure this out.
Damien reached out and placed his hand on Rhett’s shoulder. He looked up at Damien and nodded. The hand on his shoulder was comforting, and his presence felt strangely supportive.
"I'll see you this evening," Damien stated, and Rhett was not sure what that meant, but Rhett had too much to deal with to spend too much time analyzing words and intent right now. Again, he nodded but did not comment. Damien squeezed his shoulder and then turned and left.
Rhett felt his absence immediately. He wished he could have discussed this issue with him, but he feared it would make him look unprofessional, and he didn’t want to risk that at the moment.
This job was too important to his career; he had to make it work, do it right, both on time and on budget, and if he needed to hire a new crew, he would do so.
Andy was an utter disappointment, and now he understood why Damien had questioned him about the man earlier.
Damien obviously knew more about Andy than he did.
He grabbed his gloves and continued with the demolition single-handedly. He wasn't going to wait around for Andy to get his ass back there. He would make some calls tonight and see what he could pull together for tomorrow.
"Step one is complete," Andy reported to Mr. Henry. "The crew is aware of the situation and will not be accepting Parks’ calls if he tries to contact them. No one is going back there. Parks is on his own now.”
“You’re stringing Parks along?”
“Of course.” He laughed. “I’ll leave him a message tomorrow promising to be there by noon, but we won’t show.” He paused and then added. “I have a couple of men going over after hours to fuck with some stuff just to make sure Parks has a truly terrible day tomorrow.”
“He may try to hire another crew.”
"It's a bad time right now, too many jobs out there. He won't be able to get more than one or two individuals at this late date, not enough for his needs.” Andy assured him. “He won’t finish the job, you have my guarantee."
“Force him out in the next two days, and I'll pay you double what we agreed upon." Mr. Henry sweetened the pot, not in a mood to wait, and wanted Rhett Parks humiliated sooner rather than later.
"He'll be finished by closing time tomorrow," Andy told him with confidence. "I never liked him much anyway. He's too by the book and too nice, and I don’t trust anyone who is too nice.”
Mr. Henry laughed and poured Andy a drink. "Here, join me." He handed him the drink. "I think you and I have a lot in common. If you can get him out by closing time tomorrow, you will have a full-time position at my firm.”
“Consider the job done.” They clinked their glasses and drank to the new possibilities.